Customer Reviews

My Traitor's Heart: A South African Exile Returns to Face His Country, His Tribe, and His Conscience

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book is an investigation into the attitudes of a liberal who was raised in South Africa. In the book, Malan tells us that his original charge was to write the history of his racist ancestors, who were among the first Boer settlers in the region. But when Malan began his project, he found he needed to first explore and develop his own perspective on race in South Africa before he could begin. And once he began doing this, he never really got around to the history project.

The book is divided into 3 sections. In the first, Malan describes his own childhood and adolescence, leading up to his forced flight from South Africa, with a major focus on his youthful love for Blacks (especially in the abstract). The second part of the book details a number of violent murders that Malan investigated upon his return to South Africa in 1986 to write this book. In this section, Malan describes the intense violence that was occurring in South Africa at the time, and how all Whites, even doctors providing humanitarian services in the townships, became targets for Black rage. He also explores violence between rival Black political groups. In the closing section, Malan visits a White woman named Creina Alcock, who lived on the border of Msanga, a tribal homeland, where she and her husband had struggled to build a sustainable rural development project with the local Blacks. The woman was widowed after her husband was killed while trying to negotiate peace talks during a tribal disturbance in Msanga.

The book doesn't have a strong narrative thread- -instead it seems that Malan was trying to communicate some of his own confusion and ambivalence about racial questions by presenting so many stories and sides of the picture, and flipping rapidly from one to the next. The loose organization is effective to some degree; the reader slowly comes to understand the enormity and complexity of South Africa's problems. Yes, many Whites provoked anger from Blacks by their abominable behavior and laws. Blacks in turn responded with violence that was so overwhelming that even those Whites who tried as hard as they could to do the right thing were in mortal danger. And the worst and most senseless violence seemed to occur in Black communities that had no White involvement at all. The entire society was so focused on violence that as one White living on a farm in a rural area told Malan "The guy with the bigger stick wins." In closing with Creina Alcock's story, Malan tries to leave us with a little hope. He argues that Alcock's and her late husband's love for their community has made a marginal difference in the social structure, despite the ongoing attacks on them and thefts of their property by children they had adopted and raised as their own, and even the murder of Alcock's husband. With the infinitesimally small improvements that the Alcocks managed to make in their community by giving their entire lives over to the project, how many millions more Alcocks would it take to turn such a country around, and where might they come from?

This book came out when I was working in South Africa. It explores in an uncompromising way two rival phenomena: the hopes of 'white liberalism' and some harsh realities of South Africa's 'African-ness' which many urban liberals at that point seemed to pretend either were not there or were somehow only a function of apartheid.

The passages on Creina Alcock, a 'white' South African who stepped far away from her background to live as a Zulu are are especially poignant, even stunning. I visited Creina in her remote hut on the strength of this book and was astonished by her courage and wisdom. Rian captures this extraordinary story in a moving if (for the average reader?) pessimistic way

This book has universalist insights for anyone interested in whether Civilisations really do Clash. Rian Malan was on to something very profound in this book. It is vivid and appalling in places, and not always easy reading. So what? These issues are as difficult as anything we face. Read it, lots of times.

I am an avid reader,having read several books about South Africa. Being an African American I was very curious as to what this author had to say, and figured that I would end up being totally turned off, thus having wasted my time and money ordering it. Was I wrong! My Traitor' Heart was well worth the money and definitely the time. This book casts a broad beacon of light on the very dark history of South African's Apartheid and the evils it wrought on both blacks and the whites who were sympathetic to the struggle. "My Traitor's Heart" was the most heart rending book, but because it gives the reader such fantastic factual information, you can't put it down. I certainly hope Mr. Malan is not through sharing his insights, knowledge and experiences in his native country. I hope his next book comes out soon. Rian Malan I respect and admire you. Excellent!

It seems that everyone has an opinion about Africa and all those opinions exist somewhere on a single sliding scale. At one end is the idea that all of that continent's problems are the result of some kind of post-colonial hangover and that if it hadn't been for the Europeans, Africa would be a wealthy, progressive Utopia. On the other extreme, is the opinion that the African culture has evolved in such a way as to virtually preclude `successful' statehood. Critics of this book tend to dislike it based on their position on that scale relative to the author's (somewhere in the middle, by the way.) Also, they sometimes use dubious facts and theories to back up their positions (e.g. Malan does indeed discuss the Afrikaner disinformation campaign designed to turn tribes/political movements against each other, and trying to determine what ethnic groups have `first settler' rights to a given piece of dirt is virtually impossible.)

But all this is completely irrelevant. As is clearly stated in the extended title, this is the story of one man's journey though his own past and conscience. On this level, it is a triumph. It is the only book I have ever read that doesn't seem to include a single divisive word. Whether you agree with Malan's observations or not, I think it is clear that he agonized over and believed deeply in every one. Additionally, the book is beautifully written on almost every level: smooth, engaging prose, balanced structure, and unfailing pace. It is almost impossible for the reader not be affected in one way or another.

It has been asked whether this book is still relevant in light of the fall of Apartheid and the progression of S.A. in the years since its publication. Certainly, as a wonderfully crafted look into one individual's soul and his struggle to find his place in the world, it is.

But has it become outdated politically, as has been suggested? I wonder. At the writing of this review, Zimbabwe is trying hard to destroy itself in a misguided effort to deal with its colonial past. Unfortunately, My Traitor's Heart may have some life in it yet...

