Alan Paton's Cry, the Beloved Country

I am studying at the Uviversity of Stellenbosch, SOUTH AFRICA, and are doing Cry the Beloved Country as a literature text. I think it is an excellent book which gives great insight on the situation in South Africa a few years ago. However, when I read the review of Melissa T. from West Bloomfield, MI, I was shocked to see that she actually thought that Stephen Kumalo travelled through "all parts of Africa" to look for his sister and son. He just got on the train at Carisbrooke and went straight to Johannesburg, one of the main cities in South Africa. The description of all the places they passed on their way to Johannesburg might have confused her, but I just wanted to set straight the fact that Africa is a large and diverse country, and not just the size of South Africa.

This was a book that I really enjoyed reading. The book was about an Umfundisi, Kumlo, who searches for his son and sister throughout parts of Africa. The book included sad and emotional events that made getting to know the characters easier. This book is very interesting and gives the reader a good mental picture of the suroundings and places that were visited. I loved how The journey consisted of so many different places around Africa, and not just one or two different places. This book involves true events of the past. The Natives are taken advantage, while the European's benfit. Read this book if you enjoy stories of the past interrelated with interesting characters and details.

I enjoyed this wonderful descriptive book. It summarized a life of both a white and a black man in South Africa. This book explained the differences between the two races. It was enlightened with descriptive writing of the land and the people of the land. This was a great book to understand the similarities and the differences between the civil action in U.S. and the Parthia in South Africa. I recommend this book to any reader who is interested in life of South Africa.

This novel paints a vivid picture of the tragic injustices that occurred in South Africa long ago. It portrays the life of a native man as he struggles to reclaim his old life. Umfundisi, reverend Kumalo's blind eyes are exposed to the dreaded reality of famine, fear, and inferiority. Kumalo ventures to Johannesburg to rejuvenate his lost sister and find his son Absalom. Through his triumphs and disappointments he clearly sees the ways of life and becomes consumed by them. His life begins to crumble, but his hope for the country grows. After descrimination, lies, murder, and betrayel, the only rejuvenation that will be done is the renovation of a country in trouble. This book's symbolic message moved me greatly on account of its horrible truth. It displays descrimination of the past and how it thrives through the future. This is a bold book that opens eyes and minds, but will leave your mouth closed.

Paton's ability to get to the evil heart of racial prejudice and its appalling consequences, is without equal. The black/white equation is complexly expressed in that the whites are not all bad, nor are the blacks presented as being uniformly good. A truly moving narrative of great moral insights.