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A review by alijc
The Story of an African Farm by Olive Schreiner
2.0
The first third focused on the childhoods of the three main characters. I think that it was supposed to be funny. But this humor consisted mostly of showing how adults are cruel, gullible and hypocritical. Repeated ad nauseum.
The middle third was an essay on childhood, and the changes that occur as a child grows up. Specifically, how they embrace religion when their minds are not yet fully formed and rejected when they are old enough to think logically. A bit dated, but interesting.
The final third follows the children after they've grown to adulthood. Drama, betrayal, and gobs of hormones flying loose. A bit of odd cross-dressing, and a long proto-feminist screed. Which rubbed me wrong. Mostly because it strikes me that anyone who championed equal rights for women should have extended that hope to people with dark complexions. And in this book such people are portrayed as mentally inferior and subhuman - hardly better than part of landscape. The others assured me that Schreiner wasn't racist. I'll have to accept that she tucked those bits into the book only because she didn't want to upset the Victorian apple cart more than she was already doing.
The middle third was an essay on childhood, and the changes that occur as a child grows up. Specifically, how they embrace religion when their minds are not yet fully formed and rejected when they are old enough to think logically. A bit dated, but interesting.
The final third follows the children after they've grown to adulthood. Drama, betrayal, and gobs of hormones flying loose. A bit of odd cross-dressing, and a long proto-feminist screed. Which rubbed me wrong. Mostly because it strikes me that anyone who championed equal rights for women should have extended that hope to people with dark complexions. And in this book such people are portrayed as mentally inferior and subhuman - hardly better than part of landscape. The others assured me that Schreiner wasn't racist. I'll have to accept that she tucked those bits into the book only because she didn't want to upset the Victorian apple cart more than she was already doing.