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enora's review against another edition
dark
informative
inspiring
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
hayesstw's review against another edition
5.0
I read this book 34 years ago, but with the death of [a:Andre Brink|1409320|André Brink|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1213875970p2/1409320.jpg] it's perhaps time to write a review of it. I will, however, have to write it from memory, because I lent my copy of the book to someone soon after I'd read it and never got it back.
The great merit of this book is that it tells it like it was.
It is an absolutely true-to-life story set in South Africa of the late 1970s. It is told from the point of view of an Afrikaner school teacher who gradually discovers what lies just under the surface, of society, which at first he can't believe. He thinks there must be some mistake, this sort of thing can't happen. But as he gets drawn in he discovers that such things not only can happen, but they do. And eventually they not only hasppen to other people, they happen to him.
In a way it is a South African version of [a:Franz Kafka|5223|Franz Kafka|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1412460277p2/5223.jpg]'s [b:The trial|17690|The Trial|Franz Kafka|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320399438s/17690.jpg|2965832], though without the surreal element. Brink writes soberly, without exaggeration, without hype, but it is absolutely authentic. This is how it was.
A film was made of it, but because it was filmed in the time of apartheid, it is as inauthentic as the book is authentic, because it was filmed in Zimbabwe.
I think that is one film that really does deserve a remake, in a South African setting, with South African actors. Some remakes I've seen, like The taking of Pelham 1 2 3, or The flight of the Phoenix were unnecessary, and no better and in some ways worse than the originals. But this one cries out for a remake.
One of the problems with the film of A dry white season is that it was set in an English-style private prep school, where the kids wore English school caps, and the setting was horribly unlike an Afrikaans high school, and so missed the point. When I read the book I pictured the kids in the brown and gold blazers of Helpmekaar Hoerskool. I'm not sure what [a:Andre Brink|1409320|André Brink|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1213875970p2/1409320.jpg] pictured when he was writing it, but Helpmekaar would have been an authentic seeting.
It will perhaps be more difficult to find an authentic black township nowadays, as many of the locations are very different from what they were like in the 1970s, so it needs someone to do it soon.
The great merit of this book is that it tells it like it was.
It is an absolutely true-to-life story set in South Africa of the late 1970s. It is told from the point of view of an Afrikaner school teacher who gradually discovers what lies just under the surface, of society, which at first he can't believe. He thinks there must be some mistake, this sort of thing can't happen. But as he gets drawn in he discovers that such things not only can happen, but they do. And eventually they not only hasppen to other people, they happen to him.
In a way it is a South African version of [a:Franz Kafka|5223|Franz Kafka|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1412460277p2/5223.jpg]'s [b:The trial|17690|The Trial|Franz Kafka|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320399438s/17690.jpg|2965832], though without the surreal element. Brink writes soberly, without exaggeration, without hype, but it is absolutely authentic. This is how it was.
A film was made of it, but because it was filmed in the time of apartheid, it is as inauthentic as the book is authentic, because it was filmed in Zimbabwe.
I think that is one film that really does deserve a remake, in a South African setting, with South African actors. Some remakes I've seen, like The taking of Pelham 1 2 3, or The flight of the Phoenix were unnecessary, and no better and in some ways worse than the originals. But this one cries out for a remake.
One of the problems with the film of A dry white season is that it was set in an English-style private prep school, where the kids wore English school caps, and the setting was horribly unlike an Afrikaans high school, and so missed the point. When I read the book I pictured the kids in the brown and gold blazers of Helpmekaar Hoerskool. I'm not sure what [a:Andre Brink|1409320|André Brink|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1213875970p2/1409320.jpg] pictured when he was writing it, but Helpmekaar would have been an authentic seeting.
It will perhaps be more difficult to find an authentic black township nowadays, as many of the locations are very different from what they were like in the 1970s, so it needs someone to do it soon.
yarahossam's review against another edition
3.0
I am too immersed in what happened in Soweto to give an actual feedback about the main character's decolonized perspective. I appreciate the amazing writing which viewed Ben Du Toit's greatly deconstructed approach towards the extreme annexed thought that has been implanted into the whites' minds ever since the dawn of day. Its a euphoric struggle to be in the right and not having anyone see it except years later. Everyone is against him and its unbearable.
