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The Heart of Redness: A Novel Paperback – August 1, 2003

by Zakes Mda (Author)

16 customer reviews

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Camugu, recently returned to Johannesburg and disillusioned by the new democracy, moves to the remote Eastern Cape. There in the nineteenth century a teenage prophetess commanded the Xhosa people to kill their cattle and burn their crops, promising that the spirits of their ancestors would rise and drive the English into the ocean. The failed prophecy split the people in two, with devastating consequences. One hundred and fifty years later, the two groups' decendants are at odds over plans to build a vast casino and tourist resort, and Camugu is soon drawn into their heritage and their future―and into a bizarre love triangle as well.

The Heart of Redness: A Novel

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Product Details

Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Picador; Reprint edition (August 1, 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0312421745
ISBN-13: 978-0312421748
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #186,959 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #86 in Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > African
- #208 in Books > Literature & Fiction > British & Irish > Contemporary
- #406 in Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Australia & Oceania

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Customer Reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars

5 star		50%
4 star		25%
3 star		13%
2 star		6%
1 star		6%

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Top Customer Reviews

A Masterpiece by a Master Storyteller

By William Gutowski on October 25, 2002

Format: Hardcover

This is one of the most beautiful books I have read in years. Mda skillfullly evokes the tensions in contemporary South Africa for blacks caught between the tug of Western, technological culture and their identity in long-standing traditions. The story is given added substance by Mda's recounting the history of similar tensions from the nineteenth century, thus creating deep emotions that propel the characters. The story mixes family feuds, spats between the sexes, and sober deliberations about community versus individual choices, all told with a level of humor that underscores rather than undermines the importance of these issues for South Africa today.

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Things Fell Apart

By Michael Jones VINE VOICE on May 4, 2012

Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase

To Bhonco, son of Ximiya, of the amaXhosa people of South Africa, redness connotes the backwardness of his ancestors. It refers to the red ochre "that women smear on their bodies and with which they also dye their isikhakha skirts". He strives to lead his family out of the primitive past, out of the darkness of the redness , toward the rest of civilization. This he believes, can be advanced through the approval of plans for a new casino in his home village of Qolora-by-Sea; where tourists may flock, bringing sophistication and money and jobs.

In his 2002 novel, The Heart of Redness (the title being an allusion to Conrad's classic novella) Zakes Mda, a South African, novelist, poet and playwright, not only recounts the true story of Nongqawuse, a young prophetess, and her supporters, the Cult of the Believers, but he also imagines the effect they had on modern day citizens of Qolora, her legacy to the amaXhosa. Bhonco belongs to the Cult of the Unbelievers, he follows the tenets of Twin-Twin, the original Unbeliever, who lived during the time of the great Xhosa cattle slaughter of 1856/1857 (see Jeff Peires' book The Dead Will Arise: Nongqawuse and the Great Xhosa Cattle-Killing Movement of 1856-7 which Mda cites as the prime resource for this work). His distant cousin, Zim and his daughter, who live nearby, are Believers. They follow the philosophy of their ancestor Twin (Twin and Twin-Twin were brothers, son of the beheaded Xikixa) who were faithful to the prophecies: kill all your animals, cattle sheep, goats, and the great ancestors will rise from the ocean bringing fresh livestock and blessings for a fortuitous future.

The two, Zim and Bhonco, as were their ancestors, are at odds; to join the modern or to respect the old ways, that is the question.Read more ›

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A REVIEW OF HEART OF REDNESS: THE EVOLVING IDENTITY

By Socialistic Capitalist on December 8, 2006

Format: Paperback

The novel Heart of Redness by Zakes Mda, tells a tale of rural integration and religious conflict of a village in post colonial South Africa. The novel reveals the metamorphosis of South Africans through an economic, social, and cultural lens in the 1990s. Africa is no long the primitive continent solely known for its vast concoction of indigenous cultures. Instead, it is an emerging economy with its people adjusting to modernity and the how the lives of many Africans coexists with the remaining colonial influences. This struggle for change and progress, versus preservation of the land and traditions, becomes the pinnacle feud between the Believers and Unbelievers. By folding different generations of stories with each character of the book, Heart of Redness becomes alive with vivacity.

