Excellent and inspiring., 04 Dec 2004
This book has so much more to offer than simply a treatise on the feminist needs of creative women (although this is a very important topic, and as relevant now as when Woolf wrote her essays); it also offers excellent advice on the art of writing well, and the need for a good writer to resist the urge to use their craft as a stage from which to proclaim their views. I already know this book will have a profound effect on my own writing, and for that alone it thoroughly deserves five stars.

Gets to the point eventually..., 17 May 2004
I found this book slightly tiring and difficult at times, but finishing it can see Woolfs point about women coming up trumps.

No introduction or illustrations.

Concise and Invigorating, 16 Mar 2003
Asked originally to deliver a talk on Women and Fiction in 1928, Virginia Woolf eventually produced this longer essay which expands its subject to cover education, marriage, property and money. She moves backwards through literary history, examining the women who have written, often against great opposition, and the female characters that have been written, mostly by men, and finds a startling anomaly: "Imaginatively she is of the highest importance; practically she is completely insignificant."

Unlike many feminist authors, Woolf does not argue for tearing down the achievements of male authors. In fact she argues that both sexes should write androgynously, in order to find the proper reality of things, but at its heart it is a feminist essay. At the time Woolf was writing women had been granted many more freedoms than their mothers, but still had a lot to fight for, and she urges women to do so, albeit for the realm of intellectual freedom and the pleasure of writing for a living. (I have no doubt she would do the same today, despite all our apparent advances.)

She knew she was one of the fortunate (she was left five hundred pounds a year by her aunt, giving her economic independence) and she famously concludes that a women must have a room of her own and money of her own in order to write. But why? It is not so that there are idle hours to be filled by writing - it is because writing well and truthfully can only be properly achieved when a woman is not railing against the bounds of poverty, dependence, social exclusion and disapproval.

The essay is, however, also art. Unlike a dry academic paper it skips lightly and often with humour from subject to observation, and demonstrates with her usual deftness how the real world produces new trains of thought in a person, just as a person's thoughts can mean interpreting the world in a new way. The very construction of the essay is an example of the work she is promoting, to attempt "to live in the presence of reality, an invigorating life." Because of this, and the sheer energy of the writing, it is a work that deserves a reading, no matter what your sex or station or ambition. And if you are a woman intending to write, be it a novel, travelogue or PHD you really ought to give up a couple of hours to read this; you are almost certainly guaranteed a new enthusiasm for your task.

Wonderful essay, demonstrating fantastic cultural insight., 05 Apr 2001
'A Room of One's Own' is an extremely readable essay. It's a delightful read and the classification of it as an 'essay' should not put anyone off as it is as entertaining as any of Woolf's prose. Once I started reading it I could not stop. Woolf flirts with you through her narrative, drawing you in to her thought processes, enticing you to follow her narrator on a journey of the mind as she wanders about 'Oxbridge' and London. Woolf demonstrates great insight, forseeing the future for women and their involvement in the arts with great accuracy. Through her narrative she also introduces a new discourse, one that she encourages other women to take up in order to free themselves from the masculine domination of literature. Inspirational.

Excellent and inspiring., 04 Dec 2004
This book has so much more to offer than simply a treatise on the feminist needs of creative women (although this is a very important topic, and as relevant now as when Woolf wrote her essays); it also offers excellent advice on the art of writing well, and the need for a good writer to resist the urge to use their craft as a stage from which to proclaim their views. I already know this book will have a profound effect on my own writing, and for that alone it thoroughly deserves five stars.

Gets to the point eventually..., 17 May 2004
I found this book slightly tiring and difficult at times, but finishing it can see Woolfs point about women coming up trumps.

No introduction or illustrations.

Concise and Invigorating, 16 Mar 2003
Asked originally to deliver a talk on Women and Fiction in 1928, Virginia Woolf eventually produced this longer essay which expands its subject to cover education, marriage, property and money. She moves backwards through literary history, examining the women who have written, often against great opposition, and the female characters that have been written, mostly by men, and finds a startling anomaly: "Imaginatively she is of the highest importance; practically she is completely insignificant."

Unlike many feminist authors, Woolf does not argue for tearing down the achievements of male authors. In fact she argues that both sexes should write androgynously, in order to find the proper reality of things, but at its heart it is a feminist essay. At the time Woolf was writing women had been granted many more freedoms than their mothers, but still had a lot to fight for, and she urges women to do so, albeit for the realm of intellectual freedom and the pleasure of writing for a living. (I have no doubt she would do the same today, despite all our apparent advances.)

She knew she was one of the fortunate (she was left five hundred pounds a year by her aunt, giving her economic independence) and she famously concludes that a women must have a room of her own and money of her own in order to write. But why? It is not so that there are idle hours to be filled by writing - it is because writing well and truthfully can only be properly achieved when a woman is not railing against the bounds of poverty, dependence, social exclusion and disapproval.

The essay is, however, also art. Unlike a dry academic paper it skips lightly and often with humour from subject to observation, and demonstrates with her usual deftness how the real world produces new trains of thought in a person, just as a person's thoughts can mean interpreting the world in a new way. The very construction of the essay is an example of the work she is promoting, to attempt "to live in the presence of reality, an invigorating life." Because of this, and the sheer energy of the writing, it is a work that deserves a reading, no matter what your sex or station or ambition. And if you are a woman intending to write, be it a novel, travelogue or PHD you really ought to give up a couple of hours to read this; you are almost certainly guaranteed a new enthusiasm for your task.

Wonderful essay, demonstrating fantastic cultural insight., 05 Apr 2001
'A Room of One's Own' is an extremely readable essay. It's a delightful read and the classification of it as an 'essay' should not put anyone off as it is as entertaining as any of Woolf's prose. Once I started reading it I could not stop. Woolf flirts with you through her narrative, drawing you in to her thought processes, enticing you to follow her narrator on a journey of the mind as she wanders about 'Oxbridge' and London. Woolf demonstrates great insight, forseeing the future for women and their involvement in the arts with great accuracy. Through her narrative she also introduces a new discourse, one that she encourages other women to take up in order to free themselves from the masculine domination of literature. Inspirational.

lovely, 09 Jun 2008
What a wonderful book. I can't believe it has been on the shelf for all these years without my noticing it. I feel as if I've been left out of a big secret.
Shamim Sharif writes beautifully about hard topics - discrimination, hatred, violence, adultery etc. Amongst all this bad is the story of a love between two women, and it isn't so much the being in love that captivates but the journey of that discovery. It's so touching and sweet that it crosses the boundaries of 'normality' and you find yourself wanting and hoping that they find a way to be together.
The characters are very well developed and you feel you know even the ones who exist on the edges of the book.

A gem of a find and a must read book.

Excellent book - highly recommended, 21 Apr 2005
This is a fabulous book - beautifully written and extremely perceptive. Once I started, I couldn't put it down.

(The only bad review below is from someone who appears to be focused on the where the author lives rather than what she writes).

accurate portrayal of socio-cultural differences, 25 Aug 2001
The characters in this book remain vivid to me even 2 months after reading this wonderful novel. I picked it up and was riveted for 5 hours till I finished it! I was amazed at the accuracy of the authors portrayal of the issues presented , even down to the comedic funeral rites and rituals. Anxiously awaiting a sequel!

A beautifully written book about human relationships, 06 Jul 2001
I bought this book to accompany me on the plane back to the US. I finished it on the 10-hour flight. The characters are compelling and rich - the story beautifully narrated. A must read.

an extraordinary first novel, with insight and tenderness, 14 May 2001
This is an extraordinary debut novel, written with a mixture of quiet restraint and passionate understanding, about the quest of two young Indian women in apartheid Africa for identity and passion. The novel has an authenticity, a precise attention to nuanced detail of social behaviour and a beauty of characterisation, which engrossed and touched me. Amina and Miriam remain vividly present to me as characters long after the book is closed - but so do their menfolk, caught up in a system which stultifies human relationships, and so do the black Africans, like the lovable Richard and Jacob. Sarif portrays the dynamics of a complex society with great clarity, regret and humour. Watch this author: she will do great things.

Excellent and inspiring., 04 Dec 2004
This book has so much more to offer than simply a treatise on the feminist needs of creative women (although this is a very important topic, and as relevant now as when Woolf wrote her essays); it also offers excellent advice on the art of writing well, and the need for a good writer to resist the urge to use their craft as a stage from which to proclaim their views. I already know this book will have a profound effect on my own writing, and for that alone it thoroughly deserves five stars.

Gets to the point eventually..., 17 May 2004
I found this book slightly tiring and difficult at times, but finishing it can see Woolfs point about women coming up trumps.

No introduction or illustrations.

Concise and Invigorating, 16 Mar 2003
Asked originally to deliver a talk on Women and Fiction in 1928, Virginia Woolf eventually produced this longer essay which expands its subject to cover education, marriage, property and money. She moves backwards through literary history, examining the women who have written, often against great opposition, and the female characters that have been written, mostly by men, and finds a startling anomaly: "Imaginatively she is of the highest importance; practically she is completely insignificant."

Unlike many feminist authors, Woolf does not argue for tearing down the achievements of male authors. In fact she argues that both sexes should write androgynously, in order to find the proper reality of things, but at its heart it is a feminist essay. At the time Woolf was writing women had been granted many more freedoms than their mothers, but still had a lot to fight for, and she urges women to do so, albeit for the realm of intellectual freedom and the pleasure of writing for a living. (I have no doubt she would do the same today, despite all our apparent advances.)

