Maru

by Bessie Head

Margaret Cadmore, an orphaned Masarwa girl, comes to Dilepe to teach, only to discover that in this remote Botswana village her own people are treated as outcasts.

Genres: Fiction, Africa, Botswana, African Literature, South Africa, School, Classics

127 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Bessie Emery Head, though born in South Africa, is usually considered Botswana's most influential writer.

Bessie Emery Head was born in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, the child of a wealthy white South African woman and a black servant when interracial relationships were illegal in South Africa. It was claimed that her mother was mentally ill so that she could be sent to a quiet location to give birth to Bessie without the neighbours knowing. However, the exact circumstances are disputed, and some of Bessie Head's comments, though often quoted as straight autobiography, are in fact from fictionalized settings.
In the 1950s and '60s she was a teacher, then a journalist for the South African magazine Drum. In 1964 she moved to Botswana (then still the Bechuanaland Protectorate) as a refugee, having been peripherally involved with Pan-African politics. It would take 15 years for Head to obtain Botswana citizenship. Head settled in Serowe, the largest of Botswana's "villages" (i.e. traditional settlements as opposed to settler towns). Serowe was famous both for its historical importance, as capital of the Bamangwato people, and for the experimental Swaneng school of Patrick van Rensburg. The deposed chief of the Bamangwato, Seretse Khama, was soon to become the first President of independent Botswana.

Her early death in 1986 (aged 48) from hepatitis came just at the point where she was starting to achieve recognition as a writer and was no longer so desperately poor.

Reviews

[Brina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This year I am participating in a women of color reading challenge, which has allowed me to read books by female authors from around the world. Recommended to me was Bessie Head, one of Africa's leading women authors. In her novella Maru first published in 1971, Head writes about the classism, racism, and sexism that exist in Botswana. Using the story of a Masarwa teacher to tell her tale, Head shows her readers the hierarchy of life in the tribal village of Dilepe.

With her mother's passing at her birth and father's deserting her, Margaret is orphaned as a baby. Taking compassion on the child, English missionary Margaret Cadmore adopts the baby, naming her with her own name, and raising her as her own. The young Margaret excels at both school and at art and quickly rises in the ranks of the Botswana school system. Upon graduation, she finishes first in her class and is assigned to teach primary school in the small village of Dilepe. Seeing that her child is now an independent adult, the older Margaret returns to England, leaving her charge to face a world of racism on her own. Margaret Cadmore, despite having an English name and achieving at everything she does, is a member of the detested Masarwa tribe of Bushman. Other tribes look down at the Bushman as primitive and keep them as both servants and slaves. It is in this light that Margaret the teacher enters Dilepe for her first assignment after graduation.

Immediately, Margaret brings light and joy into whatever she does. She becomes close confidantes with senior teacher Dikeledi, who tells Margaret to be proud of being Masarwa. More pressing, both tribal leaders of the village, Moleka and Maru are instantly smitten with Margaret. Destined to lead the village, Maru still holds Masarwa slaves, yet is enamored with Margaret nonetheless. As both men desire the teacher for himself creating a rivalry between close friends, tension ensues at the school as the white men in charge of the system desire nothing more than to be rid of the Bushman teacher with an English name. Yet, in addition to being desirable in the eyes of men, Margaret is an excellent teacher. Head reveals how prejudice rears its ugly face, and giving this facet of the story a happy ending, run the white men out of town. Justice prevails at school with Dikeledi emerging as the new principal and Margaret keeping her job. The rivalry between Moleka and Maru, however, boils until the novella's denouement.

