Someone else is peeved about the stereotyping of entrenched racist Afrikaaners ambivalent, hopeful Britishers and resentful, disenfranchised Africans. One who thought that DeSoto also has absolutely no place in writing from a female perspective took issue with the way that the peace and harmony of the relationship between two female protagonists, one Black, one White, is disrupted by jealousy over a man. For some, there is too much lyrical description, for others too much symbolism. So you can imagine my surprise when I discovered from some outraged comments at GoodReads that some readers are very cross about this book. I found it to be a remarkable debut novel that was engaging from the very beginning yet managed to raise complex issues about entitlement to land about power and gender and about the destructive effects of fear of The Other. It’s a story of an inter-racial friendship set on the contested South African frontier in the 1970s during the apartheid era. That’s the way I feel about A Blade of Grass by South African/Canadian author Lewis Desoto, which was longlisted for the Booker in 2004. Sometimes when I finish a really good book I just can’t wait to dash off to the computer and write my review – I want to tell everyone about it. His description of a terrifying world gone awry holds at its center a deep understanding of the patience of the land, and the enduring hope for renewal.
Coetzee's Disgrace in his portrayal of Apartheid, DeSoto explodes onto the literary scene with a first novel of tremendous power and literary skill. Abandoned by the other farm workers, the care of the farm is now left to Marit and Tembi, who begin this new struggle for survival as equals, but whose unity is put to a devastating test.ĭeSoto paints an unforgettable portrait of South Africa with tensions, both political and sexual, simmering underneath. Marit's displacement is soon echoed in the character of Tembi, the daughter of Marit's household maid, who assumes her mother's responsibilities in the farmhouse after she is hit by a car.Īn encroaching civil war soon threatens the tranquility of the farm, and before long a plague of violence descends. With no close neighbors or friends, Marit feels isolated in the house while her husband works in the fields all day. The mistress of the house, Marit, is young, recently orphaned, easily intimidated, and unaccustomed to rural life. Barnes & Noble Discover Great New WritersĪ Blade of Grass is a graceful and stunning epic set in 1970s South Africa, on a remote farm owned by a newly married couple.
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