My book club chose this title for our most recent discussion....All caucasian women, middle-class or thereabouts, Canadian by birth. All quite whacked into silence and deep reflection by this book. Rian Malan has bared his own heart, his own mind, his own racist ancestry and his horrific awakenings to the demonic power of apartheid. He spares us nothing in the stories he shares and I wonder how he could keep himself sane and loving as he uncovered, witnessed and experienced an evil that is almost beyond description. He asks at the book's opening, "How do I live in this strange land?" -- He doesn't have an answer to the basic question of why we humans act with such hatred to one another, but his monumental courage in laying bare the poisons of racial cruelty is a horrible and necessary medicine for all of us. This book has jarred me permanently; I am grateful for its power. I hope that Rian writes again -- this first book was originally published in 1990; I would love to read his impressions of the last decade as South Africans struggle to release themselves from the noose of apartheid. Thank you, Rian.

Oh, I'm not going to get intellectual about this book, for me it's impact has always been wrenching and emotional. And it's been deeply personal, with resonances. Rian grew up blocks away from me, I was a crime reporter in Johannesburg (although some years after Malan), a fire-brand leftist in my day. So this feels like my story, and I'm sure many white men of my generation feel the same. To this day this is the first book I give to friends or lovers, in the hope they'll understand something unexplainable about me and my twisted history. And they always do. Along with Coetzee's 'Disgrace', this book has been a constant companion, keeping me close to a certain truth. There are few better books about the bitter complexities of the land we all love with desperation and heartbreak. A book that changes you. And the greatest compliment - the book I wished I'd written. Kudos, kudos, kudos. Read it.

The previous 17 reviewers have given this book 5 stars, and I really have nothing more to add that hasn't been said already, but please permit me this personal indulgence.

I am a (white) American with a longstanding interest in Africa. I had always meant to read this book. I even knew of Malan's record reviewing under the name Nelson Mandela. While vacationing in Southern Africa a few years ago with my (black) African wife, I ran out of reading material so I picked up "My Traitor's Heart" while browsing in a bookstore in Cape Town. A couple days later after a day of sightseeing, we returned to our hotel room and I lay down on the bed and began reading the book. It was an eery feeling to realize that, unknowingly, earlier that day we had visited the very farm where the transgressive act had taken place that sets the whole Malan family saga into motion. The book became a kind of companion for the rest of our stay in South Africa.

Much of the literature produced during the apartheid period now seems dated. This book does not. People will still be reading it years from now.

The previous review to the contrary, this book will always be relevant as long as human beings judge other humans based on race. I just finished reading it and, as an American living in the Middle East, I faced innumerable home truths about myself and my own racist biases during the two days I was glued to it.

It is a painful read, in terms of the atrocities it depicts and the questions it asks. However, it is an essential read, though I wonder if anyone who has not lived long-term outside their own culture can truly appreciate it. It's easy to be a white liberal at home, wrapped in one's own smug assurance and safe within the majority. (And I'm speaking of myself here). Surrounded by 20 million Arabs, Malan's own journeys into Soweto strike far too close to one's heart.

On only the most superficial level is this a book about South African Apartheid. It is also about Israelis and Palestinians, Hindus and Muslims, Northern Irish and the English, the US and its every victim.

I have attempted to write a review of this book several times, but failed as I find myself gripped with the same conflicting emotions that Malan so succintly portrays in the book.

Having been born and brought up very close to the Msinga Valley (the subject of the closing chapter of My Traitor's Heart) in the heart of Kwa Zulu Natal, many of the names and people are known to me. Some of those people are the heroes of the book, others are the villains. I mention this only in so much as I can verify sufficient of the authenticity of Malan's very personal, cathartic journey.

Many others have written a synopsis of Malan's book. If you want to know about the story line - there are many reviews to be read. However, for me the review is a personal experience. Malan's catharsis is paralleled by my own! No other book I've read is as descriptive of the madness that is Africa. A madness that you both love and hate at the same time. A madness that drives you away and yet draws you in simultaneously. And finally a madness that drives you to the edge of reason, yet (as the story of Creina Alcock unfolds) drives you to the reason for being.

No matter where you start on the political spectrum (extreme left, extreme right or somewhere in the middle), you find yourself driven to the other end of the scale and back again, on a roller coaster of emotion. For Malan, his beginning point is 'extreme left'. His end point, is, I suspect, 'disillusioned'.

I recommend this book as an extremely well written, witty, sad, mad book. If you want to understand Africa (insofar as anyone can 'understand' Africa), this is the book to read.

But reader beware - it is a deeply disturbing, very graphic read!

I first read this book in 1991, intrigued after seeing the BBC documentary (no video available?) of Malan reliving the horrors and inversions of his terrible journey into the hearts of his countrymen.I was so moved by the book that I wrote to thank him for his thoughts and words. Inevitably this book struck me as his journey towards his truth, which inspires and jolts the reader into a new awareness of their awesome existence in a world of men that seems to seek to render them helpless. It is impossible not to feel and to take a passionate stand about the stories he unfolds of blood and murder in his homeland. But South Africa is only unique in this respect in the openness of the killing. I recently watched a programme about SA, also on the BBC, - a visit by Louis Theroux in his "Weird" series which showed that far from the radical change expected since Malan's original, the Nazi's of SA are alive and well - Eugene Terreblanche may be in prison, but his form of Nationalism exists everywhere in the First World in some form or other. Malan's predictions are all but coming true...thanks for replying to a young idealist all those years ago, Malan. I'm still living my happy but wiser life, searching, writing, and waiting for the next chapters of your story.