Even though Head has created strong female protagonists in both Margaret and Dikeledi, she still writes of the sexism that exists in African villages. As Maru's sister and taking on a leading role in Dilepe, Dikeledi has loved Moleka for his entire life and desires his heart. Yet, being in a leading tribal role, Moleka feels the need to assert his authority and sleep with a different woman every night. According to village lore, he has not missed sleeping with a woman from the time he was twelve years old. In the role of modern African woman, Dikeledi encounters Moleka's mother and states that she does not want to be like the other eight single mothers of his children who inhabit Dilepe. Rather, if he fathers her child, she wants him to take the responsibility of marriage. Head reveals here how sexism is prevalent in African culture, and in reading the contemporary works of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, we see how, unfortunately, this is still an issue today. Head is ahead of her time in creating strong female characters who assert themselves against both the sexism and classism that exist in their village.

While Maru and Moleka allow a woman to get between them, the friendship between Margaret and Dikeledi endures despite the mens' attempts to ruin all around them. Maru was not on my radar going into this year, but I enjoyed reading about the inner workings of a small African village, despite the prejudices that exist there. Bessie Head writes her novella along the lines of an African folk tale while revealing how women and native tribes can no longer stand for the -isms that have always been a part of life. I am interesting in reading Head's other writing as I continue my year of reading women of color, and rate this novella 4 bright stars.

[Zanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

How can I get past what disturbs me so deeply about this novel, Maru’s manipulation and domination of the woman he falls in love with? I hear Helen Oyeyemi, who writes about the emotional range of the people Bessie Head writes, and I also value the way she draws the subtleties of relationships; the mixtures of envy and attraction and tenderness and ease that tug or sever the bonds between folks.

There are many things I love here; the way racism manifests, is an attribute of the envious, an attribute of culture, a child process of the tendency of people everywhere to seek someone to hold in contempt. I love the sense of place that focuses on invocation of the immediate, the events that crash into consciousness. But the whole leaves me bruised, frightened even, that Maru’s power and vision are allowed to prevail...

[Sincerae Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maru is a novella by Bessie Head, who was one of Africa's greatest female writers. This novella packs in a lot of themes in 123 pages: racism, class-ism, male and female relationships, oppression, friendship, rivalry, jealousy, spirituality, love, and confusion. Maru revolves around a love square, not a triangle, of two men and two women. The two men are Maru and Moleka who have grown up like brothers, and who are inseparable. Maru is slated to be the next chief of his tribe. The two women are Margaret and Dikeledi. Dikeledi is Maru's sister, and they are both village royalty. Unlike the other three who are Batswana, Margaret is an orphan, and her people are outcasts and slaves. I don't want to ruin the plot of this book so this is where I will stop. Bessie Head's use of language in this novel is sometimes beautiful, poetic, and mystical.

[Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a strange novella. Skillful in many areas, but dominated by a bizarre and manipulative non-romance – I’m not sure what to think, or what the author was trying to do. None of the positive reviews I’ve read address the problems with it, so if you have some insight, please do share.

This review will be full of SPOILERS, because the book is only 127 pages long and so nearly everything is a spoiler, and also to fully explain my confusion. But the story begins at the end, so it isn’t exactly a suspense-driven narrative.

Margaret is an orphan from a poor, marginalized and much-hated tribe in Botswana, but she’s raised by a missionary, gets an education and becomes a teacher. Her first job is in a remote village where she knows no one, and many of the locals are horrified when they learn of her ethnicity. She handles this situation with grace, and finds fulfillment in setting up her home, developing her artistic talents, a friendship with another teacher and a crush on a local Lothario, who reciprocates her interest.

Enter Maru, the Lothario’s best friend and the other teacher’s brother, and here’s where it gets weird. After one brief meeting, in which he confiscates her bed, Maru decides he wants to marry Margaret. So, he apologizes for his poor behavior and begins courting her, proving himself more steadfast than his friend… no wait, he doesn’t, because that would make sense. Actually, he keeps his distance, has other people spy on her for him, and threatens his friend to stay away, ultimately coercing him into marrying Margaret’s best friend. Margaret is heartbroken over this development, and Maru, of course, is concerned for her well-being:

“‘Is she sick, Ranko?’ he said smiling. ‘Is she dying? Don’t worry about that. Let her suffer a bit. It will teach her to appreciate other things.’”

