You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by justjoel
Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
4.0
I find it difficult to rate autobiographies, as it feels a bit like you're determining a life's worth, so I'll try to stick with what I felt did and didn't work in the writing.
Most people are familiar with Mandela and how he went from political prisoner to president of South Africa, but here is the story in his own words.
I felt that while overall the narrative followed an A-to-B path, there were places where it seemed to drag. The beginning was dry as it dealt with histories of different tribes and Mandela's own inauspicious early childhood. There were times he described meeting people for the first time, and went into in-depth descriptions of where they attended school and what degrees they had. I can only assume he did this to show that the other men involved in the struggle against apartheid were educated men, not "commoners," but it felt forced and inauthentic.
Imagine writing your own autobiography and including a passage like this: "It was the 17th of April, 2006 at a party in the house of Jim Jennings whose parents were out of town on a diplomatic trip. Jim, a political science major introduced me to Ernie Bale, who held a B.A. in Russian history and was into artisan goat cheese. Ernie, in turn, introduced me to Calvin Winters and George Galvez. Calvin was a neurosurgeon who also held a masters in journalism and spoke 12 languages, and George was a college professor who taught art history and collected the toenail clippings of 15th century Indian princesses."
It just doesn't flow.
What did work, and was thoroughly chilling considering the current political climate in the USA, was the description of how the government of middle-aged white men sought to retain positions of power by enforcing segregation of and sowing discord among non-white families. Mandela's sense of injustice and his fight for freedom and equality for people of all skin hues was inspiring. Frankly, I don't know if I would have the same rigid sense of ideals if keeping them kept me away from wife and family for a quarter century.
For all that it contained, also notable was the lack of inclusion of some of Winnie's involvement in less-than-savory activities. I was looking forward to reading about this, but Mandela glossed it over without detailed description, and attributed it to her basically "falling in with a bad crowd." It is possible to love someone while acknowledging their faults, but here they seem to be ignored in favor of, "She was my wife and stood by me while I was imprisoned, so how can I not support her in turn?"
Overall, it was a good read, and I'm not sorry I read it, but it could have benefited by better editing and having fewer information dumps.
4 out of 5 stars
Most people are familiar with Mandela and how he went from political prisoner to president of South Africa, but here is the story in his own words.
I felt that while overall the narrative followed an A-to-B path, there were places where it seemed to drag. The beginning was dry as it dealt with histories of different tribes and Mandela's own inauspicious early childhood. There were times he described meeting people for the first time, and went into in-depth descriptions of where they attended school and what degrees they had. I can only assume he did this to show that the other men involved in the struggle against apartheid were educated men, not "commoners," but it felt forced and inauthentic.
Imagine writing your own autobiography and including a passage like this: "It was the 17th of April, 2006 at a party in the house of Jim Jennings whose parents were out of town on a diplomatic trip. Jim, a political science major introduced me to Ernie Bale, who held a B.A. in Russian history and was into artisan goat cheese. Ernie, in turn, introduced me to Calvin Winters and George Galvez. Calvin was a neurosurgeon who also held a masters in journalism and spoke 12 languages, and George was a college professor who taught art history and collected the toenail clippings of 15th century Indian princesses."
It just doesn't flow.
What did work, and was thoroughly chilling considering the current political climate in the USA, was the description of how the government of middle-aged white men sought to retain positions of power by enforcing segregation of and sowing discord among non-white families. Mandela's sense of injustice and his fight for freedom and equality for people of all skin hues was inspiring. Frankly, I don't know if I would have the same rigid sense of ideals if keeping them kept me away from wife and family for a quarter century.
For all that it contained, also notable was the lack of inclusion of some of Winnie's involvement in less-than-savory activities. I was looking forward to reading about this, but Mandela glossed it over without detailed description, and attributed it to her basically "falling in with a bad crowd." It is possible to love someone while acknowledging their faults, but here they seem to be ignored in favor of, "She was my wife and stood by me while I was imprisoned, so how can I not support her in turn?"
Overall, it was a good read, and I'm not sorry I read it, but it could have benefited by better editing and having fewer information dumps.
4 out of 5 stars