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Rating: 
Summary: Is the truth really the Truth?
Review: A fantastic read. This book deals remarkably well with the complexities of ambiguous truths in the aftermath of Apartheid era South Africa. Slovo does an excellent job of presenting the harsh realities of those interrogated and tortured by the security aparatus as well as the truth as seen through the eyes of the perpetrators. Reminiscent of the work dealing with military dictatorships in South America: "A miracle, A universe: Settling accounts with torturers." Wonderfully written.
Rating: 
Summary: Addressing the evils of Aparteid...
Review: Since 1985, during The Emergency that tore open the façade of apartheid in South Africa, the citizens of the township of Smitsrivier have waited for the Truth Hearings. The hearings are scheduled to facilitate the amnesty of political prisoners, usually former policemen and other government agents who perpetrated violence against the blacks. In return for telling all of the circumstances of torture and other brutality, including murder, the Commission will decide whether to allow amnesty for each current appeal. The central figure of the Truth Commission in this case is Dirk Hendricks, a former policeman applying for amnesty for the beating and torture of Alex Mpondo. Hendricks is the critical link between Mpondo and Steve Sizela, Alex's compatriot, who was also arrested and beaten, only Steve's body was never recovered. Alex holds the key to Steve's murder, but has been unable to remember anything clearly since his beating, whether Hendricks participated in Steve's murder or has knowledge of who actually did the deed. Alex engages in a dangerous dance with his tormentor, allowing Hendricks to prick his memory with questions and insinuations, hoping to remember. At issue is Alex's participation without allowing his further victimization. A successful young New York lawyer, Sarah Barcant, is summoned to Smitsrivier to manage Alex's case. Her mentor, Ben Hoffman, who is dying, places a phone call requesting her help. He knows he cannot be refused, due to the ties of the past. Sarah and Ben hope, as part of the process, to uncover Steve's murderer and ascertain where he is buried, that his still grieving parents may see their son properly interred. Using Sarah as a vehicle, Alex confronts Dirk Hendricks, willing to suffer the indignity of facing his tormentor all over again when they are face to face. But Alex is outraged when Hendricks declares himself a sufferer of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder while "doing his job", a critical factor in Hendricks' defense. Hendricks assumes the mantle of victim, giving a brilliant performance before the Committee while on the witness stand. Sarah's task, given Alex's newly awakening insights, is to unmask the policeman for the monster that he really is. This will necessitate drawing out the personality Hendricks seeks to hide from his audience, the darkness waiting to surface. The denouement of the murderer and restoration of Steve Sizela's body to his parents serve to begin a healing process in only one of the towns so devastated by long years of apartheid, a land too long immersed in fear and hatred. Racial tension and animosity still exist in Smitsrivier, where black and white exist side by side, but in a more subtle and insidious form. Yet Slovo's South Africa is a gorgeous and fascinating country, ripe with promise, reaping the rewards of a revolution against inequality and repression of the human spirit. The task is to harness that great source of humanity for the good of a country whose past cannot be allowed to govern the future. The idyllic prose is as rich as this vast land in transition, an important contribution toward the understanding of a new South Africa. Luan Gaines/2003.
Rating:
Summary: Addressing the evils of Aparteid...
