Eloquently written; exudes sacredness

books:


	• Cry, the Beloved Country (Oprah's Book Club) Alan Paton, 2003 - 320 pages average customer review:based on 240 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Still Relevant

Cry, the Beloved Country, written in 1948, is relevant after all these years. Alan Paton cries for South Africa his beloved country. He cries for the Valley of Umzimkulu the home of Stephen Kumalo and James Jarvis. He cries for the city of Johannesburg, the harsh city that spits at the weak with poverty, crime, prostitution and addictions.

Paton uses a third person narrative voice to tell the story of two men--Stephen Kumalo, a black priest (Book I.) and James Jarvis, a wealthy white landowner (Book II.). Paton gets inside the mind of each man, exposes human feelings with depth and restraint. The restraint, in both language and sentiment, gives power to the story. His simple declarative sentences are reminiscent of Hemingway. Paton makes Kumalo and Jarvis fully human heroes, imperfect lovable survivors. They survive after the tragic interconnected deaths of their sons; they relate to each other with dignity and respect.

Within the story of two families the larger story of South Africa emerges. Paton exposes the racism that created Apartheid. He details the loss of self sufficient farming compelling young people to go to the cities to earn a livelihood. He shows the impact on young blacks going to the city and losing their communal tribal life. He shows the generosity of Jarvis' son who devoted his life to social justice and was killed in spite of his effort by a disenfranchised black youth--Stephen's son.

Paton's tone is measured, even unhurried. The tone slows the reader down and forces the reader to look at the reality of the characters. And then the novel moves beyond Kumalo, Jarvis, and South Africa to a broader picture. Like all great art, Paton's text relates to everyone by touching the core of the human condition. Cry, the Beloved Country evokes universal experience of human life. The novel remains important because it remains relevant.

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Kind Of Boring...

I had to read this book for school, and we just finished it a couple days ago. Now, I'm not saying that it was a horrible book because it wasn't. I can honestly say it was one of the better books I've read for school. (I really, really hate it when we have to read those old, English classics.) But it wasn't what I expected it to be at all. I was expecting a brilliant piece of work about racial and prejudice problems of South Africa, but I found those things to be a sidenote of this novel. It was mostly about a quiet, humble pastor looking for his family. While it was touching that he did eventually find all of his family, I thought there should have been more to the story. More about the friction between the different races that inhabited South Africa. Then it turned into a To Kill a Mockingbird type thing, with the trial and everything. While I found the writing to be good, I thought it was kind of boring. And there must have been some translation problems because somethings just didn't make sense. But all in all, it was a good book. I don't plan on re-reading it ever, but it was still okay. I didn't love it, I didn't hate it. I just liked it.

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very good *^^*

BOTH THE PRICE AND THE CONDITION OF BOOK WAS REALLY GOOD !!
THANK YOU ~

Eloquently written; exudes sacredness

Cry, the Beloved Country is a rare book that presents a superbly written story that creates a sense of sacredness that is palpable. The characters in the book demonstrate the struggle of humanity to overcome pain and suffering through forgiveness, redemption and love. The main character Stephen Kumalo, an Anglican Parson in S. Africa, illustrates the gentleness, love and unselfishness that characterize the fruits of a life lived in God's presence. In the sorrows that occur during the story however he experiences darkness described by Paton, "There are times, no doubt, when God seems no more to be about the world." He refuses to lose faith in God or in the people around him. The relationship that buds between him and the father of a man murdered by Kumalo's son represents the fruit of forgiveness and redemption. What comes from it is healing for a valley and a people.

Paton paints the picture of S. Africa that included a beautiful country with beautiful people that had fallen victim to the vices of the modern world and the negative outcomes of a class/race-based society.

This is a book that no doubt contributed to the healing and reconciliation among the people of S. Africa.

In addition to its moral and spiritual qualities, the story is compelling and enjoyable to read.

The plea of the book stands out as the cry for all humanity:
"God save Africa, the beloved country. God save us from the deep depths of our sins. God save us from the fear that is afraid of justice. God save us from the fear that is afraid of men. God save us all."

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Another MLA 100 oversight...

Cry, The Beloved Country is a tremendous work of art. It really, really is. It may not be as "good" as the somewhat similarly-themed The Power of One...but it is "better," if you take my meaning. Deeper, more profound. More illuminating and thought-provoking.

Author Alan Paton was a devout Christian and a Kafferboetie--two things which I, emphatically, am not--but his literary ability, dovetailed with a definite time-and-place serendipity, enabled him to fuse those aspects of his persona into a book which transcends identity and politics, and which speaks not only to the Amy Biehls of this world. It touched me, and I think that South Africa, under black rule, is doomed to Zimbabwe's fate.

But politics and dogma aside, this book is a gift, not a polemic. It is a cri di coeur, not a political tract. It's a book that espouses a Christian moral ethic which, in the abstract, non-Christians should be receptive to. It is of Paton, but not for Paton. It's for you and I, whether black, white, liberal, conservative, and so forth.

Now, one last thing: How in the hell is this book not included on the MLA 100? It is MUCH better--not just as a book, but in terms of the significant issues it raises--than some of the pap stinking up the list. (E.g., Wide Sargasso Sea, On the Road.) It is CLEARLY superior to credible books on the list such as A Bend In The River, and the Studs Lonigan trilogy. Paton was a staunch liberal activist, and his book has as its main character an extremely sympathetic black South African...how did this not appeal to the bien-pensants who composed the list?

I don't get it. It should have been included...but it wasn't. Read it anyway, though.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Cry, the Beloved Country stands as a singularly important novel in twentieth-century South African literature. A work of searing beauty, Cry, the Beloved Country is the deeply moving story of the Zulu pastor Stephen Kumalo and his son Absalom, set against the background of South Africa and a people driven by racial injustice. Unforgettable for character and incident, it is a novel of love and hope, courage and endurance, born of the dignity of man.

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