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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
haunting,
By Chutes (East Brunswick, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Sport of Nature (Hardcover)
This is a richly written book. Gordimer handles the character in an interesting way--one of the reviewers said that she couldn't relate to the character, and I think that is because Gordimer is presenting her as someone who is puzzling to other people, a "sport" or new species. You don't get into the heroine's head so much as you try to figure out her mysteries. Of course, that means Gordimer is giving the reader the role of someone from the ordinary world who isn't quite as evolved sexually or politically as her heroine. I found the heroine haunting because of her self possession, her practically unselfconscious drive to grow that freed her of much of the guilt and fear of isolation that keep most of us from doing the right things.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Look beyond normal reading,
By Jeanette Burch (Kincardine Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Sport of Nature (Transaction Large Print Books) (Hardcover)
I do not agree with the substandard reviews of this book. If you are interested in South Africa don't be afraid of a more difficult read and pick up this book. It is a little difficult to get into but once you get used to Gordimer's writing style, anyone will enjoy it. Hillela is a very interesting character who one can not underestimate. I like her spirit, and I truely think she has a complete change of character by the end of the story.
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Absorbing, but just couldn't relate to main character,
This review is from: A Sport of Nature (Paperback)
I have never read Nadine Gordimer before, but when I saw 2 collections of her works at 2 of my friends' houses (and rave reviews) I got curious. This book is a thickly textured look at 3 sisters and their divurgent lives and the daughter of 1 who is exposed to all 3 and then further divurges into the racial movements of 70's South Africa. Gordimer's use of setting is really good. I found particularly interesting the family of the most politically oriented sister, Pauline and her husband Joe and children where the domestic lives interleave with the sometimes violent politial terrain. The main character, Hillela, however, I found to be less than heroic -- she simply seemed to be a sensual being who floated in and out of various beds and even the tragedy which befalls her later in the story doesn't REALLY seem to have changed her - she seems like the same person on page 1 as on page 300, although the narrative implies otherwise. For a book released in the 70's I'm sure that this was a revelation, although here in the new millenium it seems dated.Despite all this, I think the author is terrifically talented in her ability to convey sensuality, to provoke thought, and to establish setting and mood. There were some passages of the book that are among the best I've read anywhere.
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