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sidharthvardhan's review against another edition
5.0
“you like to have some cup of tea?-July bent at the doorway and began that day for them as his kind has always done for their kind.
A great read about that relationship that exists between haves and have-nots. Nadine Gordimer draws a picture of what would have happened, had the civil war took place. Her white characters were actually liberals and treated their servant, July fairly:
"..... master he say can I come in? and they have tried to train him to drop the 'master' for the ubiquitously respectful 'sir'
However it is easy for people to assume that they are treating others fairly. Even after fifteen years of July's working for them, they still didn't know July's real name.
When the civil war came, he rescued them to his place. July took to providing for them. He didn't trust them to look after themselves. At first, he still kept his servant like habits even now when his employers had nothing to pay him with and were actually dependent on him.
With time however, there are changes in July's attitude. He start taking small liberties. He is frustrated that he has to maintain them. From than on it becomes a sort of allegory of reign changes that would happen when blacks take over the South Africa.
A good way to understand things is to disturb them a little and see what happens. When White people are taken out of their comfort zones, the racial discrimination and economic gaps existing in societies become stark clear.
Another thing which struck me is that there are no scenes of violence at all; given the war settings of book and tensions in between people. Gordimer delivers her message subtly, though the book still managed to get banned.
A great read about that relationship that exists between haves and have-nots. Nadine Gordimer draws a picture of what would have happened, had the civil war took place. Her white characters were actually liberals and treated their servant, July fairly:
"..... master he say can I come in? and they have tried to train him to drop the 'master' for the ubiquitously respectful 'sir'
However it is easy for people to assume that they are treating others fairly. Even after fifteen years of July's working for them, they still didn't know July's real name.
When the civil war came, he rescued them to his place. July took to providing for them. He didn't trust them to look after themselves. At first, he still kept his servant like habits even now when his employers had nothing to pay him with and were actually dependent on him.
With time however, there are changes in July's attitude. He start taking small liberties. He is frustrated that he has to maintain them. From than on it becomes a sort of allegory of reign changes that would happen when blacks take over the South Africa.
A good way to understand things is to disturb them a little and see what happens. When White people are taken out of their comfort zones, the racial discrimination and economic gaps existing in societies become stark clear.
Another thing which struck me is that there are no scenes of violence at all; given the war settings of book and tensions in between people. Gordimer delivers her message subtly, though the book still managed to get banned.
stjernesvarme's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
jeppesen's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
trappednerve's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
zmull's review against another edition
4.0
Read immediately after Noami Alderman's The Power. The two books share quite a lot thematically about the nature of power and the societal structures that support/deny it.
sineadb's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.25
emmacspoor's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
alanffm's review against another edition
2.0
This is a hard book to digest for a range of reasons. Its writing style is bland and its plot is weak and often confusing. Gordimer does make great use of 'the body' as a symbol for race, poverty, and tribe throughout the book, but fails to add novelty anywhere else.
Perhaps the contents of July's People are important -- this is after all a book about race in South Africa -- but on the surface, and in 2018, it's hard to say this book resonates like it must have thirty years ago.
Perhaps the contents of July's People are important -- this is after all a book about race in South Africa -- but on the surface, and in 2018, it's hard to say this book resonates like it must have thirty years ago.
fiberreader's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
rkkmistry's review against another edition
4.0
ok this book was very cool. So it's like a speculative fiction account of a world where South African apartheid is ended by a violent black uprising. which is very cool because I think it was written a bit before apartheid ended and I don't think I know of much speculative fiction that deals with imaginings of such real and contemporary political issues—but where it really gets you is what it's actually about. The book just chronicles a liberal white family whose black servant brings them back to his village to help them hide out. Like it's ultimately pretty mundane plot wise,, there's no dramatic escape, nor do we hear much about the revolution itself. The result is this very very nuanced portrait of racial issues that I feel like really just speaks to how complicated they are without like being super apologist.