Actually, he waits till she’s at her most vulnerable, then goes to her house (their second meeting ever), coerces her into marrying him and carries her off to some remote farm, away from everything and everyone she’s ever known. Where they live happily ever after, except when he’s telling her she’s worthless. But, but! Their marriage is a symbol of racial tolerance and is empowering to Margaret’s tribe, no other member of which actually appears in this book!

“Well,” I hear the astute among you thinking, “this marriage could be problematic but also a step forward in race relations, given that the majority people barely recognized this tribe as human before.” And that is true. Except that since Maru’s idea of wedded bliss involves stalking and kidnapping a woman he’s only met once, and carrying her off to live in the middle of nowhere so that he can farm rather than fulfilling his role as a leader in the village, it starts to look like he chose someone marginalized by society specifically because she’s undemanding and lacks the power to protest, giving him complete control. Maru isn't so much taking a stand against racial prejudice as he is taking advantage of it.

Despite the decidedly creepy direction of this story, I am giving 3 stars: the characterization is good, especially for a short novella, and there is some arresting imagery. I had no problems with the writing style, and clearly my attention was held, since I’ve produced a review of this length. But the plot is unsettling – perhaps the best explanation is that it was written in the 70s?

[Raul · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm always fascinated with small books, by small I mean volume, that contain so much in them and Maru is one such book.

Maru, set in rural Botswana, is the tale of an orphaned girl Margaret, who belonging to the Masarwa tribe, a tribe mistreated, enslaved and considered subhuman, experiences life, love and art even at the face of discrimination.

There's a quote from the book that really struck home:
"How universal was the language of oppression! They had said of the Masarwa what every white man had said of every black man: 'They can't think for themselves. They don't know anything.' The matter never rested there. The stronger man caught hold of the weaker man and made a circus animal out of him, reducing him to a state of misery and subjection and non-humanity."

The capacity for human beings to oppress those they find different from them is limitless as it is stupid. And Bessie Head writes with an elegant hand.

[Luke · Rating 5 out of 5]

He liked his own dreams and visions. They created an atmosphere where not only he but all humanity could evolve. They stretched across every barrier and taboo and lovingly embraced the impossible. There was no such thing as a slave or any man as an object of pity. But while he looked ahead to such a world, he was no fool. The vicious, selfish, the cruel--those too he saw, and their capacity for creating misery. Where he could, he nailed them to the ground, but always alertly with no intention of becoming their victim. And he intended following his own heart without in any way becoming the victim of the stupid, senseless, cruel society into which he had been born. Hence his lies and evasions....At such times he would think: 'What will I do if she does not love me as much as I love her?' A terrible reply came from his heart: 'Kill her.'

The last time I ran into self-contained majesty in the form of a book, it was Sleepless Nights, and I had likely neither heard of Bessie Head nor thought of hosting a Year of Reading Women of Color. This iteration is more haunting for the simple reason that I bought this book not out of genuine interest, but because the title showed up at my regular sale and I thought, despite this being one of Head's less popular works, I should give her a chance. That's the magic of practicing the paying of attention to those sidelined by both public perception and common sense: in converse to bloated expectations for the usual and more often than not sadistic, there is little to no advanced preparation made for the wonders to behold. Neither this nor SN is a favorite, but they both have a certain something that marks a writer who knows when to begin, end, and concentrate as much as is humanly possible in between.

