Tuesday 3 March 2009

Book Review: In a Different Time


As I am one of the few girls who do not belong to a book club (I am trying to boycott book clubs and start a much trendier knitting club ;) - I thought I would do a book review on the blog. Besides I think this book will appeal to you politically minded boys too. It was recommended to me by Paula - mainly because she kept having to leave things early - she had to get back to the next chapter to find out what was happening to the Delmas four. I really enjoyed this book and since we were thaughts such a KAK version of SA history in school - I am now on a mission to educate myself of what happened in SA from the 1940's onwards. So scary that this happened in our lifetime and the distorted public perceptions of what was really happening. I want to go back to school to redo history (kids learn such cool stuff now!) - check out this site if you have any more SA history questions - http://www.sahistory.org.za/

Description: In a Different Time is set in a South Africa gripped by unrest and political tension, when the ANC was in exile and repression at its height. It tells the story of four young South Africans who, in 1987, embark on a mission that will ultimately take them to Death Row. Jabu Masina, Ting Ting Masango, Neo Potsane and Joseph Makhura form a highly trained and experienced assassination squad reporting directly to Chris Hani, commander of Mkonto we Sizwe (MK, the anti-apartheid resistance movement). The narrative details their infiltration into the country, their operations, arrest and subsequent trial – showing these men to be the foot soldiers who have sacrificed everything. As their trial unfolds, with their attorney fighting againsts impossible odds to save them from the gallows, so too does the story of their own lives and the choices they make. Into this storyline Peter Harris, the attorney to the four and narrator of the book, weaves another strand of narrative: the construction of a bomb and its deadly journey towards its target. The result is a tale of bizarre coincidence and tragedy, a riveting courtroom drama, and a real-life political thriller that tells of the acts people will commit to preserve the status quo, and the extraordinary lengths to which people go in order to fight for what they believe.

2 comments:

Dr Phil said...

ya i heard the author on the radio a while back. sounded like an interesting guy. must've been pretty mad being a white oke defending the black okes in front of a doos racist white afrikaner judge.

Greg said...

Nobody has your knitting skills Al, i reckon potential club members would be intimidated by your repertoire of fancy stitches.