Friday, October 19, 2007
Chain of Fire
by Beverly Naidoo
Aarrrgh! I said I wanted to read a sequel to Journey to Jo'burg, since I felt that book ended before reaching a happy ending. So now I've borrowed and read the sequel and guess what? It has a worse ending. Chain of Fire picks up the tale of Naledi and her family, in 1980s South Africa. Apartheid is still in force and this time Naledi's whole village is getting the screw. The powers that be have decided that Naledi's people should go back to their "homeland"--never mind that just about everybody in the community was born in their current village. As renters, the rank and file don't have a lot of leverage to fight back, but they do what they can to protest the move. The government, of course, and... well, let's just say that apartheid sucks and I wasn't given the pleasure of seeing the bad guys put in their place. Part of me wants to ask for another sequel, but part of me wants to accept the tale as is, realizing that injustice doesn't always get a swift and tidy comeuppance. This is the type of book that should be read, so that those of us who have been spared a life of poverty might recognize some of the hallmarks of oppression and work from our end to stop it.
Check it out!
LibraryThing link
Aarrrgh! I said I wanted to read a sequel to Journey to Jo'burg, since I felt that book ended before reaching a happy ending. So now I've borrowed and read the sequel and guess what? It has a worse ending. Chain of Fire picks up the tale of Naledi and her family, in 1980s South Africa. Apartheid is still in force and this time Naledi's whole village is getting the screw. The powers that be have decided that Naledi's people should go back to their "homeland"--never mind that just about everybody in the community was born in their current village. As renters, the rank and file don't have a lot of leverage to fight back, but they do what they can to protest the move. The government, of course, and... well, let's just say that apartheid sucks and I wasn't given the pleasure of seeing the bad guys put in their place. Part of me wants to ask for another sequel, but part of me wants to accept the tale as is, realizing that injustice doesn't always get a swift and tidy comeuppance. This is the type of book that should be read, so that those of us who have been spared a life of poverty might recognize some of the hallmarks of oppression and work from our end to stop it.
Check it out!
LibraryThing link
Labels: CheckItOut
// posted by John @ 5:51 PM 
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