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Bezig met laden... Playing in the Lightdoor Zoë Wicomb
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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. rabck from HI77; set in the 1990's in Capetown, South Africa. Marion owns a travel agency…but hates to travel. It's after the apartheid and she hires a black woman. Between Brenda - the new girl and her father retreating into the past, Marion starts to find skeletons in the closet and an entire branch of the family that she never knew about. Playing in the light refers to a phrase where a light skinned colored chooses to "Play White" or Play in the Light" and turn away from all their family and friends to get the benefits of being whtle Afrikaans, which is better than colored or European. Quite a different view on race relations than the US history. geen besprekingen | voeg een bespreking toe
"In her ambitious third novel, Wicomb explores South Africa's history through a woman's attempt to answer questions surrounding her past" (The New Yorker). Set in a beautifully rendered 1990s Cape Town, Windham Campbell Prize winner Zoë Wicomb's celebrated novel revolves around Marion Campbell, who runs a travel agency but hates traveling, and who, in post-apartheid society, must negotiate the complexities of a knotty relationship with Brenda, her first black employee. As Alison McCulloch noted in the New York Times, "Wicomb deftly explores the ghastly soup of racism in all its unglory--denial, tradition, habit, stupidity, fear--and manages to do so without moralizing or becoming formulaic." Caught in the narrow world of private interests and self-advancement, Marion eschews national politics until the Truth and Reconciliation Commission throws up information that brings into question not only her family's past but her identity and her rightful place in contemporary South African society. "Stylistically nuanced and psychologically astute," Playing in the Light is as powerful in its depiction of Marion's personal journey as it is in its depiction of South Africa's bizarre, brutal history (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). "Post-apartheid South Africa is indeed a new world . . . With this novel, Wicomb proves a keen guide." --The New York Times "Delectable . . . Wicomb's prose is as delightful and satisfying in its culmination as watching the sun set over the Atlantic Ocean." --The Christian Science Monitor "[A] thoughtful, poetic novel." --The Times (London) Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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Google Books — Bezig met laden... GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)823.914Literature English English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1945-1999LC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde:
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From the aspect of 'playing in the light' it is a powerful description of the warped country SA became under the tyranny of the Afrikaanse government, and how it affected the entire population in so many subtle and not-so subtle ways. Having said that, although much of the writing is absolutely beautiful (describing the night sky in the city as being a 'brown marmalade' colour unlike the magnificent clarity of country skies), the story is very strung out, with episodes that sound autobiographical but which don't really move the plot forwards. Some of the characters are very real, but I found Marion a bit strange and enigmatic, couldn't even work out how old she was.
There is a real sense of place in the novel, as Cape Town is portrayed so clearly, with the geographical proximity of living near or far from the mountain echoing the racial divides of society;
The book badly needs a glossary as the author uses a lot of Afrikaans and also the Cape Coloured and Boer patois as well as SA English slang. With out knowledge of these, the reader misses out a great deal. ( )