Hennepin County Library paperback 388 pages
genre: Christian historical fiction
*Atypical review! Filled with spoilers and my own strange notations. I don't feel like blogging at all, but I want to return this book to the library! *
Overall reaction - loved the author's writing style, but was distressed by the story itself. Book club discussion was frustrating - half the table hadn't read the book and just chatted (I would have enjoyed that!) and the other half had read it but we had such different opinions and some of them bordered on political / social . . .
South Africa, mid-1930s through the 1960s. Apartheid rising. Afrikaaners.
Page 107 - I had already suspected, but "knew" that Mr. Fourie was Persomi's dad when I read this.
"Mr. Fourie?" Persomi called.
He stopped and turned, his face a thundercloud.
She looked him in the eye. "Thank you, Mr. Fourie," she said. "You're good to us, even if we can't help you on the farm anymore."
He looked at her steadily.
"Thank you," she said again.
"It's okay," he said and turned to go.
But for a moment, just before he turned his back on her, she thought she saw a strange expression in his eyes.
Page 117 - I loved Beth's witness to Persomi. "Whether you pray or not, He is in control," Beth said. "He will always be there for you." Beth was only a temporary figure, but she helped develop Persomi's narrative.
Page 143 - so sad! "She had prayed, every night during quiet time. Only in the vacation she had sometimes forgotten. God hadn't heard. No God of love would have taken Gerbrand. It couldn't be true."
Page 191 - I enjoyed Persomi's friendship with Renier and kept waiting for it to become more! This page was rich with the teasing of their relationship.
Page 203 - Persomi and Boelie arguing about South Africa and the changing laws . . . again. "For goodness' sake, Persomi, this is not their country! They're visitors, laborers. India is their fatherland! They should go back there." Ugh! I could hear the Donald Trump "America First!" rhetoric all over this! When I mentioned that comparison during book club (knowing I should have kept my mouth shut), I got one of those knowing looks indicating I was so very wrong. How did the people from the Netherlands get to decide that South Africa was *their* country and they had more right to it than the native Africans or the Indians who had come generations earlier? Ugh! How does being white and rich make you more right than everyone else?! This aspect of the book made me want to scream! (I was so very, very glad that Persomi was such an incredible woman.)
Page 255 - Tender beautiful scene between Persomi and Boelie. Kiss, darn it!
Page 272 - Painful! She is completely in love with Boelie but breaks up with him because she believes he is her brother BUT she doesn't tell him the real reason! They're both miserable and heart-broken! Tell the truth! Listen to your heart!
Page 288 - *After* Boelie's wedding to Annabel, Mr. De Vos tells Persomi he doesn't want her to spend any more time with Renier . . . because Mr. De Vos is her dad. Bombshell!!!
Page 293 - "It took hours of research and reading to keep track of the proliferating laws of the new government's apartheid policy." Again, this made me think of Trump and his attempts to remake our country into what he wants it to be . . . scary.
Page 309 - The moment when Persomi finally tells Boelie the truth. "I believed you were my brother." Oh my. This scene was powerfully written.
Page 375 - "In the end it wasn't the town council or the government who hurt my grandfather today - more than he had ever been hurt before, including when my eldest brother died. It was me. I think that's what saddens me most, Persomi." So sad! Poor Yusuf!
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