The violent death of a Canadian water company executive in a black township of Johannesburg throws together three women struggling through their lives. Claire, the executive's daughter, an anti-privatization activist and the lead detective in the murder investigation are on a course that will change each life.
This first novel is amazingly rich, shocking, fierce and tender. Most of all it is thought provoking - to the point that I was at my computer checking information. What is a fundamental fact of life in the townships of South Africa is light years from life as we know it. Why don't I know this stuff?
Corporate and civic corruption, the worst poverty imaginable, non-communication between those in power and those most affected by their decisions, lack of education, daily fighting for survival, disease, women's rights - these are some of the subjects touched on in this novel.
I was completely taken off guard by the ending. The full human cost of inequality is in your face! The least likable of the women is the waterman's daughter, Claire, but Nomsulwa and Zembe are fully rounded women in a good whodunit. The real mystery is how much, or how little, we really know about others, especially those we think we know best.
Sweetness In the Belly - Camilla Gibb
Lilly is the daughter of English/Irish hippies. She was "born in Yugoslavia, beast-fed in the Ukraine, weaned in Corsica, freed from nappies in Sicily and walking by the time they reached the Algarve." When she is orphaned at age eight, she is left in the care of a Sufi sheikh, who eventually sends her to the walled city of Harar, Ethiopia.
In Harar she teaches the local children the Qur'an and eventually meets Aziz, a half Sudanese doctor. Their love blossoms, but they are wrenched apart when the aging emperor Haile Selassie is deposed by the brutal Dergue regime.
Lilly runs to England, but her life in London as a white Muslim is also complicated. The narration alternates between Thatcher's England during 1981-1991 and Ethiopia during the early 1970's. I often asked myself why I didn't know about the atrocities being committed in Africa - Ethiopia, Sudan, Rwanda and Somalia. I have to believe that news coverage during that time was not like the instant and hyper-detailed, sensational news of today.
What will remain with me from this novel is the realization that exile in any form is often based on the myth of return. The deculturalization of Islam, the richness of Africa pre western interference, the racism within the non-colonized walls of Harar, the ongoing struggle for peace - remind me that good and evil surround us. How each of us lives our life is what defines us.
- The Beauty of Humanity Movement
- The Petty Details of So and So's Life
- Mouthing the Words
Who Knew?
Ethiopian Harar coffee beans are one of the oldest beans still produced. It is "dry processed" with sorting and processing done entirely by hand. This is one of the highest valued coffees in the world, known for it's distinctive aromas and flavours of chocolate, spices and complex citrus notes.
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