South Africa Books

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South Africa Books sorted by Average customer review: high to low .

Inhuman Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World

Published in Hardcover by Oxford University Press, USA (2006-04-01)

Author: David Brion Davis

List price: $30.00

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Average review score:

WHAT YOU NEVER LEARNED IN SCHOOL IN THE SOUTH

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-05-09

If you are over 60 and did not self-educate on slavery,you need to read this book. Believe me, slavery was a barely mentioned topic in elementary school through college. I know this is true for Blacks in the South and probably is true for other races as well.

This book is a must read for those non-academics who want to have a better understanding of slavery in America and the Americas. The sexual exploitation and psychological impact of slavery is generally known. This book, however, allows one to get the full picture of slavery from a global, economic and political perspective. There is nothing better for a painful subject like this than finding a reliable (well documented) and easy to read source by a respected author.

A great gift for your friends, no matter what race!

Great Research, Bulky Read

Helpful Votes: 11 out of 16 total.
Review Date: 2006-08-12

In under 350 pages, David Brion Davis presents a wealth of information for those exploring the history of slavery for the first time or for readers seeking additional information to supplement past books and articles.

Unfortunately, it reads like a choppy college lecture, with the flow of material marred oftentimes by the circular exploration of material. A topic may be introduced, then discussed in depth later and then reintroduced for concluding remarks many pages later.

Davis utilizes numerous resources from contemporary historians and it is appreciated that he introduces the author and the work to the reader while quoting from the material.

Inhuman Bondage is an important work in the growing number of books covering the sordid past that has been "conveniently" ignored or flippantly tossed aside in past historical writings.

By coming to terms with the past and acknowledging the damage it has done is the only way the words from Davis and others will truly have full meaning.

Interesting

Helpful Votes: 12 out of 26 total.
Review Date: 2006-04-29

This book contributes to recent studies on slavery in Brazil and the French west indies, a wide study ot Slavery in the new world, explainings its origins, terrors, history and final liberations and conflicts. One wonders however how much the subjects needs a companion on Slavery in the Old World, and why there is no discussion of how pre-European enslavement of Africans by Arabs led to the formation of slave empires in Zanzibar and west africa that fueled the European slave trade. Imainge if these scholars dared to prick the bubble and reveal the fact that Slavery did not originate among Europeans and tha tin fact a study must be done on the rise and fall of slavery in the old world.

Seth J. Frantzman

Read and Enjoy

Helpful Votes: 14 out of 17 total.
Review Date: 2006-06-12

This is an altogether splendid book. It is skillfully written such that it is difficult to put down; the notes are voluminous, the maps helpful, the range of information brought together and organized successfully impressive, the opinions of the author clearly expressed, and acknowledgement and credit to other historians generous. Despite this, one does wonder for whom the book was written, surely not the hypothetical general reader. Much more information than the lawyerly standard of what everyone knows is frequently called for. To give just one example, on pp. 265-66, a free black is shown worrying about the effects on him of the Fugitive Slave Law. One drops immediately to how Anthony Burns was hauled through the streets of Boston on his way to Virginia. Is one to infer that Burns was a free black erroneously seized or an escaped slave? And although Davis details how important the religious motivation was in abolitionist thought, nowhere was there any explanation of how this Biblically based thinking, which at this time was largely literal, coped with or was able to get around the clear Biblical acceptance of slavery. And one could wish, particularly in view of their extent and comprehension of various aspects of the subject, that the citations in the notes had been compiled into a bibliography. Nevertheless, I would recommend to anyone who is at all interested in slavery, the Civil War, racism, and a host of associated topics, that they do themselves a favour and read Inhuman Bondage.

Dr. Davis' Opus

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2007-03-24

Readers of "Inhuman Bondage" have the privilege of entering the mind of one of the greatest living scholars of American slavery. In what truly may be his opus, Dr. David Brion Davis writes not simply a book, but composes a symphony. Like all great composers, Davis blends seemingly disparate notes into beautiful harmony.

Wide-ranging, even sprawling in coverage, Davis tells the epic story of the inhuman bondage of human enslavement. Laying the foundation with a captivating and accurate portrayal of the history and philosophy of ancient slavery, the author then moves into the modern era of slavery, first in the "New World" then in America more specifically.

