With the publication of Kafka's Curse, Achmat Dangor established himself as an utterly singular voice in South African fiction. His new novel, a fi...
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reviews
Sep 08, 2010
Katie
rated it: 
This was a week of learning about South Africa. I really didn't know anything before this except that they had this apartheid thing and Nelson Mandela was from there. The book explores some history of the struggle for equality, but is more focused on the here and now and the aftermath of apartheid and the anti-apartheid movement.
Overall, it was a bit depressing. Not because it was about extreme racial segregation and mistreatment, but because all of the characters in this book were More...
Overall, it was a bit depressing. Not because it was about extreme racial segregation and mistreatment, but because all of the characters in this book were More...
Jan 10, 2012
Athena
rated it:
in post-apartheid South Africa, the Ali family's broken relationships are on display in this miserable little novel. The Bitter Fruit of the title is Silas Ali's warm beer of escape, white Kate and Julian's newborn democracy in which they are no longer wanted, and, most especially, Lydia Ali's son Mikey, born after her rape over 19 years ago.
Achmat Dangor's expression of all of this bitterness is in the various troubled sexual activities, encounters and desires of his cast of charac More...
Achmat Dangor's expression of all of this bitterness is in the various troubled sexual activities, encounters and desires of his cast of charac More...
Dec 02, 2009
Odette
rated it:
I feel pretty 'eh' about this one. The context of the story was very interesting, but this isn't something I would have picked up on my own, or if it was, I wouldn't have kept reading it. And, honestly, there was too much incest. Normally, I think incest could be an interesting thing to explore, but here it just kept coming up randomly and several times. There seemed to be no point for all of it, unless it was supposed to mean something else that I never figured out.
Jul 24, 2011
Bill
rated it: 
I'll admit I struggled with this one. Overall, it was an interesting read. The characters were well drawn and the story was compelling. And it seemed like an insightful piece of South African history.
But the author's writing style was...well, bizarre. There was this early fascination with farting -- the sound, the smell, it was distracting. And everyone seemed to be involved in, or contemplating, incest. Everyone. Then there was a chapter where the author seemed obsessed with More...
But the author's writing style was...well, bizarre. There was this early fascination with farting -- the sound, the smell, it was distracting. And everyone seemed to be involved in, or contemplating, incest. Everyone. Then there was a chapter where the author seemed obsessed with More...
Aug 25, 2011
Brunvatne
rated it:
I was very young when I read this. Had not heard of Apartheid before. This book provides a little glimpse into that time and place, but I wouldn't exactly call it educational. What stands out the most for me is the raw feeling that emanated from the book, and the numbness that can set in to the adult psyche.
Nov 17, 2010
Tuck
rated it: 
great novel about mixed race family dealing with post-apartheid. takes place mainly in SW and has the obligatory devil-like boers, unreasonable and loyal families, and everything is serious, everything. IMPAC and man booker nominee.
Mar 02, 2009
Alan
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Good novel, well written, about a family coping with the new South Africa. Particularly interesting about the adolescent son, and the mother. In fact all of the family are well drawn, complex people. Recommended.
Mar 01, 2009
Djrmel
rated it:
A family in contemporary South Africa discovers that their emotional wounds go much deeper than Apartheid. It's a very sad story, almost hopeless, but so well written I couldn't put it down.
Jan 07, 2012
As much as I like the premise of this book - Reconciliation with what went on during Apartheid - it is just too much for me. Too graphic and vulgar. I'm not going to finish it.
Feb 02, 2010
Laura
rated it: 
I'm tempted to stop reading this. Too dark, despite the hope of its setting at the end of apherteid. A family unravels as the bitterness of sexual crimes and exploration destroy them all.
Mar 24, 2011
Zoë
rated it: 
This book really touched and inspired me, beginning as it does with a couple who have to revisit the wife's rape by a South African police officer during Apartheid. Dangor creates a sympathetic but unsentimental portrait of the wife Lydia, who suffers Catholic guilt and becomes more and more estranged from her husband. It is most powerful though in its portrayal of Mikey, the son of Lydia's rape, and increasing preoccupation with violence. The message of the book is that violence has long-lastin
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Mar 19, 2009
Nancy
rated it:
Struggle to read (I actually didn't finish it). African setting, rural, depressing. Oppressed woman, depressed man.
