The Children's Day

by Michiel Heyns, A.L. Kennedy (Introduction)

The Children's Day is the shocking, funny, and tender chronicle of a boy's coming of age in the Free State village of Verkeerdespruit during the apartheid years of the sixties. The tender chronicle of a boy's coming of age in South Africa during the apartheid years of the sixties, The Children's Day captures the essence of growing up in a world fraught with the strange and sometimes violent contradictions of class, race, gender, and language. The widening world of adolescence, in all its allure and confusion, is explored through the eyes of Simon, who struggles to make sense of the adults around him―torn between scorn for his surroundings and a desire to belong. This debut novel is peopled with poignant, vulnerable, and sometimes eccentric characters, and it is through their lives that Simon comes to understand the complexities of love.

Genres: Fiction, South Africa

244 pages, Paperback

First published September 30, 2002

About the author

Michiel Heyns is a South African novelist, translator and literary critic. Until 2003, he was Professor of English Literature at the University of Stellenbosch when the success of his first novel allowed him to become a full-time writer. As an academic he is best known for his work on 19th and 20th century literature, especially his acclaimed study, Expulsion and the Nineteenth-Century Novel: The Scapegoat in English Realist Fiction (Oxford University Press, 1994).

In 2002 he made his debut as a novelist with the comic coming-of-age story, The Children's Day. This was followed by another novel of high comedy, The Reluctant Passenger (2003) which has since been translated into French. His subsequent novels have moved away from the South African milieu: The Typewriter's Tale (2005), which focuses on Theodora Bosanquet, the amanuensis of Henry James, was followed by Bodies Politic (2008), which deals with the English suffrage movement of the turn of the 20th century.

He is also the award-winning translator of Tom Dreyer and Marlene van Niekerk (most famously of her The Way of the Women), and continues to write widely as a literary critic and reviewer.

Reviews

[Lisa Lazarus · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book; this is the third book of Heyns' that I have now read. It is Heyns first book and I can see how his craft has improved with each book. It is the coming-of-age story of Simon, growing up in a small town in South Africa in the '60s during the height of Nationalism Government rule in Apartheid South Africa. Simon has an English-speaking father and an Afrikaans mother and he witnesses the world through his own astute intelligence and sensibilities. It is wonderfully rich with details of this era, which was my own, and I was often profoundly moved or humoured by its many references to this time. I found the book slightly overwritten; where less would have been more and generally in need of a rigourous edit, which would have made it more powerful.

[Jill]

Just couldn't get into it -- couldn't quite decide if it was meant to be serious or funny, and the combination, especially in the context of some of the events described, put me off. Also seemed oddly cliched. I'm starting not to be a fan of Tin House Books, since I've had "meh" reactions to the three books of theirs I've read (two of which I didn't finish).

[Karen Germain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another hit for Tin House Publishing…”The Children’s Day” by Michiel Heyns is the story of two boys growing up in South Africa during the 1960’s. Heyns does a great job at writing in an adolescent voice and telling the story from the children’s perspective. It is a story of perception, bias and self discovery. It is beautiful and has a few shocking moments and good plot twists.

[Craig Rudolph · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't read many South African authors but this was quite a good read. I had initially picked this up at a book sale on my university campus and saw that it was based in the Free State and set in the 1960s and I thought I'd get to learn about the life of this English-Afrikaans boy growing up, but it was more than that. You get an insight to the English and Afrikaans animosity towards each other but through the lens of an 11-13 year old which adds humour to it but then again a child wouldn't understand the gravity of the situation.

There's also a slow self discovery process happening in the book. There was a moment when things took quite a dark turn and I thought Simon would lose all his innocence but I'm happy that I powered through.

Overall it's a great read. There were some hilarious parts that made me laugh out loud and some that were sad but not heart wrenchingly sad.

I could see this being a reading recommendation for kids growing up in the Free State

[Ian Walters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nostalgic especially for an English Speaking South African who grew up in the Platteland at that time.
The bigotry, the conservatism, the bloody awful Sunday afternoons!
He captures it beautifully.

[Robin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book. It was slow to start, had an ok middle, and the end was just not for me.

