Act of Terror

by André Brink

Thomas Landman and Nina Jordaan, idealistic young Afrikaners, must flee across South Africa, pursued by the relentless Brigadier Bester, when their plot to kill the president fails

Genres: Africa, Fiction, South Africa, Historical Fiction, Politics, Roman, African Literature

834 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

André Philippus Brink was a South African novelist. He wrote in Afrikaans and English and was until his retirement a Professor of English Literature at the University of Cape Town.

In the 1960s, he and Breyten Breytenbach were key figures in the Afrikaans literary movement known as Die Sestigers ("The Sixty-ers"). These writers sought to use Afrikaans as a language to speak against the apartheid government, and also to bring into Afrikaans literature the influence of contemporary English and French trends. His novel Kennis van die aand (1973) was the first Afrikaans book to be banned by the South African government.

Brink's early novels were often concerned with the apartheid policy. His final works engaged new issues raised by life in postapartheid South Africa.

Reviews

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

'What I shall never forget,' he said, 'is Dostoevsky's home. The corner flat in which he lived the last two years of his life. The church spire visible from one of the windows: he refused to live where he couldn't see a church. To me it was a kind of pilgrimage. And yet, what is there to tell? The simple dark furniture, the walking sticks and umbrellas in a stand at the door, the funny little top-hat. The bare floors of dark wood. On his desk, the small tin from which he rolled his cigarettes, fifty for every working night. On its bottom, in a childish handwriting, the guide showed us, was an inscription by his small daughter: Today our daddy died. All the angels and demons, the battlefield of the human heart, everything I'd read of his over the years, everything I'd wondered about, reduced to that single sober fact. Ultimately that is the only thing that one needs to take into consideration. That is what I've had to come to terms with in my own life. The day Sipho and Noni were killed. The time I spent in the training camp afterwards. Everything I had to work through. Everything thirteen generations of Landmans have had to battle with. In the final analysis it's only this: One lives; one dies. And what account can you give of yourself on the night when your watch stops and a child scribbles on your cigarette tin, Tonight our daddy died?'

[KJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I lived in South Africa in the 1980s and 1990s, the great ambition amongst writers was to nail the ultimate South African Novel. It's an enormous challenge, but I feel that this effort, by one of the country's greatest suthors, probably comes closest.

It's a great shame that An Act of Terror hit the bookshops just at the point at which apartheid was being dismantled, since the motives that drive Thomas Landsman, the main protagonist, seem less sympathetic now than they would have to myself and my contemporaries when we were discussing the moral perils of apartheid at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg during the 1980s.

These factors apart, it is a brilliantly written thriller that elevates the genre above the everyday. You would need either to be South African, have lived there for some considerable time or have a keen interest in SA history to tackle the 200-odd page genealogy that closes the book, though.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

The timing of this worthy Great South African Novel probably led to its relative obscurity. A sweeping critique of the venal apartheid regime, the country is portrayed as the worst of police states, a sub-Nazi environment propped up by corrupt governments abroad (yes you – Margaret Thatcher) and deserving of direct action, no matter how violent and no matter the collateral damage.

But the book came out in 1991 and by then, Nelson Mandela had walked free from Robben Island and truth and reconciliation were in his mind. Brink mentions this in a presumably rapidly edited final chapter, but the overwhelming feeling in the book is that the racists were here to stay.

It’s a compelling narrative and works expertly as a thriller, with the freedom fighters playing cat and mouse with the security forces. The book excels in its portrait of the geography, culture and history of South Africa, although few will read the Afrikaner family tree that serves as an appendix. Looking back, events seem very distant now but there were many apologists for not imposing sanctions on South Africa at the time and many who branded Mandela a terrorist. Not a few of these individuals continue to hold influence in our society.

[Margitte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Soos gewoonlik probeer Andre P Brink in hierdie boek om
die destydse sinnelose geweld in die land te belig
en met kritiek, sowel as deernis, 'n nuwe denkrigting
in die Afrikaner enklawe aan te moedig.

Springbokboeke se resensie daarvan sluit die volgende in:
‘Daar was mense wat hul lewe gegee het om apartheid te vernietig. Daar was mense wat enduit geglo het in vreedsame verset; daar was mense wat geglo het dat geweld al is wat oorbly om iets mensliks uit die moeras te red.”

Die kreef raak gewoond daaraan is die verhaal van Thomas Landman, ‘n Afrikaner wat ‘n uiterste daad van geweld pleeg in ‘n desperate poging om die owerheid tot sy sinne te bring. Die bomaanval waarmee sy groep die Staatspresident om die lewe wil bring, loop skeef, en onskuldige mense se lewe word geneem. In Thomas se daaropvolgende vlugtog lê Brink die Suid-Afrikaanse gemeenskáp, en veral die Afrikanergemeenskap, in al sy diepste geledinge oop: deernisvol en verraderlik, koesterend en korrup, idealisties en koersloos.

Dit word ‘n reis deur die breë geografie en geskiedenis van die land, en ‘n herskrywing van beide. Tegelyk is dit n avontuurverhaal waarin die pèrspektief van Thomas Se jagter en teenspeler, brigadier Kat Bester van die Veiligheidspolisie, beurtelings vooropstaan.

