A review by kellyk_15
A Dry White Season by André Brink

3.0

While I was reading the first half of this book, I really and truly hated it and Andre Brink. Nearly every time a female character was brought up or mentioned her breasts were mentioned as well. Even when Ben goes to see Gordon's corpse, he is ogling the dead women's breasts. It bothered me and distracted me from the actual novel more than I've ever been distracted before; instead of caring about Ben's goals and getting justice for Gordon I was too busy waiting for another woman to be sexualized and being frustrated when they were. I am ashamed but not surprised that no other review has mentioned this, since the majority are written by old men. If this book had ended after the first half, it would have received two stars from me. The sexualization alone brought it down to one star but the actual story and plot earned a star. However, the second half was able to earn it another star. There were very few mentions of breasts and only a little sexualization of women, and the story was mostly focused on Ben's story instead of how each woman's breasts looked. I could actually enjoy this part of the novel instead of being distracted by how each woman was described. However, I do believe that if I hadn't needed to read this book for a class I would have DNF'd it a long time ago. I was very frustrated with the sexualization in the first half and if I wanted to read a book about apartheid there are others I could pick up instead of constantly having to read the sexualization of women! The book would have carried so much more meaning for me if it had only not focused on breasts!
Despite the second half having more substance, I still think Andre Brink is extremely sexist. This book (and author) may not be worth your time, to be completely honest. I suggest trying something else if you want to read a book about apartheid that won't! sexualize! women!