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

A native South African's semi-autobiographical study about boyhood under apartheid in South Africa in the 1960's. Simon is the bright, bookish son of liberal parents -- his father is a magistrate -- bilingual in English and Afrikaans. He grows up in a suffocatingly conservative small town in the Orange Free State, a society that teaches him all the wrong lessons. (Asked if he plans to be a lawyer, he responds that he wants to be a policeman -- he wants to be on the side of power.)

The story is often funny, often touching, often disturbing. The book is only tangentially concerned with racial relationships. Simon's life is affected more by the split in his own personality, a split that reflects the divide in the nation's white society as a whole -- English urban cosmopolitanism vs. Afrikaans small town isolationism.

Simon's preadolescent searches for love are repeatedly stymied by the society in which he lives or by his own personal flaws -- but by the end of the book he appears to achieve a new maturity through accepting the affection of a somewhat simple classmate, a boy toward whom he had shown nothing but contempt throughout childhood.

[Elana · Rating 4 out of 5]

First Reads Book...

Um.. this was a very strange book. I won this book in GoodReads first reads and it was definitely not what I expected. I usually don't like memoirs, or a novel like a memoir, but I actually didn't mind reading this book. It did take a few pages to get used to the writing style, which was a tad confusing, and with South African culture, but behind that there is a decent novel. I do have to say though that it was more than a little awkward at times being a teenage girl reading this book. Some of the books content caught me by surprise and some of the things I didn't care to read about. All in all though, The Children's Day was a pretty good book about a boys coming to age story in South Africa.

[Ashley]

I won this book in the giveaway on 7-31-09 & still haven't received it as of 9-7!! Most books my family wins comes within a week. I see that others are having the same problem.

Update 10-15-09: I finally got a response from the publisher as follows... "So sorry about this. have you received your copy yet? If not, I will get it out right away. -Deb" Maybe we will get them after all!

Update 10-28-09 I finally received the book today. They also sent When I Forgot since we had to wait so long. I forgive them. LOL.

[sil]

Hoping I actually receive a First Reads copy this time.

Update: I won this book in the giveaway on 7-31-09 and have not received it as of 9-03. I contacted the publisher a couple of weeks ago (as recommended by GoodReads) and have not gotten a response.

I finally got this in... November?

See Jill Anderson's review, as that pretty much sums it up for me. I could not get into it.

[Joseph Schreiber · Rating 5 out of 5]

For those of us who grew up in small towns or rural areas the days before the internet, figuring out the ways of the adult world and the mysteries of sex involved a lot of speculation and assumptions. Heyns captures all of the confusion, guilt and humiliation of growing up in the 1960s smart, bookish and not quite fitting in. And he does so with wonderfully understated humour.

[Anja Hansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

~read for a class on gender and sexuality in literature~

This had some interesting stuff in it, but also a lot of weirdness. I was never quite sure of the author's intent regarding the more heavy and serious topics. Sometimes it seemed like it was meant to make light of the matter, but that only made me more umcomfortable. My best guess is that the humour just flew over my head

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

Heyns brought an interesting and vivid take on a young boys experiances in the time period. His characters were intriging. There were some parts that I was angry while reading, and caught myself lauging outloud. Heyns had a unique writing style that I quite enjoyed.

[Alison Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Childhood/adolescence in the Free State of the 60s; blurb described book as "socially and politically revealing" - which it was. Small town predujices are revealed, often very funny; not so funny glimpses into apartheid. Heyns is one of our best writers.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting look at white society in apartheid, particularly the non-wealthy.

[Nicholas · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pleasant Bildungsroman about growing up in the Orange Free State in apartheid South Africa. The characters are memorable, as is the ambiguity-ridden town of Verkeerdespruit. Quite a quick read.

[Taza]

This book, through the eyes of a young boy, subtly introduces ironies and injustices in South African society in the 60's. It is interesting but so far not life changing

[Justinia]

It seemed very well written, but I found it somewhat unrelatable. I didn't finish it.

[Ayelet Waldman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a terrific, terrific book.

[Beverley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Initially loved the book but some scenes near the end spoilt it for me

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book's wry gentle humour and insight into times gone by in the old SA. Not sure about the very end bit, may have to re read the last chapeter and see if i can absorb it better.

[Richard Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

A readable and enjoyable book that took me right to an Afrikaans village in the 60s. One central idea was that Apartheid grew out of lovelessness.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Subtle, bitter-sweet. It gradually evolves from innocent and funny to something more subtle, deeper and more complex. Just like life. Loved it.