Review of Slum heaven gamblers

[Ams Strong]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Slum heaven gamblers" by Lungile Lubuzo.]

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4 out of 5 stars

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Lucilla, or Lu, is an adolescent girl living in a slum plagued by gang violence, rape, and all manner of crimes you expect to find in a neighbourhood where adolescents are left to fend for themselves. Lucilla grew up without her parents; her mom died when she was younger, and the identity of her father remained unknown. Lucilla’s adoptive parents did not serve as a good role model for her, making her look to the streets for friendship, comfort, and security. Mac, a fearsome gang leader, looks after Lucilla as though he owns her, keeping her out of trouble. With all the dangers of street life lurking, such as unwanted pregnancies, gun violence, and drugs, will Lucilla resist these temptations and make it out of the slums, or will she just be another sad victim of slum life? Is Lucilla’s father dead or still alive somewhere on the streets? Find out in Slum heaven gamblers by Lungile Lubuzo.

What began as a sad and ordinary story of adolescents in the slum turned out to be a dramatic, suspenseful investigation into the identity of Lu's father. This book tells how passionate love and jealousy led to many broken lives. I love the author's dramatic tone of narration throughout the book, occasionally punctuated by poetic monologues, especially in the last chapters. The only thing I did not like about these monologues was that there were no clear transitions between the main story and them, which made it sometimes difficult to know when you were in a monologue. In the first chapters, the author adequately described the slum environment, the influential people who lived there, and the daily violence that affected these people, including herself.

I rate this book four stars out of five. The story in this book was thrilling and riveting, with many pleasant surprises, although it started as an ordinary story about life in the slums. However, this book contained many grammatical and typographical errors, and I consequently deducted one star from the five-star rating. This book deserves at least another round of editing. There are many instances of violence and profanity in this book, including non-borderline profanity. There are many scenes of nudity and kissing between people in the book, but all details about sexual intercourse are left out. I recommend this book to readers of all religions.

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Slum heaven gamblers
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[Jessica Azuka]

My fear is if Mac is not just safeguarding Lu to keep her for himself. Anyways, I am looking forward to reading this book to find out how Luccilla navigates in this toxic environment.