She knew she was one of the fortunate (she was left five hundred pounds a year by her aunt, giving her economic independence) and she famously concludes that a women must have a room of her own and money of her own in order to write. But why? It is not so that there are idle hours to be filled by writing - it is because writing well and truthfully can only be properly achieved when a woman is not railing against the bounds of poverty, dependence, social exclusion and disapproval.

The essay is, however, also art. Unlike a dry academic paper it skips lightly and often with humour from subject to observation, and demonstrates with her usual deftness how the real world produces new trains of thought in a person, just as a person's thoughts can mean interpreting the world in a new way. The very construction of the essay is an example of the work she is promoting, to attempt "to live in the presence of reality, an invigorating life." Because of this, and the sheer energy of the writing, it is a work that deserves a reading, no matter what your sex or station or ambition. And if you are a woman intending to write, be it a novel, travelogue or PHD you really ought to give up a couple of hours to read this; you are almost certainly guaranteed a new enthusiasm for your task.

Wonderful essay, demonstrating fantastic cultural insight., 05 Apr 2001
'A Room of One's Own' is an extremely readable essay. It's a delightful read and the classification of it as an 'essay' should not put anyone off as it is as entertaining as any of Woolf's prose. Once I started reading it I could not stop. Woolf flirts with you through her narrative, drawing you in to her thought processes, enticing you to follow her narrator on a journey of the mind as she wanders about 'Oxbridge' and London. Woolf demonstrates great insight, forseeing the future for women and their involvement in the arts with great accuracy. Through her narrative she also introduces a new discourse, one that she encourages other women to take up in order to free themselves from the masculine domination of literature. Inspirational.

lovely, 09 Jun 2008
What a wonderful book. I can't believe it has been on the shelf for all these years without my noticing it. I feel as if I've been left out of a big secret.
Shamim Sharif writes beautifully about hard topics - discrimination, hatred, violence, adultery etc. Amongst all this bad is the story of a love between two women, and it isn't so much the being in love that captivates but the journey of that discovery. It's so touching and sweet that it crosses the boundaries of 'normality' and you find yourself wanting and hoping that they find a way to be together.
The characters are very well developed and you feel you know even the ones who exist on the edges of the book.

A gem of a find and a must read book.

Excellent book - highly recommended, 21 Apr 2005
This is a fabulous book - beautifully written and extremely perceptive. Once I started, I couldn't put it down.

(The only bad review below is from someone who appears to be focused on the where the author lives rather than what she writes).

accurate portrayal of socio-cultural differences, 25 Aug 2001
The characters in this book remain vivid to me even 2 months after reading this wonderful novel. I picked it up and was riveted for 5 hours till I finished it! I was amazed at the accuracy of the authors portrayal of the issues presented , even down to the comedic funeral rites and rituals. Anxiously awaiting a sequel!

A beautifully written book about human relationships, 06 Jul 2001
I bought this book to accompany me on the plane back to the US. I finished it on the 10-hour flight. The characters are compelling and rich - the story beautifully narrated. A must read.

an extraordinary first novel, with insight and tenderness, 14 May 2001
This is an extraordinary debut novel, written with a mixture of quiet restraint and passionate understanding, about the quest of two young Indian women in apartheid Africa for identity and passion. The novel has an authenticity, a precise attention to nuanced detail of social behaviour and a beauty of characterisation, which engrossed and touched me. Amina and Miriam remain vividly present to me as characters long after the book is closed - but so do their menfolk, caught up in a system which stultifies human relationships, and so do the black Africans, like the lovable Richard and Jacob. Sarif portrays the dynamics of a complex society with great clarity, regret and humour. Watch this author: she will do great things.

Everybody Should Read This Book, 19 Nov 2008
This book was on Oprah's list for a reason. Read it ... and weep. I did, again, and again, and again.

In a world where people take things for granted it's important to understand that others may have struggled. Without giving anything away the main character taught me a lot about compassion.

Beautifully written, one seamless poem .. and lessons that will remain with me for a very long time.

splendour beyond any singing of it, 12 Feb 2008
the beauty of this marvelous novel is in its language and that you cannot help but become one with long suffering Umfundisi Khumalo
like in often most quoted phrases `it was the best of time,it was the worst of time`by dickens and `turning and turning in widening gyre` w b yeats in Chinua Achebe novel` things fall apart`
cry the beloved country has managed to secure it`s immortalized phrasing
`there is a lovely road that runs from Ixopo`
the langauge is beautiful beyond any singing of it,kind of that lingers on after you have long finished the book,
true it was written by white man,about mostly black country,but the book
came up with the idea of `truth and reconciliation `long before 1994 in south africa,
`some fear in south africa that when white have turned to love,they will find blacks turned to hate`
this was written at the height of apartheid,the period in Johannesburg after the massive urbanasation of blacks,has been protrait carefully ,skillful and with utmost care,as most people in south africa will tell you of the importantance of the period ,that gave birth to ANC,PAC,leaders like mandela.sobukwe,liberation/resistance movements

i would recommend this book to any one,especially book lovers,this will be like long lost joy,that one has been yearning for
in my humble opinion it is a classic/masterpiece,one of most important books to read in ones lifetime

An important vision of South Africa, 29 Jul 2007
It is having read this book that i understand Coetzee's Disgrace so much better. Between them they are almost like a conversation being shouted across the years, from pre apartheid to post-apartheid. It is a conversation about South Africa and its people, the terrible impossibility and the hesitant optimism.

There is such humility in Paton's writing, such understanding and forgiveness. This is a book which lives and breathes South Africa. I feel this despite never having been there; for it is alive in these precious words.

Classic Tale in times of apartheid, 26 Mar 2007
Have you ever set up dominoes on their end all in a line, then once they are all set up you touch the first one and it sets off a cascade effect knocking them all over one at a time? The beginning of the game is slow and tedious, but the cascade effect is worth it. Some classics are like setting up dominoes. They begin slowly, and the unfortunate reader will put the book down in disgust and never return to it. A more persistent reader is richly rewarded for their patience. Cry, The Beloved Country is that kind of a classic, others are Tale of Two Cities, Dickens and Jane Eyre, Bronte.

The language is beautiful, I don't enjoy flowery descriptions of scenery, but in Cry the descriptions helped you feel as if you were there without being too lengthy. The characters are well developed, and some are people I would really love to know. However, because I did care about the characters, the story in the beginning, is just so sad that I almost fell into that catagory of unfortunate readers who quit reading early and miss out on the treasure. I'm grateful that I didn't.

Inspite of the difficult beginning, this has become one of my favorite books. It carries you from despair to hope. It is a story about South Africa and its people, but it is also a story that has something for each of us.

Cry, The Beloved County leaves you a better person when you put it down than when you started it. It is a journey not to be missed.

cry, the beloved country, 01 May 2006
'Cry, the beloved country' is a beautiful book about discrimination of black people. It is situated in South Africa in 1948. It is written from different viewpoints, so you can accept the role that you like the most. The landscape has been described splendidly. The story never stops, however many personages appear and that do not simplify it.

Ex-commando, Chris Ryan, did three extensive tours with the SAS as an "assaulter", "sniper" and "Sniper Team Leader" before becoming a bestselling thriller writer. His hands-on field experience makes a definitive mark in his writing and is personified in the character of Geordie Sharp, an everyman's Rambo.

In the fifth episode, Tenth Man Down, Sharp finds himself on his toughest assignment yet: to reclaim a lucrative African diamond mine held by Kamangan rebels and escape the evil spell of a Sin'ganga or witch doctor. To make matters worse, as Sharp and his men move in, they discover the rebels are being supported by ex-US Navy SEAL mercenaries. As they try and uncover the hidden agenda, Sharp is taken prisoner with comrade-in-arms, Whinger. In line with the Sin'ganga's predictions, Whinger is brutally slaughtered, leaving Sharp to break the conspiracy and reunite with his team alone.

Ryan's mean, lean, fast-moving prose is filled with colourful military descriptors and salute- inducing narrative: "I wanted to introduce him to Pen-y-Fen, the mountain whose silhouette is supposed to be graven on every Special Forces man's heart." And for those not familiar with military jargon and the Kamangan dialect, there's also a glossary to guide you through thorny verbiage. Akin to reading a solider's diary, the action in The Tenth Man Down is gritty, straightforward and believable. --Susan Queue

Excellent and inspiring., 04 Dec 2004
This book has so much more to offer than simply a treatise on the feminist needs of creative women (although this is a very important topic, and as relevant now as when Woolf wrote her essays); it also offers excellent advice on the art of writing well, and the need for a good writer to resist the urge to use their craft as a stage from which to proclaim their views. I already know this book will have a profound effect on my own writing, and for that alone it thoroughly deserves five stars.

Gets to the point eventually..., 17 May 2004
I found this book slightly tiring and difficult at times, but finishing it can see Woolfs point about women coming up trumps.

No introduction or illustrations.