"Inhuman Bondage" masterfully weaves together these larger socio-political realities with the very specific psychological realities of groups (such as the Amistad) and individuals. The clear message resonates: even inhuman treatment cannot dehumanize the human soul. In their rebellion (sometimes overt, other times, by necessity, covert and even internal), enslaved African Americans displayed their full humanity.

For a brilliantly written, in-depth, comprehensive, captivating narrative of new world slavery, look no further than "Inhuman Bondage."

Reviewer: Robert W. Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction , Soul Physicians: A Theology of Soul Care And Spiritual Direction, and Spiritual Friends: A Methodology of Soul Care And Spiritual Direction.

Ways of Dying: A Novel

Published in Paperback by Picador (2002-08-01)

Author: Zakes Mda

List price: $14.00

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Average review score:

Almost surreal

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-06-25

I loved this book; and I cannot tell why. For me it was one of those disturbing reads that I could not put down. The imagery is pointed; the themes uniquely universal. I say uniquely because this story grows out of its setting, but is imaginable in Durban, Gaza, Burma, or Sarajevo (of the last century).

Brilliant

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-03

Mr. Mda is an inspiration. This novel, like all his other works, are addictive reading.

A wonderful terrible book

Helpful Votes: 15 out of 17 total.
Review Date: 2003-03-06

WAYS OF DYING is one of the most fascinating novels that I have read in years. The book is set in South Africa during a period that seems to span the end of the apartheid regime and focuses exclusively on the lives (and deaths) of poor South African Blacks in rural villages and urban shanty towns near what I suspect is Durban. Fans of Marquez will feel very much at home here in a world of "magical realism", yet while Mda may have been influenced by novels like 100 YEARS OF SOLITUDE he has a voice that is uniquely his own, and one that I sense is profoundly rooted in Africa. Mda's "hero" is a self-declared Professional Mourner, who ekes out an existence at the edge of society. Some aspects of his life are almost grotesque in form, and the deaths that surround him are often truly horrifying, yet somehow I found this a profoundly optimistic and human book. In spite of the worst that the world can throw at him the Professional Mourner is able to transcend mere existence & by the end I was shamelessly rooting for him. I should add that I used this book in a course on the Turn of the Century, and one of my toughest-case students, whom I had failed to excite with anything else, came into my office today saying "I just LOVE Mda" You will too,

Simply Great

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2006-12-14

This book is simply great, it was a lot more than i had expected...i recomend it very much to anyone who is looking for an intersting piece that explores what the end of of one of the darkest times in south africa

one of south africas black celebrated authors

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2005-08-22

Recently i had the pleasure of reading material from one of South Africa's most celebrated black authors, Zakes Mda. An Oxford University Press published book titled "Ways of Dying", this is a South African fiction selection. Being a fiction, it is wtitten in a very creative manner that i could hardly associate with any of the books i had read before.

This is a story of love written with expectation of one's imagination to take over. The wording, grouping, style and context of this book make it so. It is mainly based on two characters and the way they live their lives. Toloki is a man consumed with the profession of mourning the dead whilst his love Noria has lost immensely through life, still has the ability to show Toloki how to live.

There are various different characters in this novel, which make it as interesting. Even with their differences, they jell well together making the story line easily readable and understandably creative enough to follow. The vast lines go from Toloki who grew up as the ugliest boy in the village and people taking no note of him to the same character turning into a man who is widely respected for his chosen profession in the city outskirts where it was the only place he found recognition. In the village where he grew up Toloki had a friend who had the identity he wanted. Her name was Noria. Toloki hated and loved her with the same heart. Noria was everyone's favorite in the villafe; she had her mother's beauty and brought all the boys and towns' man attention and had the most amazing laugh that made all the village people happy whenever they heard it. When she was sad, everyone was too.

The writing style used in this book is that which is very easy to follow. There are no bombastic (big) words used nor are there times where you could lose the story. Every word flows into a paragraph that combines to others that make this a brilliantly written story.

One of the other things that make this an interesting read is the humor infused.

This is a brilliant written book that everyone with a sense of adventure and imagination will enjoy.

Adventures of Riley--Safari in South Africa (Adventures of Riley)

Published in Hardcover by Eaglemont Press (2003-10-25)

Author: Amanda Lumry

List price: $15.95

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Average review score:

Perfect blend of fiction and fact!

