35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Gordimer goes Global -- and does it with panache, September 14, 2001
I tend to read Nobel Prize-winning writer Nadine Gordimer's books more out of a sense of duty than pleasure, but in this intense work, she's produced a page-turner as gripping as her apocalyptic July's People.
The story is told against two backdrops, from the perspective of two very different people, who "pick each other up". It's a cliche to say their lives are changed forever by their encounter, but Gordimer introduces fresh and complex twists into this most ancient of plots --Boy Meets Girl, and Nothing is Ever the Same Again.
Julie Summers, the archetypal poor little rich girl, meets Adbu -- not his real name -- in a garage workshop in Johannesburg, South Africa. Julie is in flight from her privileged background and splintered family; Abdu is an illegal immigrant from an impoverished desert nation, desperate to make a better life for himself. They become lovers, and a chain of events is set in motion that eventually leads to marriage, deportation and exile in a remote desert village in Africa.
The powerful erotic tension between them keeps them together, in spite of the widening gulf between their goals and values. Julie -- who takes for granted so many of the advantages that come with her background of wealth and status -- is fascinated by the strange new world, the exotic culture, religion and language into which her bond with Abdu plunges her. She is mesmerised by the desert, and builds deepening bonds with the women of the clan. Abdu, however, is almost fanatically determined to emigrate to a Western nation and build a "good life", one with the security and comforts that Julie has the luxury of despising.
Gordimer is an incisive and intelligent as ever in exploring complex issues, and she has her finger on the pulse of issues perplexing both post-apartheid South Africa and the global village. Migrancy and refugee movements have become major issues for the 21st century, with wealthier countries adopting increasingly hard-line attitudes and policies, even though many of them were founded by immigrants. In a relatively short book, Gordimer also touches deftly on the entire range of questions raised by cross-cultural relationships -- from the intimate and domestic to the broad and metaphysical ones of religion and identity. She also provides a fascinating study of how two people who love each other can fail utterly to understand one another.
I've withheld a fifth star only because I was slightly dissatisfied with the ending; Gordimer often resists closure, but I am a little wary with the trend in current South African writing that has women accepting the "lesser portion" and resigning themselves to fate. But I recognise that the ending is what will spark much debate about this fine work. So, to find out what actually happens -- read the book!
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great love story ..., June 1, 2002
By A Customer
...if you like books that complicate conventional notions of love. The first half of the book is a disorienting bit of restraint, the meaning of which is only revealed once the story's location changes at the mid-point to some unnamed poor African country. Then you see these two characters' lives crossing at an intersection that we might call love. Or are these just the colliding desires of two desperate and unhappy people? Gordimer is a master of economy and subtle observance. There is not an ounce of crap in this book. It's not just about love but about the contemporary world and its stupefyingly unfair inequalities, but also about the startling similarities that people can share amid those inequalities.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable, until the end, April 13, 2002
Okay let's start with what I didn't like......the ending. I found it terribly unsatisfying....perhaps because I am a romantic and had hoped for something more along those lines.
That said. As a whole I loved the book for its wonderful writing, challenging to read at times, but a unique and interesting voice that seemed to suit the characters and the plot. I haven't read anything else by this author so I can't compare it with her other works, but I am intrigued enough to pick up another of her novels in the future.
What works in the novel is the exploration of the clash of cultures that infiltrates a love relationship between two people of very disparate backgrounds, and the differing motivations they bring to their relationship. Do they ultimately both get what they wanted? Some would argue yes, even in the end. I just would have preferred the storybook happy ending. But that's my cultural and romantic bias.
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