Twilight People: One Man's Journey To Find His Roots

by David Houze

David Houze was twenty-six and living in a single room occupancy hotel in Atlanta when he discovered that three little girls in an old photo he'd seen years earlier were actually his sisters. The girls had been left behind in South Africa when Houze and his mother fled the country in 1966, at the height of apartheid, to start a new life in Meridian, Mississippi, with Houze's American father. This revelation triggers a journey of self-discovery and reconnection that ranges from the shores of South Africa to the dirt roads of Mississippi―and back. Gripping, vivid, and poignant, this deeply personal narrative uses the unraveling mystery of Houze's family and his quest for identity as a prism through which to view the tumultuous events of the civil rights movement in Mississippi and the rise and fall of apartheid in South Africa. Twilight People is a stirring memoir that grapples with issues of family, love, abandonment, and ultimately, forgiveness and reconciliation. It is also a spellbinding detective story―steeped in racial politics and the troubled history of two continents―of one man's search for the truth behind the enigmas of his, and his mother's, lives.

344 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Jonathan Heaslet · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in anticipation of a trip to South Africa.
Houze (a colored man/bi-racial) is brought to Mississippi from South Africa by his mother in the 1960s as a toddler. His memoir begins with memories of growing up in Meridian MS. As young adult he goes to South Africa (circa 1994) to reconnect with 3 sisters. The book alternates between family issues, and the history and experience of apartheid in South Africa. House returns to study law and to supervise first free elections. He takes Mom to SA twice in an effort to reconcile family issues and to learn about the country in which she grew up. Houze is brutally honest about his interactions with family. Somewhat light on development of apartheid policy and the difficulties of crafting a modern State in 1990s. Paints in broad brushstrokes what it is like to live in a world divided into Whites, Coloureds, and African.

[Suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book more than I did. The idea of it sounded intriguing to me. It's about a man who, as an adult, discovers he has three older sisters he never knew about. He goes to South Africa to try to connect with them. They have a lot of pain from feeling abandoned by their mother. She left the country without them when they were small children.

I think this book had the potential to be much more powerful than it was. Unfortunately, it seemed the author would retreat whenever he got too close to that pain. I get the impression that's what he did in real life with his sisters when he was there, and it made him come across as insensitive. Their reunion was strained. He does that in his writing as well. Whenever he got too close to the real issues in his family, he would retreat into academics. He would touch on his family's struggles, then pull back and go on for pages and pages about South Africa's history.

This could have been an interesting political history of South Africa. This could have been an interesting personal history of his family. Unfortunately, he didn't blend the two well, and it ended up not being powerful in either respect. Perhaps this was the only way he could write the book, given where he is personally in his life right now.

Still, it captured my attention and I did learn a lot.

[Janaia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I give this book 3 1/2 stars. It wasn't that it was bad, I think I just took the author's choices personally. The story is about the author's family left behind in south africa and how he reconnects with them. But the choices he and his mother make are selfish. There is also some historical information that he offers. It's told like a story and flows pretty well. Give it a read and tell me what you think...

[Tuck · Rating 2 out of 5]

this author and his mom escape the nightmare of sa apartheid to.....Meridian Mississippi in 1966. hahahhahaha. sorry. he finds out he still has sisters living in sa so goes back to visit. good subject matter, not that compellingly written.