I went in March 2000 and returned a week ago from the Western Cape. ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL TRIP! But, talking about the book...

Prices for gas and some of the attractions, like Cape Point and a couple nature reserves we visited were already outdated. Gas is nearly R3/litre! I understand their economy isn't doing well, so they've had to increase prices to the visitors. Tourism is their no. 1 business.

There were several things I remember reading in the text, then later, when I wanted to see it again, I couldn't find them in the index...stuff like the Vergelegen Winery (which has amazing views and delicious wines!) and others. Not all boldface terms are in the index. This is something that could really be improved!

Lastly, I must reiterate what my hosts said: They've seen many rediculous books on Cape Town and the Western Cape and this is not one of them.

I debated between 3 and 4 stars, but remembering my frustrations with the index, I knocked it down to 3. :)

An excellent reference book for anyone visiting Southern Africa. We only found a few minor errors but the recommendations on where to go and what to see were very useful.

We're looking forward to going again and will certainly take this book along. We didn't have enough time to see it all.

We visited South Africa for 20 days in July 2000, driving from Cape Town to Kruger. Before we left we sat down at a large book store and reviewed all their South African travel books. This one looked the best and proved to be very useful, particularly for accomodations. Some of the prices had changed but the standards and services were exactly as described. This is a great book for travellers who are above the backpacker/budget level but not up to "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous."

I used this book before my trip to learn about the history, but I never used it once in South Africa. I found everyone else's Lonely Planet Guide much more helpful.

I recently purchased this book for my mother who is going to South Africa for a vacation. The book was so helpful for me two years ago, that I wanted to make sure she had it. (My copy is marked up and the seams are a bit worn!) I like the books's balanced report on the history of South Africa, and the fact that it is neither for rich travelers with no budget, nor is it for poor students. The sections on things to buy and places to go are great, with enough examples to give you choices, but not simply a laundry list of restaurants and stores. It also has good information on things like local languages and cultures.

Great book and I'd recommend it to anyone.

I had the opportunity to visit SA for a month in 1999. I knew going that I would have an informed friend to host and guide me, so I did not bring any guide books with me. However, when I returned home and had 34 rolls of film to show, I wanted a book to accompany the photos and act like its own souvenier. After looking at many titles, I settled on the Insight Guide because of its excellent balance of basic information (incl. a well-written chapter on the history), color photos (on the order of National Geographic), maps, tourist information (what to do; where to go; how to prepare; etc.), and candor about apartheid. I never regretted paying a few extra dollars more for the book because it stood head and shoulder above the competition. It's the book I would have made had I the opportunity. The mulitple authors are well-informed, and though some info might be outdated, one has to remember-- this is AFRICA!

Xuma is a black country boy who moves to Johannesburg to look for work in the gold mines. Upon his arrival in town, a strong but kind woman named Leah takes him into her bootlegging household. She introduces him to Eliza, the girl Xuma loves but can't have, and Maisy, the girl he can have but doesn't want. He is given a rude awakening to race relations in the city and witnesses first-hand the brutality of the Johannesburg police force. While Xuma's great strength makes him a successful mine boy, he remains a second-class citizen under the apartheid regime. As the novel closes, Xuma's boss and friend Paddy helps him finally come to the realization that blacks and whites can be brothers after all.

I read this book for my course on South African History, and though it may not be very well written (English is Abrahams' second lanugage, and the prose comes off as very stiff), it is nevertheless a landmark acheivement in South African History. At the time when it was published, 1946, no book had been written about racial tension in South Africa, especially fom the eyes of a Black South African. Historically and politically a triumph, this book is as important to South Africa as "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is to the United States.