The book is dry somewhat though.
The book is dry somewhat though.
cnyreader's review against another edition
5.0
South Africa, the Johannesburg area where Ben lives with his family, is a dangerous place for a black person who doesn't know his place. So when Gordon, the black man who's worked with Ben, a white teacher, at their school, tells Ben about his son's death and Ben helps him look into it, bad things start to happen. But Ben keeps investigating, and it dawns on him that the system he was raised in, the system that funs his entire world, is corrupt and prejudiced. That he, a white man, has privilege because of the color of his skin. And then he has to decide what to do, what is within his power and responsibility.
Reading the phrase "white privilege" in a book that was written in the late 1970s was surprising and hopeful. Witnessing this character wake up to realization of his race, what it really means, felt important, like I want to give this book to people I know so they can understand, or be validated in their experiences as well. Aside from the universal concepts, the story is painful and real and despairing and hopeful.
Food: the first time I ate oysters. I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into, but I was going to be daring and try something new, and I was so happy when I had a mouthful of chargrilled oysters. Uniquely their own taste, I lost my fear of shellfish and a whole realm of possibilities opened up to me.
Reading the phrase "white privilege" in a book that was written in the late 1970s was surprising and hopeful. Witnessing this character wake up to realization of his race, what it really means, felt important, like I want to give this book to people I know so they can understand, or be validated in their experiences as well. Aside from the universal concepts, the story is painful and real and despairing and hopeful.
Food: the first time I ate oysters. I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into, but I was going to be daring and try something new, and I was so happy when I had a mouthful of chargrilled oysters. Uniquely their own taste, I lost my fear of shellfish and a whole realm of possibilities opened up to me.
kaadie's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
tamara292's review against another edition
3.0
A very good read, did get a bit boring in the middle but the ending is worth it.
zeinm1980's review against another edition
5.0
This is an incredibly powerful book set in South Africa during the most turbulent years of apartheid. Beautifully written. I would recommend alongside The Native Commissioner.
catherineo's review against another edition
4.0
‘There are only two types of madness we should guard against. One is the belief that we can do everything. The other is the belief that we can do nothing.’
A Dry White Season is a sad, depressing look at racial prejudices in apartheid South Africa through the story of a white man trying to bring justice to the memory of a black man. Ben du Toit is a schoolteacher whose life changes when he becomes involved with the family of the school caretaker Gordon Ngubene. Set around the Soweto Riots the book deals with the futile endeavours of an individual to overcome injustice by the state. This book was banned in South Africa. It was made into a film in 1989.
The story itself is incredibly gripping. I read it in only a few sittings, but had to stop reading it on the train, instead waiting until I was home, because I was scared of my own emotional reaction.
A Dry White Season is a sad, depressing look at racial prejudices in apartheid South Africa through the story of a white man trying to bring justice to the memory of a black man. Ben du Toit is a schoolteacher whose life changes when he becomes involved with the family of the school caretaker Gordon Ngubene. Set around the Soweto Riots the book deals with the futile endeavours of an individual to overcome injustice by the state. This book was banned in South Africa. It was made into a film in 1989.
The story itself is incredibly gripping. I read it in only a few sittings, but had to stop reading it on the train, instead waiting until I was home, because I was scared of my own emotional reaction.
slyallm's review against another edition
1.0
Decrying the evils of apartheid through a mild-mannered white (i.e. Afrikaner/Boer) narrator really misses the point. Even worse, the novel bookends that white POV through another white narrator, like "white savior complex" nesting dolls (TM). Meanwhile, the black characters tend toward shallow and cliched, and in a couple mob scenes, Brink engages in "black peril" sort of dehumanizing hyperbole.
If you are willing to look past all that and judge DWS as a novel, that doesn't really help. Mostly cliched, with extensive dialog that reads like Mad Libs filled in with random quotes from an inspirational calendar.
Well meaning, and perhaps one of those novels that can't be judged outside of the historical context, but god this one has not aged well.
If you are willing to look past all that and judge DWS as a novel, that doesn't really help. Mostly cliched, with extensive dialog that reads like Mad Libs filled in with random quotes from an inspirational calendar.
Well meaning, and perhaps one of those novels that can't be judged outside of the historical context, but god this one has not aged well.