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4.3 AVERAGE
4.3 AVERAGE
fast-paced
I never intended to review this book - I try to keep my academic and personal reads separate but I just couldn't stop thinking about it for the last few months.
I picked it up as a potential source material for my thesis and I just could not put it down. The author's writing is gorgeous; not only did I find myself deeply immersed in the narrative, the dialogue was so realistic and genuine that I felt like I was sitting in my grandmother's kitchen with a hot cup of tea, shrinking myself so the aunties would not see me eavesdrop as they gossiped about the neighbours. I've always been less than enthusiastic about my grasp of Afrikaans - my father tongue, nogal - but the familiar dialect (and idioms, oh jirre, it was like being on the phone with my parents) had me breezing through it.
I'm on the fence when it comes to my position on "the death of the author" so I hope Terry-Ann can forgive me if I'm wrong when I say I could only read this as a love letter to coloured women. There's such life and love in the way the women in this novel are written and it brings to mind the importance of passing down culture and tradition through storytelling.
My thought process behind this is much too convoluted for a review, so I'll leave it at this: I loved it. I'll read it again. I'll be seated in the front row if it's ever a one-woman play.
I picked it up as a potential source material for my thesis and I just could not put it down. The author's writing is gorgeous; not only did I find myself deeply immersed in the narrative, the dialogue was so realistic and genuine that I felt like I was sitting in my grandmother's kitchen with a hot cup of tea, shrinking myself so the aunties would not see me eavesdrop as they gossiped about the neighbours. I've always been less than enthusiastic about my grasp of Afrikaans - my father tongue, nogal - but the familiar dialect (and idioms, oh jirre, it was like being on the phone with my parents) had me breezing through it.
I'm on the fence when it comes to my position on "the death of the author" so I hope Terry-Ann can forgive me if I'm wrong when I say I could only read this as a love letter to coloured women. There's such life and love in the way the women in this novel are written and it brings to mind the importance of passing down culture and tradition through storytelling.
My thought process behind this is much too convoluted for a review, so I'll leave it at this: I loved it. I'll read it again. I'll be seated in the front row if it's ever a one-woman play.
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
this book is surreal. it's truly one of the best depictions of what it is to be coloured in south africa and i love this book for it. i see my mother in this book, i see my ouma, and i see myself.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
I often think about this book.
This is the story about community told through the lives of five women living in Eldorado Park, Johannesburg, a coloured township founded in the mid 60s as part of the apartheid’s regime to segregate different race classes to different areas. Adams has crafted a story where Eldorado Park itself is its own character, and this is a testament to the importance of the location of this story.
I loved the way Adams wrote as her characters would speak and so we not only get a sense of the very distinct dialect, but also a mash up of English and Afrikaans. My favourite character was Bertha, but each woman’s story is moving and they are all interlinked – such is the way of community. We see the responsibility of women in the home and the community in relation to their families.
It’s a short book and covers some really important themes such as generational trauma, the drug epidemic in the community, domestic abuse and the degrees of what is considered acceptable or even normal, and the toxic gender norms being perpetuated. As with a community created on melanin, there is colourism and this idea of what social currency you are afforded based on how light or dark skinned you are. You see the fruits of systemic racism and how difficult it is to break cycles. How do you get out?
I think if you’re South African and you enjoyed Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver then you will love this story that brings similar themes closer to home.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, Alcohol
Minor: Sexual content, Abortion
It’s difficult to imagine that this is Terry-Ann’s debut novel. She just has such an impressive way with words. You feel like you are living each and every one of the experiences within the book. The book is beautiful, sad, moving and all of the things. I felt myself crying with the characters, getting angry at the characters and just living through them.
Here is my interview with Terry-Ann https://www.thedailyvox.co.za/terry-ann-adams-is-writing-about-eldorado-park/
Here is my interview with Terry-Ann https://www.thedailyvox.co.za/terry-ann-adams-is-writing-about-eldorado-park/
challenging
emotional
sad
medium-paced
I really enjoyed reading this novel, exploring perspectives of intertwined characters as events unfold.
The only real negative point for me was that I bought the book in SA without realising about 30% is in Afrikaans, which I can't understand.
The only real negative point for me was that I bought the book in SA without realising about 30% is in Afrikaans, which I can't understand.
I rarely read newsletters from publishers but one day I decided to read one and it happened to be about this book and I knew that I had to pre-order it. Why? Because it was set in Eldorado Park and I realised that I hadn’t read any fiction centering the township and it’s residents.
At its core, Those Who Live In Cages is a story about Coloured women, family, friendship, identity, and the many ways one can play the hand that life deals you.
There are so many things I want to say, don’t know if I have the range to speak of them coherently? But I’ll choose the three that I need to get off my chest
At its core, Those Who Live In Cages is a story about Coloured women, family, friendship, identity, and the many ways one can play the hand that life deals you.
There are so many things I want to say, don’t know if I have the range to speak of them coherently? But I’ll choose the three that I need to get off my chest