I don't usually rate books, but this was a 5 star. I dare anyone to get through it without a deeper compassion for those less fortunate. Amazing, resilient and remarkable. I will never forget Issac. ( )

Long and tedious. The story started out great then by the middle it went on and on and on. I finished and it had a nice ending. ( )

White Dog Fell From the Sky by Eleanor Morse is a powerful indictment of Apartheid and the white rulers who wrote the terrible and reprehensible narrative that was South African history for most of the 20th century. In 1976, when black medical student Isaac Muthethe witnesses the brutal murder of a friend at the hands of white South African police, he realizes that he has two choices: leave the country or die. Smuggled north and across the border into Botswana with nothing but the clothes on his back, Isaac is befriended by a white dog and encounters a former schoolmate, Amen, who invites Isaac to stay with him and his wife and child. Isaac wants only peace and a chance to save his family, whom he had to leave behind. But Amen, an active member of the militant wing of the African National Congress, is determined to bring down the South African government by any means possible. Isaac’s attempts to become self-sufficient lead to a position as a gardener working for an American named Alice, a job for which Isaac, with no qualifications, manages to talk his way into. Over several weeks, as he learns the trade by doing it, an unlikely but trusting friendship springs up between Alice and Isaac. This occurs at the same time that Alice’s marriage is fragmenting. The turning point in the novel comes when Alice, who is employed by the Land Use ministry of the Botswana government, is sent to a remote part of the country for several weeks on a fact-finding mission, leaving Isaac in charge of her home and belongings. It is during this period that South African police, trying to root out pockets of ANC militancy and tipped off to Amen’s activities, cross into Botswana. When Isaac is discovered in Amen’s house he is arrested and deported by the Botswana authorities. In South Africa, and in the total absence of due process, he is imprisoned and tortured. Alice’s search for Isaac and her efforts to have him released occupy the remainder of the book. In this, her third novel, Morse skillfully blends the personal with the political, dramatizing the many ways, overt and subtle, in which an inhumane system of racial segregation, ruthlessly enforced and which persisted for decades, affected individual lives. She handles her racially and politically charged material with elegance and endows her characters with humble dignity as they pursue their objectives, be it to find love or simply to survive. Admittedly, some of the symbolism is a bit heavy-handed, and there is nothing subtle about the novel’s morality. But these are minor caveats. White Dog Fell From the Sky remains a memorable and deeply moving depiction of a shameful period in human history, one that is painful to remember but must never be forgotten. ( )

(Fiction, recent Historical, Literary)

In mid-1970s apartheid S. Africa, medical student Isaac Muthethe has himself smuggled out of the country into Botswana. He is in danger in his home country because he witnessed the murder of a friend by white members of the South African Defense Force. He is hired as a gardener by a young American woman, Alice Mendelssohn, who has followed her husband to Africa. The white dog of the title is a stray that shows up just when Isaac is dropped off in Botswana, and that attaches itself to the young man.

This book made me aware of the issue of cattle-farm fences across Africa, which cut off wildlife from their families and from water supplies. It also sharpened my understanding of the apartheid situation in South Africa, especially after Isaac is extradited and tortured.

This is not Precious Ramotswe’s Botswana. This is a powerful and moving book that should have received more attention than it did. 4½ bright stars ( )

What a beautiful book this was. It will easily be one of my favourite books of 2014 and will be one that I remember for a long time.

Isaac Muthethe has led a lucky life for a black man in South Africa during the apartheid regime. In 1976 his luck starts to fail him. He is on his way home from first year medical school with a friend when, suddenly, two white policemen throw his friend under the arriving train. Isaac has gone to a few meetings with this friend but does not belong to the African National Congress (ANC). With this occurrence he realizes his life is in danger and he leaves South Africa for Botswana. To get out he was hidden under a coffin in a hearse. When the undertaker got into Botswana he dumped Isaac on the road and left him, not caring if he was alive or dead. Isaac regained consciousness to find a white dog sitting beside him. The dog continued to follow him as Isaac tried to find some shelter. Stumbling along a path he encounters a man that he attended school with and this acquaintance, who is active in the ANC, offers him a place to stay. As an illegal refugee Isaac is advised to look for a job as a gardener. Isaac knows nothing about gardening but he is smart and figures he will be able to fake it. He finds work with Alice Mendelssohn, an American who followed her husband to Botswana. Alice is a good woman who cares about the country and its people but is not sure that she is really helping in her government job. Her marriage is falling apart and she is unable to conceive children. These two, both searching for something to make their lives meaningful, are never a couple in the sexual sense of the word but they do form a partnership. Before that can happen, though, they both go through difficult times.

The descriptions of the countryside and its flora and fauna were almost poetic. The juxtaposition of the paragraphs of beautiful description with explanations of abuse and racism worked well. And, of course, I loved the inclusion of the dog in the story.

Highly recommended. ( )