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Summary: Capturing the essence of South Africa as few authors have...
Review: With Cry, The Beloved Country Alan Paton creates a world were hate is predominant and respect is required of all native African citizens for their white "superiors." Paton creates a novel that plays out so true to life, so full of compassion for its characters, and so full of heart-ache is can bring one to tears. The novel focuses on its protaganist, an aging African minister named Stephen Kumalo, who is on a quest to find his son Absalom in the big city (the largest in Africa at the time I belive) Johannesburg. Here he searches all over, but only in vain, for the places where his son has resided, but his son has already departed from them. But its in Johannesburg where Reverend Kumalo discovers his sister and her son, his brother (a carpenter come political activist), and other characters that range from a fellow pastor to the father of a son who has been murdered. Cry, the Beloved Country, reads like many ancient texts oddly enough, and some readers may find it difficult to keep up with because Paton uses no quotation marks to signify dialogue, but nonetheless Cry, the Beloved Country is a captivating novel that reaches into one's soul and explains the boundaries of compassion, and the meaning of friendship even in the most trying of times.
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Summary: Great
Review: This is a really good book. Anyone will like it. It is a tragic story of a black man who tries to reunite his faimly in South Africa. When I finished it I was crying, it was so sad. This is a great book, and you need to read it.
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Summary: Unique story of the troubles of an African family
Review: This is an excellent story of the problems an African priest has keeping his family together, the misshaps of a White family, and the results when they meet in the final chapter. Steven Kumalo goes on a hard adventure for his old body to recover his daughter, his legally troubled son, and his power ridden brother. This story is very cleverly weaved in with the story of a White family going through the loss of a son and troubles with their farm. Together they meet and have interesting results. The start of the story is bleek with racial troubles but the latter part of the book shows new hope in our younger generations to come. This is a good book recommended to everyone.
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Summary: Heartbreaking
Review: A very moving story of two neighboring families set amidst the racially/politically turbulent atmosphere of Mid-20th Century South Africa. Beautifully written, with exquisite description of South Africa's landscape. Universal, timeless message of human hope & fear, oppression & equality, and understanding & reconciliation. A must read.
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Summary: The troubled life of a black S. African man during Aparthied
Review: There is a lovely road that runs from Ixopo into the hills. So starts this book, a portrayel of one South African man's struggle to reunite his family. Kumalo is a black man who lives in South Africa in the 1940's admist Aparthied. His goal is to bring back his sister and son back to him. Alan Paton does an excellent job showing the obvious difference between a life of a black and white. Skin color was everything at that time. He displays the awful townships that blacks must live in because they have no other place to go. He also shows how mistreatment of blacks was a daily routine. As only a seventh grade student, I have to admit that at times I was sometimes confused while reading. However, the true meaning of this book was obvious. South Africa has gone through a tragic life. This book gives such an in depth gripping example of a black man's life that it is hard not to believe that it isn't an autobiography. This book displays the racial injustice of the law, by showing the sentence against Absalom. It's a true-eyeopener of the cruel history of our world, and what we have done to it. This wonderful book is one that should be read.
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Summary: Review for Cry the Beloved Country
Review: Cry the beloved Country, By Alan Paton, is a beautifullly written story of the conflict in South Africa in the 20th century. Its the story of a Zulu priest named Stephen Kumalo, who leaves his village to go and return his sister from the city. Yet, when he gets there, nothing is the way that he imagined it. The story is completely descriptive, and told so that you completely emphathize with Kumalo, and the problems that he is going through. You see his anguish at the fates of his son and his sister, the sadness and growing awareness that his country is being torn apart, and the knowledge that he is almost powerless against it. You see it from the other side as well, the side of James Jarvis, the father of the man that Kumalo's son murdered. You see him comes to terms with his sons death, and his changing views on the plight of his country. YOu watch his help Kumalo. In all, although slightly saddening, the story is moving and beautiful, and totally worth reading. If not for the value of the story alone, but for everything that it pertains to. Cry the Beloved country is wonderful.
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Summary: Light Shed on the Horrors of South African Apartheid
Review: Alan Paton has made a great historical contribution to the people of South Africa. In this gripping novel, Paton exposes the cruelty and injustice taking place in post-war South Africa. He does a superb job of describing the wretched townships of Johannesburg, in which thousands of blacks were confined and forced to live. Also illustrated in the book are a corrupt court system, completely dominated by whites. This book gave me a real understanding of the brutal racism and hatred that was so present at the time of this books first publication, and exists even today. Yet amidst all of the bigotry, the reader is left with the impression that the people of South Africa will inevitably come to accept and respect one another regardless of the color of their skin.
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Summary: Profoundly Emotional, Beautifully Written
Review: For me, this book had a slow start as I tried to get into the rhythm of the writing and grasp where the story was going. I was reading it for my book club, and for the first 50 pages or so, wasn't too happy about it. BUT THEN, something shifted and I was completely immersed in it. I must admit (sadly) to not knowing a lot about the history of South Africa, so I'm sure I didn't appreciate that aspect of the story as much as I could have. I will now learn more and reread the book so that I can experience that side of it fully. But, the story of what the father, Stephen Kumalo, experienced moved me to tears on several occasions. Reading from a parent's perspective, I could emotionally and physically feel what that man must have been experiencing- Paton's writing is amazing. This book is so sad and sweet and touching. There is much to say about all of the other aspects and story lines of this novel- all good. I was so tempted to stop reading at the beginning, and if I hadn't been reading it for the book club discussion, I believe I would have. I am so thankful that I didn't quit- I would have missed out on one of the most beautiful, rich, heart-rending, inspiring, and wonderful books I have ever read. I recommend it completely.
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Summary: Exciting--yes
Review: How on Earth could *anyone* think this book is boring? (I have always doubted others' insistence that our culture has been turned by television and computers into a short-attention-span travesty, but now I am reconsidering that skepticism.) If this book is boring, a speech by Martin Luther King is boring. A beautiful day at the beach, or on a mountain, is boring. A beautiful woman is--boring. And frankly, if you think those things are boring, I have little use for your opinion. More pertinently, there is so much about this book that is so moving, and what is moving is exciting by definition (at least in MY opinion). The universality of Paton's dialogues, the way he shifts so effortlessly from present to past tense to convey tension and emotion, his command of the Zulu culture and of the history and terror of his native land--all of these factors are simply astounding. This is a book people will read three centuries from now--and it will be just as exciting then.
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Summary: A Lasting Impression
Review: I read this book four years ago and it still comes up in my conversation on a regular basis. I have read few other books so moving. You can feel what the characters are feeling--as individuals and as members of their larger culture. Nothing but thumbs up.
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