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nikkilerae's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
susanp's review against another edition
4.0
Set in an interment camp for the Boers during the Boer War, this book covers a shameful period of history I knew little about.
dawn_dickerson's review against another edition
4.0
I have long enjoyed historical fiction of the world war 2 era. This was a similar book but if a far earlier time frame from the second Boer war. This book jumps between multiple time frames but it is easy to follow along. It offers some historical (yet fiction) context of an era and war I knew nothing about.
mindfullibrarian's review against another edition
4.0
Quality historical fiction makes you seek out more information on the topic at hand, and this book did exactly that for me. I had only ever heard mention of the term "Boer" and did not truly have an understanding of the word, much less have any knowledge of the war that this book is based on or the history of Dutch and English colonization of South Africa (beyond what I read in Trevor Noah's "Born a Crime"). This book has a helpful introduction that explains Boling's impetus for writing this book and a brief history of the war that frames the story for readers like me, but of course after reading Lettie's story, I was and am eager to seek out more factual content.
Boling did an outstanding job of writing from a young teenage girl's point of view, and held nothing back in his description of the horrors of war and the concentration camps and the proclaimed "war against women and children". I was concerned at first about reading from the God-fearing colonists' POV, since we now are quite aware of how they came to claim the land from the people who originally lived there. However, Boling does include a scene in which an English soldier puts Lettie straight about how the English did the exact same thing to the Boers as the Boers did to the Zulus - slashed and burned and killed and took the land for their own. It's interesting to ponder such an issue, given that writing from Lettie's POV and the colonist's POV IS a valid POV - not necessarily an accurate portrayal of the original events of the colonization, but Lettie and the Boers of her time were not the original colonists. This is the information she had been fed from birth.
This is the same discussion being had now about portrayal of the colonization of the US and American Indians........can you write from a colonist's POV without harming the colonized? Can we read Laura Ingalls Wilder and understand that this truly is how western settlers thought? Is it historically accurate describing things as Lettie does in this book because that is how she truly felt and understood her history, right or wrong? Should there have been parts of the story more accurately describing how Bina came to live with their family? When we read of American slavery, reading from a plantation owner's perspective feels horrible to us, but if that is the way a person in that position felt and acted, is it a valid POV to write from? Should all fiction be written from the POV of the marginalized? All excellent points to ponder after reading this book, and certainly something that I will be following up on in additional reading on the Second Anglo-Boer War from the perspective of South Africans.
Thank you to Algonquin for providing me with a paperback advance reading copy of this book for review - all opinions are my own.
Boling did an outstanding job of writing from a young teenage girl's point of view, and held nothing back in his description of the horrors of war and the concentration camps and the proclaimed "war against women and children". I was concerned at first about reading from the God-fearing colonists' POV, since we now are quite aware of how they came to claim the land from the people who originally lived there. However, Boling does include a scene in which an English soldier puts Lettie straight about how the English did the exact same thing to the Boers as the Boers did to the Zulus - slashed and burned and killed and took the land for their own. It's interesting to ponder such an issue, given that writing from Lettie's POV and the colonist's POV IS a valid POV - not necessarily an accurate portrayal of the original events of the colonization, but Lettie and the Boers of her time were not the original colonists. This is the information she had been fed from birth.
This is the same discussion being had now about portrayal of the colonization of the US and American Indians........can you write from a colonist's POV without harming the colonized? Can we read Laura Ingalls Wilder and understand that this truly is how western settlers thought? Is it historically accurate describing things as Lettie does in this book because that is how she truly felt and understood her history, right or wrong? Should there have been parts of the story more accurately describing how Bina came to live with their family? When we read of American slavery, reading from a plantation owner's perspective feels horrible to us, but if that is the way a person in that position felt and acted, is it a valid POV to write from? Should all fiction be written from the POV of the marginalized? All excellent points to ponder after reading this book, and certainly something that I will be following up on in additional reading on the Second Anglo-Boer War from the perspective of South Africans.