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-02-13

If you trying to make a transition to non-fiction for your young one,nothing could beat this book.Real photography complement the beautiful illustrations along with a fun storyline which is sure to appeal to your young one.Without sounding preaching or boring, it teaches the young ones to respect nature and the varied life that goes along with it..

I also love the local art depicted in the footnotes.

Great book for parents to give kids

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-09

If you're going on a safari and you you have small children - it's unlikely that you're packing them and taking them with you. So this book was great to help the kids (and us) see what we would experience on safari. Upon return, I see how much the book really does mirror what happens on a typical vacation/safari.

Also, educational for kids.

Writers Notes 2005 Book Award Winner

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2005-04-28

Uncle Max takes Riley on a child's dream tour-a South African safari. Smart cartoon figures overlay outback snapshots, including interesting facts and figures. We like that the story flows through each page, while the illustrations aren't overburdened with educational information. A handy glossary tells us what we need to know, and there's even a pullout passport in the back.

Safari in South Africa

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2003-12-11

This book is wonderful! I would recommend it to anyone with young children.

A boy's adventure!

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2004-05-13

This scholarly tale of 9-year-old Riley on "Safari in South Africa," with his cousin Alice, aunt Martha, and uncle Max take census of the different breeds of animals.

Riley learns the eco system is the responsibility of everyone and every creature in the world must do its part for the world to continue to survive and have balance. Poachers, predators, and developers however tip the scales of the eco system and cause the animal population to become endangered.

With each animal they encounter, some fun and interesting facts are revealed regarding their behaviors, eating styles, and play.

The authors evoke the help of several zoologist, conservationist, and educators in the animal fields for references and include next to the fun facts illustrations of the references.

This tale has awesome illustrations, set on the background of actual safari scenes and with real pictures of safari wildlife. You too will feel as if you were on this adventure.

The Adventures of Riley in South Africa is one of a series of - Riley's tales. This book contains information on accessing the Internet so kids can continue more adventures, and a passport book with a stamp of South Africa, so when they read a different book they can collect the stamps.

Children will absolutely love this book and learn from it.

**A portion of the proceeds will go to the Wildlife Conservation, Smithsonian Institute: Educational Mission and the World Wildlife Fund.

Circles in a Forest

Published in Hardcover by Knopf (1984-09-12)

Author: Dalene Matthee

List price: $14.95

Used price: $15.00

Average review score:

Recommended read

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-04-10

Coming from South Africa I have been lucky enough to read all of this very gifted authors work in her native tongue but re reading circles in english just hit home once again how gripping her story telling is in any language. You feel the pain, the love, the hate all in one that the character has for the forest he was raised in. And the characters stay with you long after the book has been put down. If you liked this book trying reading Fielas child the only other book in english and if you understand afrikaans a must read is Toorbos (i think it was translated but not sure) the last book the author wrote about the Knysna forest before she died.

an absolute jewel

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2005-01-14

It is very rare to happen upon such a beautifully written story. It has such a bittersweet ending. It appears to be very historically accurate. I have already ordered Fiela's Child. It appears that that is the only other book from this gifted author available in English. You won't be disappointed and neither will the many friends that you pass the book on to.

Excellent, Meaningful and true to life

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 1999-11-09

A well wriiten account of life in the Indigenous Knysna forest of South Africa that made you not want to put the book down.

Review of Circles in the Forest

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2001-06-27

This is a wonderful and compelling story, beautifully written. Sympathetic characters, accurate historical information and context. Very moving. Difficult to put the book down.

Lyrical, complex and compelling

Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 1999-11-10

I brought back two copies of this book from South Africa, and have urged it upon many friends. Everyone says it is one of the most beautiful pieces they have read in years. The reader becomes enmeshed in more "circles" than than you will ever know. You will understand more about elephants and people who love forest and animals than you ever thought possible.

Commando: A Boer Journal of the Anglo-Boer War

Published in Hardcover by Jonathan Ball Publishers (2005)

Authors: Denys Reitz and Thomas Pakenham

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Average review score:

Hard to put down

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-02

First person narrative of the Boer War written just one year after the end of the war. Gives unusual insight into the life of a Boer commando during this conflict with the mighty British army.

Commando: A Boer Journal for the Boer War

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-05-13

Excellent primary source for research papers on the Boer War! I highly reccommend it!

One of the great war dispatches of all times....

