The text follows the wanderings and creative endeavors of Toloki, a self-employed professional mourner, as he traverses an unnamed South African city during the nation’s transitional period.

Ways of Dying examines the concepts of nation-building after the communal trauma of apartheid. It is an examination of the interregnum period in South African history. Mda experiments with magical realism, using it to highlight the interplay of tragedy and laughter in confronting crisis, and the conflicts between social classes and government authority.