The story begins by introducing the Middle Generation that was lost to the colonial conflicts. Because of this great disturbance in African culture and history, the feud between the Believers and the Unbelievers drove the lives of many African decedents apart for decades. Camagu, the main character of the book, returns to South Africa for first time after being exiled to the United States for 30 years, finds himself to be a stranger in a land that he once called home. Camagu's character presented the readers an unbiased and western perspective as if the reader can experienced this story first handed.

After being educated in the west and earned a repertoire of outstanding professions, Camagu's knowledge and experience were almost nonfunctional in South Africa. For most jobs that he went looking for, he was overqualified. However, because he was not in the "elite" circle of the Aristocrats of the Revolution, he could not get into the jobs that would really allow him to make a difference.Read more ›

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historical fiction at its best

By Alan J. Jacobs on December 10, 2011

Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase

Zakes Mda is a master teller of historical fiction. The history that he recounts is one of which I was totally unaware: a series of battles between the Xhosa people of the Eastern Cape in South Africa and the British. (The British won the war.) The Xhosas were done in my the prophecies of the daughters of a chief, who had visions of Xhosa ancestors returning to defeat the British. In order to summon these ancestors, all Xhosa had to slaughter their cattle. The ancestors never came, and the believers among the Xhosa starved, after killing off many of the unbelievers. Believers and Unbelievers became a permanent division among the Xhosa.

With this as a background, Mda follows a modern South African who travels to Xhosa land in search of a beautiful woman who he met at a bar in Jo-burg. He becomes wrapped up in the local struggles between Believers and Unbelievers, and between those who want the development of a modern resort, and those who don't. Mda also novelizes the struggle in the 1800s between the factions, represented by two brothers: Twin, and Twin-Twin. Descendants of those two brothers are the modern-day Believers and Unbelievers.

It's all told believably, but with a touch of magic. Other than a rather flat ending (perhaps my ebook cut off the end?) it was a thoroughly enjoyable trip to a different time and place with an articulate and passionate guide.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

Sincere and Hilarious Historic Fiction

This historic fiction was informative and entertaining! A fantastic read, the author provides the reader insight into the clashes of cultures, beliefs, and human emotion. Read more

Published 7 months ago by R MORGAN

The Past, Alas, Is Not a Foreign Country

"The Heart of Redness" is a beautiful, melancholy, somewhat cryptic fable set in rural Eastern Cape, not long after the ANC has come to power in South Africa. Read more

Published 8 months ago by not me

Two Stars

Felt like a Jerry Springer based in South Africa.

Published 12 months ago by Sharon

Great book

It's been a while since I've read this, I have to admit. But at the time, I thought it was one of the best books I've read (though I often feel that way when I get into a book, I... Read more

Published on April 17, 2014 by Robert W. Klein

Let's go for a stroll...

‘The Heart of Redness’ by Zakes Mda, is the work of a master storyteller. And stories are why we read fiction: we want to be transported away to another place and time, to escape... Read more

Published on January 19, 2014 by John Mountford

Good price. Recommended for all my friends. This site is easy to used....

Good price. Recommended for all my friends.
This site is easy to used. I like it. Thank you so much.

Published on November 15, 2013 by Peter

really?

i got this a long time ago and i'm still struggling to finish it, even though i've decided to skim from the halfway point.

Published on May 22, 2013 by kindeling in zimbabwe

South Africa in all its agonized glory

Let's be honest: it is hard to write a bad book about South Africa. With its horrible history of oppression, colonization, racism, and virtual genocide, South Africa's collective... Read more

Published on September 15, 2012 by PuroShaggy

A great one from one of South Africa's best

A moving and sincere novel that tackles the clash of generations/communities/developments currently going on in South Africa, especially between rural and urban. Read more

Published on June 27, 2011 by All Things Good

Good Historical Fiction, But Characters Somewhat One Dimensional

The historical elements of this novel are wonderfully accurate. The rest of it is largely so-so as the characters are somewhat stilted and the prose kind of heavyhanded.

Published on May 31, 2011 by J. Smallridge

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