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21. The House Gun by Nadine Gordimer | |
Paperback: 304
Pages
(1999-02-01)
list price: US$16.00 -- used & new: US$1.94 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 0140278206 Average Customer Review: Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
Editorial Review Product Description How has Duncan come to abandon the sanctity of human life they taught him? What kind of loyalty do parents owe a self-confessed murderer?In post-apartheid South Africa the defense of their son's life is in the hands of a black man: Hamilton Motsamai, a flamboyant, distinguished advocate returned from political exile. The balance of everything in the parents' world is turned upside down. The House Gun is a passionate narrative of that final text of complex human relations we call love, moving from the intimate to the generalcondition. If it is a parable of present violence it is also an affirmation of the will to reconciliation that starts where it must, between individual men and women. Privileged whites in post-apartheid South Africa, Harald and ClaudiaLindgard have managed to live the better part of 50 years without everconfronting the deepest shadows in their culture or in their own souls.Though they conceive of themselves as liberal-minded, neither has evertaken any active political stand; neither has ever been in any blackperson's home. Harald sits on the board of an insurance company; Claudia isa compassionate doctor. Neither of them has ever been inside a courtroombefore; neither has ever been inside a prison. When their architect-son,Duncan, is arrested for murder, both know that the charge is preposterous.But Duncan himself fails to deny his guilt, and his parents are brought bya harsh and ungainly process to accept the possibility that he hascommitted an unthinkable crime. Nadine Gordimer'sThe House Gun is a gravely sustained explorationof their long-delayed but necessary descent into an intimate acquaintancewith the culture of violence that surrounds them and that is "the commonhell of all who are associated with it." The novel is a mystery, but not inthe usual sense of the whodunit. Here the question of whoquickly gives way to why and thence to other, still deeperquandaries of culpability, both immediate and ultimate. The enigmaticDuncan becomes a dark mirror in which his stunned parents must desperatelygrope for a new vision of themselves and their world--a vision that willnot shatter, as their old one has, under a single blow from reality. Gordimer's prose is mannered and severe; humor is rare, or absent. "As thecouple emerge into the foyer of the courts, vast and lofty cathedralechoing with the susurration of its different kind of supplicants gatheredthere, Claudia suddenly breaks away, disappearing towards the signindicating toilets. Harald waits for her among these people patient introuble, no choice to be otherwise, for them, he is one of them, the wives,husbands, fathers, lovers, children of forgers, thieves and murderers."This difficult exposition is the reader's own dark mirror, where we asspectators fumble from one dubious explanation to the next--a twistedreflection always reminding us that, underlying this social tragedy, thereis a mystery play in the old sense, and an unanswerable question: What is ahuman being? Paragraph after paragraph, the reader is led into deeper anddeeper perceptions of the sensibilities and the dilemmas of thesecharacters--into a quiet intimacy with their trouble that is sometimesacutely uncomfortable, but which pays off richly in an ending thatreconciles our sense of the horror of violence with our desire to believein the value of each life. --Daniel Hintzsche Customer Reviews (14)
A jewel of a book!
The House Gun is No Misfire As with all Gordimer works, the pace is slow and deliberately so, the words carefully chosen not to describe action but to allow the reader into the minds and souls of people who have lived in circumstances of which the majority of us can hardly conceive. The plot, intriguing though it is, is really secondary to the introspection taken on by each of the accused murderer's parents; the most pressing question, that of choosing to support your child with whatever means you have at your disposal (financial, spiritual, intellectual, emotional)in the face of your indecision as to whether or not you believe his version of events (or if any version of events would be acceptable). If your child murdered someone else, how would you feel? What would you do? Is the social legacy of apartheid going to color your beliefs; what happens when you are "open-minded" (no one ever really is), and your child commits a race crime? Do you use the race card to exonerate him, even when you are repulsed by his choice and behavior? And while the stress of saving your child from what he or she deserves in the course of law taps all of your inner resources, what happens to your marriage, your career, your friendships, your faith? Do you question all of your motives, all of your beliefs, all of your emotions? I believe that you do. Every crisis, by nature, requires self-examination. It is not always pretty, or easy to accept, what you find at the end of your questioning. Gordimer, here, takes this family's condition, in microcosm, to expose South Africa's current quandary, many years after the abolition of Apartheid. Where do they stand as a society? What do they believe? What is excusable, what is justifiable? Who pays for what has been done, and how? Where will they go? What will be possible? No one knows, and maybe that's too unsettling for most.
