A Dry White Season by Andre Brink 8.4 out of 10
A Dry White Season by Andre Brink
8.4 out of 10
This novel has been banned in South Africa, where the author was born and lived for reasons that would become obvious for readers from the first few chapters, but it has been included on The New York Times' 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list.
It has also been adapted for the big screen, where the story benefits from a cast that includes Marlon Brando, Donald Sutherland, Susan Sarandon and other luminaries.
The hero of the narrative is a teacher, Ben du Toit, albeit we could also argue that the main subject is apartheid in South Africa, the tragedies that such dictatorial regimes cause, the suffering, mayhem, destruction and terror one can experience under tyranny.
The main character has a ' 'normal' life until he is thrown, or decides to jump in the eye of the hurricane, so much so that his wife, Susan, is unhappy with the lack of ambition demonstrated by her spouse.
Professor du Toit helps a black man who works as a janitor in the school in the first place and then tries to support his eldest son, Jonathan, paying for his education, up to the point where the teenager becomes rebellious and skips school.
During the bloody repression of a protest in which tens of thousands participated, including children killed by the South African authorities, Jonathan disappears and the efforts of his family to find him are fruitless, even when Ben offers to help them and he hires and pays for a well known lawyer, that would later run with the money alas.
The vicious Special Branch would not reveal anything about the fate of the poor boy, who is just one of multitudes, indeed, this is the story of a few women and men, but what happens to them is unfortunately representative of the fate of many Africans.
During his investigation, the hero meets the vicious captain Stolz and colonel Viljoen, but he is also able to become friends with good people like Stanley, the driver of a pirate taxi and the one who has connections throughout Soweto and other areas, an essential member of the groups that help those in need.
More importantly, Ben meets the journalist who covers acts of injustice committed by the apartheid regime, Melanie.
The protagonist would eventually fall in love with the young woman, albeit this is not without complications, adversity and challenges.
Moreover, we know early on about what happens to the main character and therefore spoiler alerts become superfluous...I think.
Jonathan has been a prisoner of the regime and died in custody.
Alas, the same end awaits his father, arrested by the Special Branch, held under the Terrorism Act, although he is just an ordinary, peaceful man, and tortured.
The agents of this special unit and many others for that matter keep emphasizing the threat posed by the communist guerillas, with Cubans and Russians involved in Angola and Mozambique.
They are right in trying to fight the commies- I have lived under such a tyranny, ruled by Ceausescu - but the methods, torture, oppression, villainy they use are loathsome and despicable.
More black people come to ask for help on various issues, abuses committed by whites and their 'justice system', after hearing that Ben had been so involved in the Gordon and Jonathan cases.
One example refers to the man who wanted justice done for his sister, raped by her employer, who would unfortunately be acquitted by the white authorities and then the infuriated man would kill the abuserto take vengeance into his own hands.
Ben du Toit is under attack, psychologically and literally, for he faces accusations at school, where the principal is an awful supremacist, in his own family.
Except for his son, Johan, Susan, his father in law, who is an MP, and especially Suzette, who tries to trap him, members of the family are appalled by his efforts and condemn him when the press prints on the the front page a photo with him and the widow of Gordon, who had embraced him in a moment of deep emotions, after the death of her husband.
The Special Branch is harassing Ben, searching his house, pressing him to abandon his quixotic quest for the truth, eventually blackmailing him, calling anonymously in the middle of the night and then using violence.
Stones are thrown through the window, then shots are fired, a bomb is delivered and taken to the police, after which another causes a fire that is fortunately extinguished by Johan, who happens to be at home.
It is a terrible ordeal and the ordinary man proves to be a role model, brave, resilient, kind, determined, generous, persistent.
This novel has been banned in South Africa, where the author was born and lived for reasons that would become obvious for readers from the first few chapters, but it has been included on The New York Times' 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list.
It has also been adapted for the big screen, where the story benefits from a cast that includes Marlon Brando, Donald Sutherland, Susan Sarandon and other luminaries.
The hero of the narrative is a teacher, Ben du Toit, albeit we could also argue that the main subject is apartheid in South Africa, the tragedies that such dictatorial regimes cause, the suffering, mayhem, destruction and terror one can experience under tyranny.
The main character has a ' 'normal' life until he is thrown, or decides to jump in the eye of the hurricane, so much so that his wife, Susan, is unhappy with the lack of ambition demonstrated by her spouse.
Professor du Toit helps a black man who works as a janitor in the school in the first place and then tries to support his eldest son, Jonathan, paying for his education, up to the point where the teenager becomes rebellious and skips school.
During the bloody repression of a protest in which tens of thousands participated, including children killed by the South African authorities, Jonathan disappears and the efforts of his family to find him are fruitless, even when Ben offers to help them and he hires and pays for a well known lawyer, that would later run with the money alas.
The vicious Special Branch would not reveal anything about the fate of the poor boy, who is just one of multitudes, indeed, this is the story of a few women and men, but what happens to them is unfortunately representative of the fate of many Africans.
During his investigation, the hero meets the vicious captain Stolz and colonel Viljoen, but he is also able to become friends with good people like Stanley, the driver of a pirate taxi and the one who has connections throughout Soweto and other areas, an essential member of the groups that help those in need.
More importantly, Ben meets the journalist who covers acts of injustice committed by the apartheid regime, Melanie.
The protagonist would eventually fall in love with the young woman, albeit this is not without complications, adversity and challenges.
Moreover, we know early on about what happens to the main character and therefore spoiler alerts become superfluous...I think.
Jonathan has been a prisoner of the regime and died in custody.
Alas, the same end awaits his father, arrested by the Special Branch, held under the Terrorism Act, although he is just an ordinary, peaceful man, and tortured.
The agents of this special unit and many others for that matter keep emphasizing the threat posed by the communist guerillas, with Cubans and Russians involved in Angola and Mozambique.
They are right in trying to fight the commies- I have lived under such a tyranny, ruled by Ceausescu - but the methods, torture, oppression, villainy they use are loathsome and despicable.
More black people come to ask for help on various issues, abuses committed by whites and their 'justice system', after hearing that Ben had been so involved in the Gordon and Jonathan cases.
One example refers to the man who wanted justice done for his sister, raped by her employer, who would unfortunately be acquitted by the white authorities and then the infuriated man would kill the abuserto take vengeance into his own hands.
Ben du Toit is under attack, psychologically and literally, for he faces accusations at school, where the principal is an awful supremacist, in his own family.
Except for his son, Johan, Susan, his father in law, who is an MP, and especially Suzette, who tries to trap him, members of the family are appalled by his efforts and condemn him when the press prints on the the front page a photo with him and the widow of Gordon, who had embraced him in a moment of deep emotions, after the death of her husband.
The Special Branch is harassing Ben, searching his house, pressing him to abandon his quixotic quest for the truth, eventually blackmailing him, calling anonymously in the middle of the night and then using violence.
Stones are thrown through the window, then shots are fired, a bomb is delivered and taken to the police, after which another causes a fire that is fortunately extinguished by Johan, who happens to be at home.
It is a terrible ordeal and the ordinary man proves to be a role model, brave, resilient, kind, determined, generous, persistent.
Comentarii
Trimiteți un comentariu