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2006-04-17

Written in a matter of fact style, the simple experiences of a young man at war are piled one upon the other with no guile and in a straightforward manner. What emerges is one of the greatest stories of war of all time. This stands alongside Dispatches and Black Hawk Down but is perhaps even more remarkable as it was written by a young man at war, not a professional writer or journalist.

Vivid personal recounting of first major war of 20th Century

Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2005-10-07

Written by a teenager, albeit, a resourceful, fit, intelligent son of a farmer and distinguished South African, it recounts in considerable detail the honourable soldiering on horseback and mule of young Deneys Reitz. His many encounters with the enemy; the harsh weather, difficult landscape, starvation and disease on a guerilla operation that lasted over two years, is testament in part to luck, but also to his survival skills, marksmanship, courage and tenacity. A great read which should be read with some advantage in conjunction with The Boer War by Thomas Pakenham.

Commando and the Deneys Reitz Trilogy

Helpful Votes: 8 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2000-11-24

Commando is the first and best known of the Deneys Reitz trilogy. It autobiographically tells the story of his part in the Boer War. He started as the sixteen year old son of a prominent Boer politician and ended with him joining Jan Smutts on his raid on Port Elizabeth. This is a story of guerrilla warfare based on minimal resources, for instance they used to visit the abandoned camp sites of British Columns just to pick up ammunition that the Tommies had dropped. They then used this to attack the very soldiers who had dropped it.

However, at the end of the Boer War Reitz was unable to accept British rule and went into exile and this is where the second volume, Trekking On starts. After a disastrous effort at hauling freight by ox cart in Madagascar which nearly cost him is life, Reitz is persuaded by Smutts to return to South Africa where he regains his health and enters local politics. At the outbreak of W.W.II Reitz joins the South African Army and takes part in the putting down of the Maritz rebellion and the campaigns in East Africa. Once the Germans are defeated in Africa he travels to England and , having decided firmly which side he would prefer to be on, joins the British Army as a private. Following a chance meeting with Smutts in London he experiences a dizzying rise in rank and ends the war, after seeing much action as the Colonel of a famous Scottish regiment.

The final book in the trilogy, No Outspan, covers Reitz's life in South African politics between the wars and concludes with him as Deputy Prime Minister of South Africa sitting on an advisory panel to Winston Churchill. in London. During this time he is visited by an Englishman who returned to him the Mauser rifle he took from him when Reitz became his prisoner during the Boer War. The last time I heard this rifle is still in the possession of Reitz's son and is regularly shot by him.

The Trilogy has been published by Wolfe Publishing as a one volume set in recent years and if you see a copy for sale, grab it!

A Human Being Died That Night: A South African Story of Forgiveness

Published in Hardcover by Houghton Mifflin (2003-01-23)

Author: Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela

List price: $24.00

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Average review score:

Excellent

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-02-07

This book is not only a great reference for studying forgiveness and conflict resolution, as other reviewers have suggested, but also for anyone looking for an understanding of apartheid and post-apartheid in South Africa. I purchased this book as a student of human rights law, and found it incredibly helpful in detailing background and implementation of such law in South Africa. A good choice for a student or for entertainment.

She is remarkable.

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-12-03

Dr. Gobodo-Madikizela is a remarkable human being. I am awestruck by her depth of soul. She puts so many of us to shame. I hope I can learn at least a little of her understanding and compassion.

read this book

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-05-07

This is one of the most powerful books I've read on the power of forgiveness and what it means to be human. I highly, highly recommend it.

we could all learn ....

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2004-04-01

It's a pity more of our current political leaders aren't reading books such as this one. Forgiveness, open hearts, the space to grow - how can this be anything but good? I heard Gobodo-Madikizela on NPR, inspiring me to read her book. It's amazing. I'd recommend it highly.

Absolutely Moving

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2004-01-17

I was extremely fortunate to hear Ms. Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela present her book on booktv on December 7, 2003. I strongly urge you who are reading this amazon comment to seek her out and go to listen to her if she is speaking anywhere near your area. Read this book by one of the world's most remarkable women and a true seeker of peace. Judge Albie Sachs also spoke in conjunction with Dr. Gobodo-Madikizela's book presentation and I would encourage the reader to seek him out as well. These two are truly exceptional human beings.