Concise and Invigorating, 16 Mar 2003
Asked originally to deliver a talk on Women and Fiction in 1928, Virginia Woolf eventually produced this longer essay which expands its subject to cover education, marriage, property and money. She moves backwards through literary history, examining the women who have written, often against great opposition, and the female characters that have been written, mostly by men, and finds a startling anomaly: "Imaginatively she is of the highest importance; practically she is completely insignificant."

Unlike many feminist authors, Woolf does not argue for tearing down the achievements of male authors. In fact she argues that both sexes should write androgynously, in order to find the proper reality of things, but at its heart it is a feminist essay. At the time Woolf was writing women had been granted many more freedoms than their mothers, but still had a lot to fight for, and she urges women to do so, albeit for the realm of intellectual freedom and the pleasure of writing for a living. (I have no doubt she would do the same today, despite all our apparent advances.)

She knew she was one of the fortunate (she was left five hundred pounds a year by her aunt, giving her economic independence) and she famously concludes that a women must have a room of her own and money of her own in order to write. But why? It is not so that there are idle hours to be filled by writing - it is because writing well and truthfully can only be properly achieved when a woman is not railing against the bounds of poverty, dependence, social exclusion and disapproval.

The essay is, however, also art. Unlike a dry academic paper it skips lightly and often with humour from subject to observation, and demonstrates with her usual deftness how the real world produces new trains of thought in a person, just as a person's thoughts can mean interpreting the world in a new way. The very construction of the essay is an example of the work she is promoting, to attempt "to live in the presence of reality, an invigorating life." Because of this, and the sheer energy of the writing, it is a work that deserves a reading, no matter what your sex or station or ambition. And if you are a woman intending to write, be it a novel, travelogue or PHD you really ought to give up a couple of hours to read this; you are almost certainly guaranteed a new enthusiasm for your task.

Wonderful essay, demonstrating fantastic cultural insight., 05 Apr 2001
'A Room of One's Own' is an extremely readable essay. It's a delightful read and the classification of it as an 'essay' should not put anyone off as it is as entertaining as any of Woolf's prose. Once I started reading it I could not stop. Woolf flirts with you through her narrative, drawing you in to her thought processes, enticing you to follow her narrator on a journey of the mind as she wanders about 'Oxbridge' and London. Woolf demonstrates great insight, forseeing the future for women and their involvement in the arts with great accuracy. Through her narrative she also introduces a new discourse, one that she encourages other women to take up in order to free themselves from the masculine domination of literature. Inspirational.

lovely, 09 Jun 2008
What a wonderful book. I can't believe it has been on the shelf for all these years without my noticing it. I feel as if I've been left out of a big secret.
Shamim Sharif writes beautifully about hard topics - discrimination, hatred, violence, adultery etc. Amongst all this bad is the story of a love between two women, and it isn't so much the being in love that captivates but the journey of that discovery. It's so touching and sweet that it crosses the boundaries of 'normality' and you find yourself wanting and hoping that they find a way to be together.
The characters are very well developed and you feel you know even the ones who exist on the edges of the book.

A gem of a find and a must read book.

Excellent book - highly recommended, 21 Apr 2005
This is a fabulous book - beautifully written and extremely perceptive. Once I started, I couldn't put it down.

(The only bad review below is from someone who appears to be focused on the where the author lives rather than what she writes).

accurate portrayal of socio-cultural differences, 25 Aug 2001
The characters in this book remain vivid to me even 2 months after reading this wonderful novel. I picked it up and was riveted for 5 hours till I finished it! I was amazed at the accuracy of the authors portrayal of the issues presented , even down to the comedic funeral rites and rituals. Anxiously awaiting a sequel!

A beautifully written book about human relationships, 06 Jul 2001
I bought this book to accompany me on the plane back to the US. I finished it on the 10-hour flight. The characters are compelling and rich - the story beautifully narrated. A must read.

an extraordinary first novel, with insight and tenderness, 14 May 2001
This is an extraordinary debut novel, written with a mixture of quiet restraint and passionate understanding, about the quest of two young Indian women in apartheid Africa for identity and passion. The novel has an authenticity, a precise attention to nuanced detail of social behaviour and a beauty of characterisation, which engrossed and touched me. Amina and Miriam remain vividly present to me as characters long after the book is closed - but so do their menfolk, caught up in a system which stultifies human relationships, and so do the black Africans, like the lovable Richard and Jacob. Sarif portrays the dynamics of a complex society with great clarity, regret and humour. Watch this author: she will do great things.

Everybody Should Read This Book, 19 Nov 2008
This book was on Oprah's list for a reason. Read it ... and weep. I did, again, and again, and again.

In a world where people take things for granted it's important to understand that others may have struggled. Without giving anything away the main character taught me a lot about compassion.

Beautifully written, one seamless poem .. and lessons that will remain with me for a very long time.

splendour beyond any singing of it, 12 Feb 2008
the beauty of this marvelous novel is in its language and that you cannot help but become one with long suffering Umfundisi Khumalo
like in often most quoted phrases `it was the best of time,it was the worst of time`by dickens and `turning and turning in widening gyre` w b yeats in Chinua Achebe novel` things fall apart`
cry the beloved country has managed to secure it`s immortalized phrasing
`there is a lovely road that runs from Ixopo`
the langauge is beautiful beyond any singing of it,kind of that lingers on after you have long finished the book,
true it was written by white man,about mostly black country,but the book
came up with the idea of `truth and reconciliation `long before 1994 in south africa,
`some fear in south africa that when white have turned to love,they will find blacks turned to hate`
this was written at the height of apartheid,the period in Johannesburg after the massive urbanasation of blacks,has been protrait carefully ,skillful and with utmost care,as most people in south africa will tell you of the importantance of the period ,that gave birth to ANC,PAC,leaders like mandela.sobukwe,liberation/resistance movements

i would recommend this book to any one,especially book lovers,this will be like long lost joy,that one has been yearning for
in my humble opinion it is a classic/masterpiece,one of most important books to read in ones lifetime

An important vision of South Africa, 29 Jul 2007
It is having read this book that i understand Coetzee's Disgrace so much better. Between them they are almost like a conversation being shouted across the years, from pre apartheid to post-apartheid. It is a conversation about South Africa and its people, the terrible impossibility and the hesitant optimism.

There is such humility in Paton's writing, such understanding and forgiveness. This is a book which lives and breathes South Africa. I feel this despite never having been there; for it is alive in these precious words.

Classic Tale in times of apartheid, 26 Mar 2007
Have you ever set up dominoes on their end all in a line, then once they are all set up you touch the first one and it sets off a cascade effect knocking them all over one at a time? The beginning of the game is slow and tedious, but the cascade effect is worth it. Some classics are like setting up dominoes. They begin slowly, and the unfortunate reader will put the book down in disgust and never return to it. A more persistent reader is richly rewarded for their patience. Cry, The Beloved Country is that kind of a classic, others are Tale of Two Cities, Dickens and Jane Eyre, Bronte.

The language is beautiful, I don't enjoy flowery descriptions of scenery, but in Cry the descriptions helped you feel as if you were there without being too lengthy. The characters are well developed, and some are people I would really love to know. However, because I did care about the characters, the story in the beginning, is just so sad that I almost fell into that catagory of unfortunate readers who quit reading early and miss out on the treasure. I'm grateful that I didn't.

Inspite of the difficult beginning, this has become one of my favorite books. It carries you from despair to hope. It is a story about South Africa and its people, but it is also a story that has something for each of us.

Cry, The Beloved County leaves you a better person when you put it down than when you started it. It is a journey not to be missed.

cry, the beloved country, 01 May 2006
'Cry, the beloved country' is a beautiful book about discrimination of black people. It is situated in South Africa in 1948. It is written from different viewpoints, so you can accept the role that you like the most. The landscape has been described splendidly. The story never stops, however many personages appear and that do not simplify it.

I wouldn't, 29 Jan 2008
This was the first Chris Ryan book I brought, the line at the top of the book 'Who wins the SAS or the Navy SEALs', caught my eye. In fact I am still waiting to find out, the book only has a very small mention of SEALs (or SEAL) and he is working with the SAS.

I found the book to be a very average read. Mr Ryan is a good writer and the descriptions were very good, however the story line very average.

There are many better SAS story books on the market.

A slick and polished adventure story, 19 Aug 2007
Geordie is sent to Kamanga in Africa by the SAS to bolster the local government army by training their select Alpha Commando. But soon it becomes clear that Alpha is preparing for a particular operation: an attack on Gutu, a diamond mine in the south of the country captured by rebel forces the previous year. It is in planning this that they needed the SAS's help although the team's orders were to act as advisers only and not to get involved in any fighting.
Things take on a dramatic turn when the team accidentally run into a group of children killing a ten year old boy. So when the local sin'ganga - the witch doctor - predicts that ten men will die to repay the boy's every year of life, the SAS team start to feel distinctly uneasy...
The book is nicely read by David Tarkenter for ISIS Publishing.


Very original, 23 Mar 2007
I must admit that I liked this book; but then I find all of Mr Ryan's book a joy to read. It was certainly different and had it all. Terrific atmosphere and plenty of action. It really kept moving. One of his best.
Nice one!

A Gripping Insight Into the Unknown World of the SAS, 16 Jan 2003
Although fictional, this book contains everything you need to keep you on the edge of your seat throughout. The characters, plots and unexpected twists allow the reader an exciting opportunity to glance into the world of the SAS - something we can only imagine otherwise. For the time your reading this book, you too are a member - FANTASTIC!