[Dennis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compelling version of South African history but it tried to play it both ways on the subject of terrorism, justifying and condemning it at the same time but neither very forcefully. The most interesting part for me was the evolution of the Afrikaaner mentality although I would have liked to know why it didn't develop the same way in other countries or why South Africa was different in the end (from Rhodesia, for example) but it's a book about South Africa in the end and gave me a feeling for the country I hadn't had before. The writing wasn't stellar, a bit stiff, but the basic story was interesting.

[Megan Doney · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm giving this one three stars, largely because I think it is way longer than it needs to be. For a book to be more than 800 pages, it has to be simply brilliant, and though I think Brink's work is very thoughtful and intellectually provocative, this book doesn't need to be that long. However, it was an engrossing look at the life of one white Afrikaner who becomes a terrorist in the struggle, and wrestles with the moral decision to embrace violence to combat violence. It's also a good, hard look at what it means to be a white African, a subject that preoccupies me greatly.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating exploration of "an act of terror," committed by idealistic young South Africans against the unjust system of apartheid.

It grapples with motivations behind terrorism, freedom-fighting, struggling for justice, and the humanity of those on both sides of the equation. It's hard to find, but if you get the chance...

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just the kind of book I enjoy both in terms of style and content. When handling political material in a novel there is always the danger of molding the story to fit the ideology but Brink has blended the two beautifully in 'An Act of Terror', where the characters are believable and their actions logical. A fantastic apartied thriller, well worth reading.

[Spook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Critically acclaimed novel about apartheid times in South Africa. An interesting read, wonderfully written, but I found it too one sided. Certain people are Saints where others are Devils. The reality was somewhere inbetween which is why I only gave it four stars.

[Jeff Schauer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short review: http://californiamwananchi.blogspot.c...

[Merde · Rating 5 out of 5]

If ever there was a book that would make anyone think twice about employing violence to achieve their political ends, it would be this book. But they never do.

[Eila Isotalus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kuka on terroristi? Kenellä on oikeus tai valta nimetä toinen terroristiksi? Miten terroristeiksi tullaan? Ajankohtaisia kysymyksiä.

[Derek L. · Rating 2 out of 5]

1. THE ACTUAL NOVEL -2/5
This is one of those books that had a great beginning but, for me, faltered dramatically in the middle. I'm used to heavily descriptive novels (I prefer description and plot development in my stories) but I felt that this one was unnecessarily long. There are changes in writing style on occasion, which turned me off. This is an impactful story but I felt like it just dragged on and on and on...

2. THE LANDMAN FAMILY CHRONICLE - 4/5
I thought this was much more interesting and well written. This is where I regret not starting. I felt as though if this book began with this, the storyline would probably have held my interest for much longer.


Overall, this just wasn't my story. I felt distant from the characters and felt like I was dragging through it instead of being immersed in it. While the plot and the characters were well planned and written well, it just didn't completely click with me. And, as I mentioned, the book is unnecessarily long. I have nothing against the writer himself, and certainly am not slamming what the author was communicating in the whole narrative, but it just didn't work out for me.

[Marie Bouteille · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, what a book ! Don't be put off by its thickness ! It's about everything that led Thomas Landman, a young Afrikaner to plant a bomb in an attempt to kill the president of South-Africa.We are told about all the people he met, all the events in his life (some of them already acts of terror) but also about his family, the twelve generations of Landman (the name itself being meaningful) before him who were born in South-Africa, so everything that shaped and defined Thomas and drove him towards this act of terror. It's a minute psychological, political and historical analysis. It's a reflexion on the use of violence. And it reads like a thriller.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brink's novel is simultaneously a travelogue, a thriller, and a meditation on South African history, with the protagonist's genealogical research constituting a 200 page appendix. Despite its length it is very easy to lose oneself in Brink's prose, as the hero ponders the consequences of his actions and how he is going to escape South Africa. The perspective changes often, with other characters pondering how their son, brother, or acquaintance could have engaged in "terrorism". One of the best novels I have ever read.

[Iain · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me a long time to get through this entire book, but I enjoyed every minute especially the last section which provides a complete account of the history of South Africa after the arrival of the Dutch. This historical part of the novel follows the fortunes and misfortunes of the Landman family through the years after their first forebear arrived in Cape Town.

[Jaco Jansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Min dinge het so verouder en verander as die landskap waarin hierdie teks relevant was. Die morele argumente wat Brink meedoënloos deur die gedagtesrtominge van die karakters forseer is byna belaglik in die huidige Suid-Afrikaanse konteks.

[Rynhardt · Rating 5 out of 5]

'n Onapologetiese kunswerk van Afrikaanse letterkunde. Goed voor my tyd, maar 'n goeie boek om te lees bloot vir die skrywer self. Ek sien uit om in die toekoms meer van Andre P. Brink se werk te lees.

[Bent Andreassen · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 plus t 4 1/2 stars. Very good novel.