The writing style was a bit hard to understand at first - there are no indications of who is talking, you have to rely on context and content - but once I got used to it the style really helped bring immediacy to the story. Not sure that I understood the ending, but that doesn't take away from the book in any way. ( )

This was a challenging book for me to read because of the style and verbal exchanges. There was no indication as to whom was speaking. The shift of power after the Smales are taken by July to his village is evident and profound, especially in that this book was written before Apartheid was finished. I did find that the introspection by the white couple was boring and completely off the mark - they were proud of their liberalism but had difficulty in seeing how their responses to their situation perpetuated animosity between the races. ( )

Published before the end of apartheid, this book imagines the white Smales family, living in South Africa, taken in by its black servant, July. July rescues the family from the violence in Johannesburg and has taken them to his remote village. They are now living in a one-room mud hut on July’s property. Their experiences are narrated from the perspective of Maureen Smales, wife of Bamford and mother of three children.

It is a role reversal that highlights the inequities of apartheid. Maureen, though she considers herself liberal, cannot let go of her privilege, even as her family depends on July for the basic necessities of survival. I found it realistic that the children accept the changes readily, while the adults struggle. The novel explores themes of race, identity, loyalty, and equality.
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It's necessary first to understand what this is: a novel published in South Africa in 1981 that imagines a near-future civil war resulting from apartheid. The South African government banned this novel on publication, indicating the degree of fear at that time that some uprising like the one described might actually come to pass. As if this novel would give the oppressed segment of the population ideas they'd never contemplated, or the courage to embrace them. Given the happier course that actual history followed this may appear to date the work a bit, but racism did not evaporate when Nelson Mandela won the election; not in South Africa, not anywhere else.

Maureen and Bam are on different wavelengths in terms of adaptation. Bam views the circumstances as temporary, still clinging to his old perceptions, still viewing possessions as theirs, still jockeying for power and status. Maureen is striving harder to view their status in the new terms, knowing they remain under July's care at his whim. An interesting shift then takes place.

July's people retain their view of white folk as a source of trouble, unpredictable, the retainers of real power. They have not seen the white cities, cannot imagine what the uprising means. July is evolving along with his white guests, demonstrating the respect he's always shown but no longer as a servant, now as someone who can decide what is best for them. He is proprietary of their care; doesn't want them having to do too much outside his perceived role for them, but no longer because he is being paid by them. Now they are his people, too. ( )

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12851279

Quite a remarkable tale.

Gordimer has an unusual style of writing. It took me a few pages to get into it. I think it's worth working through.

In the 1970s, when South Africa was in turmoil, with black South Africans violently uprising, the white, liberal Smales family leaves their home in a rush. They follow their long-time servant, July, to his native home in the wild. As a rule, July only returned to his home every couple of years. Meantime, he sent money to his wife. Ever the faithful servant, he takes it upon himself to rescue his former employers.

The family is established in a hut built for another family member, which causes some resentment among July's family. Maureen and Bam Smales and their three children do not want to be waited upon, and try to pull their weight. The children, it turns out, adjust most easily to their new surroundings and companions, and are soon as happy running and jumping into the nearby muddy water as they ever were with their more sophisticated toys back home.

The story is told primarily from Maureen's point of view, although we get glimpses from the others. How she interprets what July says, how she tries to emulate the village women in what they do, how she worries about what will happen next. Any day they know they may be discovered. They know that villagers may give them away. And then what?

As the story progresses we gain insight into how July sees them and how his behavior and thinking changes. Does the Smales family have any idea at all about what others feel and think about them? Do they know how to behave?

The story shook me up. It put me right there with them, and when I think about it now, several weeks after finishing it, those feelings come right back. ( )