704. Burger's Daughter

Burger's Daughter
Nadine Gordimer
1979

Around 360 pages

Any novel that gets banned is worth reading, because there's something in there that the Powers That Be didn't want you to think or feel. So if a banned book is enjoyable, that's just a happy bonus. 

Burger's Daughter tells the story of a group of white anti-apartheid activists looking to overthrow the South African government. Set in the mid-1970s, the main narrative concerns Rosa Burger as she comes to terms with her father Lionel Burger's legacy as an activist in the South African Communist Party. The point of view shifts between Rosa's internal monologue (often directed towards her father or her lover Conrad), and the omniscient narrator.

This is a dense and difficult novel, and because it is so rooted in real life, it does not have a neat ending. Still it is worth the read, especially if you are American like me and didn't learn about apartheid in school. It's upsetting, but why wouldn't it be?

I'm still holding on to the hope that we can have a novel from Africa that isn't a depiction of deep suffering. But in the meantime, the authors have been good at their craft.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

While Burger's Daughter was still banned in South Africa, a copy was smuggled into Nelson Mandela's prison cell, and later a message was sent out saying that he had "thought well of it." Gordimer said, "That means more to me than any other opinion it could have gained."

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