tboltkid 's review for:

Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton

4.0

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Lyrically written, 'Cry, the Beloved Country' is a great book of the relationships of spirit, man, government, and nature. A great insight into the challenges of South Africa during the pre-apartheid years and the quiet (but not silent) destruction of tradition and land which bred inequality and anger in the poor, urban Blacks.

The great red hills stand desolate, and the earth has torn away like flesh. The lightning flashes over them, the clouds pour down upon them, the dead streams come to life, full of the red blood of the earth. Down in the valleys women scratch the soil that is left and the maize hardly reaches the height of a man. They are valleys of old men and women, of mothers and children. The men are away, the young men and girls are away. The soil cannot keep them any more.

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In the deserted harbour there is yet water that laps against the quays. In the dark and silent forest there is a leaf that falls. Behind the polished paneling the white ant eats away the wood. Nothing is ever quiet, except for fools.

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Yes, God Save Africa, the beloved country. God save us from the dep depths of our sins. God save us from the fear that is afraid of justice. God save us from the fear that is afraid of men. God save us all.

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