Om te verstaan: dís wat 'n verhalende teks vir die gewone mens kan doen.

This article explores ordinary people's involvement in literature. Goed, beter, Betsie, a narrative text read on a community radio station, serves as an example text. It is indicated how the writing of this text makes it possible for Elizabeth Labuschagne-Hull, an author who considers herself to be just an ordinary person, to make sense of her past. The effects that the reading of this narrative text had on community radio listeners, indirect readers who are also seen as ordinary people, are discussed. The article indicates that authors do not necessarily create texts to be critically examined and that the reading of narrative texts do not necessarily need to take place from a theoretical approach in order to be valuable. The conclusion is that ordinary reading is valuable because it could help readers to understand their lives. It is confirmed, based on the aesthetic experience of ordinary readers, that stories do something for and to ordinary people; also that the engagement with literature can change people's lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]