Customer Reviews

Casting with a Fragile Thread: A Story of Sisters and Africa

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When Lauren is killed, Wendy's past comes to stalk her like a jungle animal. She and Lauren and their sister Sharon grew up in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia), and she realizes that she will have to go back to Africa in order to move forward with her life in America.

The three sisters were raised dysfunctionally, amidst a landscape of madness, terror and war. Their parents were at odds --- their mother a rapidly deteriorating alcoholic, their father increasingly melancholy as events in their adopted home shifted like quicksand. Wendy, the oldest sibling, became a surrogate mother to Sharon and baby Lauren, a role that was forced on her by such incidents as the night Lauren disappeared. "The doorbell rang. I rushed to answer it and found a stranger there holding Lauren, who was blinking her round brown eyes in the soft outside light...My father was still at work. My mother had been in her bedroom all day. 'She belongs here,' I said finally, reaching out to take my little sister."

A divorce eventually occurred and the girls' father remarried. His new wife was capricious and cold and made Wendy's life worse. Her father's eventual accidental death was whispered among the family to be a suicide, and the girls' mother passed away in an institution. Meanwhile in Rhodesia, rumors of war, acts of terror and rumblings of inevitable change became commonplace.

"If you had asked anyone in the bars or clubs who we were fighting, only the most dull-eyed would have snarled, 'Kaffirs.' Some, more sober, might have said 'communism.' No one in my generation recognized that we were fighting to preserve an unsustainable way of life." After the war, there were still servants but they had to be paid more and there were many more locks on many more doors. As the old culture of colonialism died out to be replaced by a new kind of imperialism of the recently oppressed, Wendy made a passive escape by following her boyfriend to Europe and finally to Connecticut where she settled in to a comfortingly safe life raising her children and working as a counselor. Until she got the phone call about Lauren.

Going back for the funeral, Wendy is caught up in the drama of Africa once again. She senses generations of pain that she had not before confronted, in her meeting with Moses, a servant hired by Lauren's husband to keep poachers away. Intrigued, Wendy asks to photograph Moses with his powerful rifle. Moses assents, but "there was nothing coming from his eyes...I stared hard at Moses and recognized powerlessness." Despite the rifle, Moses still fears the white lady and her potential to humiliate and harm.

Lauren had been living in Zambia when her vehicle ran off a lonely road. Her son Luke, who was in the car with her, was just a baby. A major priority for the surviving sisters is arranging schooling and childcare for the boy. Revisiting Luke with Sharon when he is seven, Wendy comes to understand that Luke needs not just childcare now that his mother is gone; he needs a memory of Lauren. Wendy is able to tell him that the accident was "the car's fault" and that his mother loved him.

CASTING WITH A FRAGILE THREAD is written episodically, poetically, by someone who didn't plan to write a book. It is Wendy's gift to Luke, her eulogy to her spirited sister Lauren, and her way of comforting herself for her enduring loss.

--- Reviewed by Barbara Bamberger Scott

Wendy Kann's personal and political history in "Casting with a fragile thread" is riveting, wise and timeless. It is a gripping memoir about a woman who has risen above her traumatic childhood and turned her pain into compassion and healing.

Born in colonial Rhodesia--now Zimbabwe--Kann grew up during the country's 13-year civil war. She experienced the first elections in Zimbabwe in 1980 and lived in Hong Kong when the British officials handed the city over to the Chinese in 1997. She said both experiences were nagging reminders that the laws, police, media, army and government can bring bewildering uncertainty to a safe, predictable orderly world.

She writes poetically about her environment--how the lawns in America's neighborhoods simply roll trustingly one into the next, without the rude division of fences and gates.

Having spent my early years in South Africa I too had my "mind revolt against the terrifying avalanche of choice" and tried to figure what "American" was and how I could be "just that."

Kann's observation years later about Rhodesia's civil war is a warning to all countries. She said, "No one in my generation recognized that we were fighting a war to preserve an unsustainable way of life."

Her quote reminded me of America. We have the technology for alternative fuel yet we remain in a war in the Middle East because of an addiction to oil, a non-renewable resource.

I didn't really know what to expect when I first picked this book up on the recommendation from a friend but soon found I was unable to put it down. It is humbling to see how people can be brought up under such adversity and come through it. I loved the author's style which was easy to read despite some harrowing scenes. The book is based on the author's own experiences and captures the political events that surrounded the period. It does not come across as self serving but instead as a journal of events across the globe. Despite this being based on true occurences, her style would readily translate to further books. Well worth the read!

Kann shares her honest emotions so perfectly that I was unable to put the book down. The description of physical terrain and emotional environment are captured with a lovely balance that allows one to truly picture Wendy Kann's life. You will bond with the writer. She has come to us from such an exotic and imperfect world and her story is the discovery of purpose with feelings. This book has the quality, depth and interest to definitely be a top seller. I could imagine it has a fit in Oprah's book club....

Casting With A Fragile Thread: A Story Of Sisters And Africa tells of the mother of three children who left her Rhodesia childhood behind fifteen years earlier to settle into a new life in America and escape her country's upheaval. When she receives a call that her youngest sister has been killed in Zambia, she returns to her native Africa to find a new sense of purpose. A vivid story of death, rebirth, and cultural discovery evolves.

Wendy Kann's eye for detail and keen observations make her story come alive. This is a remarkable personal tale of a family torn apart, told against the backdrop of Rhodesia's emerging independence. Kann's ability to find a way through her mother's alcoholism, her father's suicide, her country's civil war and her sister's death is testimony to the human spirit.

This book is stunning! I loved every page and every word. The author has an amazing story to tell and a talent equivalent to her story's richness. I cried and laughed and cried again as the three sisters faced unfathomable hardship in a setting of colonial privilege. Ms. Kann paints a poignant picture of the Africa we think we know, and its dark underside of racism and family dysfunction.

There is something very beautiful in the style of the author. She touches deep inside while sharing her heartache from the death of her sister. She also teaches you a lot about a region in Africa and the attitude of the colonialists who live there. Her first impressions of America are told in a very humourous way. The book has something for everyone.

. . . this moving biographical story is absorbing . . . I could not put it down . . . the story is vividly written . . . so vivid that it has become a part of my life's fabric. A must read for anyone who has any interest in understanding Africa. A must read for anyone who wants insight into their own maturation and family dynamics.

I tucked into 'Casting with a Fragile Thread', convinced that nobody could write as moving a book on life in my childhood country than Peter Godwin. But within 20 pages, I was proved wrong. I was entranced by the book; utterly absorbed and enthralled by its emotional depth and verbal accuracy on our privileged but oftentimes tragic childhoods in what was then Rhodesia. I happened to know Wendy's family - and I visited Bien Donne on play dates with Wendy and her sister, Sharon. My mom was their piano teacher. I watched the tragedy of these sensitive girls' lives unfold - and every time when I thought it couldn't get worse - it did. Learning of Lauren's death in this book, and reading how the girls' love for each other has gotten them through the toughest parts of life, I was utterly moved. This book is a testiment to the things that are precious in life. The language is beautiful; the descriptions vivid, and Wendy's sensitivity and growth are an inspiration to anyone who has encountered tragedy and pain. In her case, she's emerged a beautiful human being - inside and out. Even if I weren't from Zimbabwe - seeking a nostalgia trip - I'd still have loved the book. I highly recommend it.