Jun 25, 2007
Sandy
rated it:
This is a gnarly book about post-apartheid South Africa and the desperation people felt, leading them to incest, rape, and murder (to name a few). Similar to what others have said, it felt conflicting to get too involved with the characters as the setting was beyond anything I have personally lived through. However, I still found Dangor's writing style to be captivating, which was necessary to finish a book with such uncomfortable subject matter. I felt compelled to finish: people live in that t
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Sep 28, 2010
Een schitterend boek over de verscheurdheid in Zuid-Afrika ten tijde van de apartheid.
Aug 30, 2008
Lori
rated it:
I picked up this book on a whim and had trouble initially getting into it. The characters were a little confusing, but I found myself getting caught up in the story line. A tale of the disintegration of a family living in Soweto. The father - involved in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The mother a complex and restrained woman who is made to pay for her husband's work. Their irresistible son who decides to avenge the pains his mother has had to pay. Some disturbing twists and turn
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Jun 23, 2011
Lyn
rated it:
A South African book, set in the 1990s, that got a bit tedious and lacked credibility
Nov 03, 2008
Amber
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Set within the context of post apartheid South Africa, this novel is a disturbing entry into the lives of a family torn apart by the mother´s rape that occurred 20 years prior. While the story is richly written and decidedly rhythmic, it is hard to get past the darker elements of the story--especially those related to incest-- which often seemed to be purposefully implanted for shock value and distracted from the emotional content of the narrative. I found myself wanting to finish the story just
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Dec 16, 2009
anique
rated it:
Let the record show that if the book won or was even nominated for the prestigious Man Booker Prize (link here: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_Booker_Prize]), I'll likely not make it through to the end. For whatever reason (the plot could interest me, the writing could be great, characters developed well, etc.) I've never finished a Booker Prize novel. Bitter Fruit was no exception.
Jan 10, 2008
Alison
rated it:
Ummm... this book is good, but all the incest just seems like overkill. I mean, the characters are interesting and you just start to identify with one of them and then *boom* more incest just out of no where. I don't get where it was coming from at all, unless the incest was meant to represent something else that I didn't pick up on. If not, it just wasn't believable.
Nov 28, 2009
Bogdan
rated it:
This was my first reading that allowed me to know more about the South African society. I found that the horrors of struggle for freedom left a lot of unhealed wounds for many South Africans peoples. This society is still strugling to forget the past yet the past is part of present and this is creating tensions.
My copy of this book is in romanian.
My copy of this book is in romanian.
Dec 16, 2009
Bitter Fruit is a novel about post-apartheid South Africa, Islam, and incest, subjects which are so completely foreign to me that it was difficult for me to connect with the characters. I wanted to like and care about the story, but just could not. While I'm sure Dangor deserves the praise and awards, it just wasn't my cup of tea.
Nov 30, 2010
Michael
rated it:
I'm very undecided on this book. It starts out promising, slows down a bit too much for my taste and when it finally picks up some speed again in the end the story is over. </p>
It's not a bad book, but had I never read it, I wouldn't have missed much...
Aug 29, 2007
Susanne
rated it:
Set in post-apartheid South Africa, it should have been interesting, but I found it annoying. Characters development just didn't ring true. There were some worthy descriptions of the social environment that kept me reading - but in the end, I can't recommend this book.
Jul 01, 2007
Rebecca
rated it:
This book takes place in South Africa, a story about a family and its deepest secrets, set against the political history of the region, post-apartheid. While some of it was beyond my knowledge of the political history, it was still an excellent story; I highly recommend it.
Jun 18, 2007
elizabeth
rated it:
So much more coherent than his first novel, and, yet, that coherency is, perhaps, at the expense of the expanse of imagination found in Kafka's Curse. Still, a lovely and intricate account of recent South Africa, from a man who certainly can write.
Dec 17, 2009
Christina
rated it:
This book wasn't very good. In fact, I didn't even finish it -- making it the first (and only) book I've ever read that I didn't finish.
Poorly written with a story that depended more on sex than plot. It had potential, and failed.
Poorly written with a story that depended more on sex than plot. It had potential, and failed.