Review: Since 1985, during The Emergency that tore open the façade of apartheid in South Africa, the citizens of the township of Smitsrivier have waited for the Truth Hearings. The hearings are scheduled to facilitate the amnesty of political prisoners, usually former policemen and other government agents who perpetrated violence against the blacks. In return for telling all of the circumstances of torture and other brutality, including murder, the Commission will decide whether to allow amnesty for each current appeal. The central figure of the Truth Commission in this case is Dirk Hendricks, a former policeman applying for amnesty for the beating and torture of Alex Mpondo. Hendricks is the critical link between Mpondo and Steve Sizela, Alex's compatriot, who was also arrested and beaten, only Steve's body was never recovered. Alex holds the key to Steve's murder, but has been unable to remember anything clearly since his beating, whether Hendricks participated in Steve's murder or has knowledge of who actually did the deed. Alex engages in a dangerous dance with his tormentor, allowing Hendricks to prick his memory with questions and insinuations, hoping to remember. At issue is Alex's participation without allowing his further victimization. A successful young New York lawyer, Sarah Barcant, is summoned to Smitsrivier to manage Alex's case. Her mentor, Ben Hoffman, who is dying, places a phone call requesting her help. He knows he cannot be refused, due to the ties of the past. Sarah and Ben hope, as part of the process, to uncover Steve's murderer and ascertain where he is buried, that his still grieving parents may see their son properly interred. Using Sarah as a vehicle, Alex confronts Dirk Hendricks, willing to suffer the indignity of facing his tormentor all over again when they are face to face. But Alex is outraged when Hendricks declares himself a sufferer of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder while "doing his job", a critical factor in Hendricks' defense. Hendricks assumes the mantle of victim, giving a brilliant performance before the Committee while on the witness stand. Sarah's task, given Alex's newly awakening insights, is to unmask the policeman for the monster that he really is. This will necessitate drawing out the personality Hendricks seeks to hide from his audience, the darkness waiting to surface. The denouement of the murderer and restoration of Steve Sizela's body to his parents serve to begin a healing process in only one of the towns so devastated by long years of apartheid, a land too long immersed in fear and hatred. Racial tension and animosity still exist in Smitsrivier, where black and white exist side by side, but in a more subtle and insidious form. Yet Slovo's South Africa is a gorgeous and fascinating country, ripe with promise, reaping the rewards of a revolution against inequality and repression of the human spirit. The task is to harness that great source of humanity for the good of a country whose past cannot be allowed to govern the future. The idyllic prose is as rich as this vast land in transition, an important contribution toward the understanding of a new South Africa. Luan Gaines/2003.
Rating:
Summary: Superior Courtroom Thriller
Review: This book has definitely been 'doctored' for an international audience (too many changes have been made to South African terminology), probably in order to make the book 'accessible' to US readers, and the story loses a bit in 'local color' and credibility as a result. The themes are well-worn, but given a new twist by placing the story in a Karoo town and making the chief protagonist, Sarah Barcant, a young South African who has settled in New York and whose reactions on a trip back home to the world she left behind are tracked step by step through the story. Sarah reluctantly returns to Smitsrivier for the duration of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearing at the request of an old mentor and friend, Ben Hoffman, and is largely repelled by all she finds there, despite its bone-chilling familiarity. The impact on her of her encounter with the truths the TRC unearths (literally as well as figuratively)does not in the end appear to be more than superficial: indeed, her final decision (after allowing her dying friend to believe she will stay on to serve in her home country) is to return to NYC, to "an ordinary life unmarked by the contours of heroism, sacrifice and guilt." It is a decision easy to understand, but it leaves us as voyeurs on the sidelines of a drama which is, in fact, one of immense tragedy, playing itself out on a stage which we as outsiders can scarcely comprehend. As such, this is good courtroom drama, but lacks the depth and moral passion of great fiction. And given the importance of Slovo's subject matter, this reader wishes she had done more with it.
Rating:
Summary: Superior Courtroom Thriller
Review: This is an excellent courtroom thriller about torturers and victims confronting each other in the context of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The plotting is superb and the story has enough twists and turns to hold the reader's interest all the way to the surprise ending(s). Certain passages -- and one key scene -- are overly cinematic but this doesn't seriously detract from the book's pleasures. That said, Red Dust is not Dostoevesky. The characters all speak alike (whether white or black, English or Afrikaaner), whites are more finely drawn than blacks, and the protagonist -- a South African practicing law in the US -- is the least necessary character in the book (basically, she gets in arguments). Disappointingly, Slovo doesn't provide much social context or use the novel to educate readers about the liberation struggle in South Africa.
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