Peter Abrahams has certainly written an unsung novel here, which is devastatingly simple (in some places too simple), concentrating on the story of Xuma, a young man who has moved from the North of South Africa (Vrededorp) to the hate-filled apartheid world of Johannesburg. Filling it up with supporting characters which are rather cardboard (the black girl who dreams of being white, the drunken South Africans, the sympathetic white man) does not help, but nonetheless instead of spitefully showing us the huge hate Abrahams may hold for the apartheid system, we instead hear the story of Xuma coping in Jo'burg, with all the horrors being just there in the background. Abrahams does not emerge with a conclusion of black superiority and that whites should leave, but through Xuma, we very clearly see that both races should just get along. For anyone with a serious interest in apartheid, this book is a must!

I've never been much of a reader, but out of the few books I have read, this one has to be the most inspirational and touching to me. Singing Away the Hunger is about the real life events and struggles of an African woman who encounters many terrible and sad things: wearing a sack and eating weeds, being beaten by a teacher, the deaths of some of her children, and many other challenges. There are also some joys she shares, such as being in love. Her struggles though, are what were inspirational to me. The way she stays strong and positive through it all is very admirable, because the things that happen to her are unimaginable to me and don't happen in the U.S.A.
The form of her writing is proficient, because it gives me a sense as if she is telling her story directly to me. Besides the story being told in first person, I really experienced this when she threw in sentences such as "When we arrive at his house, we find rice with meat. We didn't know what is rice." I was able to sense her fifth grade education, and I could almost imagine her speaking to me in an accent, with her fragments and the African words she uses often such as 'M'e (mother) and ntate (father). I got a sense of closeness to her as well as compassion for her. The stories she tells, and the knowledge she gives me about the different people in Lesotho and Benoni, in South Africa, and their cultural styles helped me to understand that there are different cultures in southern Africa. For instance, I learned that Lesotho is much poorer than South Africa, and that there is one language spoken in Lesotho, but twelve different languages in South Africa.
Another thing that I really enjoyed about this book is that it is very easy to read and understand. It is also fairly short, and it kept me wondering what type of event she would have to endure next. The titles of each chapter, such as "Death by Novena" or "The Child is Burning" hooked me. The titles alone drew me into each chapter.
One downfall, in my opinion, is the lack of descriptiveness. There are things and places that she talks about and includes in her stories that I would have enjoyed more if she could have taken me there with more detailed images. I would have liked to know more about the scenery where she was. For example she doesn't describe the area that surrounds her or where she lived as much as she could have. For the most part, in my opinion, that is all that I feel the book lacked.

I enjoyed this book very much because it was inspirational, touching, and at the same time educational. I couldn't have read this book at a better time, because just when I felt things were so bad in my life, I read it and realized that it could be worse, and is worse, somewhere in the world. I would recommend this book to any one interested African cultures or anyone who has had hard times, because along with all the information, this book is sure to give you an appreciation of life itself.