First, I thought of Jane Eyre, for an orphan protagonist, a teaching occupation, and a mysterious patriarch can't help but call to mind what lived and breathed in said mind before. Then, I thought of fairy tales, which, while a constant penchant of mine, have been brought even more to the forefront of my casual connections by the release of the live action 'Beauty and the Beast', which may not have wowed as much as I like but also did not take advantage as much as I feared. Dreams, taboos, and archetypes: I've learned in academic theory that a solidification into the third is a mark of the European tendency to classify via erasure, but that does not prevent the first and second from gorging themselves on human lives and spitting up mere pittances of stories of said thirds in return. What Head accomplishes, then, on the level of setting immensely complicated beings to walk an incredibly familiar path, is nothing new. One could attempt to refute this by pointing to the setting and the characters and the lexicon in the back of the book, but the fact that the respective histories of each aren't made the focus of every classroom across the globe doesn't make the history any less old, or the people any less real, or the stakes any less high.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Alternatively, human sacrifice is alive and well, and what seems quasi-ancient yet semi-modern with the spies and the premonitions and the postcolonialism is progress dressed in uncommon robes. Alternatively, this is a train wreck, but everything makes sense and everyone feels real and there's just enough humor and payback and revolution to make one think that it's not so bad after all. Then again, if one would trade a kingdom for a horse, would one give up a democracy to leave a woman alone?

What could she say, except that at the moment she would have chosen anything as an alternative to the living death into which she had so unexpectedly fallen? He was not just anything but some kind of strange, sweet music you could hear over and over again. She was beginning to listen. It was not strange. She had heard it before.

Perhaps you should ask.

[Diane Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

"It is preferable to change the world on the basis of love of mankind. But if that quality be too rare, then common sense seems the next best thing" - Head

Great writing and insight from Bessie Head. I really loved this book. An insightful look into character, the folly of prejudice and that elusive virtue -- patience! A story from Botswana focusing on the "untouchables"

"Some time ago it might have been believed that words like 'kaffir' and 'nigger' defined a tribe. Or else how can a tribe of people be called Bushmen or Masarwa?" the author states upfront.

An elegantly written tale of a girl who is left orphaned and raised by a white teacher in Botswana. She learns to live in the shadows under the protection of the teacher but is not spared the hurtful impact of prejudice from those around her. She later moves to the village of Dilepe where she discovers new parts of herself, love and explores her artistic gift - painting. Two strong male characters enter the story at this stage who both, despite their prejudices, find something quite appealing in her. But what do they do with this strange feeling? And what of the entire village how do they take to a 'Masarwa' - an intriguing game of cat and mouse begins - a fascinating read

[Ben Winch · Rating 2 out of 5]

They knew nothing about the standards of the soul, and since Maru only lived by those standards they had never been able to make a place for him in their society.

I’m not sure about this one. As I read, often with great effort not to understand the words but to grasp their significance, I came to feel that something essential might be missing. On the surface a terse, taut, simply-told story of 100-odd pages, Maru, for all I know, may well have begun as a 300-page tangled wordy epic, before meeting its editor. Maybe if I hadn’t already struggled with, and ultimately abandoned, Dambudzo Marachera’s Black Sunlight , which I felt damn near certain had been clubbed into submission by some zealous professional, I wouldn’t be so suspicious. But whatever the reason, for all the obvious strong feeling on display here, the message isn’t reaching me. Not that I demand the “message” be signed, sealed and delivered – far from it. I’m happy with abstraction. But when every gush of evident passion meanders to a marsh of vagueness, that’s frustrating. Bessie Head, clearly, has talent. But in Maru, at least in my view, that talent is thwarted, whether by external forces or her own restraint I’m not sure, but I fear the former.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were lovely elements to this book and I would read another by this author, but I am afraid the more I’ve tried to figure out what I missed that inspired great reviews from others, the more I really do not like the story or how it was portrayed. I did think the unique magical/spiritual/supernatural elements were beautifully described and interesting, and I wish that it had been developed further, beyond justification for what I would otherwise find unbelievable love-at-first-sight (between Margaret and Moleka) and a tool for Maru’s manipulation. This is not a love story, and it bothers me that it is portrayed as such and more. Maru does not love Margaret or even treat her like a human being, and it is significant to me that Margaret no longer has a voice once he takes over.

