In 1987, after a twelve year absence, Chistopher Hope returned to South Africa to report on the run up to that year's whites-only election. The nature of the election campaign and the bitter defeat of the liberals lead him to write this satirical, evocative portrait of what it looked and felt like growing up in a country gripped by an absurd, racist insanity. Full of exquisite and despairing descriptions of the landscape the White Boy is running through, this mordantly witty account of escape, displacement and disillusionment is a modern classic of journalistic memoir. 'beautifully written' - "The Times". 'mocking, angry and beautiful' - "Washington Post". 'exactly the right note of cold, poetic irony' - "Financial Times". 'exquisite and despairing' - "Newsday". 'An exceptional book' - "Los Angeles Times".
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Born and raised in a South African Irish Catholic family and hence set apart from the ruling Afrikaners, poet-novelist Christopher Hope has always been keenly aware of the pernicious effects of apartheid on both blacks and whites. In this sad, sensitive book, describing his first visit to South Africa in 13 years, he examines current conditions against the backdrop of his own memories: the increasing violence, uncertainty, anxiety and militarization of civilian life, the near-starvation in the midst of plenty, the significant gains in the 1987 election of the white Right ("They have never allowed their principles to interfere with their desire to make money"). The "granite structures" of apartheid are crumbling, he states, but in the end it is the great silent, underfed, unemployed people who pose a far larger threat to the government than the deliberate military incursions of the guerrillas or the fine fury of the extensive black townships.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
$17.95. per nar A combination of autobiography, travel account, political commentary, and history, this book relates novelist Hope's return to South Africa at the time of the 1987 election. In describing his life growing up in Balfour, Johannesburg, and Pretoria, Hope details the frighteningly logical progression from the 1948 election when the Nationalists came to power to the absurdity and tragedy of 1987. The last of the three sections, "Good Morning, Lemmings!" describes the parties in the white election and the election itself. Of interest mostly to those with some knowledge of South Africa. Not a first choice or for the smaller library, but useful if bought along with the growing body of autobiographical material available on black South Africans. Maidel Cason, Univ. of Delaware Lib., Newark
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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