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Summary: Boring Book
Review: this book really was boring. the style paton decided to use in this book is one of a psychopathic moron. his - before what the person said and you having to guess who says what and when is too overwhelming for anyone. Not only did i get lost, but i was confused when i wasn't lost. i don't recommend this book to any sane person.
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Summary: Cry, the Beloved Country
Review: It is true that Cry, the Beloved Country tells us of suffering, of injustice, of conflict, of South Africa. What sets this book apart, however, is its beauty: the beauty of the language, the beauty of faith in the forge, the beauty of the people, some struggling with their oppression, othes struggling with their privilege . You cannot fully appreciate this book if you only see it as a statement. It is not merely a statement, but a . . . well, a cry, not of pain only, but also of hope. It is profoundly touching.It astonishes me that I did not discover this work until I was twenty years out of college. Beautiful, touching, unique in style, and very relevant. It should be on every English department's short list.
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Summary: Can't relate
Review: The main character of the story, Stephen Kumalo, is very well developed. Reading of his journey brought me to think of Kumalo as a real life character. What interested me most in the story was the strong influence of religion in life. One example would be Mr. Carmichael, who does an incredibly genorous deed in the name of god (I won't ruin the story). The story brings out the best while at the same time showing how bad people can be. It shows how power and society can affect anybody. Personally, I feel that religion was used too much in the story, although it may be somewhat important to the plot. I could not relate on a personal level, but it is a great story and the author uses quite a poetic language and style in writing.
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Summary: Book review
Review: Cry,The Beloved Country is a very descriptive book about Steven Kumalos family being torn apart.Steven Kumalos sister gets sick due to a life of prostitution. He had to use all his money to go and visit her while she was sick. I thought that the book was not very entertaining. Nothing exciting happens. Some parts of the book are descriptive and give good details. The story line is good, Steven is a priest who does not have very much money, but is willing to sacrifice what he has for his sister. Even though his sister has become a prostitute and ruined her life, he still loves her. Before receiving the letter that told him about his sister being sick, he did not even know where his sister was, he had not heard from her for years. It turns out that she was only a few towns away. The story takes place in South Africa during the years while apharteid was present. It shows some of the ways blacks were suppresed during those years. Steven and his family were very effected by apharteid. They stugled through many things. Even though they went through so much they got through it all because they were a very strong family. Even though i thought the book was boring, it did have some good points in it. Like how much you need your family in hard times and how you should stick together with your family no matter what. I personally would not read this book again, but its up to you to decide if you want to.
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Summary: Cry the Beloved Country
Review: i didn't like it, it was very boring and slow.
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful, beautiful book
Review: This is one of the most graceful and thoughtful portrayals of the tension in South Africa I have ever seen. The story is well told and the lush descriptions of the land itself will make you see it clearly in your mind's eye. I cried at the end, for Absalom, for his father, for the country. A must read book!
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Summary: The great SA novel
Review: Being South African, this book touched me like few others. Some may say it is slow, but I found the prose lovely, with Paton's descriptions coming near to capturing the beauty and sadness of the country. Paton also avoids falling into the trap of portraying all Black people as noble, and all White people as evil settler types, making the story much more subtle and realistic than many others dealing with South Africa. [...]
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Summary: Culture Shock In Apartheid South Africa
Review: Paton's acclaimed tale about a pastor in Johannesburg looking for his son is South Africa's finest literature. Kumalo's struggle with faith in man, in god, and in himself is a compelling look at what happens when fear and hate dictate what happen in any government or group. In addition to describing the evil apartheidist regime, it lays bare the fundamental spirit of man. Paton apparently fashioned his novel from The Grapes of Wrath, and while it is tedious at times, it is a valuable historical document and a wonderful story, and important too.
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Summary: Magnificent
Review: Cry, the Beloved Country is an authentic expression of hope in a bleak climate of despair. The characters are human. Their experiences are sheer misery, and their responses are not particularly heroic. Through it all, the reader is sustained by the vision of a redemptive truth at work in one of the deepest hells of the present century. Alan Paton unquestionably attributes this truth to a personal God. At the same time, Paton believes that his God expressed Himself in the lives of weak and selfish creatures like ourselves. Thus, even if the reader prefers to maintain a humanist stance, Cry, the Beloved Country will resonate as its characters grapple with the primal struggles of all humanity. Cry, the beloved century. I did.
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Summary: best way to learn is through masterful historical fiction
Review: This book is very touching, and wonderfully written. It is a book that will stay with you for a long time. It will make you think.
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