Brave and Moving writing
|
In Ben Du Toit, Andre Brink has created a character through which he can explore the revolt of the reasonable man when he is faced with the evidence of dishonesty and oppression. Ben Du Toit is a schoolteacher living an unremarkable life with his friends when he is appalled by the deaths of two members of the same black family at the hands of South Africa's security police. Du Toit is determined to pursue justice and to find out the truth even though this leads to the sacrifice of friends, family and career.
Unlike some of Brink's other novels, A Dry White Season uses a simple linear narrative and the story is told from Du Toit's point of view. This means we share the surprise and horror he feels when he is confronted with the evidence of injustice and brutality. We realise that he is a very ordinary man who finds the work he takes on for the black communities tiring. He is duped and manipulated yet he still pursues his quest. He is a Winston Smith type figure but this novel is set in the real world that was 1970s South Africa.
A Dry White Season was filmed in the 1990s although the film was undistinguished and did not really do justice to this remarkably brave and moving novel.
|
|
|
A harrowing novel
|
Ben Du Toit teaches history and geography in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is the period of the height of the youth riots in the township of Soweto. At Ben's school, Gordon Ngubene, a native, is a cleaner and he occasionally does little chores for Ben. When Ben sees that Jonathan, Gordon's son, is showing signs of intelligence and diligence, he decides to partly finance his education. One day however, Jonathan takes part in a demonstration which ends up in a violent riot and is arrested by the police. A few weeks later, after a harrowing quest through countless offices, Ben and Gordon are informed that Jonathan died "of natural causes" while in detention.
Due to the mystery surrounding his son's death, Gordon gives up his job in order to devote himself entirely to the enquiries which have become an obsession with him. Both the Special Branch and the Security Police are annoyed about Gordon's insistence and soon enough Gordon is arrested. After numerous attempts to try to trace Gordon and speak to him, Ben and Gordon's wife Emily are told by the spokesman of the Security Police that Gordon apparently committed suicide by hanging himself with strips torn from his blanket.
But Ben Du Toit senses that the official explanations for both Jonathan's and Gordon's deaths are just a pretext for poorly disguised murders and so he decides to take matters in his own hands and starts investigating.
Mr Brink's novel is a harrowing account of a solitary man's fight against all the atrocities of the Apartheid. During this dark period in the history of South Africa, a white man had to be a real hero to fight for the right of the Afrikaners. The author beautifully captures the fact that Ben has to fight not only the resentment of the people of the other race, but also that of the people belonging to his own race - his family for a start. The descriptions of the townships of Johannesburg, particularly that of Soweto, are breathtaking in their accuracy and poignancy.
|
|
|
Excellent, buy this book!
|
|
Every so often you discover a writer who is so good you feel you have to read all his work. Brink is such a writer. His ability to disseminate the inherent prejudices and corruptions of South African politics is wondrous. I cannot rate this novel highly enough
|
|
|
Definitely buy this book!
|
|
I could not put this book down for a moment. If you're interested in South Africa in the 80s, this is a must-read. Andre Brink is really a fantastic writer.
|
|
|
United States | 
United Kingdom | 
Canada