[Nea · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars for interesting characters and cultural insight. The author explored religion and superstition, prejudice, sexism and even astrology. Unfortunately, I didn't love the book's flow. One moment I'd find myself totally immersed in the story, and then it would get non-sensical and hard to follow. Maybe it's just the type of book I need to re-read.

[Jerome Kuseh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bessie Head tells the story of a woman (Margaret) of the San ethnicity (Masarwa is now pejorative) whose brilliance leads to a conflict between two Batswana princes over her affection and leads the way for the redemption of her people.

The book draws a parallel between white on black racism and the black on black ethnocentrism.

What I find unsettling about this story is that Margaret does not have a say in which man she prefers, she is not a typical San (having been raised by a white woman) and it appears her marriage to a Batswana validated her people (which is outrageous).

It's not a bad read though. Bessie's writing is engaging and insightful. The book is also just a little over 100 pages.

My third Bessie book and not my favourite.

[Christi · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's not good to wear your heart on your sleeve. You also wipe your nose there.

[Carolien · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Margaret Cudmore is a Masarwa (San) girl brought up by a White missionary in Botswana where the Masarwa is despised. When Margaret arrives as a teacher in a small village she changes the dynamics once she is accepted by the local chief-to-be's sister and fellow teacher. Well-written with sparse prose.

[Sookie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maru is subdued violence. Its subtle brutality. Its casually cruel. Its a love story, that starts like any other - a boy seeing a girl and the girl liking the boy. Only the girl here is of San heritage (Bushman), the ones that are oppressed for generations. Bessie Head uses Marsarwa, a derogatory term, that the characters use to address the protagonist, Margaret. She uses the word not to shy away from the impact it has had on the culture and the acts of racism that existed for a very long time.

Margaret was raised by a white woman named Margaret who was a school teacher, after finding the little girl on the side of road next to the dead San woman. The younger Margaret realizes her heritage and the distinct class of racism directed against her at a very young age. The children single her out in tormenting her and the adults are worried about the possible rebellion by San community with the first one that they know of in school and making progress. Margaret is an excellent student and progresses quickly through her education. Her excellent grades gets her a job as a primary school teacher in Dilepe, a small village in rural Botswana. It is here where Margaret meets Dikeledi who becomes her closest friend, Maru - a man in position of power with ancestral lands and cattle tended to be San people who silently loves her from afar and Moleka - a man whose love is like a volcano lava flowing in a cave and finds parallels of oppression between himself and the British. The four entangle in a story about love, power, race, class, sex, sexism, slavery, social stigma, oppression etc.

Bessie Head addresses sexism that exists in different forms in African villages. The parallels can be drawn to Indian culture as well. The society collectively ignores Moleka's continued transgression including his mother while Dikeledi, the woman who loves him, finds it troubling. Being school principal, she becomes a pawn in the deadly game played by the two men, best friends - Maru and Moleka, involving Margaret. Bessie Head, in her life insisted that love affairs are more important than socio-political revolutions. But when she writes this love story, the tale isn't void of her observations on social and political climate of Botswana. The love story is "forbidden" in the sense that the village starts talking about Maru in the past tense when his affair with Margaret, the San woman, is known. He becomes irrelevant in the village that gave him the status next to that of God. Moleka's plan on winning Margaret's affection fails with Maru's interference. Maru takes what he has most desired and loses his friendship with his best friend.

The readers are exposed to post-colonial impact through eyes of Maru and Moleka. Moleka sees himself and Maru as oppressors, having enslaved an entire tribe. Head makes an interesting note - when in peril, we always look back and see who has it worst than us. Indians looked to Africans, South Africans looked to other parts of Africa and Botswana looked at the Bushmen tribe and when it came to Bushmen, they had nothing to look back on. They were in the end of line and they continued to be so for a very long time. It isn't dissimilar to caste system in India. The hierarchy is what made one community of oppressed feel better about others. "At least we got this..." became the fundamental problem in unification against oppression.