BOOKTV description of the presentation:
A Human Being Died That Night: A South African Story of Forgiveness
from March 9, 2003
From John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio, South African activist Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela discusses her book "A Human Being Died That Night." A psychologist, Ms. Gobodo-Madikizela had many conversations with Eugene de Kock, the former commanding officer of the apartheid police squads. De Koch, whose nicknames include "Dr. Death" and "Prime Evil," is currently serving 212 years in prison for crimes against humanity. Much of the book is set during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) hearings, during which both the perpetrators and their victims were given the right to be heard. Ms. Gobodo-Madikizela suggests that the TRC hearings may not have produced complete reconciliation, but the validation the victims received and the absolution they subsequently offered was therapeutic and necessary for the creation of the new democracy. Albie Sachs, a judge with the Constitutional Court of South Africa joins Ms. Gobodo-Madikizela. This program is hosted by Facing History and Ourselves, a nonprofit educational organization that encourages an interdisciplinary approach to teaching history by relating it to the daily experiences of the students.

No Place Left to Bury the Dead: Denial, Despair and Hope in the African AIDS Pandemic

Published in Kindle Edition by Atria Books (2007-11-20)

Author: Nicole Itano

List price: $17.99

New price: $9.99

Average review score:

Brilliant and Compassionate Book

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-06-10

No Place Left to Bury the Dead is one of the best books that I have ever read. The author, Nicole Itano, beautifully tells the story how HIV/AIDS affects the lives of three families in three different African counties. The author also brilliantly weaves in the history of the pandemic and its spread not only in Africa but throughout the world. The book explores several cultural,social and public health aspects of AIDS in Africa that I feel are often overlook in our Western view of the world. This book made me smile, it made me angry and it made me cry. It refined my view of the AIDS pandemic and opened my heart with a new found compassion. I could not put the book down. I true MUST read.No Place Left to Bury the Dead: Denial, Despair and Hope in the African AIDS Pandemic

An easy read on a difficult topic

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-02

Ms. Itano's work makes the complex challenge that HIV/AIDS poses to southern Africa and the world at large understandable to the lay reader. She blends personal stories with lessons on history, culture, and medicine, making AIDS personal for her readers. Her characters are compelling, and her personal relationship to and concern for them is evident. I'm looking forward to her next book.

The title of this book is very fitting for the situation in South Africa

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-02-11

I visited South Africa in 2006 so I feel this book is very relevant to my experiences there. If you want to learn about truth and suffering, and step back into reality, this is the book that will help you do that. There is truly no place left to bury the dead in South Africa.

read this book

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-18

I am amazed I haven't heard more buzz about this book ... it's a great book and I'm so happy I read it. But it's not the happiest of subject matters obviously.

Despite the No Place Left to Bury the Dead title, this book details the struggles people, particularly women, LIVING with HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa experience.

HIV/AIDS in Africa is no longer an automatic death sentence but there are too few people getting HIV/AIDS tests, too much stigma and far too many people are not getting the treatment they need due to a number of issues including money, lack of knowledge, stigma and most importantly lack of a proper health care infrastructure.

It may frustrate the reader that the book doesn't have an official ending or happy notes on the book's main characters ... but I guess that's reality unfortunately.

Buy this book!

Pamela Appea

Like reading a movie in the making

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-11

Itano's extraordinarily personal reporting and the powerful narrative it produced makes this book seem like a movie on paper. You have the sense that one day you'll see characters like Rich Uncle Isaacs, Adeline, and Bongy come to life on the silver screen. It packs a powerful emotional wallop and brings Africa to life in all its amazing colors. Could easily be the next Constant Gardener.

On Safari

Published in Hardcover by Focus on Africa (2005-05-01)

Author: David Anderson

List price: $75.00

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Used price: $50.00

Average review score:

Excellent book on Africa!

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-12-19

If you're thinking about a trip to Africa, this book is the best. David Anderson knows his stuff and I highly recommend this for anyone thinking about going on a Safari. Beautiful!!!!

Feel Africa at Home

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2006-04-15

We have been on two Safari's and "On Safari by David Anderson" tells it all for less than $100. It keeps memories alive and well...the joy of picking up this book and living the greatest vacations of our life is priceless! Everyone that looks at this book cannot believe how beautiful the animals, the people and the views are. The Lodges are especially suprising to all!

If you can go on Safari with David Anderson, by all means go today...if not this book is a must have!!