Mister ryans best book yet, 22 Oct 2001
This is the one,ive read all his books but tenth man down is the biz.Ryan leaves nothing out in this book,its a full-on adreniline fueled romp with fantastic attention to detail,mixed with that "cant put this book down"feeling.Lock and load boys and welcome to the jungle!!!!!!

Excellent and inspiring., 04 Dec 2004
This book has so much more to offer than simply a treatise on the feminist needs of creative women (although this is a very important topic, and as relevant now as when Woolf wrote her essays); it also offers excellent advice on the art of writing well, and the need for a good writer to resist the urge to use their craft as a stage from which to proclaim their views. I already know this book will have a profound effect on my own writing, and for that alone it thoroughly deserves five stars.

Gets to the point eventually..., 17 May 2004
I found this book slightly tiring and difficult at times, but finishing it can see Woolfs point about women coming up trumps.

No introduction or illustrations.

Concise and Invigorating, 16 Mar 2003
Asked originally to deliver a talk on Women and Fiction in 1928, Virginia Woolf eventually produced this longer essay which expands its subject to cover education, marriage, property and money. She moves backwards through literary history, examining the women who have written, often against great opposition, and the female characters that have been written, mostly by men, and finds a startling anomaly: "Imaginatively she is of the highest importance; practically she is completely insignificant."

Unlike many feminist authors, Woolf does not argue for tearing down the achievements of male authors. In fact she argues that both sexes should write androgynously, in order to find the proper reality of things, but at its heart it is a feminist essay. At the time Woolf was writing women had been granted many more freedoms than their mothers, but still had a lot to fight for, and she urges women to do so, albeit for the realm of intellectual freedom and the pleasure of writing for a living. (I have no doubt she would do the same today, despite all our apparent advances.)

She knew she was one of the fortunate (she was left five hundred pounds a year by her aunt, giving her economic independence) and she famously concludes that a women must have a room of her own and money of her own in order to write. But why? It is not so that there are idle hours to be filled by writing - it is because writing well and truthfully can only be properly achieved when a woman is not railing against the bounds of poverty, dependence, social exclusion and disapproval.

The essay is, however, also art. Unlike a dry academic paper it skips lightly and often with humour from subject to observation, and demonstrates with her usual deftness how the real world produces new trains of thought in a person, just as a person's thoughts can mean interpreting the world in a new way. The very construction of the essay is an example of the work she is promoting, to attempt "to live in the presence of reality, an invigorating life." Because of this, and the sheer energy of the writing, it is a work that deserves a reading, no matter what your sex or station or ambition. And if you are a woman intending to write, be it a novel, travelogue or PHD you really ought to give up a couple of hours to read this; you are almost certainly guaranteed a new enthusiasm for your task.

Wonderful essay, demonstrating fantastic cultural insight., 05 Apr 2001
'A Room of One's Own' is an extremely readable essay. It's a delightful read and the classification of it as an 'essay' should not put anyone off as it is as entertaining as any of Woolf's prose. Once I started reading it I could not stop. Woolf flirts with you through her narrative, drawing you in to her thought processes, enticing you to follow her narrator on a journey of the mind as she wanders about 'Oxbridge' and London. Woolf demonstrates great insight, forseeing the future for women and their involvement in the arts with great accuracy. Through her narrative she also introduces a new discourse, one that she encourages other women to take up in order to free themselves from the masculine domination of literature. Inspirational.

lovely, 09 Jun 2008
What a wonderful book. I can't believe it has been on the shelf for all these years without my noticing it. I feel as if I've been left out of a big secret.
Shamim Sharif writes beautifully about hard topics - discrimination, hatred, violence, adultery etc. Amongst all this bad is the story of a love between two women, and it isn't so much the being in love that captivates but the journey of that discovery. It's so touching and sweet that it crosses the boundaries of 'normality' and you find yourself wanting and hoping that they find a way to be together.
The characters are very well developed and you feel you know even the ones who exist on the edges of the book.

A gem of a find and a must read book.

Excellent book - highly recommended, 21 Apr 2005
This is a fabulous book - beautifully written and extremely perceptive. Once I started, I couldn't put it down.

(The only bad review below is from someone who appears to be focused on the where the author lives rather than what she writes).

accurate portrayal of socio-cultural differences, 25 Aug 2001
The characters in this book remain vivid to me even 2 months after reading this wonderful novel. I picked it up and was riveted for 5 hours till I finished it! I was amazed at the accuracy of the authors portrayal of the issues presented , even down to the comedic funeral rites and rituals. Anxiously awaiting a sequel!

A beautifully written book about human relationships, 06 Jul 2001
I bought this book to accompany me on the plane back to the US. I finished it on the 10-hour flight. The characters are compelling and rich - the story beautifully narrated. A must read.

an extraordinary first novel, with insight and tenderness, 14 May 2001
This is an extraordinary debut novel, written with a mixture of quiet restraint and passionate understanding, about the quest of two young Indian women in apartheid Africa for identity and passion. The novel has an authenticity, a precise attention to nuanced detail of social behaviour and a beauty of characterisation, which engrossed and touched me. Amina and Miriam remain vividly present to me as characters long after the book is closed - but so do their menfolk, caught up in a system which stultifies human relationships, and so do the black Africans, like the lovable Richard and Jacob. Sarif portrays the dynamics of a complex society with great clarity, regret and humour. Watch this author: she will do great things.

Everybody Should Read This Book, 19 Nov 2008
This book was on Oprah's list for a reason. Read it ... and weep. I did, again, and again, and again.

In a world where people take things for granted it's important to understand that others may have struggled. Without giving anything away the main character taught me a lot about compassion.

Beautifully written, one seamless poem .. and lessons that will remain with me for a very long time.

splendour beyond any singing of it, 12 Feb 2008
the beauty of this marvelous novel is in its language and that you cannot help but become one with long suffering Umfundisi Khumalo
like in often most quoted phrases `it was the best of time,it was the worst of time`by dickens and `turning and turning in widening gyre` w b yeats in Chinua Achebe novel` things fall apart`
cry the beloved country has managed to secure it`s immortalized phrasing
`there is a lovely road that runs from Ixopo`
the langauge is beautiful beyond any singing of it,kind of that lingers on after you have long finished the book,
true it was written by white man,about mostly black country,but the book
came up with the idea of `truth and reconciliation `long before 1994 in south africa,
`some fear in south africa that when white have turned to love,they will find blacks turned to hate`
this was written at the height of apartheid,the period in Johannesburg after the massive urbanasation of blacks,has been protrait carefully ,skillful and with utmost care,as most people in south africa will tell you of the importantance of the period ,that gave birth to ANC,PAC,leaders like mandela.sobukwe,liberation/resistance movements

i would recommend this book to any one,especially book lovers,this will be like long lost joy,that one has been yearning for
in my humble opinion it is a classic/masterpiece,one of most important books to read in ones lifetime

An important vision of South Africa, 29 Jul 2007
It is having read this book that i understand Coetzee's Disgrace so much better. Between them they are almost like a conversation being shouted across the years, from pre apartheid to post-apartheid. It is a conversation about South Africa and its people, the terrible impossibility and the hesitant optimism.

There is such humility in Paton's writing, such understanding and forgiveness. This is a book which lives and breathes South Africa. I feel this despite never having been there; for it is alive in these precious words.

Classic Tale in times of apartheid, 26 Mar 2007
Have you ever set up dominoes on their end all in a line, then once they are all set up you touch the first one and it sets off a cascade effect knocking them all over one at a time? The beginning of the game is slow and tedious, but the cascade effect is worth it. Some classics are like setting up dominoes. They begin slowly, and the unfortunate reader will put the book down in disgust and never return to it. A more persistent reader is richly rewarded for their patience. Cry, The Beloved Country is that kind of a classic, others are Tale of Two Cities, Dickens and Jane Eyre, Bronte.

The language is beautiful, I don't enjoy flowery descriptions of scenery, but in Cry the descriptions helped you feel as if you were there without being too lengthy. The characters are well developed, and some are people I would really love to know. However, because I did care about the characters, the story in the beginning, is just so sad that I almost fell into that catagory of unfortunate readers who quit reading early and miss out on the treasure. I'm grateful that I didn't.

Inspite of the difficult beginning, this has become one of my favorite books. It carries you from despair to hope. It is a story about South Africa and its people, but it is also a story that has something for each of us.

Cry, The Beloved County leaves you a better person when you put it down than when you started it. It is a journey not to be missed.

cry, the beloved country, 01 May 2006
'Cry, the beloved country' is a beautiful book about discrimination of black people. It is situated in South Africa in 1948. It is written from different viewpoints, so you can accept the role that you like the most. The landscape has been described splendidly. The story never stops, however many personages appear and that do not simplify it.

I wouldn't, 29 Jan 2008
This was the first Chris Ryan book I brought, the line at the top of the book 'Who wins the SAS or the Navy SEALs', caught my eye. In fact I am still waiting to find out, the book only has a very small mention of SEALs (or SEAL) and he is working with the SAS.

I found the book to be a very average read. Mr Ryan is a good writer and the descriptions were very good, however the story line very average.

There are many better SAS story books on the market.

