Very evocative, 12 Oct 2008
This story is seen through the eyes of Marnus, a boy growing up in South Africa under apartheid, in a rich, white, conservative family. The novel demonstrates very well how attitudes are passed on and the way they are maintained. Whilst Marcus is a sensitive boy - one wonders whether he may be growing up gay - it's the sexuality of his father which turns out to be more surprising. Very evocatively written.
Difficult subject matter beautifully written, 29 Dec 2007
It is difficult to see how this can be Mark Behrs first novel. 'The smell of apples' is beautifully accomplished peace of writing. You are drawn in to the protagonist's life 'Marnus' without the safety blanket of easy assumptions. There is no easily identifiable 'Good' or 'Bad' to help us with the order of things. Just a deep sense of uneasiness. A candid truth. That all of us no matter how kind, generous or sincere we try to be are capable of the most brutal acts imaginable.
Some people may find the racism as portrayed difficult and disturbing. I found it just right. As a Muslim I often see the easy acceptance of racism within my community. It becomes natural and weaves itself to everyday conversation and actions. Embedding sometimes the most offensive and nasty ideology into small children. The words 'Kaffir' used to describe blacks in the book is actually a word in Arabic meaning infidels. Still used frequently by Muslims as a slur against others.
The book as per 'The Emperor's clothes' shows us through the eyes of the child the blatant hypocrisies adults are blind to.
You can see through the ideology at people desperately trying to hold on to their privileged lives by the subjugation of others.
What was most fascinating about the book is in the way it refuses to let you hate those you should. This is a reflection on Mark Behrs writing and skill. It is through Marnus you get an inking of a particular Afrikaner mind set which few books can master.
A must read!
The horrors of aparthied, 11 Jan 2007
Set in South Africa in the mid 1970s, and narrated by Marnus Erasmus, the eleven year old son of the well connected and politically influential Afrikaner General Erasmus and his now retired opera singer wife Leonora, the story gives real insight into how one's background and upbringing facilitate firmly held ideals and beliefs.
The Erasmus family plays host to a Mr Smith, the alias given to a visiting undercover Chilean General who sympathises with the Afrikaners' views. Through their interaction with Mr Smith, with their attitude toward their Coloured servants and their behaviour toward the Blacks, we get a very good impression of the Afrikaners' proud belief in their own superiority; however shocking such views may seem today.
But the beauty of the story is in the telling through the eyes of the eleven year old Marnus. Behr convincingly conveys the activities, expressions and innocence of youth, despite the perverted indoctrinated beliefs. His friendship with is class mate Frikkie, something of a bully and problem child at school; and his spiteful relationship with his older sister Ilse are well portrayed. Particularly endearing is the relationship he enjoys with his parents and his undoubted love and respect for them; a love than can even overcome the horrifying discovery Manus makes towards the end involving his father.
Interspersed with the current narrative is an ongoing account from the twenty four year old lieutenant Manus as he serves on the war front.
A beautifully written and revealing account, Behr succeeds in presenting an appealing view of a year in a family's life despite their horrifying attitudes and beliefs.
A beautiful and provocative work, 06 Jun 2005
This story of an apparantly idyllic Afrikaaner childhood delicately evokes both the beauty of innocence and the horror of its destruction. Through the eyes of a young child, Marnus, the author slowly uncovers the evils of apartheid society and demonstrates the manner in which this society is poisoning itself. In a world that appears safe; protective and protected, nothing is quite what it seems and the novel becomes a journey for Marnus as his ideals and values are attacked at their very foundations. The author effectively conveys the innocence of a child through a deceivingly simplistic narrative. Behr addresses the sins of the past and locates their awful legacy in the present. Through Marnus' awakening he demonstrates the past's ability to hold the future to ransom and his vision is a fractured picture of hope and despair for the new South Africa.
Enlightening, sometimes horrifying - beautifully written, 03 May 1999
An atmospheric, involving story told by Marnus, a boy growing up in an Afrikaans family in the early 70s, with flashes forward to his time fighting in the Angolan war. His family of four and best friend are his world until the arrival of Mr Smith from Chile, whose presence in the house must be kept secret. The book's quiet style makes unforgettably clear the suppressed anger, fear and pain that fill and surround the family and the Afrikaans culture.
Boy in Love, 02 Nov 2007
The subject matter centres on the love of a young chorister for his thirty-something teacher, who he sets out to seduce. The seduction is successful...
Some good characterisation and an insight suggesting autobiography make this a compelling read and the reviewer can't wait to see Kings of The Water which has been promised as Behr's latest novel.
In the meantime - 'embrace' this book.