A Must Have for Anyone Going on Safari

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2006-04-11

This is a great book for anybody who is planning a trip to Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwands, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. Great photographs, a pile of information that you simply just can't get anywhere else. Start you safari planning here!

I have used this man's safari service

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-04-19

David's book is a glorious account of average people spending time with nature's truly inspiring flora & fauna. If you're planning on going on safari, this is a must have. If you've been, this will bring back wonderful memories. Peter & Dana

great guide to going on safari

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-04-11

I may be biased as I am one of the many contributing photographers to this book. I think that David Anderson did a good job putting this book together and that it is very informative to anyone wanting to go on safari. His knowledge, years of experience and a true love for Africa shows in this book.

The story of an African farm: A novel (Roberts Brothers' handy library)

Published in Unknown Binding by Roberts Bros (1890)

Author: Olive Schreiner

List price:

Average review score:

Spectacular

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2006-07-01

True to the topic, it transports you right there. Historical and old, but still current.

Much more than a feminist novel, novel for every one

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2003-09-04

I thought this book was one of the best books Ive ever read it describes how people feel and view the world from inside themselves but can never express this externally or even realise they are thinking these things themselves.

For me It depicts how inadequate we all are men and women, when it comes to Love, and expressing it and sharing it. it flumoxes us all, Its too big for us, "the chickens had more sense"....pass the worms please.

Picture of South African Victorian Culture

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2000-07-12

Written about a South African farm. this book depicts the story of a family and how they interact throughout the book. The most striking dynamic in the book is the relationships of the women in it. It portrays female existence in a realistic light even for today. The story has a lot of character to it, and I would recommend it highly for teachers who want to teach about feminism.

Incredible

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-12-01

Although I had to read this book for a college class, I would read it again in a second, I feel that I can only gain more and more from this book through rereadings. Its plot is at times disjointed to the style of the author and the message she is attempting to convey, so for those who are looking for a strongly Dickensian or "feel good" read, this is most likely not the book for you right now. But for me, from an analytical and heartfelt standpoint, the subtlety of the book and its beauty and its truth made me tear up a little bit. I'm currently writing a paper on Waldo and his artistic and personal growth throughout the novel, so maybe I'm a little biased, but although Lyndall is an incredibly interesting and advanced character, I think Waldo is often glossed over as merely suffering from a religious crisis of faith, and, being a man, not deserving of attention in this novel of the "New Woman". But Waldo ultimately reaches a place of amazing peace and understanding, and the lives of Waldo and Lyndall intertwined together is truly beautiful.

Complex, Deep and Moving

Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2005-06-15

"Story of an African Farm" is a difficult work to describe. It must be read several times, and carefully pondered before all of its secrets are unlocked.

Ostensibly, the book revolves around the lives of three children (and, later, adults) who live in the Karroo plains of South Africa. The main focus, however, is on two of the characters - Waldo, the earnest and deeply curious son of the German farmkeeper, and Lyndall, the beautiful, outspoken and rebellious orphan who suffers all her life for her ideals.

The book itself is semi-autobiographical. Waldo represents Schreiner's journey from fanatical, childlike faith to bitter skepticism, who reaches a watershed of sorts when he hisses to Lyndall 'There is no God - none!'. Lyndall, on the other hand, embodies Schreiner's frustation with her station as a woman - barred from the upper echelons of society, and her inability to find a mate who is both her intellectual match and willing to accept her as an equal. "I want to love", she whispers to the grave of Waldo's father, "I want something great and pure to lift me to itself."

There are many other themes that flesh out the subtext of this extraordinary book - the tragedy of solitude, that ultimately, all humans are alone in the cosmos. "Dear eyes", the dying Lyndall whispers to her mirror, "they will never part us."

Readers who expect a narrative will be dissapointed. What narrative there is serves only to undersore the book's many themes. Often, the flow of the story is out of sequence, or devoid of context, and deliberately so. Roughly, the book is divided into three sections - the first introduces us to the characters as children, and reveals their innermost thoughts. The second, and shortest section is entitled "Times and Seasons". It is somewhat of a summary of what has gone before, dealing mostly with Waldo's journey from Christian fanaticism to dispairing atheism, and foreshadows some of what is to come. The third, and longest section, covers the lives of the characters as adults, and is by far the most powerful, and moving piece of the book.