A slick and polished adventure story, 19 Aug 2007
Geordie is sent to Kamanga in Africa by the SAS to bolster the local government army by training their select Alpha Commando. But soon it becomes clear that Alpha is preparing for a particular operation: an attack on Gutu, a diamond mine in the south of the country captured by rebel forces the previous year. It is in planning this that they needed the SAS's help although the team's orders were to act as advisers only and not to get involved in any fighting.
Things take on a dramatic turn when the team accidentally run into a group of children killing a ten year old boy. So when the local sin'ganga - the witch doctor - predicts that ten men will die to repay the boy's every year of life, the SAS team start to feel distinctly uneasy...
The book is nicely read by David Tarkenter for ISIS Publishing.


Very original, 23 Mar 2007
I must admit that I liked this book; but then I find all of Mr Ryan's book a joy to read. It was certainly different and had it all. Terrific atmosphere and plenty of action. It really kept moving. One of his best.
Nice one!

A Gripping Insight Into the Unknown World of the SAS, 16 Jan 2003
Although fictional, this book contains everything you need to keep you on the edge of your seat throughout. The characters, plots and unexpected twists allow the reader an exciting opportunity to glance into the world of the SAS - something we can only imagine otherwise. For the time your reading this book, you too are a member - FANTASTIC!

Mister ryans best book yet, 22 Oct 2001
This is the one,ive read all his books but tenth man down is the biz.Ryan leaves nothing out in this book,its a full-on adreniline fueled romp with fantastic attention to detail,mixed with that "cant put this book down"feeling.Lock and load boys and welcome to the jungle!!!!!!

One of the worst books ever written..., 09 Aug 2008
...unless its how you like to sort cecil. There was no plot, stupidly long and complicated speeches and above all lots of uneccessary sex that in no real way tied in with the book at all. My elder sibling recieved another one of his books for christmas and it seems that along with glory holes and nests of curls, he just copies the same sexual explanations across with no effort of changing it. Buy something else...doesnt matter what

Blue Horizon, 04 Jun 2008
My first Wilbur Smith novel was Birds of Prey, quickly followed by Monsoon. Having been drawn into and captivated by the spell binding and enthralling adventures of the Courtney family I needed more, but was concerned at some of the poor reviews given to the sequel Blue Horizon. However I was not at all disappointed. It was equally such a fabulous book to the other two, full of twists and turns that again it was difficult to put the book down. My biggest regret was that the book had to end and I deliberately stretched the last quarter so that it would not finish too quickly. Please Wilbur write a sequel to Blue Horizon so that we can progress the exploits of Dorian, Mansur and Jim.

OK if you enjoy daft speeches and dead animals, 21 Apr 2006
Blue Horizon is a typical Wilbur Smith book. An engaging storyline set against the sweeping panorama of colonial Africa is ruined by ridiculous cliché-ridden dialogue straight out of a Mills and Boon novel. Even worse are the repulsive, gloating descriptions of the needless slaughter of wild animals for fun. Like most Wilbur Smith heroes, Jim Courtney can't look at a "magnificent beast" without wanting to kill it.
Escapist entertainment that will sicken any civilised reader.

first disappointment, 29 Jan 2005
I have always enjoyed Wilbur Smith novels but this one is such a disappointment. It is so similar to others he has written and I feel there is nothing new in this one. It is therefore so predictable and in the end, I even got a little bored with it! Come on Wilbur, you can do better!

nothing new, 08 Dec 2004
I have to agree with some other reviews here - I have read it all before and its just more of Smiths usual recipe - the goodies are very good and are accomplished sailors, horsemen, hunters, traders and linguists, are physically perfect and fall in love at first sight of their equally perfect counterparts (groan) and the baddies are very bad and cruel. Its all just a bit too naive and fantastical compared to his other books.

Excellent and inspiring., 04 Dec 2004
This book has so much more to offer than simply a treatise on the feminist needs of creative women (although this is a very important topic, and as relevant now as when Woolf wrote her essays); it also offers excellent advice on the art of writing well, and the need for a good writer to resist the urge to use their craft as a stage from which to proclaim their views. I already know this book will have a profound effect on my own writing, and for that alone it thoroughly deserves five stars.

Gets to the point eventually..., 17 May 2004
I found this book slightly tiring and difficult at times, but finishing it can see Woolfs point about women coming up trumps.

No introduction or illustrations.

Concise and Invigorating, 16 Mar 2003
Asked originally to deliver a talk on Women and Fiction in 1928, Virginia Woolf eventually produced this longer essay which expands its subject to cover education, marriage, property and money. She moves backwards through literary history, examining the women who have written, often against great opposition, and the female characters that have been written, mostly by men, and finds a startling anomaly: "Imaginatively she is of the highest importance; practically she is completely insignificant."

Unlike many feminist authors, Woolf does not argue for tearing down the achievements of male authors. In fact she argues that both sexes should write androgynously, in order to find the proper reality of things, but at its heart it is a feminist essay. At the time Woolf was writing women had been granted many more freedoms than their mothers, but still had a lot to fight for, and she urges women to do so, albeit for the realm of intellectual freedom and the pleasure of writing for a living. (I have no doubt she would do the same today, despite all our apparent advances.)

She knew she was one of the fortunate (she was left five hundred pounds a year by her aunt, giving her economic independence) and she famously concludes that a women must have a room of her own and money of her own in order to write. But why? It is not so that there are idle hours to be filled by writing - it is because writing well and truthfully can only be properly achieved when a woman is not railing against the bounds of poverty, dependence, social exclusion and disapproval.

The essay is, however, also art. Unlike a dry academic paper it skips lightly and often with humour from subject to observation, and demonstrates with her usual deftness how the real world produces new trains of thought in a person, just as a person's thoughts can mean interpreting the world in a new way. The very construction of the essay is an example of the work she is promoting, to attempt "to live in the presence of reality, an invigorating life." Because of this, and the sheer energy of the writing, it is a work that deserves a reading, no matter what your sex or station or ambition. And if you are a woman intending to write, be it a novel, travelogue or PHD you really ought to give up a couple of hours to read this; you are almost certainly guaranteed a new enthusiasm for your task.

Wonderful essay, demonstrating fantastic cultural insight., 05 Apr 2001
'A Room of One's Own' is an extremely readable essay. It's a delightful read and the classification of it as an 'essay' should not put anyone off as it is as entertaining as any of Woolf's prose. Once I started reading it I could not stop. Woolf flirts with you through her narrative, drawing you in to her thought processes, enticing you to follow her narrator on a journey of the mind as she wanders about 'Oxbridge' and London. Woolf demonstrates great insight, forseeing the future for women and their involvement in the arts with great accuracy. Through her narrative she also introduces a new discourse, one that she encourages other women to take up in order to free themselves from the masculine domination of literature. Inspirational.

lovely, 09 Jun 2008
What a wonderful book. I can't believe it has been on the shelf for all these years without my noticing it. I feel as if I've been left out of a big secret.
Shamim Sharif writes beautifully about hard topics - discrimination, hatred, violence, adultery etc. Amongst all this bad is the story of a love between two women, and it isn't so much the being in love that captivates but the journey of that discovery. It's so touching and sweet that it crosses the boundaries of 'normality' and you find yourself wanting and hoping that they find a way to be together.
The characters are very well developed and you feel you know even the ones who exist on the edges of the book.

A gem of a find and a must read book.

Excellent book - highly recommended, 21 Apr 2005
This is a fabulous book - beautifully written and extremely perceptive. Once I started, I couldn't put it down.

(The only bad review below is from someone who appears to be focused on the where the author lives rather than what she writes).

accurate portrayal of socio-cultural differences, 25 Aug 2001
The characters in this book remain vivid to me even 2 months after reading this wonderful novel. I picked it up and was riveted for 5 hours till I finished it! I was amazed at the accuracy of the authors portrayal of the issues presented , even down to the comedic funeral rites and rituals. Anxiously awaiting a sequel!

A beautifully written book about human relationships, 06 Jul 2001
I bought this book to accompany me on the plane back to the US. I finished it on the 10-hour flight. The characters are compelling and rich - the story beautifully narrated. A must read.

an extraordinary first novel, with insight and tenderness, 14 May 2001
This is an extraordinary debut novel, written with a mixture of quiet restraint and passionate understanding, about the quest of two young Indian women in apartheid Africa for identity and passion. The novel has an authenticity, a precise attention to nuanced detail of social behaviour and a beauty of characterisation, which engrossed and touched me. Amina and Miriam remain vividly present to me as characters long after the book is closed - but so do their menfolk, caught up in a system which stultifies human relationships, and so do the black Africans, like the lovable Richard and Jacob. Sarif portrays the dynamics of a complex society with great clarity, regret and humour. Watch this author: she will do great things.

Everybody Should Read This Book, 19 Nov 2008
This book was on Oprah's list for a reason. Read it ... and weep. I did, again, and again, and again.

In a world where people take things for granted it's important to understand that others may have struggled. Without giving anything away the main character taught me a lot about compassion.

