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sidharthvardhan's review against another edition
4.0
An extra half star since in this collection I rediscovred 'The Ultimate Safari' - a story I read in my school text book and that was sort of favorite, but back than I didn't know anything about author.
If I was to rate all stories individually, they will come more 4 stars, a few are brilliant five star stuff but as a collection, they are week and so are best read every once in a while. Almost all are about racism and African political movement. Often the theme is interaction or relationship between people of different sections of community - between a colored and white people, between a revolutionary and a white woman, between a every-woman and a terrorist (race and religion both unspecified) and so on. The way authors brings about the dynamics of communication between people is brilliant. Often it is about people met in chance encounters - a woman meeting a fellow passenger, once the author is imagining story of her fellow passengers and twice it is a white woman giving lifts to colored people. I wonder whether Gordimer wrote a few of them from personal experience.
Another theme is how revolution and racism are affecting lives of people - and she is not only talking about colored people there. 'A Children's story', most powerful story IMO, is about how racism of White people can cut both ways. It is a good thing she doesn't write children's stories more often.
If I was to rate all stories individually, they will come more 4 stars, a few are brilliant five star stuff but as a collection, they are week and so are best read every once in a while. Almost all are about racism and African political movement. Often the theme is interaction or relationship between people of different sections of community - between a colored and white people, between a revolutionary and a white woman, between a every-woman and a terrorist (race and religion both unspecified) and so on. The way authors brings about the dynamics of communication between people is brilliant. Often it is about people met in chance encounters - a woman meeting a fellow passenger, once the author is imagining story of her fellow passengers and twice it is a white woman giving lifts to colored people. I wonder whether Gordimer wrote a few of them from personal experience.
Another theme is how revolution and racism are affecting lives of people - and she is not only talking about colored people there. 'A Children's story', most powerful story IMO, is about how racism of White people can cut both ways. It is a good thing she doesn't write children's stories more often.
magsmybags's review against another edition
dark
informative
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
sarah_dietrich's review against another edition
5.0
Jump is a collection of stories by Nadine Gordimer, a Nobel winning writer from South Africa. Gordimer draws on her experience as a South African to cut straight to the bone, with stories of apartheid and violence. This is a really cohesive collection and works well when examined as a whole - I enjoyed the collection more and more as I read further, I think these stories are best read together. I also felt like I understood Gordimer's message and vision better the more I read. Gordimer is an excellent writer, both in the quality of her prose and in the content of her unapologetically challenging stories.
dianaale's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest
Moderate: War, Violence, and Death
foggy_rosamund's review against another edition
1.0
Nadine Gordimer, a South African writer of Jewish origins, in these stories writes primarily about the impact of apartheid, and about terrorism and violence. Unfortunately, I found these stories lacked depth and nuance. In "The Ultimate Safari" she writes from a young black girl's perspective, as she and her family walk across a huge game reserve in the hope of finding relief from famine: but though the story is supposed to point out white tourist's utter lack of understanding of what is going on in the unnamed African country, this story feels like misery porn. The girl and her family aren't given characterisation, but their pain is described in gratuitous detail, and I felt like a voyeur rather than a witness. "Some Are Born to Sweet Delight" describes a young English girl who falls in love with a foreign man (presumably Muslim, but from an unnamed country) and is manipulated by him into plating a bomb on an aeroplane. Do we really need a story where a brown man is depicted as a corrupting villain? I don't think so. In other stories, like "The Moment Before the Gun Went Off", I'm just baffled by what point Gordimer is making: in this story, a white man accidentally kills a Black worker on his farm -- he's sorry to have done so: I want to give Gordimer the benefit of the doubt and assume she's saying something beyond "not all white people are terrible" but I honestly don't know what it is. These stories are at best a mess; and at worst offensive.
bobbo49's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
4.5
Like almost any good volume of short stories, some were merely good and others were great.
Overall this is a very powerful collection of glimpses into southern Africa in the post-apartheid 1980s, and the fraught lives and relationships of black and white and brown people in cities and townships. Gordimer's writing is beautiful, and the best of the stories are gripping and breath-taking, the characters and their interactions both believable and startling. Another excellent Gordimer book.
Overall this is a very powerful collection of glimpses into southern Africa in the post-apartheid 1980s, and the fraught lives and relationships of black and white and brown people in cities and townships. Gordimer's writing is beautiful, and the best of the stories are gripping and breath-taking, the characters and their interactions both believable and startling. Another excellent Gordimer book.
kay_river's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
5.0
adam_channing's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
100onbooks's review against another edition
4.0
I love Gordimer's short stories.
First exposed to her in high school, she moves me in ways I can't explain.
For me, these stories resonate in a multitude of ways.
First exposed to her in high school, she moves me in ways I can't explain.
For me, these stories resonate in a multitude of ways.