Alan Paton's Cry, the beloved country
Ratings16
Average rating3.5
15
Ratings16
Average rating3.5
Examines different aspects of Paton's novel about race relations in South Africa, with a biographical sketch of the author and critical essays on this work.
Reviews with the most likes.
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My edition is paperback, but with the movie-tie in cover even though it shares the ISBN with the former paperback illustrated cover 0684818949.
This book is maybe not the fastest read. But when you do get into it, you get into it good. Beautiful prose, that at times can be tiring, but also can be very moving.
The book tells the story of an old Zulu parson from a little village in the KwaZulu-Natal area in South Africa, taking place just after the Second World War. This pastor's son gets bad news from the village and is summoned to go to the ‘big city' Johannesburg. In Johannesburg he finds out very grievous things about the several people who left Ndotsheni, amongst which is his son.
Whenever you think the book is getting to tiresome to continue reading the writer understood that something needs to change, or something needs to happen. The book changes central characters have way through the book, changing to focusing on an elderly English South Africa, who also gets summoned to Johannesburg because of bad news about his son.
Maybe not brilliant. But the issues addressed are issues which are certainly still relevant for Johannesburg and South Africa. 4 out of 5.
