April 2013
Miles –The foreword promised South Africa,
political drama, murder, and mysterious pictures of an illicit affair. He
thought it was a perfect set up and had huge expectations. But he found it
to be a standard unfolding of events with a documentary style that
removed all intrigue and left the characters flat. Ben and Arthur’s voices
telling the story made for a mumbling narrative. The tone was very understated,
and there was never a climax despite the dramatic events. Miles assumed the
author purposely set up a detached third party narrator as a metaphor for the
ambivalent observer that was South Africa. Sandy asked if the riots and
protests at the time had much effect. Miles replied that there was an enormous
amount of international pressure brought against South Africa at the time,
which eventually brought about the transition of power. This was amazing considering the
relative lack of violence, and he remarked that history would look well upon
Mandela. This wasn’t a work of fiction to escape to, but one in which the
author was making a deliberate attempt to bring South Africans to action. He
thought it had a realistic view of race relations, particularly the awkwardness
of the friendship between Stanley and Ben. It wasn’t the most riveting read,
but its points will stay with him.
K’Lynn – Unlike Miles, K’Lynn had no expectations and it pulled her in from the beginning. She thought it was a
perfect blend of intrigue and mystery. The timeline of events was well written
and she found the sexual tension between Melanie and Ben very believable. She
read it in just two days and described it as almost perfect. Almost. Its one
bad note was Melanie’s farting father. His character seemed contrived and she couldn’t figure out what purpose his character served, to say nothing
of his farts. Overall though she thought it was a good pick and enjoyed it a
lot.
Michelle – Found this an easy read. She understood
why Ben had to finish what he started, but she wouldn’t use the word admired to describe it. It seemed selfish of him to put his family through all that pain. Towards the middle of the book she got
a bit tired of it because she thought it was predictable. At first she thought this happened so long ago, but then realized that it really
wasn’t relatively speaking. She was often reminded of The Help,
mainly because of the black vs. whites aspect and just by how completely separate both were. She liked Ben’s reference to the dry white season of the
drought he had experienced and how it related to what he was going through now.
She would recommend to a student or someone who wanted to know more about the
subject.
Carolyn – Read the book over a long period of time and then went back
and reread the beginning. She had forgotten we find that Ben is dead before the story really begins. This was a pleasant surprise because it made the book more suspenseful. She thought it asked what
price would you be willing to pay to do what is right. Several bits of writing stood out to her
including a description of tension like that of the surface tension of water
hanging over the edge of a glass yet not breaking, and then once it does
everything is different. And the line that went something like, Just once we
should have enough faith in something to risk our life for it. In hindsight,
failure was all that was available to Ben, but what else could he do? Suzette’s betrayal of her father was disturbing. Carolyn really liked it and found it very thought provoking. She was bothered by Ben’s affair with Melanie, and thought he was very stupid to leave the lights on and the blinds open when he knew he
was being followed.
Letitia – This reminded her of a Greek tragedy
with chorus after chorus of characters warning Ben over and over to stop; yet
he kept going. She sees that sometimes people losing their lives for a cause
is the only way to change an unjust system and ultimately save lives, but
she’s not sure she could make those kind of choices. It made her wonder if
making safe and secure decisions is always the best. Was Ben’s sacrifice worth
it? Perhaps it was since he didn’t seem to value his life at the time. She thought it was well written and
ironic that the history of the Afrikaners mirrored that of the blacks.
Maggie – Read a disclaimer at beginning of her
copy that said the novel's circumstances are true. Like Miles, she
thought the foreword promised mystery and intrigue, but found both lacking. It
was an easy read that bogged down in the middle and should have been more
exciting given its events. Maggie remembers this period in history well due to
the fact that there was a huge push in England at the time to move to South
Africa. Two families that were friends of her family went to Africa (one to
South Africa and the other to Tanzania?) and one came back for a visit
extremely wealthy. However, when things went south both families escaped with
little more than the clothes on their backs. Maggie did some background
research on Afrikaners and found that like any kind of indoctrinated culture,
they didn’t feel like they had to give in to anything. She wondered how much of
what they did was in fear of losing everything. She thought Ben was spurred on
by his emotional attachments to Jordan and Gordon. Unlike K’Lynn, she loved
Melanie’s farting dad. Overall she
thought it was a good read, but it didn’t live up to her expectations.
Pat – This was a tough read for me because like in Fun Home, we
know the outcome from the start. Every dreary detail that unfolded seemed
futile. I’m sure the author wanted this sense of futility, but it made for a
dry read, no pun intended. I found myself thinking of 1984 due to the
unrelenting doom that seemed to hang over the pages. It was hard to keep my eyes
open as he detailed every legal maneuver and the minutia of where Jordan was
moved to and when. Knowing the outcome made it tough to care. There was no
suspense or hope. I think I would have appreciated it more had I read it 20
years ago, although I don’t know if that’s because the subject was more
relevant then, or because I was more of an idealist. All the quotes that people
mentioned were great, and I appreciated the writing in that regard, but overall
it was a grind.
Artie – Enjoyed Stanley and liked how both he
and Ben stepped out of their respective boxes to trust one another. He also
liked Stanley’s impassioned speech to Ben where he tells him that he can’t quit
but must go on even though he will most likely lose. He must continue because
the importance of the battle is not for them, but for their kids. Artie’s only disappointment
with the book was that it wasn’t a unique story. He saw it as a common
tale of the Haves vs. the Have Nots. He questioned Ben’s decision to continue
investigating when he could see that what he was up against was hopeless. Couldn’t
his best have been to try something different rather than to martyr
himself? However, Artie conceded
that history is full of martyrs who have made a difference.
Sandy- Didn’t finish so technically I don’t have
to write anything. But...She didn’t like the narrator, so she tried the movie
but found the violence too realistic... so she didn’t finish that either. She said
that there are horrific things occurring in the world but we often don’t
realize it until they become huge events and are brought to the forefront, and
even then, there’s little we can personally do about them most of the time.
Fear drives people to power.
Becky –Thought this story historically could
never end well, but Apartheid did end and so it does have a good ending. She
recalled the conflict between the IRA and England, and how that looked as if
it could never end well, but it too seems to have resolved. She wondered if we
would one day think the same about the Taliban. Becky never saw this as a
mystery about Jordan and Gordon’s deaths, but more a story of Ben’s journey
into his own consciousness. He was so naive. Going to Soweto on his own,
talking to Stoltz, he always seemed to be showing his hand. Not smart. He put
his own family and everyone else at risk. Everyone he talked to dies. Really?
You’re not going to get your family out? Melanie was interesting in that she
was so tough and willing to die for her job. Her horrible experiences made her
tougher. Becky liked the quote by Melanie’s father: There are only two kinds
of madness one should guard against, Ben. One is the belief that we can do
everything. The other is the belief that we can do nothing.
Next book: The
Year Of Living Biblically by AJ Jacobs
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