Customer Reviews

Ah but Your Land Is Beautiful

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
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"Ah But Your Land is Beautiful" is far and away one of the best books written about the old South Africa, and in many ways still applies very much so to today's "Rainbow Nation." Taking the reader into all of the minds in South Africa at the dawn of apartheid, this gripping multi-viewpoint docu-fiction is an amazing experience for those with everything from a little to an extensive background in South African history. It is a must for anyone who was captivated by "Cry, the Beloved Country," and in my opinion is his best work.

I finished reading Ah, But Your Land is Beautiful quite a while ago, but I'd read it again it I hadn't borrowed it from the library. While you can't always tell which character is speaking, I find that that is good because it shows the complexity of views in South Africa in the 1950s. When you start reading a new section, you don't think, "Oh, that's just what Hugh Mainwaring thinks." You realise that the statements were actually what real people, not just characters, thought. Especially in this day and age, I think that this book helps a little to get in to the mind of terrorists today, even though the issues at stake are markedly different. I would recommend this to everyone, especially those who enjoy history.

As others mentioned, this book is confusing, and after a while, I forgot about who was speaking and let it dawn on me. Reading other reviews, I now guess that he wanted readers to be confused and to hear the viewpoints and react to them before we know who made them...who knows.

Either way, I loved this book. It has truly taught me something that I had thought about for decades...specifically, how can people do the cruel things they do to others...Paton's message to me is that if we are hurt and threatened, we then lash out at someone else to express our pain. I won't share any more because it's a review of the book, not an essay.

His writing style is amazing to me...the emotional quality and humanity he conveys, and the depth of understanding of human nature compares with Shakespeare, but much warmer in my opinion- and he is equally understanding of every one of his characters, regardless of their situation.

If I could emulate this writing style successfully, I would become a writer just to do it. Although I am still a little confused, I love this book, and it has fundamentally altered my understanding of human nature...it makes me want to be a more understanding human.

It's been almost 30 years since I read Cry, the Beloved Country and I'd forgotten how strangely Paton structures his books. This novel gives us some excellent insights on how sick a society South Africa was in the 1950's. However it's an extremely difficult read; shifting between past and present tense, dialogs were the author doesn't explain which characters are speaking, a great many references that are unclear to readers who know little about South Africa. Another reviewer called the novel "docu-fiction". That's exactly what it is. It has no protagonists. We learn very little about who these characters are and have trouble caring about them, aside from the grief inflicted on them by hateful Afrikaners. This was Paton's last novel. He was pushing 80 when he wrote it. He still had plenty to say. His ideosyncratic story telling detracts from the message.

Alan Paton descibes realistic events of South Africans involved in 20th century conflicts. It's a great book. There are two main charcaters, Mr. Robert Mansfield and M.K. Bodasingh. It is often hard to determine which character is expressing his thoughts and for some to follow the story line, but definitely worth reading.