You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
This book was powerful to me on many different levels. It struck me as such a portrait of PLACE - and a love of a place. I love the relationships and the tone - the style of writing is superb. I felt like I learned a lot about South Africa and its struggles as well. An incredible read.
2018 review:
A father and a son. A land and its people. Cry, the Beloved Country is about both the one and the many. Our story follows Zulu pastor Stephen Kumalo, a humble man from a very humble place who travels to the city of Johannesburg to try and find his son Absalom. In the South Africa of the 1940s, the friction between "native" and "white" is a murmur with the volume increasing, terrifying to those both in power and to the natives who know who will truly suffer whenever there is violence. Pastor Kumalo's journey is an emotional one and what he learns and how he processes it is at the crux of this novel. His love of his son and of his people, his introspection and his choices - they are what make this novel so unbelievably beautiful. The writing is exquisite - sparse in some ways but so deep in others. The word choice, the images, it made me feel so much compassion both for the pastor as well as for all the non-Europeans who were trying to eke out a life for themselves in a land that was dying and under the thumb of the white man who claimed that dying land.
I love that there are good and bad choices made by people of both races. Here is humility. Here is compassion and devastation and a love for something bigger than yourself. Here is trying to find peace in a world that does not favor you. It is hard and it is heavy. But it is beautiful, too.
2018 review:
A father and a son. A land and its people. Cry, the Beloved Country is about both the one and the many. Our story follows Zulu pastor Stephen Kumalo, a humble man from a very humble place who travels to the city of Johannesburg to try and find his son Absalom. In the South Africa of the 1940s, the friction between "native" and "white" is a murmur with the volume increasing, terrifying to those both in power and to the natives who know who will truly suffer whenever there is violence. Pastor Kumalo's journey is an emotional one and what he learns and how he processes it is at the crux of this novel. His love of his son and of his people, his introspection and his choices - they are what make this novel so unbelievably beautiful. The writing is exquisite - sparse in some ways but so deep in others. The word choice, the images, it made me feel so much compassion both for the pastor as well as for all the non-Europeans who were trying to eke out a life for themselves in a land that was dying and under the thumb of the white man who claimed that dying land.
I love that there are good and bad choices made by people of both races. Here is humility. Here is compassion and devastation and a love for something bigger than yourself. Here is trying to find peace in a world that does not favor you. It is hard and it is heavy. But it is beautiful, too.
One of my favorite books of all time. It is an important story, a sad story, and a very well-written story.
I fell in love with the umfundisi. As a character, he is a broken, disenheartened man who finds purpose in piecing together the fragments of a tribal life. In searching for his son, he finds joy, heartbreak, friends, and a sense of peace. Parts of the story are so difficult to read; Paton's ability to pull his readers in is key to the novel's overall effect. Some story lines develop so slowly that, like vines, they slowly wrap around your heart and refuse to let go. The juxtaposition of Jarvis and Arthur's paths, bound together by an inexplicably sad shared event, ultimately brings hope to the incomprehensible instability that envelops so much of Africa.
Author: Alan Paton
Title: Cry, the Beloved Country
Description: An old priest from rural South Africa goes to Johannesburg to find his sister and his son, with whom he has lost touch. Transplanted from their rural lives, they have succumbed to bad company, temptation, and poverty. While the sister agrees to return to their small village to raise her son, the priest’s son, Absalom, has suffered a different and heartbreaking fate. Meanwhile, a rich white landowner finds that his son has been murdered in a burglary gone bad.
Review source: This was a book group selection.
Plot: I pretty well described the plot above, but the plot is barely important compared to the characters and the writing.
Characters: Stephen Kumalo and uJarvis, Absalom and Arthur, are white and black, young and old, poor and rich. They are both richly drawn characters and representations of South African people.
Writing style: This book is literally beautiful. It’s just poetry.
Audience: everyone.
Wrap-up: One good thing about the book group is that it gets me to read some classics that I should have read by now, but just haven’t, somehow. This book surpassed its reputation and all of my expectations; it was lovely, and it broke my heart. 5/5*
Title: Cry, the Beloved Country
Description: An old priest from rural South Africa goes to Johannesburg to find his sister and his son, with whom he has lost touch. Transplanted from their rural lives, they have succumbed to bad company, temptation, and poverty. While the sister agrees to return to their small village to raise her son, the priest’s son, Absalom, has suffered a different and heartbreaking fate. Meanwhile, a rich white landowner finds that his son has been murdered in a burglary gone bad.
Review source: This was a book group selection.
Plot: I pretty well described the plot above, but the plot is barely important compared to the characters and the writing.
Characters: Stephen Kumalo and uJarvis, Absalom and Arthur, are white and black, young and old, poor and rich. They are both richly drawn characters and representations of South African people.
Writing style: This book is literally beautiful. It’s just poetry.
Audience: everyone.
Wrap-up: One good thing about the book group is that it gets me to read some classics that I should have read by now, but just haven’t, somehow. This book surpassed its reputation and all of my expectations; it was lovely, and it broke my heart. 5/5*
This is the second time I read this book, and I still really enjoy it. It is written in a unique and memorable writing style. Its a beautiful story written very honestly...it doesn't avoid difficult subjects or sugar-coat the realities of South Africa during that time. Although it would be expected that such a truthful book would be a depressing read, it is not. It has lovely characters that persevere.
long and windy and sometimes long-winded
this a a good book that could have been great
the story meanders too much and went on too long
some parts are genius, lyrical, and beautiful; he can slay you with one word
some parts are incredibly boring and take the reader away from the heaviness of the story
this a a good book that could have been great
the story meanders too much and went on too long
some parts are genius, lyrical, and beautiful; he can slay you with one word
some parts are incredibly boring and take the reader away from the heaviness of the story
challenging
informative
slow-paced