Singing Away the Hunger is a captivating true story of an African woman and the journeys of her tragic yet fulfilling life. Mpho 'M'atsepo Nthunya told her life story to Dr. K. Limakatso Kendall, an American who visited her country. The book is almost like a book of short stories, each chapter being a different event that happened to Mpho. She speaks of her childhood in Lesotho, growing into adulthood in South Africa. You learn about all the tragedies she lived through and also the wonderful time she had with her family. Even though she had a very difficult life, she always had a positive outlook on life. The most wonderful thing about the purchase of this book is that half the proceeds go straight back to Mpho and her family.
This book has many great qualities, one being the length of the chapters. Most of the chapters in the book are three to eight pages long, which makes for very easy reading. Each chapter is like a book in itself, a chapter in her life, so you can read one chapter in about ten minutes and set the book down and come back two to three days later and never feel like you missed anything. The chapters are titled in a very clever manner. The title does not lead you to believe that the chapter is about something else. By reading the chapter titles you know exactly what the chapter is going to be about. For example Chapter three is titled, "The Child is Burning!" This chapter tells about the time Mpho caught on fire in her grandmother's house and could not get any help from her grandmother to put the fire out. Once she tells you the story, the chapter ends, and you move on to another chapter in her life.
There are very few difficult aspects to this book. Keeping the characters situated was the most difficult. Mpho's name changes in the book. In southern Africa, where she is from, the women change their first name when they get married. I did not realize this at first so it was difficult to grasp who the story was about. She has many children throughout the book that pass away, and several who live, and it is hard to tell which ones are alive and which ones have passed. There are many people that she talks about in the story, and their names are hard to remember because they are hard to pronounce, like Valeria 'M'amahlaku Sekobi Lillane (p.3). Some times, Mpho creates suspense in one chapter and does not tell you what happens until many chapters later. This leaves you wondering, but at the same time makes you not want to put the book down until you learn what happened. For example, in Chapter 11, "Khotso, Pula, Nala," she mentions, "My husband was still alive..." (p.63), but she does not tell you until many chapters later what happened to him. Also, in Chapter 15, page 86 she talks about Joseph killing her children, but you don't know how he did that, or which children he killed, until Chapter 18, "Joseph Kills My Three Boys" (p.107).
Many people in the United States of America think that they have it bad, but until you read about a different culture you never realize that you have such a comfortable life. For example, we take reading and leisure time for granted, but Mpho says, "I'm telling stories for children and grown people in other places, because I want people who know how to read and have time to read, to know something about the Basotho - how we used to live and how we live now, how poor we are, and how we are living together in this place called Lesotho." We are not sold or taken into a marriage when we turn eighteen years of age, but for Mpho, that is what happens in her culture. She was lucky to fall in love with the boy she married, even though she was technically bought from her father by her husband's family. They did take her without her family knowing, but they sent word to her family that same day that she was not kidnapped, that they had taken her to get married. No matter how bad you have had it in your life, you soon realize that your worst day was one of Mpho's best. She leaves you with a sense that you can do anything and overcome any obstacles that might cross the path of your life. When you are having a bad day you can think back to something you read in the story and it some how gives you the strength to go on.
Mpho states: "I'm telling stories for Basotho like my grandchildren, who read books but don't know the old ways of their own people. If they can read these stories, maybe it will teach them where they come from. And maybe I can help them to learn English, and they can find work." I recommend this book to anyone who wants to travel to a different place but doesn't have the time or money to. The way the story is told, you feel as if you are there, looking Mpho in her big round marble-like eyes, listening to the stories she tells. If you cannot quite picture the places she is talking about, there are eight pages of pictures to help you visualize what she is talking about. This special touch makes the book more personal than the ordinary autobiography. It makes you feel like Mpho is really speaking to you personally and wants you to feel the pain and joy that she felt. If you can't grasp the meaning of the African words described in the text, there is a glossary at the very end with every African word listed in alphabetical order with the definition. You do not have to have a lot of time to read this book. I am a full time student with a job and I had the time to read it.

