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Bezig met laden... Black Diamond (2009)door Zakes Mda
   Geen Bezig met laden...
 Meld je aan bij LibraryThing om erachter te komen of je dit boek goed zult vinden. Op dit moment geen Discussie gesprekken over dit boek.  LizzySiddal | Dec 31, 2023 |   Full review at: https://lizzysiddal.wordpress.com/2020/06/01/black-diamond-zakes-mda-seagullbook... (  ) LizzySiddal | Dec 20, 2021 | The Visagies (or at least Stevo) swears to take revenge, Kristin ends up needing a bodyguard and Don is sent to her and things go downhill. The story itself is almost a cliche but the background of Johannesburg and Soweto keep the book from being boring. You can see actions happening long before they do, you know where the story will lead (or most of it anyway - the end managed to surprise me) but that different world is there. Some of the characters are exaggerated to the point of a caricature - Tumi for example is so 2-dimensional that in some places I was loosing even the sense of the second dimension; her constant whining about Don's inability (or maybe lack of desire) to become more and her trust in him are almost comical. The Visagie brothers are more types than real people. On the other hand their mother and their ex-maid, turned helper Magda are so exotic that you cannot stop wondering if they are not based on real people - there is a sense of the different and the unknown in them that adds that additional dimension. At the same time Don and Kristin are fully realized, with their complex backstories and thoughts (and as any normal person with their faults and issues). Even if their story is cliched, it works to some extent. The author's style is a mix between second and third person narrative, with a few notable moments when he is talking directly to the reader. And this works better than anything else - it adds to the exotic feeling of the whole text. I had not read a lot of African literature so I am not sure how common that is but it is an interesting way to differentiate and highlight some places. And somewhere between the storyline and the annoying characters, lays the real character of the story - the South Africa of now, a country trying to change but getting stuck in the middle, with problems that are unique for it and some that are the same as anywhere else. I wish Mda had spent more time on this than on the banal story - but then I guess the character story was supposed to be the story. And I suspect the fact that I am not a big fan of contemporary fiction did not help my reading of the book either. Still the novel is worth checking, despite its flaws. (  )2  AnnieMod | Jul 23, 2015 | geen besprekingen | voeg een bespreking toe
Onderdeel van de uitgeversreeks(en)Prijzen
"Kristin Uys, a tough magistrate, goes on a one-woman crusade to wipe out prostitution in her town. Her reasons are personal and her zeal is fierce. Her main targets are the Visagie Brothers, Stevo and Shortie, who run a brothel, and although she fails to take down the entire establishment, she manages to nail Stevo for contempt of court. From Diepkloof Prison, the outraged Stevo orchestrates his revenge against the magistrate, aided and abetted by his rather inept brother Shortie and his erstwhile nanny, Aunt Magda. As Kristin faces menacing phone calls and vandalism, the chief magistrate has no choice but to assign a bodyguard to protect her. To Kristin's consternation, security guard Don Mateza moves into her home and trails her everywhere. This new arrangement doesn't suit Don's longtime girlfriend Tumi, former model and successful businesswoman, who is intent on turning Don into a Black Diamond, a member of the wealthy new black South African middle class. And Don soon finds that his new assignment has unexpected complications which Tumi simply does not understand. In Black Diamond, Zakes Mda tackles every conceivable South African stereotype, skillfully turning them upside down and exposing their ironies, often hilariously. This is a clever, quirky novel in which Mda captures the essence of contemporary life in a fast-changing urban world"-- Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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 Google Books — Bezig met laden...GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)823.92Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 2000-LC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde: (3.8)
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Full review at: https://lizzysiddal.wordpress.com/2020/06/01/black-diamond-zakes-mda-seagullbook...
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