Beautifully written, one seamless poem .. and lessons that will remain with me for a very long time.

splendour beyond any singing of it, 12 Feb 2008
the beauty of this marvelous novel is in its language and that you cannot help but become one with long suffering Umfundisi Khumalo
like in often most quoted phrases `it was the best of time,it was the worst of time`by dickens and `turning and turning in widening gyre` w b yeats in Chinua Achebe novel` things fall apart`
cry the beloved country has managed to secure it`s immortalized phrasing
`there is a lovely road that runs from Ixopo`
the langauge is beautiful beyond any singing of it,kind of that lingers on after you have long finished the book,
true it was written by white man,about mostly black country,but the book
came up with the idea of `truth and reconciliation `long before 1994 in south africa,
`some fear in south africa that when white have turned to love,they will find blacks turned to hate`
this was written at the height of apartheid,the period in Johannesburg after the massive urbanasation of blacks,has been protrait carefully ,skillful and with utmost care,as most people in south africa will tell you of the importantance of the period ,that gave birth to ANC,PAC,leaders like mandela.sobukwe,liberation/resistance movements

i would recommend this book to any one,especially book lovers,this will be like long lost joy,that one has been yearning for
in my humble opinion it is a classic/masterpiece,one of most important books to read in ones lifetime

An important vision of South Africa, 29 Jul 2007
It is having read this book that i understand Coetzee's Disgrace so much better. Between them they are almost like a conversation being shouted across the years, from pre apartheid to post-apartheid. It is a conversation about South Africa and its people, the terrible impossibility and the hesitant optimism.

There is such humility in Paton's writing, such understanding and forgiveness. This is a book which lives and breathes South Africa. I feel this despite never having been there; for it is alive in these precious words.

Classic Tale in times of apartheid, 26 Mar 2007
Have you ever set up dominoes on their end all in a line, then once they are all set up you touch the first one and it sets off a cascade effect knocking them all over one at a time? The beginning of the game is slow and tedious, but the cascade effect is worth it. Some classics are like setting up dominoes. They begin slowly, and the unfortunate reader will put the book down in disgust and never return to it. A more persistent reader is richly rewarded for their patience. Cry, The Beloved Country is that kind of a classic, others are Tale of Two Cities, Dickens and Jane Eyre, Bronte.

The language is beautiful, I don't enjoy flowery descriptions of scenery, but in Cry the descriptions helped you feel as if you were there without being too lengthy. The characters are well developed, and some are people I would really love to know. However, because I did care about the characters, the story in the beginning, is just so sad that I almost fell into that catagory of unfortunate readers who quit reading early and miss out on the treasure. I'm grateful that I didn't.

Inspite of the difficult beginning, this has become one of my favorite books. It carries you from despair to hope. It is a story about South Africa and its people, but it is also a story that has something for each of us.

Cry, The Beloved County leaves you a better person when you put it down than when you started it. It is a journey not to be missed.

cry, the beloved country, 01 May 2006
'Cry, the beloved country' is a beautiful book about discrimination of black people. It is situated in South Africa in 1948. It is written from different viewpoints, so you can accept the role that you like the most. The landscape has been described splendidly. The story never stops, however many personages appear and that do not simplify it.

I wouldn't, 29 Jan 2008
This was the first Chris Ryan book I brought, the line at the top of the book 'Who wins the SAS or the Navy SEALs', caught my eye. In fact I am still waiting to find out, the book only has a very small mention of SEALs (or SEAL) and he is working with the SAS.

I found the book to be a very average read. Mr Ryan is a good writer and the descriptions were very good, however the story line very average.

There are many better SAS story books on the market.

A slick and polished adventure story, 19 Aug 2007
Geordie is sent to Kamanga in Africa by the SAS to bolster the local government army by training their select Alpha Commando. But soon it becomes clear that Alpha is preparing for a particular operation: an attack on Gutu, a diamond mine in the south of the country captured by rebel forces the previous year. It is in planning this that they needed the SAS's help although the team's orders were to act as advisers only and not to get involved in any fighting.
Things take on a dramatic turn when the team accidentally run into a group of children killing a ten year old boy. So when the local sin'ganga - the witch doctor - predicts that ten men will die to repay the boy's every year of life, the SAS team start to feel distinctly uneasy...
The book is nicely read by David Tarkenter for ISIS Publishing.


Very original, 23 Mar 2007
I must admit that I liked this book; but then I find all of Mr Ryan's book a joy to read. It was certainly different and had it all. Terrific atmosphere and plenty of action. It really kept moving. One of his best.
Nice one!

A Gripping Insight Into the Unknown World of the SAS, 16 Jan 2003
Although fictional, this book contains everything you need to keep you on the edge of your seat throughout. The characters, plots and unexpected twists allow the reader an exciting opportunity to glance into the world of the SAS - something we can only imagine otherwise. For the time your reading this book, you too are a member - FANTASTIC!

Mister ryans best book yet, 22 Oct 2001
This is the one,ive read all his books but tenth man down is the biz.Ryan leaves nothing out in this book,its a full-on adreniline fueled romp with fantastic attention to detail,mixed with that "cant put this book down"feeling.Lock and load boys and welcome to the jungle!!!!!!

One of the worst books ever written..., 09 Aug 2008
...unless its how you like to sort cecil. There was no plot, stupidly long and complicated speeches and above all lots of uneccessary sex that in no real way tied in with the book at all. My elder sibling recieved another one of his books for christmas and it seems that along with glory holes and nests of curls, he just copies the same sexual explanations across with no effort of changing it. Buy something else...doesnt matter what

Blue Horizon, 04 Jun 2008
My first Wilbur Smith novel was Birds of Prey, quickly followed by Monsoon. Having been drawn into and captivated by the spell binding and enthralling adventures of the Courtney family I needed more, but was concerned at some of the poor reviews given to the sequel Blue Horizon. However I was not at all disappointed. It was equally such a fabulous book to the other two, full of twists and turns that again it was difficult to put the book down. My biggest regret was that the book had to end and I deliberately stretched the last quarter so that it would not finish too quickly. Please Wilbur write a sequel to Blue Horizon so that we can progress the exploits of Dorian, Mansur and Jim.

OK if you enjoy daft speeches and dead animals, 21 Apr 2006
Blue Horizon is a typical Wilbur Smith book. An engaging storyline set against the sweeping panorama of colonial Africa is ruined by ridiculous cliché-ridden dialogue straight out of a Mills and Boon novel. Even worse are the repulsive, gloating descriptions of the needless slaughter of wild animals for fun. Like most Wilbur Smith heroes, Jim Courtney can't look at a "magnificent beast" without wanting to kill it.
Escapist entertainment that will sicken any civilised reader.

first disappointment, 29 Jan 2005
I have always enjoyed Wilbur Smith novels but this one is such a disappointment. It is so similar to others he has written and I feel there is nothing new in this one. It is therefore so predictable and in the end, I even got a little bored with it! Come on Wilbur, you can do better!

nothing new, 08 Dec 2004
I have to agree with some other reviews here - I have read it all before and its just more of Smiths usual recipe - the goodies are very good and are accomplished sailors, horsemen, hunters, traders and linguists, are physically perfect and fall in love at first sight of their equally perfect counterparts (groan) and the baddies are very bad and cruel. Its all just a bit too naive and fantastical compared to his other books.

Brilliant, 08 Jun 2008
Too many reviewers here want a glowing travel brochure out of Theroux. Writing is his vocation, travelling is his muse. Travelling is a way to comment on the human condition as he experiences it, and on his own condition, as he experiences it. It doesn't matter how many people have a good time in Africa, or a bad time in Africa - Theroux has his own devil driving him in his own strange directions, and what he produces are travel books only in the most minimal sense. In the larger sense they are works of literature in which travel plays a part.

I love the complexity of his writing, his honesty in recording moods, enthusiasms, fears, vanities, moments of ill-temper, generosity, meanness. Reviewers point out moments of 'hypocrisy', or 'meanness', or curmudgeonly outbursts, as if he was too stupid to read his own text. Theroux is a writer. He wants you to see that.

I don't seek any kind of objective truth about Africa. I wouldn't believe anyone who purveyed it. What I do find is a writer using his craft to create complex and absorbing works of literature, using travel as a starting point for a succession of events, meetings, conversations, anecdotes, situations, literary digressions, bits of obscure history, polemic, and unlikely destinations.

Dark Star Safari is clever, it is brave, it is fun, it is dark, it is complex. It isn't a coincidence Theroux read Conrad a dozen times as he progressed from north to south. Please don't make the mistake of imagining this book is a variation on 'what I did on my hols'.

Cheer up mate it's only Africa, 31 May 2008
Some things bother me about this book. Firstly, the way he criticises anyone not 'doing Africa' his way, his conceited contempt of anyone holidaying in Africa (a good source of revenue for various African countries) when he himself is an outsider; a tourist. We can't all take a year off work for an all-expenses paid trip down Africa Mr Theroux. His criticism and I have to say over-dramatic account of African cities; I've lived in Nairobi and Kampala and felt perfectly safe if you're sensible and know where to go. Venturing out after dark (unlike Theroux) has never once been a problem for me and my friend (who's lived there most of his life). But he has to sell books. The book's tone was at times depressing and although most countries in sub-saharan Africa have problems many are stable, welcoming and enjoyable for foreigners to visit. The biggest problem I found was with his tone with anything concearned with improving Africa, true it often isn't easy and although his pleasure of seeing subsistance farming doesn't equate to "let's keep them in their place" it did seem apathetic and left me wondering if Mr Theroux simply desires a return to an Africa of 1840 without hospitals, education, propects and security. And 'yes' there is all these things to be found in modern-day Africa, he neglected to mention the sucessful Ugandan-run businesses, schools, infustructure and tourist industries I found in 2006. Things aren't always run perfectly but this is Africa and shouldn't be compared to catching a tube from Hype Park Corner, I'm sure he knows this. But he has to sell books. Finally, his criticism of Aid agencies was upheld in many areas but found his discussion one-sided offering no real solutions, should we stop giving Aid, stop trying to make an impact due to the governing of a predetory elite? It left me asking the question "so what do we do then?" and he supplied no real answers, not that it's his job of course; he is a writer and a very good one at that; he gets 4 out of 5, but like this review he should try to occassionally focus on the positive.

