Country of My Skull: Guilt, Sorrow, and the Limits of Forgiveness in the New South Africa
by Antjie Krog
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Filmnya berjudul "In My Country" dengan Samuel L. Jackson (Langston Whitfield) reporter media cetak dari Amerika Serikat dan Juliet Binochet (Anna Malan) reporter radio lokal yang bertugas meliput proses rekonsiliasi di Afrika Selatan. Filmnya sendiri tergolong standar karena kurang fokus pada proses rekonsilisasi dan dikaburkan oleh nuansa cinta lapangan dua reporter itu. Namun, cerita di buku ini sepertinya menawarkan hal lain.
Di filmnya, saya menemukan semangat memaafkan masyara...more
Di filmnya, saya menemukan semangat memaafkan masyara...more
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Read in January, 2007
COUNTRY OF MY SKULL, deur Antjie Krog.
Vintage, Londen, 1999.
(Sagteband, 454 bladsye, ISBN 0 958 41953 1.)
“The experiences of victims did indeed become part of the national psyche and part of our country’s acknowledged history for the very first time” (bl. 447 – 448).
Antjie Krog skryf nie net oor die vele slagoffers wie se stories sy aangehoor het tydens die Waarheid-en-versoeningskommissie (WVK) se verhore nie, maar sy is ook besig om oor haarself te skryf. In haar bekroonde ...more
Vintage, Londen, 1999.
(Sagteband, 454 bladsye, ISBN 0 958 41953 1.)
“The experiences of victims did indeed become part of the national psyche and part of our country’s acknowledged history for the very first time” (bl. 447 – 448).
Antjie Krog skryf nie net oor die vele slagoffers wie se stories sy aangehoor het tydens die Waarheid-en-versoeningskommissie (WVK) se verhore nie, maar sy is ook besig om oor haarself te skryf. In haar bekroonde ...more
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Read in April, 2008
As much as this was an important book for me and for anyone interested in the process of reconciliation to read, I struggled with the somewhat artistic or poetic presentation (which, I hate to say, just seemed kind of disorganized and hard to follow). I didn't appreciate the insertion of poetry into prose or, even worse, testimony, without any demarcation, and I was frustrated by long bits of dialogue without anything identifying who was speaking. It seems that there was a need for chapter break...more
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This book is a compilation of testimony from south Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The author is a famous Afrikaaner poet, and her voice is present throughout the book. Though the book tells the stories of those most harmed by Apartheid, you also get to hear Krog grapple with her own guilt and her struggle to move forward as an ally.
It is one of the most difficult books emotionally I've ever read; I could only read 10 pages or so at a time before it became too much to take. ...more
It is one of the most difficult books emotionally I've ever read; I could only read 10 pages or so at a time before it became too much to take. ...more
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Read in July, 2008
recommends it for:
people interested in South Africa, people interested in race/racism, human beings in general
I'm fascinated by this book.
Antjie Krog has written *the* book on the TRC, what it tried to do, what if failed to do, why it happened, and its impact on those involved regardless of gender, race, and national identity.
Krog's book is an uneven, rambling and not objective narrative by any means. She's roundabout, frustrating, tell-all, reserved, and contradictory in the extreme. Yet she knows she's a white Afrikaner woman writing a book on a multicultural, deeply emotional process, and s...more
Antjie Krog has written *the* book on the TRC, what it tried to do, what if failed to do, why it happened, and its impact on those involved regardless of gender, race, and national identity.
