Summary
In Apartheid-era South Africa, Elizabeth was born in an institution for the insane because her father was a black native African and her mother a white woman. Her mother, a white woman, had committed a crime by having sex with a black man. Authorities concluded she was insane and had her committed her.
Elizabeth, the child of that criminal union, was born in the institution and rigidly classified as "coloured."
The story takes place many years later. Elizabeth, now a grown woman with a child, moves to the village of Motabeng in Botswana and teaches in a school. But she begins to go insane and much of the action in the novel takes place inside Elizabeth's mind with three or four characters in a deadly war over Elizabeth's soul.
What I liked
Very little. The evils of Apartheid are starkly demonstrated. For example, Elizabeth ends up in an institution for the insane where a white South African psychiatrist comes to treat her. She begins to spew hatred for black Africans, and the psychiatrist assumes that, since she hates black people, she must be sane and has her released. That was painfully funny.
What I disliked
Just about everything. Most of the novel, being the confusion of an insane woman's mind, was difficult to read. The third person narrator is meddlesome.
The story is well put together and well written, for the most part. However, it's not interesting, it's bitter, it's horrible. It's like all the worst parts of feminism or something. I'm not a fan.
Conclusion
An academic novel. Definitely worth the paper it's printed on, but not worth owning or reading. It's good to have, on a shelf in the library. 1/5 lobotomized vaginas.
No comments:
Post a Comment