In my lifetime I have read very few books that kept my attention from beginning to end. Singing Away the hunger is one of them. This book gives the reader an authentic insight into southern African culture and the struggles that some people endure. I guess I'm just a naturally nosy person, and I love hearing people's stories.
My favorite aspect of this book is its authenticity. It is almost as if I was actually sitting down face to face with Mpho 'M' Nthunya. It was different than reading reference materials on Africa or watching documentaries on National Geographic. This is not second-hand information. This is an actual person giving you information straight from the horse's mouth. Nthunya has lived a life filled with tragic events on top of the everyday struggle that she and her people must live with. To have her actually sitting down telling her story just makes the reader feel it that much more.
Now that the style of the book had my attention, I was ready to enjoy the content. This book is extremely entertaining and informative. As Nthunya is telling her life story, she also explains alot of African customs and traditions. I learned more about Africa from this book than I had ever learned in school. Not only did I learn about the customs and traditions, I also became familiar with the overall lifestyle and how hard it is for them to survive. Most of our basic necessities would be luxuries to this woman. For Americans, the dream is basically to be financially successful and be able to afford as many luxuries as one possibly can. For Nthunya and her people, they struggle just to eat and have clothes. To put this in perspective, on page 20 Nthunya explains how they were afraid to eat rice the first time they encountered it. "We didn't know what rice is. We have never seen it before. We think it is maggots....We eat the bread only because we are afraid of the rice....Finally we say 'Oh, ke hantle,OK, we didn't know.' And we eat. We find it tastes all right, but we still feel strange to put these round white things in our mouths." In addition to the struggles of her life, the customs of her culture were also interesting to read about. I especially found the way they approach healthcare interesting. In chapter nine Nthunya and her husbandseek medical help after she has yet another miscarriage. First they visit a Chinese doctor who gives her medicine. They then decide to go to a "traditional" doctor. The "traditional" doctor explains to them that Nthunya's dead grandmother is causing these miscarriages because she is angry. The "traditional" doctor tells her, "So you must go home, Mpho, to your mother's house, and tell your mother that she must take a goat, slit its neck, and remove the gall bladder. Your mother must put the gall bladder in a baisin of water and wash you with her hands and this water from head to toes. And after that the meat of the goat can be eaten by everybody." It surprised me that this was coming from a "traditional" doctor. They visit more of these doctors for a variety of situations throughout the book. She also explains everything from how the school system works, to the different customs of marriage and pregnancy. It is very interesting.
There was one small aspect of the book that I did not like. This was that the names began to get a little confusing. I found it hard to keep up. She has several children, along with her family, plus her in-laws. Most of the names are African, and I found it hard to remember something that I was not familiar with in the first place. This did not take away from the stories; it was more of a pet peeve than a flaw. Although I did not like it, I understand that it is necessary. The thing that made it frustrating was that I was so interested that I wanted to remember the names and who these people were.
Overall, I would recommend this book to any and everybody. I would even recommend this book to people who do not like to read. You will not be reading a book. You will be sitting down listening to the life story of Mpho 'M' Nthunya. This book is also a good way to become familiar with the lifestyle and traditions of the African culture. As Americans, it is also a good way to put our life into perspective. It made me realize how many things we take for granted. It also made me realize that happiness can be found in any situation. Mpho Nthunya is an extremely strong woman who has been through a lot. I finished this book with a newfound respect for her and her people. I think you will enjoy it.

I expected this novel to be engaging not only because it was by Andre Brink, one of the most celebrated South African writers, but because it was also shortlisted for the prestigious Booker Prize. However, I was deeply disappointed with this chronicle of the relationship between a white woman and a runaway slave because it becomes, almost right from the beginning, cliched, repetitive, and affected.

'An instant in the wind' is a novel of exploration at two levels. On the one hand, it explores the beautifully cruel South African landscape between the Great Fish River and Table Mountain, passing through the Tsitsikama region and the Karoo Desert; on the other, it intends to explore the psychology between blacks and whites and men and women in the South Africa of the mid-1700s--and, by extension, of 'apartheid' South Africa. Brink's thesis appears (and I emphasize that word, appears) to be that only extreme situtations bring people together, making us forget our racial and sexual differences. However, nothing really illuminating is said, and the very ending is extremely ambiguous, causing one to wonder if Brink did't play a trick on the reader with respect to the intentions of the female character. If he did (and I'm inclined to believe that he did), then the ultimate message of the novel is extremely nihilistic.

Is there anything redeeming in this novel? I found the descriptions of nature superb. The Tsitsikama and Karoo truly come to life the way Brink describes them, and Table Mountain becomes truly magnificent. This background, perhaps, makes the novel worth reading.

What is it that makes South African authors incapable of happy endings?

Having read and enjoyed JM Coetzee's bleak "Disgrace" I found Brink's novel in a second hand shop and went to work. In subject matter it is a blending of two Patrick White novels - "Voss" about a doomed journey to the (Australian) interior, and "A Fringe of Leaves" about a white woman's life among Aborigines after a 19th Century shipwreck.