Great Alternative to a Sleeping Pill
Disappointing
so hard to read |
22. No Cold Kitchen: A Biography of Nadine Gordimer by Ronald Suresh Roberts | |
Paperback: 736
Pages
(2005-10-01)
list price: US$31.95 -- used & new: US$29.77 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 1919855580 Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
Editorial Review Product Description |
23. July's People & My Son's Story & Jump and Other Stories by Nadine Gordimer | |
Paperback:
Pages
(1992-01-01)
-- used & new: US$9.78 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: B000N7AT9W Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
24. Writing and Being by Nadine Gordimer | |
Unknown Binding:
Pages
(1995-01-01)
Asin: B003L1X5O8 Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
25. Beethoven Was One-Sixteenth Black by Nadine Gordimer | |
Paperback: 192
Pages
(2008-10-28)
list price: US$14.00 -- used & new: US$5.12 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: B0036DE5VI Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
Editorial Review Product Description |
26. The Novels of Nadine Gordimer: History from the Inside by Stephen Clingman | |
Paperback: 276
Pages
(1992-11)
list price: US$24.95 -- used & new: US$24.95 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 0870238027 Average Customer Review: Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
Customer Reviews (1)
Remains best book about Gordimer |
27. Conversations with Nadine Gordimer (Literary Conversations Series) | |
Hardcover: 321
Pages
(1990-11-01)
list price: US$50.00 -- used & new: US$47.50 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 0878054448 Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
Editorial Review Product Description |
28. Guest of Honor, A by Nadine Gordimer | |
Paperback:
Pages
(1983)
Asin: B000OIZ9JA Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
29. Nadine Gordimer (Modern African Writers) by Michael Wade | |
Hardcover: 232
Pages
(1979-01-29)
Isbn: 0237499789 Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
30. A World of Strangers by Nadine Gordimer | |
Paperback: 272
Pages
(2002-10-07)
list price: US$14.45 -- used & new: US$6.40 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 0747559988 Average Customer Review: Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
Editorial Review Product Description Customer Reviews (1)
How to reconcile a life lived in two worlds... In a general sense, Toby embodies butalso exposes the hypocrisy of South African society: he recognizes itsinjustices but accepts them nevertheless. After reading a tourist pamphlet,Toby observes,"I felt as if I were reading of another country, fromseas away. But then the country of the tourist pamphlet always is anothercountry, an embarrassing abstraction of the desirable that, thank God, doesnot exist on this planet, where there are always ants and bad smells andempty Coca-Cola bottles to keep the grubby finger-print of reality upon thebeautiful." Toby is conscious of the plastic unreality of the societylife but like a tourist chooses not to involve himself deeply in thereality. Gordimer's lasting impression lies in the voices of hercharacters. All multidimensional and playing key roles in Toby's life. AnnaLouw, an attorney, voices parts of Toby's conscience. "`What had youexpected?' she asked with patient interest. With her you felt that yourmost halting utterance was given full attention .This scrutiny of thecliches of perfunctory communication, the hit-or-miss of words inadequateeither to express or conceal, embarrassed me. Like most people, I do notmean half of what I say, and I cannot say half of what I mean; and I do notcare to be made self-conscious of this. Much that is to be communicated isnot stated; but she was the kind of person who accepts nothing until therehas been the struggle to body it forth in words." By contrast,Toby's lover, Cecil Rowe, a vain and shallow society woman,is the gloss ofToby's life, the one of all too human desires. He cares for her, makes lovewith her, is part of her life, but even so, she is not really a part of hisbecause there is so much of himself that he cannot convey to her. Mostimportant in the fabric of Toby's life is an African friend, Steven Sitole.Sitole's refusal to abide by the rules white society dictated for him,inspired Toby to thought. Until something unexpected happens, Toby'sthoughtful meanderings are only idle thought. Toby never reevaluated hislife and how he lived it until a tragedy forced Toby to see things in a newway. Toby's exploration of the two sides of life in South Africa as wellas the balancing act of reconciling each of them is an exploration wellworth reading. Gordimer never strays from the deft and subtle style andanalysis which characterizes all of her work. ... Read more |
31. None to Accompany Me by Nadine Gordimer | |
Audio CD:
Pages
(2008-09-08)
list price: US$39.25 -- used & new: US$23.62 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 1423358929 Average Customer Review: Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
Editorial Review Product Description Customer Reviews (6)
Wonderful read but...