OUTSTANDING!, 09 Feb 2008
What a fantastic book. Will be loved by all readers and a complete must for fans of travel!

Superficial and negative, 21 Sep 2007
I like the way Mr. Theroux writes. It flows well, and he is concrete and catchy in his choice of words. That is about all good I had to say about this travel book...
I think a travel book should be more than superficial anecdotes and thoughts of a journey across such a vast continent as the African, where diversity, complexity and paradoxes abound for any 500-page book one very single subject. In that regard, I find Mr. Theroux's reflections nothing but the mere reflections anyone travelling to Africa is faced with. And Mr. Theroux seems to have the ideas pre-conceived of the problems of Africa and just lash out at everyone from government officials, missionaries, aid workers, private entrepreneurs, prostitutes, farmers, while he seems too pre-occupied with his "erotic novel" to try to go more in-depth with the problems. He wants to get lost in Africa, but to me it is more a book of a man needing to get lost in himself, and his bitterness spills out over a continent that in spite of its numerous wrongs and problems, simply deserves much better.
Mr. Theroux seems a bitter old man, negatively looking at things, not seeing the potential strengths in some countries, like Malawi, where the specter of disillusion becomes almost explicit, as he reflects at how different things were when he was there as a young man.
Nevertheless, it is provoking and well-written enough to be worth a read.


Describes Africa as it is, 09 Aug 2007
I think Paul Theroux expected to find Africa had deteriorated since he last lived there in the 1960s and he is not wrong, so the book has a feeling of being a fait accompli before you have even got very far into it. Having said that, he does raise awareness of some key points regarding the interaction between trade and aid. Firstly if aid projects are a regular occurance in an area then the area becomes economically dependent and there are no incentives for the local populace to improve their own lives: if an aid project is discontinued they can be pretty certain that another will be along shortly to replace it. The "aid business" also loses sight of its aims: they know the project will fail once they have left so lose the will to come up with anything more innovative than spoon-feeding the local population. Aid projects are doomed to fail anyway if the national government doesn't act to reduce corruption and allow businesses and farms to flourish without confiscating any output they make over a subsistence level. (Tim Haford's "Undercover Economist" describes this in more detail). Throughout this book Theroux is pretty angry: he dislikes the western tourists who come on safari trips for not seeing "the real Africa", though he eventually relents and thoroughly enjoys a game-watching trip; he regards the multi-national charities as leeches and the born again Christian missionaries as dangerous and destructive to local communities. The downside is that he adopts a hectoring tone to repeatadly put the same points across; I agree with him that NGOs and churches are more interested in enriching the Mercedes dealerships of Nairobi than doing anything productive but repeating this point in every chapter reduces Theroux to the level of a fire-and-brimstone preacher. Just give us the facts Paul, and maybe a few ideas on what needs to change to improve Africa rather than just belittling others.

Excellent and inspiring., 04 Dec 2004
This book has so much more to offer than simply a treatise on the feminist needs of creative women (although this is a very important topic, and as relevant now as when Woolf wrote her essays); it also offers excellent advice on the art of writing well, and the need for a good writer to resist the urge to use their craft as a stage from which to proclaim their views. I already know this book will have a profound effect on my own writing, and for that alone it thoroughly deserves five stars.

Gets to the point eventually..., 17 May 2004
I found this book slightly tiring and difficult at times, but finishing it can see Woolfs point about women coming up trumps.

No introduction or illustrations.

Concise and Invigorating, 16 Mar 2003
Asked originally to deliver a talk on Women and Fiction in 1928, Virginia Woolf eventually produced this longer essay which expands its subject to cover education, marriage, property and money. She moves backwards through literary history, examining the women who have written, often against great opposition, and the female characters that have been written, mostly by men, and finds a startling anomaly: "Imaginatively she is of the highest importance; practically she is completely insignificant."

Unlike many feminist authors, Woolf does not argue for tearing down the achievements of male authors. In fact she argues that both sexes should write androgynously, in order to find the proper reality of things, but at its heart it is a feminist essay. At the time Woolf was writing women had been granted many more freedoms than their mothers, but still had a lot to fight for, and she urges women to do so, albeit for the realm of intellectual freedom and the pleasure of writing for a living. (I have no doubt she would do the same today, despite all our apparent advances.)

She knew she was one of the fortunate (she was left five hundred pounds a year by her aunt, giving her economic independence) and she famously concludes that a women must have a room of her own and money of her own in order to write. But why? It is not so that there are idle hours to be filled by writing - it is because writing well and truthfully can only be properly achieved when a woman is not railing against the bounds of poverty, dependence, social exclusion and disapproval.

The essay is, however, also art. Unlike a dry academic paper it skips lightly and often with humour from subject to observation, and demonstrates with her usual deftness how the real world produces new trains of thought in a person, just as a person's thoughts can mean interpreting the world in a new way. The very construction of the essay is an example of the work she is promoting, to attempt "to live in the presence of reality, an invigorating life." Because of this, and the sheer energy of the writing, it is a work that deserves a reading, no matter what your sex or station or ambition. And if you are a woman intending to write, be it a novel, travelogue or PHD you really ought to give up a couple of hours to read this; you are almost certainly guaranteed a new enthusiasm for your task.

Wonderful essay, demonstrating fantastic cultural insight., 05 Apr 2001
'A Room of One's Own' is an extremely readable essay. It's a delightful read and the classification of it as an 'essay' should not put anyone off as it is as entertaining as any of Woolf's prose. Once I started reading it I could not stop. Woolf flirts with you through her narrative, drawing you in to her thought processes, enticing you to follow her narrator on a journey of the mind as she wanders about 'Oxbridge' and London. Woolf demonstrates great insight, forseeing the future for women and their involvement in the arts with great accuracy. Through her narrative she also introduces a new discourse, one that she encourages other women to take up in order to free themselves from the masculine domination of literature. Inspirational.

lovely, 09 Jun 2008
What a wonderful book. I can't believe it has been on the shelf for all these years without my noticing it. I feel as if I've been left out of a big secret.
Shamim Sharif writes beautifully about hard topics - discrimination, hatred, violence, adultery etc. Amongst all this bad is the story of a love between two women, and it isn't so much the being in love that captivates but the journey of that discovery. It's so touching and sweet that it crosses the boundaries of 'normality' and you find yourself wanting and hoping that they find a way to be together.
The characters are very well developed and you feel you know even the ones who exist on the edges of the book.

A gem of a find and a must read book.

Excellent book - highly recommended, 21 Apr 2005
This is a fabulous book - beautifully written and extremely perceptive. Once I started, I couldn't put it down.

(The only bad review below is from someone who appears to be focused on the where the author lives rather than what she writes).

accurate portrayal of socio-cultural differences, 25 Aug 2001
The characters in this book remain vivid to me even 2 months after reading this wonderful novel. I picked it up and was riveted for 5 hours till I finished it! I was amazed at the accuracy of the authors portrayal of the issues presented , even down to the comedic funeral rites and rituals. Anxiously awaiting a sequel!

A beautifully written book about human relationships, 06 Jul 2001
I bought this book to accompany me on the plane back to the US. I finished it on the 10-hour flight. The characters are compelling and rich - the story beautifully narrated. A must read.

an extraordinary first novel, with insight and tenderness, 14 May 2001
This is an extraordinary debut novel, written with a mixture of quiet restraint and passionate understanding, about the quest of two young Indian women in apartheid Africa for identity and passion. The novel has an authenticity, a precise attention to nuanced detail of social behaviour and a beauty of characterisation, which engrossed and touched me. Amina and Miriam remain vividly present to me as characters long after the book is closed - but so do their menfolk, caught up in a system which stultifies human relationships, and so do the black Africans, like the lovable Richard and Jacob. Sarif portrays the dynamics of a complex society with great clarity, regret and humour. Watch this author: she will do great things.

Everybody Should Read This Book, 19 Nov 2008
This book was on Oprah's list for a reason. Read it ... and weep. I did, again, and again, and again.

In a world where people take things for granted it's important to understand that others may have struggled. Without giving anything away the main character taught me a lot about compassion.

