Bunda, Secret Agent | Nunn: Beautiful Place to Die | Mystery/Thriller (CL) first read: June 2013

[Marieke]

We had a tie for June and I did not realize it until today. I'm very sorry about that. I have posted the two official winners, and thought members could read either or both. We can discuss both books and the genre in general.

Here are the official selections: Jaime Bunda, Secret Agent: Story of Various Mysteries and A Beautiful Place To Die.

I'll be back with some information about each book and author.

[Beverly]

Marieke wrote: "We had a tie for June and I did not realize it until today. I'm very sorry about that. I have posted the two official winners, and thought members could read either or both. We can discuss both boo..."

Thanks
The Jaime Bunda book sounds very interesting, but unfortunately it is not available locally for me.
Hopefully the Book Depository will get it to me in a timely basis.

I have read A Beautiful Place To Die and enjoyed the book - I need to catch up with other books in the series.

[Marieke]

Beverly, feel free to read the next book in the series and join the discussion. :)

[Christine]

I just got the book from my library and will start soon.

[Marieke]

Christine wrote: "I just got the book from my library and will start soon."

Which one did you get? I just requested the Malla Nunn book and wanted to get Pepetela's too, but we don't seem to have a copy in English. :/

[[deleted user]]

Could NOT locate Bunda but I did read BPTD and I liked it. Emmanuel is an endearing, tough character. Def will read the 2nd book. A few surprises which is good - predictability is boring which this book was not.

[Marieke]

The edition I tried to get yesterday was not on the shelf, but I think there was another one so I'm going to try again today.

[Muphyn]

I read A Beautiful Day to Die earlier in the year - or rather, I listened to the audiobook, which was really well narrated and actually had a narrator with a nice South African accent (ie not a fake, oh-so-terrible one). Have to dig up my review to jog my memory of it but from what I recall, I quite enjoyed it and wanted to read the other books in the series...

[Marieke]

Ah! Maybe I'll use my audible credit for that book! I'll have to check if they have it.

[Beverly]

Marieke wrote: "Ah! Maybe I'll use my audible credit for that book! I'll have to check if they have it."

A Beautiful Place to Die was also an audible book for me!

[Marieke]

Now the collections found it for me so I have both options for reading it--audio or regular. :)

[Beverly]

My copy of Jaime Bunda arrived today!

[Marieke]

Beverly wrote: "My copy of Jaime Bunda arrived today!"

LUCKY!

[Christian]

Have read both now...

BPTD is a nice pageturner, yet all in all doesnt get beyond your conventional crime novel setup with - admittedly well done - Sout African flavour.

For Jaime Bunda on the other hand the crime story is mere camouflage, to dissect the condition of a contemporary african nation, and at the sametime being so very dark and sarcastic, and so incredibly funny!!
Another aspect is how Perpetela plays with narration-style, which seems to be a recurring issue in african literature. It's enteraining, how the author, as the super-narrator, critizes and replaces the narrator voices at will.
Im curious how you experienced that way of structuring the book.

[Marieke]

I'm jealous you got to read Pepetela! I think I must order a copy for myself.

I liked BPTD a lot, I thought it was an excellent debut for a literary mystery...by literary I mean not fluff. Lol

However, I was put off by the ending and did not find it believeable.

[Christian]

Hi Marieke,

odd, that the German transalation is easily available but not the English one. Im not aware of any cultural ties, that could explain that.

I did enjoy reading A beautiful place to die, but Jaime Bunda is just another league i'd say.
You're certainly right about the end it was a bit shallow, as the main relevation happened before that of the murder, and you can feel it is pushing towards a sequel.

[Marieke]

Well, lucky for me I can read German! I will do some searching and see if I can get Jaime Bunda in one language or the other. We previously read something by Pepetela in this group and I have wanted to read this one ever since. But the English is not available at any of the libraries I have access too.