Cry, the Beloved Country (Oprah's Book Club) by Alan Paton
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Book Reviews of Cry, the Beloved Country (Oprah's Book Club)
Book Review: Why can there be comfort in this desolation?
Summary: 5 Stars
A sad social drama in the migrant workers milieu of Johannesburg, South Africa, during the post- war and pre- apartheid years of the 1940s.
Young men leave their tribal areas to find work and hopes for a better life near the big city in the gold mines, where the money is. For most of them, the move means life in a shanty town, backbreaking work and minimal payment, disease and misery, broken families, prostitution and alcoholism, crime and punishment. The money is for the white men.
It is fear that rules this country. (And maybe the saddest thought is that crime is still the main fear in the country even now, after the race issue has largely gone away.)
The story is told in simple language, starkly realistic at times, or touchingly poetic at others, like Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath, which it resembles in its language, narrative structure and sad humor. There is also the thematic similarity of the erosion which destroys soils and drives people to miserable places.
We follow a parson from a tribal village on a trip to Jo-burg, where he searches for his son. The search is elusive for a time. It is an odyssey through the social reality of the city: the church, the black politicians of different colors, a bus boycott, the shanty towns, a reformatory, the hopelessness of a teen pregnancy, the penal system.
We listen in on white conversations about what to do with the blacks and their unruly and disturbing behavior.
The second part of the novel follows the father of a murdered white man. The victim was a fighter for reason and fairness, and he got killed by blind stupid fate. The father gets to know his son through tales about him, through his papers on his desk, through his library. There was a strong fixation on Lincoln. The old man begins to search for his son, like the other father in the first part, but now in the spiritual and intellectual sense.
We learn more on the mining industry, on unions and strikes.
This was Paton's first novel, and it was a huge success, enabling him to stop working as a reformatory manager in order to become a professional writer. But then he chose to walk on yet another path: he became a politician with the Liberal Party, opposing the politics of the apartheid regime. He is mentioned in Mandela's memoirs among the men who tried to fight his prison term.
Does this mean that the novel is propaganda? I would say: emphatically no. It does not take any side but the one of humanity and morality. It does not preach or indoctrinate, nor try to convince us of a political program.
This is a book about fear and sorrow. Fear is like a storm. Sorrow is when the storm has destroyed the house. One can do nothing about the storm, but one can rebuild the house. Sorrow is better than fear.
Thanks to Judy P., who convinced me that I need to read this. It is really one of the great novels of the century.
Book Review: Emerging apartheid in a quiet, humble and humbling voice.
Summary: 5 Stars
The Reverend Kumalo is at the center of a social experiment that has destroyed tribes, families, societal values and human beings. He is a poverty-stricken minister, caring for his flock of villagers living in a drought-stricken area of South Africa. The drought and its devastating effects on the capacity of the already-poor to farm and provide for their families seems to be a metaphor for the human drought born of racism and emerging apartheid.The land will no longer feed them, the young flock to already-teeming Johannesburg and they then get swallowed up in the further degradation of thievery, murder and prostitution. And the majority Afrikkaners then satisfy themselves with the proof positive that blacks are inherently weak, untrustworthy, lazy and are beneath dignity.
This novel both paints a devastating picture of everything that's wrong with racism and the ensuing apartheid while holding out hope that there are some among the white who see the problem as clearly as Reverend Kumalo and strive to do something about it. Unfortunately, however, those who advocate for the despised sometimes get destroyed in the process.
And that is exactly what happens to one idealistic young man, the son of a wealthy Afrikkaner landowner, who writes extensively and publicly advocates for those who have no power. But the young man is not destroyed by one of his own, who fears a change in the power balance, but by one of those for whom he advocates.
Each father mourns the loss of his son; the father of the murdered knows the white man's justice will prevail but will still leave him childless and the black man's father knows he has lost a son on two counts. One, he lost his son when Absalom left the village and broke all communication with his heartbroken parents. Two, for a black man who killed a white man, there is only the white man's justice.
Reverend Kumalo meets the good, the bad, the indifferent, the greedy and the generous. His dialogue is that of a humble man, loved by his townspeople, deeply respectful of others. While his demeanor is very self-deprecating, he cannot be mistaken for one who is servile. Reverend Kumalo's deep understanding of human beings, with all their inherent imperfections and machinations, is awesome. Despite this, he forgives.
Thankfully, despite his great personal losses, Reverend Kumalo witnesses a number of small miracles thanks to an unexpected source. His benefactor, and that of the village's, is the father of the young man who was murdered.
This is an eloquent book written by one who truly understood the evil and great destructive powers of any system that strips a people, any people, of their basic and fundamental rights to be
respected, independent and self governing.
Book Review: More than just a classic novel
Summary: 5 Stars
REVIEW: CRY, THE BELOVED COUNTYAs a seminarian, let me first say this: "Cry, The Beloved Country" taught me more about being a true, compassionate Christian minister then from all I've learned in my short time in seminary. How can I make such a statement? Because the author, Alan Paton, does more to illustrate the power and truth of Christian charity than the best Sunday sermon could ever hope to achieve.
Like all truly great literary works, this book works on multiple levels, the highest being theological. One could write a doctoral dissertation on the Christian theology which pervades every single page of this novel. And yet there is very little preaching, and only a tiny handful of Bible quotations. We are not being talked down too, we are not being lectured; rather, we are being invited into a world where the best virtues are illustrated, not commanded.