The reader who is looking for mindless action is advised to pick up the latest Tom Clancy novel, or whatever passes for literature these days. Those who are willing to put aside all preconceived notions, and have their cherished beliefs challenged are invited to read this book. The search for truth is endless. But this book is a perfect place to begin.

Typhoon

Published in Unknown Binding by Maskew Miller Longman Pty.Ltd ,South Africa ()

Author: Conrad

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Average review score:

Exciting literate adventure

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2006-01-14

Captain Macwhirr has a lack of imagination that both imperils the crew and may provide their salvation. He sails his ship the Nan-Shan directly into a typhoon because he is unable to envision weather worse than he has seen in the past. Macwhirr must find a way to hold his ship and crew together to weather the storm.

This book is so compelling because of the actions of the colorful and intelligent characters who swirl around Macwhirr. While critical of the captain when becalmed, they hold firmly to his unchanging, stolid figure when things look hopeless. In an uncertain situation, people will follow certainty -- even if its source is dubious. I think this nugget of truth and the reflections of it we see in real-life lend this novel its power. Macwhirr is certainty itself, more from mindlessness than steadfastness, and others follow.

Beyond the fascinating story and character-study is Conrad's stunning writing. He says so much with so little without the hard edges of Hemingway's prose. Conrad uses adjectives, but with a diamond cutter's precision.

Conrad the master!

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2003-01-27

Joseph Conrad was a master of language. In a brief but classic book, you will experience the incredible power of a typhoon while on a steamer as if you were there. Especially real is the scene in the chart room after the initial damage. It is very dark, and Captain MacWhirr lights matches to see his surroundings. Conrad's concise descriptions make you feel even the flame of the match as it burns down. If only this book were longer! I would have loved to know more about Captain MacWhirr's adventures. I HIGHLY recommend this book, as well as Conrad's "Heart of Darkness."

Better than a perfect storm

Helpful Votes: 3 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2000-10-10

This novel is unforgettable. Conrad creates a sense of terror regarding the forces of nature that will stand up to any special effects that Hollywood can produce. The scene describing the panic below deck of the Chinese workers is one of the most powerful in literature. Not to be missed.

A storm and how to survive it

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2002-04-03

Taking maximum advantage from his long years at sea, and from his innate insight into the human soul, Conrad tells an outright and direct story about a huge typhoon in the midst of the Yellow Sea. But the book is not so much about the storm in itself, but about the human character and how it reacts to disaster.

Captain MacWhirr is famous for being an efficient, calm, dull and silent man, someone you would trust but not like. He seems to be rather unbrilliant, though, never understanding why people talk so much. The other characters are also interesting, especially Jukes, the "young Turk", vivid and dynamic; Solomon the head engineer, another wise man from the sea, and the disgusting and repugnant "second officer", the type of coward you don't want to be with in this kind of drama.

Human character, then, is revealed by limit-situations much more than at any other time, as war literature fans know, and this tale will leave you wondering how YOU would react if you had to make decisions in the midst of a horrible, and wonderfully depicted, typhoon.

A 1903 Classic Novel of the Sea

Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2002-03-04

Great narration on the audio book captures the British and Scottish dialects, but it's so smooth that it's easy to be lulled into dreamland. I had to go back to the excerpts on Amazon and replay parts of the tape to catch the true impact of Conrad's words.

Captain Mac Whirr, a short, fat, dull but dependable seaman, commands the Nan-Shan for a Siamese merchant firm. He writes twelve letter a year to his uncaring wife and has two children who barely know him. During typhoon season in the China Sea Jukes the first mate tells the Captain to change course to avoid the looming storm, but Mac Whirr will think of nothing but forging straight ahead. The Captain and Jukes as well as Solomon Rout the chief engineer (Long Sol, Old Sol or father Rout to his shipmates and Solomon Sez to his wife who quotes pearls of wisdom from his letters to anyone who'll listen) and the Bosun are at the center of the crisis that follows.

During a storm like no other the actions of everyman are almost predetermined by their biases, intrenched beliefs and in some cases ability to react. In six short chapters Conrad develops a great story of how different men behave in a fight for survival.

The tale of the last leg is told in pieces from letters home. The Captain's letter is barely read by his wife who has no idea what happened. Solomon's is sentimental and cherished by his beloved. Jukes reveals the most. Unsurprisingly we find that Captain Mac Whirr wasn't so dumb after all.

It would probably be better read than listened to and deserves at least four stars for the classic it is.