Cry, The Beloved Country

"Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor of our fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply. Let him not laugh too gladly when the water runs through his fingers, nor stand too silent when the setting sun makes red the veld with fire. Let him not be too moved when the birds of his land are singing, nor give too much of his heart to a mountain or a valley. For fear will rob him of all if he gives too much."

Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton, 1948

distinctions:

~New York Times Bestseller, fiction, 1948
~Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, 1949

first words:

"There is a lovely road that runs from Ixopo into the hills."

the premise:

A humble Zulu parson leaves his home in the hills to search for his sister and son in the troubled streets of Johannesburg and is forced to confront, in a deeply personal way, the complex tragedy of apartheid in the land that he loves.

my thoughts:

It seems appropriate that my first review should be of one of my very favorite books, a book I've read multiple times now (and I don't often reread books).  This novel is beautiful in so many ways: the lush landscapes, the intimate conversations, the biblical arc of the story, the cumulative power of so many voices. The writing is sparing and lyrical, its rhythms building and breaking into poetry. But perhaps what is most indelible about this novel is the way Paton lays bare the tragedies of apartheid--the poisonous fear; the gross disparities of education and wealth; the destruction of family, tribe, and land--through the development of characters who are unforgettable in their humanness: their struggles, sorrows and triumphs have the clear ring of truth.  This novel is both devastating and hopeful in a way that tends to steal one's breath.

others' thoughts:

Golden Road to Samarqand

Have you reviewed this too?

New Kid on the Blogosphere

Welcome to my book blog!

I've dithered over doing this for a while now. I feel like I don't read quite enough books to really be a book blogger. And I'm a little shy of the public aspect, of actually encouraging strangers to read what I've written (and even maybe act on what I've written). But probably my main reservation has been that I don't think I'm all that good at writing reviews, and there are plenty of times when I finish reading a book and just don't know what to say or can't be bothered to say anything at all.

And that's one of the reasons I decided I'd better do this: to nudge myself into more thoughtful engagement with the words I read. Of course there's also my impulse to emulate that surfaces when I peruse my favorite book blogs. Seriously, these book bloggers (listed under the honorific "Seasoned Travelers" on my sidebar) impress me regularly with their pithy reviews, and they truly help guide my reading. I'd love to be both eloquent and useful like that to someone else.

But what really pushed me to do this, and do it now, is that I was sitting up late one night with a sick baby and the title for my book blog suddenly came to me. It even brought along a subtitle. Before I knew it I was picking out a URL, fiddling around with fonts and pictures, colors and widgets, and Bam! A book blog. My book blog.

I'm a little giddy, a little terrified. I'm trying to remind myself of the importance of balance in one's life. I've already got a well-established personal blog, and an online book group, and an in-person book group, and another in-person book group (in Spanish) that will be starting soon. So really, how much more of blogging and books can my very busy life as mother-of-three-youngsters and wife-of-tireless-entrepreneur handle??

"But," that wiley little red guy hovering over my shoulder interjects suavely, "it's your book blog. You don't have to update it every day. You don't even have to promote yourself. You can do as much or as little as you want with it. It's just so nice to have a pretty place all your own to keep your book-thoughts in, isn't it?"

And I nod. And then... I go public.