Daniel

Daniel by Henning Mankell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is extremely poignant and compelling as well as being unsettling. It is the story of a strange Swede, Hans Bengler, who goes to Africa to find an unknown species of insect to name after himself. He ends up finding an orphaned black boy about 8 years old whom he brings back to Sweden. He feels that he can give him a better life even though the trader where he found the boy tells him he will only destroy the boy.

Hans uses Daniel in part of a carnival type lecture series to get people to come in and listen to his lecture on insects. Non of the people involved consider Daniel or his needs. Daniel, on the other hand, longs for his home in the desert and sees, in his mind, his parents who were killed by white men. He meets with people who stare at him, pet him and sometimes regard his as the devil, but no one thinks of him as a real person. Daniel has been trained to say, "My name is Daniel. I believe in God" as a formula, but in his own mind, the voices of his parents are growing stronger and stronger. He hears of Jesus, who walked on water, and he is determined to learn to walk on water in order to go home.

The book calls into question the recent adoptions of young children whose culture is so different from the one they are adopted into, especially children older than 3-4. There are a lot of cultural implications that may not be being considered.
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The Double Comfort Safari Club

The Double Comfort Safari Club by Alexander McCall Smith

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love this series so I bumped this up to the top as soon as it was available in an audiobook. It was another beautiful visit with Precious Ramothswe and her friends and family. In this story we learn a little more about Mme Makutsi when her fiance is injured in an accident. When Mme Makutsi meets up with a ferocious Auntie it seems as if she might be defeated.

In the midst of her troubles, Mme Ramothswe decides that the two women need to make a journey to the other side of Bothswana, the Okavango Delta, to a safari camp where they attempt to locate a guide who has done such a good job that an American woman has left him a legacy. The adventures at the safari camp reminds us that the tame and pleasant city life is only a small part of Bothswana.

The 50% Violet Sephotho is back again with another clever scheme to defraud someone and build her life at the expense of another. Without giving away the plot, suffice it to say that Mme Makutsi enjoys her encounter with Violet at the end of the book. Mma Potokwane puts in an entrance to the delight of everyone and helps resolve a very sticky situation.

I enjoy the beauty of the language of Alexander McCall Smith and the common sense he gives to his characters. When I finish the book, I long for the next book so I can visit with these wise and charming people again.
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Cry, the Beloved Country

Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is one of my all time favorite books. I try to read it at least once every decade. Told in simple, but beautiful language, it is the story of an elderly minister, Stephen Komolo, as he goes to Johannesburg, South Africa, to find his younger sister and his son. Patton captures the clash of civilizations as the need for work removes young people from their traditional tribal areas and culture. Workers in the mines live in compounds for single men and are not allowed to bring their families, so the tribal areas are left with the the elderly, young women and the very young. Agricultural practices and drought have ruined the land that was once so fertile and the native population lives in poverty.

As Stephen Komolo goes to Johannesburg, he is faced with the degradation, poverty and crime that haunts the parts of town set aside for the natives. There is no structure to their lives in the absence of the tribes which once gave them a sense of belonging and tribal values. As he searches for his son, several people, white and native, help him find his son and then face the tragedy of his young life. There are white people who recognize that the problems of equality for the natives have to be addressed and are working to bring some justice before it is too late. When I first read the book, written in 1944, the problems of apartheid were beginning to be discussed in the news and the international community was applying pressure to South Africa to recognize the rights of Non-Europeans. Over time, incredible progress has been made, but the book is still relevant.

There are some beautiful passages in the book that have haunted me. The language is poetic and evokes a land in turmoil but at the same time a land that teems with possibility. I have read several memorable books about Africa and I love the cadence of the language and the descriptive phrases.

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