Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.32 AVERAGE
3.32 AVERAGE
No lo disfruté para nada, no es horrible pero a mí no me resultó muy atrapante ni nada, se me hizo super denso. Todo un parto.
*** Lectura de la facultad ***
*** Lectura de la facultad ***
"Their fun had its place in their poverty. It ignored that they were in the middle of a war, as if poverty itself were a country whose dispossession nothing reaches."
What would it be like to flee and be taken in by the person you thought you were protecting, and the rules change, and you don't own anything.
What would it be like to flee and be taken in by the person you thought you were protecting, and the rules change, and you don't own anything.
My problems with this book are internal to myself: I have so little understanding of the wider context of South Africa in the early 80s. I wanted Gordimer to talk more about the atrocities that led up to revolution, instead of sitting with the nuances of the liberal white family's hurt feelings; I wanted each line of dialogue to be in quotations, with a 'So-and-so said' included; I wanted more thoughts and emotions from the black characters; I wanted Gordimer to sacrifice beauty of the words for clarity of meaning.
I read afterward that Gordimer was fiercely against Apartheid, and that helped assuage some of my anxieties about the book. But because of my outsiders' view, I overwhelmingly wanted more clarity and less nuance. Those with a better insiders' look can have a greater appreciation (and more insightful critique) of this tense and glittering little book.
I read afterward that Gordimer was fiercely against Apartheid, and that helped assuage some of my anxieties about the book. But because of my outsiders' view, I overwhelmingly wanted more clarity and less nuance. Those with a better insiders' look can have a greater appreciation (and more insightful critique) of this tense and glittering little book.
It was a good book, but not one that will stay with me. I might be too far removed. I don't know. The thing that interested me the most was that even though Maureen and Bam weren't evil racists, they still had no idea about anything. Good intentions aren't enough.
This book was an eye-opener for me, one of the finest and most provocative books I’ve read. There is a black uprising in South Africa and the country is at war. The Smales, a white, liberal family with 3 children, flee the bombing of their city with their servant, July, to his homeland in the veld. The Smales must adapt to life without electricity, plumbing, deodorant, etc. in a mud hut. The tables have now turned and July has more and more power as the Smales gradually lose control as their city knowledge is now useless. Interestingly, their children adapt quite well to their new environment.
Some interesting plot kept me reading. But I hated the writing. Indecipherable at times, I'm sure I missed crucial plot points.
Loved this book. So much fun to read, her writing is so concrete, really felt like I was sinking my teeth into the words. Awesome emotional suspense as well. Can't wait to read another of her books. Also was it me or was it strange to imagine the setting as the 1980's? Maybe because of the primitive village, it seemed much further back in time.
After two books, I am dismissing Nadine Gordimer from my attention. I listened to Burger's Daughter, didn't care, read this for the Book Riot Read Harder challenge, and didn't care. Done!