In Brink's hands, in 1750, a naive but spirited white woman from the Cape accompanies her Swedish explorer husband into the upmapped interior, only to find herself alone when the husband dies and the Hottentot retainers head for the hills.

She is found by a runaway slave, Adam, who for reasons of his own agrees to set off with her to the Cape.

Brink vividly describes the country through which they must travel. Against its physical presence, the couple become lovers. All of this is good fun. Brink was writing at a time when black/white relationships were forbidden under apartheid law. Indeed, the book for a while was banned. He delivers us a vintage love story, full of sex and spirit. (Funny how Coetzee, 25 years later when inter-racial sex is no longer verboten, sees the politics of such relationships in an entirely different way).

As Brink signals in the opening pages, however, there is no happy-ever-after. If there had been (the story purports to be based on truth), South Africa's history might have been different.

At times, the writing has less to do with black and white than purple, especially as Brink creates a seaside idyll for his pair, but for my money it's a grand read. It recalls a time when white South African liberals believed if only people could see their true nature everything would be all right.

Coetzee's darker - and more recent - version is that WHEN people are most true to their nature, South Africans have much to fear.

A wonderful read. A powerfully written love story between a slave and a white woman in 18th century South Africa. The South African landscape is revealed in all it's harshness and beauty. The story of the two characters are based on fact which makes the story even more phenomenal. A masterpiece.

This book was interesting and informative. Though, I do believe that the foreword and the afterword could have been omitted since they were basically a general overview of bad government in all but the Western World. I recommend this book to any one who wants to learn more about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa.

This book started out as just a piece for my research paper on South African Aparthied, but it soon turned into one of my favorites! It disturbed me a bit to hear about some of the autrocities, but I attribute that to a good description by the author and good research. It was an excellent source for my paper, and I enjoyed reading it as well. I don't recommend it for everyone because it drones in some parts, but it is a good read for those interested in Apartheid, learning more about Sout Africa, and the traveller.

Martin Meredith's COMING TO TERMS is a well constructed description of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa and forces nations to look at themselves and consider the fact that their actions of today will linger on forever.

In my honors english class, I had to read this book and do a book talk on it. At first, I thought it would be very fun to read because it was easy for me to understand, but as I kept reading it, the book was boring. Now, I have to do an essay on the author's purpose and I've been going through some comments on what other people said about the book, and I saw something touching. Not knowingly, this book touched my heart all of a sudden...

When I first saw the cover of the book in my Literature class,I thought it would be some serious,weirdo novel....and I was right..it is serious but not weird!It was simply amazing.I don;t think I'ver read a book that touched me so much!It was something that provided me a lot of insight about the country of South Arica and it's problems.It made me fall in love with the country!

I found this book in a discount bin in our campus bookstore. I am interested in memoirs, Africa life and racial issues, so I picked it up. This is the author's account of growing up in poverty and fear in South Africa. This book gives some insight into the racial and economic struggles of black families, but it is more of his own life experiences, which certainly give insight into the racial tensions and present a clear picture of poverty in South Africa, but were somewhat disappointing as I was hoping to find a historical and sociological study of racial tensions in South Africa. The language is beautiful, however, and Mphahlele is a very distiguished and talented writer. I was remined of Naguib Mahfouz's Midaq Alley in Mphahlele's funny descriptions and antecdotes about his neighbors. As far as the content, however, I was disappointed by the lack of insight I gained into South African society and politics.

As an African, one can really relate to this story. The late Mr Mphahlele writes with humour even in situations which some readers might feel tempted to shed a tear for the hardships he had to endure. But the writer is not out to get sympathy but instead tell it like it is. If you want to cry, laugh and laugh again this is the book for you.