The novella is strong in its presentation and has the air of tales shared by women on sunny afternoons. Bessie Head writes her women strong, grounded, flawed and they have incredible capacity to be great. The men in this story love as if its the air of life and burn the obstacles with less to no patience. At its heart, this novella is a several love stories tied together.

[lethe · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the July 2022 Read Around the World selection in the Read Women group. Trying to turn my comments there into a coherent whole.

I found this a baffling read. I can't really say I enjoyed it much. I just didn't understand these people! On page 73, I noted that I found the two male main characters, Maru and Moleka, insufferable. Both high-ranking men in their community, yet very arrogant, petty and immature in their behaviour towards others, especially women.

When I first read the novel, I wondered why it was called Maru, when Margaret is the centre of the story. But upon my second read-through (in order to try and make sense of what I read), I noticed that I primarily focused on him (and Moleka). Margaret as a character remains elusive. I felt the story and characters should have been developed better.

(Spoilerific!) thoughts under the spoiler tag.

There are many things we are told about characters but not shown. We are told several times about Maru's kindness and how he is God-like and a true future leader of his people. Yet all I could see was an arrogant, selfish little man full of insecurities and petty jealousies, who begrudged his so-called best friend his woman.

I say "so-called" because although they are very close ("inseparable", as we, once more, are told), the relationship seems to be very uneven, with Moleka giving and giving and Maru taking and taking. And when Margaret appears on the scene, suddenly they become mortal enemies and issue death threats to one another.

At least with Moleka and Margaret the feeling was mutual, but Maru takes one look at her and decides he is going to marry her. His idea of love, however, seems to be all about coercion and control. He rejoices in the idea of her having to sleep on the floor and her sickness: "Let her suffer a bit. It will teach her to appreciate other things."

My 1972 copy has a Times Educational Supplement review printed on the back. I'm quoting:

The characters of Maru and Moleka are so apparently similar that it takes a woman like Margaret Cadmore to reveal the wide division between them. The one acts, trusting to judgement. The other knows. Margaret loves Moleka until Maru shows her that she loves him. He tells her and it is so.

Right, because abducting someone to a remote place and isolating her from her friends is a great way to make her love you. Kind of like Stockholm Syndrome.

Yet, Moleka does not have his heart broken for long (having been given the wonderful Dikeledi as a consolation prize must have helped too). When he learns how Maru has tricked him, he laughs and laughs.

As I said, I don't understand these people!

A couple of quotes:

"(…) it's not good for a man, once he has found his heart, to wear it boldly on his sleeve. He also wipes his nose there." (p. 55)

"Why must Moleka have everything? He's always touched gold and handled it carelessly. I've always touched straw. This time I'm stealing the gold because I've grown tired of the straw." (p. 84)"

[Karin · Rating 3 out of 5]

And if the white man thought Africans were a low, filthy nation, Africans in Southern Africa could still smile--at least, they were not Bushmen.

Published in 1971, this book is about racism and slavery; the enslavement of the Masarwa, or Bushmen. When a teacher tries an experiment and raises a bright "Bushy" baby girl who gets straight A's through teacher's college, her foster daughter, named Margaret after herself, grows up taunted and bullied by her Batswana classmates. Margaret could pass for Coloured, the illegal children of white and African parents, which are not as low on the totem pole as the Masarwa, but she freely tells people who she is.

When Margaret accepts her first teaching job she is befriended by Dikeledi who is not afraid to have her as a friend, and, in fact, stands up for her at one point. Two men fall in love with Margaret, but because most of the story is told as a flashback after an opening about she and her husband, we know who she ends up marrying. This entire story is about the dehumanization of a people who are used and ill-treated as slaves, but also about the hope that comes from Margaret as a teacher and then when Margaret marries a Batswana.

