Reviews

Beethoven Was One-Sixteenth Black and Other Stories by Nadine Gordimer

jcansdale's review against another edition

2.0

Short stories with interesting premises.

williamsdebbied's review against another edition

3.0

A slightly uneven collection, but I liked it enough to try some of the author’s other works. The stories cover a lot of ground—the legacy of Apartheid, love, loss, racism, sexuality, memory, and the inner life of a tapeworm.

Gordimer experiments with syntax and punctuation in a way that I don’t particularly enjoy.

shayan_reads's review against another edition

3.0

This is the problem with short story collection. Some stories are amazing while others are so terrible you can’t even finish it. In this novel too, “A Beneficiary “and “History” were two interesting stories. Others were just meh.

ursulamonarch's review

I had a really hard time with this collection, partially due to South African references that were unfamiliar to me - but I had a hard time getting a grip on it beyond that. Except the parasite story.

bibliocyclist's review

3.0

"The past is a foreign country."

asuph's review

4.0

A mixed bag, but the good ones are really really good. And there is a thematic continuity to the collection that works for stories that aren't up there by lifting them up a bit. My first Gordimer book, and something tells me, it won't be the last. Love the way she lays down the context, no detail seems superfluous, no commentary seems out of place, no observation seems forced. Well worth my time.