This is a very strange book. The narrator is a true anti-hero, a loser who seems determined for some reason to visit a lost and utterly remote enclave of inbred people. He does make it and right away sees a vision of a beautiful woman whom he later learns is Emma. Most of the book relates the interviews he has with all the strange characters tho why they would all tell him all their intimate secrets when they fear and distrust strangers is hard to accept. Another strong annoyance with me at least is the constant use of expletives in totally gratuitous ways. In quoting a conversation, OK, but not so unnecessarily in the narrative. I will say that the climax was well done and kept me turning the final pages but it was only stubbornness on my part that kept me going that far. Maybe only the people in South Africa would appreciate this one.

I very much enjoyed Brink's novel "Devils Valley." A strange story that keeps you on the edge, wondering what is going to happen next. Magic, ghosts (looking and acting much like real people), and a gritty realistic texture to the location and people are combined with significant social insights and total unpredictability to make Devils Valley as _novel_ a book as any I've read. Brink's examination of local history and journalistic writing also delves into some interesting domains: for example, where and how much is it proper to delve into people's personal affairs.

I'm a bit surprised that other readers didn't look at this book as more of an attempt by the author to describe a place that is more literally an aspect of the title itself.

SPOILERS: Brink does not answer the question of whether we are reading about one person's hell (or purgatory) or not, but there is much in the book that hints that the main character, Flip Lochner, is in his own personal hell. We are told very little about Flip's previous life, as one example, other than that his wife kicked him out of the house, and that he has a grown son and daughter that no longer have much to do with him. Is Flip meeting other people that are involved in independent familial beatings and rapes, or are these people simply projections of his own past? There is much in Devils Valley that is hard to read, but it is done in a smart, engaging, questioning way. A great book, with much to think and ponder on.

I wasn't even sure at what parts I was supposed to supend my disbelief. Brink weaves a South African Boer mythology that makes the Greek version seem mundane. Like all mythologies, it explained a culture. His story of a village of secluded and inbred hyper-calvinist helped me to understand the Boer. And I don't mean that in a bad way. They were obviously a rugged God-fearing jihad going people, tougher than nails, living shrapnel. He brings you into their world view through the stories they use to explain it. This book is mighty.

In the Heart of the Country tells the story of Magda, an old spinster who lives à huis clos with her father, her step-mother and the servants Henrik and Klein Anna, on a far-flung farm in the middle of the veld. The novel is set at an unspecified time, the present tense heightens this sense of timelessness. Madga's dis-aster starts at her birth since she is not the male heir that the baas has long wished for and who will keep the lineage alive. Therefore, Magda's only way of making a show of resistance to this despotic patriarch is to write her story and make her voice heard so as not to be "one of the forgotten ones of history" (3).
The novel is structured in fragments numbered from 1 to 266 to convey a seeming sense of linearity and thus give the reader a precarious fil conducteur to hold on to. But, by and by, the reading becomes somewhat disorienting and dis-astrous. Indeed, the boundary between reality and imagination is often blurred to our detriment since we vacillate endlessly between the two. Magda's narrative is riddled with adverbs of uncertainty, repetitions and at times contradictions. Yet, she has managed to accomplish an ingenious feat : captivate the reader's attention until the last page of the novel only to realize that s/he comes out of it none the wiser because all the contradictions that permeate the novel remain baffling.
Coetzee's novel achieves a double goal. First, to give voice to the voiceless Other, Magda, allowing her to dissolve the totalising linearity of the patriarchal discourse. Second, to condemn Apartheid as an authoritarian regime and portend its demise, and in both endeavours Coetzee's In the Heart of the Country has succeeded masterfully.

This novel is Coetzee's descent into madness essay, but it is more of a plane crach into madness. His most openly philosophical work except perhaps Master of Petersburg.

It is ruthless, graphic, horrific, magnificent, brilliant and unfathomably profound.

It is not a question of loving Coetzee, but of loving great literature. This is great literature. Disregard poor reviews. This work is so well written, so moving and finely wrought. It stands beside not only the best of Coetzee's work, but also the best work of the 20th Century. It is fiction and meta-fiction. A pastoral novel and a novel about the pastoral novel. An acheivement of the hightest order!