[Anetq · Rating 4 out of 5]

Racism is flourishing in Botswana; between both races and tribes - and the lowest of the low is the Masarwa (in itself a derogatory term) - the bushmen. And in the small village of Dilepe people get upset when the new teacher with the perfect grades, Margaret Cadmore, show up and proclaim that she is Masarwa, not colored (meaning the daughter of a white man and a black mother). And she acts strange as she raised in English style by a white missionary, plagued by the other children for being Masarwa.
But racism is not the only theme: It is also the story of scheming in the village as two men battle it out the woman they love - and all bets are off: Magic dreams, art, intuition, spying and jealousy all play out in a long game.
It is a great book about love and life - including the down sides of both, and a surprising amount of supernatural (but not superstition) in the dry, dry country of the Kalahari desert.

[Madolyn Chukwu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why would TWO obviously very powerful men in one society go after a woman supposed to be an 'outcast" ? Why would they pull out all the stops to have her? .This is the situation we are confronted with here. Men are almost always attracted to physical attributes of women, but the lady in question, Margaret is not really described as a beauty or very desirable, though she is rather educated. I think the author should have given us strong reasons why two such important men would desire a woman most of society would frown down upon. But it seems the author's main interest is to show the special powers of Maru, the man in particular.

[Saxon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This tiny book deals with some heavy themes right off the bat. Colonization, race, and discrimination are all themes that underline much of this book. However, Maru is really just a mildly complex, love story in the most familiar way. A love triangle involving four people (love rectangle?) from various social statures fall for each other despite the taboos involved. Emotions fly. Friendships are severed. A kingdom is threatened. Almost Shakespearean, right?

While Head is an excellent writer, many of the characters often lacked a much needed depth to really pull off the emotionality attempted in this story. I finished this novel feeling as if a good 100 more pages needed to be added just so that the reader could really understand the complexity of the environment and the relationship between characters. Nevertheless, I did enjoy the unusual elements of social "class" distinction during this time period in Botswana and all the underlying magical spiritualism that seemed to give a brief, insight to a world not often read about.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book and have reread it several times. Bessie Head is able to capture a truly African experience, with the attachment to the land, and provide a spiritual experience. The solitary experience of Margaret, the protagonist, is eloquent and poignant, yet joyful. Reading this book is a spiritual experience not limited to the book's African feel. Bessie Head provides a detailed observation of human nature and celebrates the ordinary. Bessie Head said, "With all my South African experience, I longed to write an enduring novel on the hideousness of racial prejudice. But I also wanted the novel to be so beautiful and so magical that I, as the writer, would long to read and re-read it."

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant novella by Bessie Head, portraying how the arrival of an unassuming female San/Basarwa (Kalahari Bushman) teacher wreaks havoc in a Botswana village by stirring up racism and hatred among students and teachers, destroying friendships, and breaking hearts. So short, and yet so complex and unsettling. A book to read, ponder and re-read.

[aqeelah ❀༉˖ · Rating 2 out of 5]

in conclusion, men are trash.

EDIT: the more we analyse this book in class, the more I grow to dislike it, so much so that I've removed a star. The book itself is not badly written. I've just never hated all the characters in a single book this much before. 😐

[Azalia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love love love this quick read. It's a little over a hundred pages and I was amazed at how much was said and how many layers could be uncovered in so few pages.

[Madiba Mashao · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is by far the most interesting book I've read.

[C · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is probably the most subversive "romance" I have ever read. None of the characters are good people and none of their actions are altruistic. Love does not inspire characters to transcend their situations and prejudices but enables them to make some sad and selfish decisions. This is one of the few works were you get depictions of men and women's rapture and the violence that can accompany it.
Interestingly, the story features the common trope of two wealthy chiefs competing for the love one woman pariah but Head presents it in such an honest way. She shows how both rich suitors use their wealth and access to manipulate and pressure her into submission. Although the narrative was a bit disjointed at times I truly appreciate the ideas the author presents.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of people (...) knew nothing about the standards of the soul, and since Maru only lived by those standards they had never been able to make a place for him in their society. They thought he was dead and would trouble them no more. How were they to know that many people shared Maru’s overall ideals, that this was not the end of him, but a beginning?