Thank you to Algonquin for providing me with a paperback advance reading copy of this book for review - all opinions are my own.
hannahmccarl's review against another edition
4.0
A historical fiction of the Boer War, personable characters and a haunting story.
morr_books's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
courtraemck's review against another edition
3.0
This book is much more internally self-reflecting than outwardly focused on events, so it can get heavy at times. I really enjoyed the action and relationships in the concentration camp during the Second Boer War, but I feel this book didn’t demonstrate as much culture of the time period and place as it could have.
erincharp's review against another edition
5.0
I knew virtually nothing about The Second Anglo-Boer War, which happened at the turn of the century in South Africa. Of course, gold was discovered and the British wanted a piece of it, no matter how many South African homes and lives they had to destroy.
The story is told by Lettie, a 14 year old girl who, along with her mother and siblings, ends up in a concentration camp run by the British soldiers. The conditions are appalling and though there is some kindness, by and large everyone is focused on individual survival. Although this is historical fiction, I was captivated by both Lettie's story and the history behind it and did additional research. I absolutely recommend this book, especially if you're unaware of the history within it as I was.
The story is told by Lettie, a 14 year old girl who, along with her mother and siblings, ends up in a concentration camp run by the British soldiers. The conditions are appalling and though there is some kindness, by and large everyone is focused on individual survival. Although this is historical fiction, I was captivated by both Lettie's story and the history behind it and did additional research. I absolutely recommend this book, especially if you're unaware of the history within it as I was.
k_lee_reads_it's review against another edition
5.0
"It was only when everything was taken away that you got to see what was at your core. And if you could hold on to that, that singular meaning, you went on; if you couldn't, the collapse was complete."
In this historical fiction novel by Dave Boling, Lettie, a thirteen year old Dutch-Africkaner girl at the turn of the last century, endures the loss of her home, with her mother and two younger siblings when the scorched earth policy employed by the British during the Boer War burns their farm and forces them to leave in a wagon. Their African maid, Bina, tries to stay with the family, but is given no choice by the soldiers but to return to her people.
Driven to a concentration camp, Lettie and her family worry about her father, older brother, and grandfather who are out fighting the British with guerrilla tactics. Lettie also worries and wonders about Bina and her family. Often Lettie remembers the songs and wisdom Bina shared during her childhood and the history of stars that Oupa (Grandpa) shared with her at night under the sparkling sky.
According to history, the Second Boer War, in which this story is set, lead to the death of nearly 28,000 Boers (Dutch farm family members) and just over 14,000 black Africans. Of those nearly 28,000 Boers, just over 22,000 were children under 16 who mostly died of malnutrition and disease in the camps.
I didn't know anything about the Boer Wars. But I have read of war and man's inhumanity to man, and the horrors of captured people during war and civil unrest and been moved by it many times. This is among many other great books about what happens to people when all that they have and even are, is stripped away to almost nothing.
In this historical fiction novel by Dave Boling, Lettie, a thirteen year old Dutch-Africkaner girl at the turn of the last century, endures the loss of her home, with her mother and two younger siblings when the scorched earth policy employed by the British during the Boer War burns their farm and forces them to leave in a wagon. Their African maid, Bina, tries to stay with the family, but is given no choice by the soldiers but to return to her people.
Driven to a concentration camp, Lettie and her family worry about her father, older brother, and grandfather who are out fighting the British with guerrilla tactics. Lettie also worries and wonders about Bina and her family. Often Lettie remembers the songs and wisdom Bina shared during her childhood and the history of stars that Oupa (Grandpa) shared with her at night under the sparkling sky.
According to history, the Second Boer War, in which this story is set, lead to the death of nearly 28,000 Boers (Dutch farm family members) and just over 14,000 black Africans. Of those nearly 28,000 Boers, just over 22,000 were children under 16 who mostly died of malnutrition and disease in the camps.
I didn't know anything about the Boer Wars. But I have read of war and man's inhumanity to man, and the horrors of captured people during war and civil unrest and been moved by it many times. This is among many other great books about what happens to people when all that they have and even are, is stripped away to almost nothing.
dmahanty's review against another edition
4.0
historical fiction. Set in South Africa during the Boer War, the story is told from Aletta (Lettie) , a fourteen year old girl whose family is forced into a British concentration camp while the men in her family have gone off to fight. Great insight into the life of the Boers before and during the war with England.