Customer Reviews

Frankie and Stankie

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This is the book Barbara Trapido fans have been waiting for. For all those who have almost enjoyed her books but felt that sometimes style triumphed over substance, Trapido's (one suspects) highly biographical novel of growing up in South Africa in the 1950s has the meat that has been previously lacking. At times the tale she tells is almost too awful to contemplate, but deftly woven into the story of oppression and an unthinkable lack of human rights is the brilliantly remembered childhood and adolescence. Dinah, the main character, is a sickly brainbox who hates sport and has a weakness for fashion and silliness. Her mother is a German immigrant whose well-off family fall on hard times in South Africa. Her father is a Dutch mathematics professor with some dour 50s Spartan influences, but liberal tendencies. Dinah is a mix of them both and it is her take on the situation that makes the book. Maybe toward the end, Trapido seems to be throwing information at the reader in order to finish up, but by then I'd had a really good read and was prepared to forgive. If this sounds like the sort of thing you like, give it a go.

It is so unfortunate that this wonderful writer is not recognized in America. Every one of her books resonates with wonderful plots and characters, yet I find I have to special order many of them from the UK. This one, possibly her most personal, follows the young life of a girl in Durban, South Africa, during the implementation of apartheid. Being blessed by having enlightened parents and, as her father puts it, strong abstract reasoning, Dinah is appalled at the injustices imposed by the apartheid system. This shameful history is documented here in prose that is understandable, warm and sometimes humorous. Her experiences at her different schools, relationships with the various girlfriends and (later) men she meets, and her truly original family are presented with three-dimensional clarity. When as an adult she leaves for England, she finds she loves her new home, can remember with affection but not longing the positives of her childhood home, but is especially glad that "public holidays are called bank holidays because they aren't commemorating an endless succession of brutal events in which white persons w/gunpowder have laid waste to brown persons w/spears."

I read Barbara Trapido's Temples of Delight before reading this book. I like nothing more than "discovering" an author I enjoy and finding more books by that author to read.

Probably, like most Americans, I didn't know as much as I should have about the terrible history of South African apartheid. Because of this book I know I need to learn more.

Unfortunately, the only character I found interesting was the mother. The growing up years of Dinah and her sister seemed unremarkable and boring. I didn't care about them. It was what was going on around them that kept my interest.

The first maybe 100 pages or so gave me a headache. It was as though the sentences were so long I didn't know where to take a breath. Possibly, the author was trying to mimic the way a child might talk or think. I was constantly backtracking to see if I had missed the end of the sentence or paragraph. Eventually, the breathlessness of the paragraphs ended and my brain felt more comfortable.

I was on vacation when I read this book. If I had been at home with a multitude of books to choose from, I might not have finished it.

Oh, and something else that made me grumpy was how--or maybe I should say when it ended. I don't want to spoil the ending for anyone, but would be curious to know if anyone else feels the book ended abruptly.

What you learn from reading FRANKIE AND STANKIE is much more important than the story. Please read it for that and if you like the story too, you can write a much nicer review than this one.

I've read all of Barbara Trapido's previous books, and I've loved them all, but I was disappointed in Frankie & Stankie. The book appears to be a thinly disguised memoir of Trapido's childhood and young womanhood in South Africa: pretty much all that happens is that Dinah (the author's alter ego) goes to grammar school, where she makes friends and has run-ins with her teachers; then she goes to high school, where she makes more friends and discovers art history and English literature; and then she goes to university, where she makes still more friends and begins to become politically and sexually aware. Interspersed with Dinah's school experiences are references to various people and events in South African history, which are interesting in and of themselves but don't really relate to the rest of the story.

There's much to like in this book -- Trapido writes with her customary wit and grace, and she brings even the most minor characters fully to life -- but it lacks the shape and the narrative drive I expect of a novel.

If you love Barbara Trapido's writing and don't mind reading a memoir disguised as a novel, by all means read Frankie & Stankie. If you haven't read any of her other books, skip this one and start with Brother of the More Famous Jack.