The standard of the soul is the departure point of Head's writing. She takes us to a higher ground in her musings, and flawlessly describes the complexities in our hearts and minds through four characters in this short story, two couples, who are essentially the embodiment of life lived externally, and the life lived in our inner (un) consciousness. Two sides of the same coin.

What we feel truly and experience as deep love and serenity knows no boundaries, least of all the boundaries of race and social status.
But to follow these spiritual standards is to be an outcast in society, and to live them through and through men must escape to a different level, or a different town a thousand miles away, like Maru and Margaret do in the end. This escape is actually a human escape from the self, the Moleka and Dikeledi we are all made of where social constraints are of the essence and where marrying someone outside of the dominant tribe is sacrilege. Maru and Margaret therefore represent the ultimate sacrifice of abandoning everything to achieve freedom of the spirit. But does it work? The hallucinatory echoes of this choice remain even when the decision of leaving is made, that other room never being completely forgotten, 'There was nothing he could invent to banish the other room. He seemed to be its helpless victim and it was not much to his liking, as jealousy was almost an insanity in him and the inspirer of it'.
So are the two rooms, sanity and insanity ?

Five stars. Bessie Head's writing weaves elements of our inner spiritual being with the influence of societal pressures and somehow has the gift of converting our inner monologue into words that resonate deeply.

[Dora Okeyo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading Maru is traveling beyond the world of prejudice to acceptance.

Story: Margaret is a Masarwa (an outcast) but she was taken in by a white woman-also named Margaret who gave her the best education with the hope that her life might be better. Years on, she's a primary school teacher- all the children call her a 'bush baby' because they know she is an outcast, and she has a great friend Dikeledi. Then there's Maru who knows that Margaret loves Moleka, but sacrifices his friendship with Moleka to prove something to himself and his people.

The story flows and you cannot help but change as the characters do with time.
In reading this you understand that prejudice does not discriminate against class or education. Though Margaret is educated and the top of her class at the Teacher Training Institute, she is still looked down upon and mocked by the villagers and students for being a bush baby- and outcast.

I did like one character: Moleka
Reason: He loves Margaret, something about her puts an end to his womanizing, yet he does not seem to fight fair and really hard to win her. His distance only makes her heart yearn for him.

I do however have to admit that I am left asking myself so many questions and coming up with possibilities of how the lives of each character ended.

[Lindsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story has a mythical quality to it. The characters are larger than life and in the case of the character of Maru, have far-reaching motives to actions - prompted by older knowledge and intuitions and good old personal gain.

Maru, by Bessie Head, appears to be a simple tale of a girl who comes to the city, innocent and pure of spirit. She is to be the teacher in a village in Botswana. Something very complex awaits her. Although she is the source of the problems, she is unaware of the depth of the conflict that spreads to the hearts and minds of the people and society that surround her.

In a sense she could be any one of the many sparks that create change and evolution. She is also the embodiment of perceived and perfect love, and how that affects the actions of mere mortals.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Margaret Cadmore readily acknowledges her bushman heritage. She arrives in the rural town of Dilepe to teach and causes almost instant turmoil because she's Masarwa. While another teacher, Dikeledi is very nice to her, there are others who are pushing for her ousting. On top of this is a complicated love quadrangle and the provincial chief (Maru) who finds ways to get what he wants.
A short read - only 128 pages - yet something that would benefit from a second reading. There's a lot going on here in terms of relationships and racial prejudices. I'm definitely still thinking about this one.

[Benoît · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have very little to say - this book is about a San young teacher around whom two aspirant Tswana leaders are fighting. It speaks distantly about internal racism among South African groups. But the love story is just weird, the two guys are complete jerks, there's some magic at work that makes everyone know everything inside each other's heads. Pass.