List Based On Books July's People
| Title | : | July's People |
| Author | : | Nadine Gordimer |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 160 pages |
| Published | : | July 29th 1982 by Penguin Books (first published 1981) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Cultural. Africa. Southern Africa. South Africa. Historical. Historical Fiction. Nobel Prize |
Nadine Gordimer
Paperback | Pages: 160 pages Rating: 3.53 | 6165 Users | 513 Reviews
Description As Books July's People
For years, it had been what is called a “deteriorating situation.” Now all over South Africa the cities are battlegrounds. The members of the Smales family—liberal whites—are rescued from the terror by their servant, July, who leads them to refuge in his village. What happens to the Smaleses and to July—the shifts in character and relationships—gives us an unforgettable look into the terrifying, tacit understandings and misunderstandings between blacks and whites.Nadine Gordimer was a winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature
Be Specific About Books To July's People
| Original Title: | July's People |
| ISBN: | 0140061401 (ISBN13: 9780140061406) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Setting: | South Africa |
| Literary Awards: | Premio Grinzane Cavour Nominee for Narrativa Straniera (1985) |
Rating Based On Books July's People
Ratings: 3.53 From 6165 Users | 513 ReviewsNotice Based On Books July's People
Nadine Gordimer is an award winning South African author of multiple books, and has won the prestigious Booker Prize. In July's People, Gordimer writes of the 1980 race riots in Johannesburg that wrestled the city out of white control. As the violence begins to escalate and the city begins to crumble, families ponder their future. Gordimer writes of the Smales family and their house servant named July, who rescues them and offers them hope moving forward. An upper class family, Bamford andAll the troubles of apartheid-era South Africa are encapsulated in this slim and beautifully-written book. Just when you think that you know the situation, you understand what is going on, the Chief is introduced and you realise that looking at it from the point of view of the (white) Smales and the in-two-worlds view of their ex-'boy' is only the half of it. It's black against white, but not for liberation alone but for power.There are many reviews of the story of July's People. I am glad I
The crazy thing is that this is fiction: apartheid in South Africa somehow didn't end in war. People actually got together and said this isn't going to work, and they had an election, and Mandela won, and that was that. (This is the short version, okay?)So July's People is sortof science fiction. Written in 1981, about a decade before apartheid fell, it presents how Gordimer, a white anti-apartheid activist and a Nobel prize winner, predicted the fall would go. Her white protagonists (also
I know, I know....I am supposed to have had some great cathartic experience from reading this book but it just did not happen. I don't particularly enjoy this style of writing. It seems disjointed and confusing and was like trying to read something written on a bumpy ride in the country. The story was okay, could see parts of where it was going. All in all, not enjoyable. I read it mainly because it was on my list of have to reads and I was very glad it was a short book and was very glad when I
All the troubles of apartheid-era South Africa are encapsulated in this slim and beautifully-written book. Just when you think that you know the situation, you understand what is going on, the Chief is introduced and you realise that looking at it from the point of view of the (white) Smales and the in-two-worlds view of their ex-'boy' is only the half of it. It's black against white, but not for liberation alone but for power.There are many reviews of the story of July's People. I am glad I
In Gordimer's slightly-alternate South Africa, tensions between blacks and whites escalates until all-out violence erupts. Shops and buildings are blown up and the whites are fleeing - but even planes are being blown up as they take off, so how is a white family to escape? The Smales family - Bram and Maureen and their three young children, Victor, Gina and Royce - are rescued by their black servant, July, who leads them out of the city and through the countryside, dodging patrols of armed black
Gordimer has a nuanced intelligence that is quite genuine. And the book is stylistically rich. Still, I found it claustrophobic, the entire story taking place in a tiny and narrow settlement, and the resolution ambiguous and unsatisfying. Others may find this much more to their tastes.
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