Beautifully written, one seamless poem .. and lessons that will remain with me for a very long time.

splendour beyond any singing of it, 12 Feb 2008
the beauty of this marvelous novel is in its language and that you cannot help but become one with long suffering Umfundisi Khumalo
like in often most quoted phrases `it was the best of time,it was the worst of time`by dickens and `turning and turning in widening gyre` w b yeats in Chinua Achebe novel` things fall apart`
cry the beloved country has managed to secure it`s immortalized phrasing
`there is a lovely road that runs from Ixopo`
the langauge is beautiful beyond any singing of it,kind of that lingers on after you have long finished the book,
true it was written by white man,about mostly black country,but the book
came up with the idea of `truth and reconciliation `long before 1994 in south africa,
`some fear in south africa that when white have turned to love,they will find blacks turned to hate`
this was written at the height of apartheid,the period in Johannesburg after the massive urbanasation of blacks,has been protrait carefully ,skillful and with utmost care,as most people in south africa will tell you of the importantance of the period ,that gave birth to ANC,PAC,leaders like mandela.sobukwe,liberation/resistance movements

i would recommend this book to any one,especially book lovers,this will be like long lost joy,that one has been yearning for
in my humble opinion it is a classic/masterpiece,one of most important books to read in ones lifetime

An important vision of South Africa, 29 Jul 2007
It is having read this book that i understand Coetzee's Disgrace so much better. Between them they are almost like a conversation being shouted across the years, from pre apartheid to post-apartheid. It is a conversation about South Africa and its people, the terrible impossibility and the hesitant optimism.

There is such humility in Paton's writing, such understanding and forgiveness. This is a book which lives and breathes South Africa. I feel this despite never having been there; for it is alive in these precious words.

Classic Tale in times of apartheid, 26 Mar 2007
Have you ever set up dominoes on their end all in a line, then once they are all set up you touch the first one and it sets off a cascade effect knocking them all over one at a time? The beginning of the game is slow and tedious, but the cascade effect is worth it. Some classics are like setting up dominoes. They begin slowly, and the unfortunate reader will put the book down in disgust and never return to it. A more persistent reader is richly rewarded for their patience. Cry, The Beloved Country is that kind of a classic, others are Tale of Two Cities, Dickens and Jane Eyre, Bronte.

The language is beautiful, I don't enjoy flowery descriptions of scenery, but in Cry the descriptions helped you feel as if you were there without being too lengthy. The characters are well developed, and some are people I would really love to know. However, because I did care about the characters, the story in the beginning, is just so sad that I almost fell into that catagory of unfortunate readers who quit reading early and miss out on the treasure. I'm grateful that I didn't.

Inspite of the difficult beginning, this has become one of my favorite books. It carries you from despair to hope. It is a story about South Africa and its people, but it is also a story that has something for each of us.

Cry, The Beloved County leaves you a better person when you put it down than when you started it. It is a journey not to be missed.

cry, the beloved country, 01 May 2006
'Cry, the beloved country' is a beautiful book about discrimination of black people. It is situated in South Africa in 1948. It is written from different viewpoints, so you can accept the role that you like the most. The landscape has been described splendidly. The story never stops, however many personages appear and that do not simplify it.

I wouldn't, 29 Jan 2008
This was the first Chris Ryan book I brought, the line at the top of the book 'Who wins the SAS or the Navy SEALs', caught my eye. In fact I am still waiting to find out, the book only has a very small mention of SEALs (or SEAL) and he is working with the SAS.

I found the book to be a very average read. Mr Ryan is a good writer and the descriptions were very good, however the story line very average.

There are many better SAS story books on the market.

A slick and polished adventure story, 19 Aug 2007
Geordie is sent to Kamanga in Africa by the SAS to bolster the local government army by training their select Alpha Commando. But soon it becomes clear that Alpha is preparing for a particular operation: an attack on Gutu, a diamond mine in the south of the country captured by rebel forces the previous year. It is in planning this that they needed the SAS's help although the team's orders were to act as advisers only and not to get involved in any fighting.
Things take on a dramatic turn when the team accidentally run into a group of children killing a ten year old boy. So when the local sin'ganga - the witch doctor - predicts that ten men will die to repay the boy's every year of life, the SAS team start to feel distinctly uneasy...
The book is nicely read by David Tarkenter for ISIS Publishing.


Very original, 23 Mar 2007
I must admit that I liked this book; but then I find all of Mr Ryan's book a joy to read. It was certainly different and had it all. Terrific atmosphere and plenty of action. It really kept moving. One of his best.
Nice one!

A Gripping Insight Into the Unknown World of the SAS, 16 Jan 2003
Although fictional, this book contains everything you need to keep you on the edge of your seat throughout. The characters, plots and unexpected twists allow the reader an exciting opportunity to glance into the world of the SAS - something we can only imagine otherwise. For the time your reading this book, you too are a member - FANTASTIC!

Mister ryans best book yet, 22 Oct 2001
This is the one,ive read all his books but tenth man down is the biz.Ryan leaves nothing out in this book,its a full-on adreniline fueled romp with fantastic attention to detail,mixed with that "cant put this book down"feeling.Lock and load boys and welcome to the jungle!!!!!!

One of the worst books ever written..., 09 Aug 2008
...unless its how you like to sort cecil. There was no plot, stupidly long and complicated speeches and above all lots of uneccessary sex that in no real way tied in with the book at all. My elder sibling recieved another one of his books for christmas and it seems that along with glory holes and nests of curls, he just copies the same sexual explanations across with no effort of changing it. Buy something else...doesnt matter what

Blue Horizon, 04 Jun 2008
My first Wilbur Smith novel was Birds of Prey, quickly followed by Monsoon. Having been drawn into and captivated by the spell binding and enthralling adventures of the Courtney family I needed more, but was concerned at some of the poor reviews given to the sequel Blue Horizon. However I was not at all disappointed. It was equally such a fabulous book to the other two, full of twists and turns that again it was difficult to put the book down. My biggest regret was that the book had to end and I deliberately stretched the last quarter so that it would not finish too quickly. Please Wilbur write a sequel to Blue Horizon so that we can progress the exploits of Dorian, Mansur and Jim.

OK if you enjoy daft speeches and dead animals, 21 Apr 2006
Blue Horizon is a typical Wilbur Smith book. An engaging storyline set against the sweeping panorama of colonial Africa is ruined by ridiculous cliché-ridden dialogue straight out of a Mills and Boon novel. Even worse are the repulsive, gloating descriptions of the needless slaughter of wild animals for fun. Like most Wilbur Smith heroes, Jim Courtney can't look at a "magnificent beast" without wanting to kill it.
Escapist entertainment that will sicken any civilised reader.

first disappointment, 29 Jan 2005
I have always enjoyed Wilbur Smith novels but this one is such a disappointment. It is so similar to others he has written and I feel there is nothing new in this one. It is therefore so predictable and in the end, I even got a little bored with it! Come on Wilbur, you can do better!

nothing new, 08 Dec 2004
I have to agree with some other reviews here - I have read it all before and its just more of Smiths usual recipe - the goodies are very good and are accomplished sailors, horsemen, hunters, traders and linguists, are physically perfect and fall in love at first sight of their equally perfect counterparts (groan) and the baddies are very bad and cruel. Its all just a bit too naive and fantastical compared to his other books.

Brilliant, 08 Jun 2008
Too many reviewers here want a glowing travel brochure out of Theroux. Writing is his vocation, travelling is his muse. Travelling is a way to comment on the human condition as he experiences it, and on his own condition, as he experiences it. It doesn't matter how many people have a good time in Africa, or a bad time in Africa - Theroux has his own devil driving him in his own strange directions, and what he produces are travel books only in the most minimal sense. In the larger sense they are works of literature in which travel plays a part.

I love the complexity of his writing, his honesty in recording moods, enthusiasms, fears, vanities, moments of ill-temper, generosity, meanness. Reviewers point out moments of 'hypocrisy', or 'meanness', or curmudgeonly outbursts, as if he was too stupid to read his own text. Theroux is a writer. He wants you to see that.

I don't seek any kind of objective truth about Africa. I wouldn't believe anyone who purveyed it. What I do find is a writer using his craft to create complex and absorbing works of literature, using travel as a starting point for a succession of events, meetings, conversations, anecdotes, situations, literary digressions, bits of obscure history, polemic, and unlikely destinations.

Dark Star Safari is clever, it is brave, it is fun, it is dark, it is complex. It isn't a coincidence Theroux read Conrad a dozen times as he progressed from north to south. Please don't make the mistake of imagining this book is a variation on 'what I did on my hols'.

Cheer up mate it's only Africa, 31 May 2008
Some things bother me about this book. Firstly, the way he criticises anyone not 'doing Africa' his way, his conceited contempt of anyone holidaying in Africa (a good source of revenue for various African countries) when he himself is an outsider; a tourist. We can't all take a year off work for an all-expenses paid trip down Africa Mr Theroux. His criticism and I have to say over-dramatic account of African cities; I've lived in Nairobi and Kampala and felt perfectly safe if you're sensible and know where to go. Venturing out after dark (unlike Theroux) has never once been a problem for me and my friend (who's lived there most of his life). But he has to sell books. The book's tone was at times depressing and although most countries in sub-saharan Africa have problems many are stable, welcoming and enjoyable for foreigners to visit. The biggest problem I found was with his tone with anything concearned with improving Africa, true it often isn't easy and although his pleasure of seeing subsistance farming doesn't equate to "let's keep them in their place" it did seem apathetic and left me wondering if Mr Theroux simply desires a return to an Africa of 1840 without hospitals, education, propects and security. And 'yes' there is all these things to be found in modern-day Africa, he neglected to mention the sucessful Ugandan-run businesses, schools, infustructure and tourist industries I found in 2006. Things aren't alw