A review by cnyreader
A Dry White Season by André Brink

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.