Krog's book is an uneven, rambling and not objective narrative by any means. She's roundabout, frustrating, tell-all, reserved, and contradictory in the extreme. Yet she knows she's a white Afrikaner woman writing a book on a multicultural, deeply emotional process, and s...more
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Read in March, 2007
A rhetoric prof made this required reading. We were studying the Truth & Reconciliation Commission of SOuth Africa. This book is very depressing b/c it details human rights abuses in a country that still has trouble with forgiveness and blame. The TRC decided that people who committed murders, rape, or other crimes during 1960-94 would receive amnesty if their crimes were shown to be politically motivated. The author is a journalist who struggles to report on the TRC without going crazy from...more
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Read in July, 2006
recommends it for:
Anyone who can handle truth
This book was recommended to me by a complete stranger in a Minneapolis airport. In one small conversation she mentioned this book that I had to read. This book takes you to South Africa. It makes you cry for their children. It will make you cry for feeling helpless. It will make you sick for the atrocities that humans lay upon their brethren. It will make you want to read more and find out if there is one small thing you can do to make sure these atrocities never happen again.
There is...pa...more
There is...pa...more
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Read in January, 2002
Krog is unapologetic and sparsely sentimental towards her homeland yet she maintains a deep love for the people who have experienced the last 30+ years of its history. There is an anger powered by betrayal that drives her memoir of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's days. She regrets not only the obviousness of justice falling victim to bureaucracy but also what she sees as everyone's complicity, including her own, in the act. This isn't an easy book to get through but it's one I think of...more
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Read in January, 2007
This is a difficult book to read emotionally as it recounts many of the horrific acts that occurred under apartheid. The writing style is unique--the author was a reporter during the truth commission, and she reports the stories as she hears them,but we also see the toll that it takes on her personally. It is a sad book but it brings up some really interesting questions about human nature and I learned a lot about South Africa in the process. I would recommend it.
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Read in January, 2003
recommends it for:
people who care about justice
The fact that she is a poet is what made this book so special, in my opinion. Her struggle to reconcile her life of privelege as a white afrikaaner with the stories she heard during the truth and reconciliation process touched me and made me want to understand what happens in the minds of those who profit when others are suffering...do they know? Do they not know? Do they know somewhere and make adjustments?
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Read in January, 2002
This is a fantastic book about South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Antjie Krog is a unique person: an Afrikaans poet/journalist who was an ANC comrade. Her account of the TRC is intensely personal and (like the title says) explores themes of guilt, sorrow and forgiveness. She loves Tutu and generally sees the TRC as a good thing, shortcomings and all. I love this book.
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the deeply moving, hard-hitting testimony of SABC correspondent to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. As a south african who grew up towards the end of the NP's time in power I found it illuminating and formed many of my opinions on the how, why of apartheid. It also threw up many more questions I have struggled to answer.
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Read in July, 1999
A very personal account of the Truth and Reconciliation Comission in South Africa. I highly recommend this to anyone with an interest in history and restorative justice. I think learning about the South African experience is extremely important to international relations and, more generally, human behavior.
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I learned that I didn't know how horrible things truly were while we were living in South Africa from 1981 to 1985. It seems we left just before it became unbearable. Tales of torture and killings and rapes...may it never happen again (tho it seems to be going on in various parts of the world as I type.)
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2 comments
recommends it for:
Everyone
This book is entirely wrenching. Excerpted transcripts of testimony given at the Truth and Reconciliation Hearings in South Africa appears here. Also, the author is a white South African reporter who is assigned to cover the Hearings. A lot of the book is her reaction to the testimony she hears.
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recommends it for:
Older teens and adults
While it is a difficult and uncomfortable read this book is definitely an education. If you can summon up the courage to read intimate details of the horrors that occurred in South Africa - this is an excellent introduction from a South African author's point of view.
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An account of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission by a poet-turned-journalist. Specifically, a chilling narrative of the country's bloody history. More generally, wonderful reflections on truth, justice, reconciliation, and trauma.
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Read in December, 2001
This is the book that made me want to study abroad in South Africa. And I met her, and, she's graceful, composed and humble. I was really nervous and awkward when I asked her to sign my book, though. I'd like to read this again.
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This was my first read about South Africa. Not only is this a good and intelligent read but the writing style is really quite beautiful. There is and perhaps never will be another work on this topic such as what Krog has created here.
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perhaps a little (a lot?!) depressing but so wonderful. Gives insight into the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the struggles to come to terms with the violence and racism that tortured the country.
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