African Fiction
Meeting summary April 27/07
Desertion by Abdulrazak Gurnah (Barb)
Dead before Dying by Deon Meyer (Kerry)
Praying Mantis by Andre Brink (Linda)
Crossways by Sheila Kohler (Kathryn)
Many Stones by Carolyn Coman (Frances)
Beasts of no Nation by Uzodinma Iweala (Frances)
Little Soldier by Bernard Ashley (Frances)
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Labels: African fiction
posted by Kathryn at 7:01 PM
3 Comments:
CROSSWAYS by Sheila Kohler
"When my sister died a violent death 25 years ago in apartheid South Africa, . . .I was driven to explore the reasons for violence within intimate relationships" - so Kohler explains the theme of her short stories and novels, including this one.
Kate returns from her refuge in Paris to the family home in Johannesburg to help out after the death of her beloved sister in a car accident, an accident which has put her brother-in-law Louis in the hospital with an apparent brain injury. Told from three points of view - Kate's, Louis' and John's, the elderly Zulu servant - the story is redolent with sensual memories of a privileged South African childhood in which Kate and her sister were almost inseparable. It is also a story of the tension between black, Afrikaner and British, a tension that contributes to the dark secrets that Kate gradually uncovers about Louis.
I liked this book. It's a compelling read, although not, as it turns out, for the squeamish.
Although I didn't attend the meeting, I did read Beast of No Nation. I found it at once riveting and repulsive. It is the story of Agu, a young boy drawn into a civil war in Africa more by circumstance than choice. He becomes a killer but is also suffers sexual abuse at the hands of his superior officer. He and his fellow soldiers quickly become desensitized to the violence that is their daily life. Worth reading but only for those with a strong stomach for extreme violence.
MANY STONES by Carolyn Coman
This YA novel won several awards in 2000 and 2001. Berry Morgan's older sister was murdered while working at a school in South Africa. More than a year later, her estranged father insists that she go to South Africa with him for a memorial service. Berry's grief seems trivial when she learns about life in post-apartheid South Africa. The descriptions of South African life have been compared to Cry the Beloved Country. I enjoyed it although it was wrapped up a little too predictably in the end.
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