July's People

I bought a copy of Nadine Gordimer's "July's People" shortly before my husband and I made our first trip to South Africa. I must confess I found the first chapter quite difficult to comprehend. I decided to put the book aside and read it after I had been in the country for a while, hoping I would find it easier to understand. And I did. Though written during the apartheid period the book is valuable today not only as an historical document but also because sadly, in my opinion, things haven't changed much in South Africa since apartheid ended 12 years ago. Though the current government is black we found that descendants of Dutch and English settlers remain in the first world, while blacks are mainly living a third world life and working in subservient positions. True equality will take a few generations and education will play an important role in giving the majority population the skills they need for a comfortable life. Now a bit about the book itself. July is a black servant until recently employed in a white household in Johannesburg. When rising conflict begins to threaten the lives of the family he serves, the Smales, July takes them to his home in the bush. The book concerns the adjustments that necessitates. It must be said that the elder Smales have always prided themselves in their treatment of July and their liberal politics. How to the Smales adapt to living in an insect infested hut? How do they relate to their former servant and their new neighbors, their subsistence diet and new levels of hygiene their relative status as male and female? The answers depend on which member of the Smales family you are talking about - male or female, parent or child? How does July react as the former servant, who is now above them in the social scale due to a mere change of location? What are the new relations between savior and saved? Highly recommended to those who are more familiar with the history of South Africa than I intially was and to those with an abiding interest in the establishment of equal and harmonious conditions in the modern South Africa.

The legendary Ms. Gordimer has again produced a superb novel - easily the equal of her other works - with the added feature of a completely unique - and utterly delightful - approach to the use of punctuation - which consists of using dashes - and plenty of them - in place of the usual punctuation marks - with this highly interesting approach - Ms. Gordimer indulges her sense of adventure - and challenges the reader - this is a stroke of pure genius - and firmly re-establishes Ms. Gordimer as one of the finest authors in the world -

As an expatriate south african, I can safely say that Nadine gordimers' "July's People" has had an impact that I have not felt since Brink's "Dry White Season". Gordimer captures perfectly the energy, volatility, and sweet sadness of the African experience, and I speak of that experience from a colour-blind place. The fluid prose and Doctorow-like economy of punctuation gives the reader the true flavour of the culture. I cannot recommend Ms. Gordimer more highly. Her contribution to the expansive and glorious solemnity of African literature puts her in much the same league as Credo Mutwe and the luminary Laurens Van Der Post. Read July's Children. Give yourself time, because you will be stopping to weep at regular intervals.

A masterpiece, containing one of the all time great lines of modern prose: "It was a miracle; it was all a miracle: and one ought to have known, from the suffering of saints, that miracles are horror."I wouldn't be surprised if some "readers" didn't get it, however; they too often are confounded by the British tradition of now and then preferring dashes to indicated dialogue instead of quotes.A perfect novel.

I wasn't sure what this book was about when I decided to read it, but I must say that it is one of the best books I've read. July's People was a chilling story about the aparteid in South Africa. It tells a compelling story, that follows a white family through those violent times. I gave this book five stars because it is so well writen, understandable, and so exact in details. The vivid descriptions of the atmosphere during this period in history is comendable. I would reccomend it to everyone who loves good literature.