Lost me
ReInventing Notions of National Identity Due to the governmentally enforced segregation between the different races, citizens found that living in South Africa under apartheid caused a hypersensitive awareness of his or her own race. Gordimer is no exception to this and has spent much of her writing discussing where white people position themselves in relation to black people. She tries to think out how people can change their frame of mind to assimilate to the idea of a South Africa where people have an equal sense of national identity instead of trapping themselves within terms of binaries. She makes this clear in her statement, "If one will always have to feel white first, and African second, it would be better not to stay in Africa." What she seems to be saying is that to live peacefully in a nation you must accept you are entitled to be a citizen of that nation rather than an outsider who happens to inhabit it. This is a dilemma for white Africans who live under the image of "black Africa". To be African does not necessarily mean that you are black. This is something Gordimer has always vehemently asserted in her writing. It is in the fixed idea of "black Africa" that boundaries within the national identity are laid and Gordimer is committed to writing of Africa as inclusive of all the relations between its people of all colors. Both the National Party and the Inkath Movement stressed physical boundaries between white and black people. The impact they had on South African citizens over the 20th century encouraged the idea of a national identity divided by color. It is only with the end of apartheid and subsequently the first democratic national election that South Africans can evaluate the impact this division has had with hindsight and whether or not they choose to leave it behind. A major theme of the novel is how to reconcile the ideological transformation taking place politically in South Africa with the personal notions of national identity formulated up to the present time. For people who worked to terminate apartheid, it is difficult to envision any progression when the primary motives of one's actions are committed to ending the politically instituted segregation. Personal actions were planned with thought of a watchful government eye. For the majority of the writing there could be no subject other than the institutionalized racism. It became a polemic for a political position whether direct or indirect that perpetuated itself in all the literature produced. Only now that apartheid has ended and a new political group has succeeded to power can South African individuals envision a future that is not strictly concerned with this national condition. Gordimer is trying to capture in None to Accompany Me the moment of this change through personal transformations: "Perhaps the passing away of the old regime makes the abandonment of an old personal life also possible. I'm getting there." Leaving an old notion of national identity behind may make possible the dispensing of an old sense of selfhood. This illustrates the uncertainty of the people who live under this changing government to decide upon how they will perceive their sense of self now that an essential factor of what they perceive to be their identity has changed. The primary subject of this novel then is the omnipresent transformations taking place in South Africa at that time ranging from the personal to the broadly political. This novel is an important work that captures a nation in the midst of dramatic change. It will teach you about the conflicts in South Africa if you have never read much about it before and prompt you to find out more.
Disappointing, in comparison with Gordimer's body of work
Thought-provoking but not always compelling |
32. The Late Bourgeois World by Nadine Gordimer | |
Paperback: 96
Pages
(1983-02-24)
list price: US$9.95 -- used & new: US$29.68 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 0140056149 Average Customer Review: Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
Editorial Review Product Description Customer Reviews (1)
A good read but not her best |
33. Loot and Other Stories by Nadine Gordimer | |
Paperback: 256
Pages
(2004-08-31)
list price: US$14.00 -- used & new: US$0.34 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 0142004685 Average Customer Review: Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
Editorial Review Product Description Customer Reviews (3)
Unfinished business
In a class by herself
Well written but a bit dry |
34. Six Feet of the Country by Nadine Gordimer | |
Paperback:
Pages
(1956-01-01)
Asin: B000TKM6CQ Average Customer Review: Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
Customer Reviews (1)
concise, lucid story telling |
35. The Novels of Nadine Gordimer: Private Lives/Public Landscapes by John Cooke | |
Hardcover: 248
Pages
(1985-11)
list price: US$27.50 Isbn: 080711247X Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
36. The Later Fiction of Nadine Gordimer | |
Hardcover: 249
Pages
(1993-06)
list price: US$35.00 Isbn: 0312085346 Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
37. From the Margins of Empire: Christina Stead, Doris Lessing, Nadine Gordimer (Reading Women Writing) by Louise Yelin | |
Paperback: 240
Pages
(1998-11)
list price: US$25.95 -- used & new: US$15.00 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 0801485053 Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
Editorial Review Product Description Louise Yelin shows how the three writers' different national identities are inscribed in their fiction. The invented, hybrid character of nationality is, she maintains, a constant throughout. Locating the writings of Stead, Lessing, and Gordimer in the national cultures that produced and read them, she considers the questions they raise about the roles that whites, especially white women, can play in the new political and cultural order. |
38. Nadine Gordimer (Schreiben andernorts) (German Edition) by Klaus Kreimeier | |
Perfect Paperback: 166
Pages
(1991)
Isbn: 3883773905 Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
39. Critical Essays on Nadine Gordimer (Critical Essays on World Literature) by Rowland Smith | |
Hardcover: 226
Pages
(1990-08)
list price: US$48.00 Isbn: 0816188475 Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
40. This Is No Place for a Woman: Nadine Gordimer, Buchi Emecheta, Nayantara Saghal, and the Politics of Gender by Joya F. Uraizee | |
Hardcover: 255
Pages
(2001-08)
list price: US$79.95 -- used & new: US$79.95 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 0865437661 Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
Editorial Review Product Description |
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