Those looking for a political treatise on the evils of apartheid will be sadly disappointed, as this book was written before those laws were put in place. (In fact, the word "apartheid" never appears once in the story.) However, one can easily see the evil seeds being sown that will bear a bitter harvest in years to come.
There are three main characters in this story: the old Zulu Anglican pastor Stephen Kumalo, the wealthy white farmer James Jarvis and the country of South Africa as it was in the early to mid 1940's. The way in which these three characters interact with each other is truly remarkable, and sometimes quite surprising. I could say much more about the plot and characters, but it will be much more fun for the reader to discover these things on his own. It is well worth the effort.
As I write this review, the book is the current selection of "Oprah's Book Club." While I've always taken that label as a warning to avoid a work of fiction, this time it proved to be an invaluable guide to a book I would have otherwise overlooked. The book club's new emphasis on "the classics" is an excellent idea. The first two choices of "East of Eden" and "Cry, the Beloved Country" are outstanding selections. Much credit goes to Oprah Winfrey for steering us out of the gutter of contemporary fiction, and helping us to enjoy the rich, powerful treasures from our recent past. You go, girl.
I read a tremendous amount of books, more so than anyone else I know. So you can truly appreciate how significant it is when I say "Cry, The Beloved Country" is one of the top ten best English language novels I've ever read. Very highly recommended.
Book Review: A road from Ixopo into the hills...
Summary: 5 Stars
Reverend Stephen Kumalo is a minister in Natal whose sister, Gertrude, and his son, Absalom, have gone to the South African metropolis of Johannesburg to search for a better living. Receiving a letter saying that Gertrude is ill, he travels there to discover that her sickness is a spiritual one: she has become a prostitute. After meeting up with the pastor, Msimangu, he finds that Gertrude is willing to come back to the village with him, taking her son along. Sadly, he finds that Absalom and his brother's son have been accused of killing a man, a white layman of the church and a great activist for native freedom, in a break-in. The father of the accused, Jarvis, meets Kumalo and comes to reconcile. A priest hires a white lawyer for Absalom. He confesses, however, and is sentenced to be hanged, while Kumalo's nephew is declared innocent. All hope seems lost. Defeated, Kumalo decides to return to his village of Ndotsheni. He takes along his son's wife, wed to Absalom in prison, and nephew. Gertrude, however, is nowhere in sight. Returning to Ndotsheni, Kumalo finds a month-long drought is starving the people. Jarvis's grandson is the one who sets up a system, sends an agricultural demonstrator to teach the people farming, and builds a dam to bring water to the village. Jarvis helps reconstruct the church and restore the village, bringing peace and reconciling Kumalo with life.
"Cry, the Beloved Country" is a story of the quest for justice, the search for freedom in an impoverished and oppressive land. Love and forgiveness are themes prevalent to ending the human struggle. One must overcome whatever trials and injustices have been dealt to move on and live. It is in making peace that these two men join to support each other in grief and save a community.
It is beautifully written, in descriptive language, even with Zulu words and the pronunciations in their native tongue. One certainly feels a connection with the trials of Kumalo and his people, because they are about the basic human rights that are struggled for univerally. There is a well-established bond and a deep love for South Africa in Paton's writing that show just how strongly he feels about the reality of the injustice suffered there. It is a work that will outlast us all and continually remind people to strive for freedom. This is a book not simply to read, but truly to be experienced.
Book Review: My review of Cry, the Beloved Country
Summary: 5 Stars
Cry, the Beloved Country is a very moving novel about a black man's country under white man's law. Anyone who is interested in race relations, history, or the African language will enjoy this book like I did. This is an insightful book in which I learned a lot about South Africa. I learned that Johannesburg was the center of the gold mine industry. Many people left their small tribal villages to work there in 1946 which is the year this novel is set in. The basic premise of Cry, The Beloved Country is about a young black man who is accused of and found guilty of murdering a white man. The author does a great job of making the reader care about both the victim and the accused.
The author Alan Paton does a great job of describing the character of the victim Arthur Jarvis as a very caring person who was well respected by people of all races. Arthur Jarvis was concerned with the social problems facing South Africa in 1946 like racial crime, the lack of education of African youth, and the conditions of the gold mines, and the welfare of the workers who labored there.
Alan Paton does an equally excellent job describing the accused person. Absalom Kumalo is the son of the Zulu pastor Stephen Kumalo who goes in search for his son in the first section of the book. The cause of Absalom's crime according to the author is a breakdown of tribal values and family bonds like working together to achieve a common goal and a sense of belonging to a group. The Western emphasis on focusing on the individual influenced the way of thinking in South Africa that led to this breakdown.
I really enjoyed how the fathers of both sons became friends in this book. The white father James Jarvis actually helped Stephen Kumalo The elder Jarvis supplied Stephen Kumalo with milk to nourish the sick children of his village. Jarvis also provided Stephen Kumalo with a person to teach his people how to farm to grow more food.
I appreciated the list of words at the end of the book, because some of the African words were hard to pronounce. I love finding out the meaning of new words even if they are in a foreign languages. Cry, the Beloved Country is a beautifully written book about South Africa with strong themes and memorable characters. I loved this book.