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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Passion and Violence in 19thc South Africa, January 12, 2009
The story takes place in the mid-1800s when scattered wagon trains of stubborn Boer farmers set out on a Great Trek from the Cape Colony in South Africa to the Transvaal, seeking a place to settle free from English rule. The main plot follows the migration of one group of colonists, led by their rigid and fierce elder, Hendrik van der Berg, who eventually leads them to a range surrounded by high hills and watered by numerous streams. The Boers name their new "promised land" Canaan and proceed to build homes, plough crops, and pasture their livestock. However, the surface beauty of the land proves deceptive: both farmers and their animals are slowly decimated by disease and parasites. "With the tenacity of their race they were fighting a losing battle . . . Capable of phenomenal efforts these people were also capable of phenomenal acquiescence in adversity, taking the manifold blows rained upon them as acts of God, sent by him to chasten them." There is also the ever present danger of local Kaffirs, black tribesmen who having lived and worked among the Boers have lost their fear of white men. A strong subplot highlights several vivid characters, such as the stalwart hunter Zwart Piete du Plessis, the wily old witch doctor Rinkals, and the seductive Sannie van Reenen, around whose beauty the story turns. You'll find adventure, romance, adultery, and war, all enacted against the vivid panorama of the African veldt. Cloete (pronounced Clewty) farmed for 15 years in South Africa, and his descriptions of the African landscape and encounters with its wildlife have the ring of truth. A good solid read, reminiscent of the turmoil that resulted from early clashes between white settlers and Native Americans in the United States.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Violence and Passion in 19thc South Africa, January 12, 2009
The story takes place in the mid-1800s when scattered wagon trains of stubborn Boer farmers set out on a Great Trek from the Cape Colony in South Africa to the Transvaal, seeking a place to settle free from English rule. The main plot follows the migration of one group of colonists, led by their rigid and fierce elder, Hendrik van der Berg, who eventually leads them to a range surrounded by high hills and watered by numerous streams. The Boers name their new "promised land" Canaan and proceed to build homes, plough crops, and pasture their livestock. However, the surface beauty of the land proves deceptive: both farmers and their animals are slowly decimated by disease and parasites. "With the tenacity of their race they were fighting a losing battle . . . Capable of phenomenal efforts these people were also capable of phenomenal acquiescence in adversity, taking the manifold blows rained upon them as acts of God, sent by him to chasten them." There is also the ever present danger of local Kaffirs, black tribesmen who having lived and worked among the Boers have lost their fear of white men. A strong subplot highlights several vivid characters, such as the stalwart hunter Zwart Piete du Plessis, the wily old witch doctor Rinkals, and the seductive Sannie van Reenen, around whose beauty the story turns. You'll find adventure, romance, adultery, and war, all enacted against the vivid panorama of the African veldt. Cloete (pronounced Clewty) farmed for 15 years in South Africa, and his descriptions of the African landscape and encounters with its wildlife have the ring of truth. A good solid read, reminiscent of the turmoil that resulted from early clashes between white settlers and Native Americans in the United States.
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