A young Afrikaner's dilemmas, 14 Jan 2007
Karl de Man, the narrator, describes his childhood; and as he does we watch him grow from a precocious and slightly effeminate child into the makings of a fine young man. He is a gifted singer and with the prompting of his teacher secures a place at the Drakensberg Boys Choir School, despite the struggle his financially strapped parents endure. It covers the period of Karl's early teens, and is set in South Africa at the time of the beginnings of racial unrest, an issue the crops up at times in the form of contentious discussions.
He describes in detail his home life and especially his enjoyment of the environment and wild animals, with vivid images of the African landscape. Underlying all his thoughts and actions are his strongly held beliefs and attitudes that come inevitably from his Afrikaans background, which views may at times appear as shocking as some of the relationships he forms at the Choir School.
At home Karl has a steady girl friend, and initially seems to be able to reconcile this relationship with the physical relationships he enjoys at school, but which in time trouble him. He becomes even more troubled after he receives a direct warning at school following the discovery of sexual misconduct among the students.
Karl makes some strong friendships at the school, including Dominic, the choir's star solo singer. Karl forms a close and intimate relationship with Dominic, frequently sharing his bed, but Dominic's liberal views, inherited from his parents, contrast with Karl's traditional Afrikaner's ideals, and they eventually get Dominic into trouble with the school when he openly expresses his opinions in class. Karl is also attracted to his Music Director Jacques Cilliers, and is invited to his room and eventually his bed, they even enjoy some time together away from the school, including a stay in an hotel. Some of these illicit activates eventually come to the notice of the school authorities, with the inevitable consequences; and finally some surprising revelations for Karl.
This is a wonderful, engrossing and beautifully told story, and outstanding is the image Behr creates of Karl de Man, a vivid image of a most likeable young boy, and all the more likeable for his endearing and sometimes shocking faults are not hidden from us as he struggles to come to terms with his sexuality. We see an intelligent and friendly young boy, at times capable of tantrums, stubbornness and mischief, who at the same time respects and loves his family, who is liked by his teachers, and who tries to be loyal to his friends despite the conflicts he faces. A moving and enthralling book that kept me up well into the small hours.
700 Pages? I need more!, 29 Dec 2006
I have never before attempted such a huge read but I could not help but devour large chunks of reading- 50 pages at a time on a daily commute and regretted it when all came to an end. I overlooked the fact that the author tended to drift at times and I needed to re-read certain sections so as not to lose the thread of the story which jumped about in different time spans. None of that posed a problem for me because I identify strongly with the main character Karl de Man. I come from and relate to the same country/province/town/time/experiences that relate to Karl.
Now I wish that the author would produce a sequel of a thousand pages!
How would Karl (given his confused sexual identity) adapt to life at the conservative, narrow minded mentality that would have pervaded Port Natal High School in Durban in the seventies? How would Karl cope in future in his relationship with his father? Would he pursue a relationship with Dominic in Canada? What about Mr Cilliers?- wherein his greatest passion seems to lie.
Mr Behr- How about some answers?
Two thumbs up!!, 19 May 2006
I rarely find books that I like, maybe because I really enjoy reading. This book grabbed my attention from the very first sentence. Excellent book, beautifully written. Highly recommended, especially now that summer is approaching. Great summer read! Well done Behr
A boy's heart, 17 Feb 2005
This is a book to disturb, inspire, sadden, provoke. Its massive scale - a daunting prospect for most readers - reflects the huge scope of its subject which reaches far beyond the central theme of young Karl De Man's emotional and sexual world. One might describe the structure as 'symphonic', in its interaction of themes and counter-themes, though in a looser more fantastical way than implied by the many references to Beethoven. The South African setting enhances this effect: the landscape, the uncompromising contrasts and colours, the sharp, brutal delineation of character, mood and political extremism.
It is however eminently readable once one has a measure of the teasing complexities of the form: both the uneven chronology and the sectional back-and-forward treatment of narrative and descriptive passages require perseverance. The author's attempt to amalgamate the apparent incompatibilities of quasi-poetical impressionism and blatant school-boy adventurism is only partly successful, but the cracks in this method are to some extent papered over by sallies into more introspective fields, particularly the turmoil and conflicts of a sensitive boy being emotionally torn apart by what he feels and what an unfeeling world expects of him.
The book is a curious mixture of the real and unreal. The physical and cultural background of South Africa is all-present - Behr powerfully re-creates the realities and the language of his homeland - yet the characters seem curiously remote from the inner life of the novel, as though they are placed there as necessary props to the unfolding of an uncertain and complex drama. The boys - and their intense friendships - are real enough; the teacher-figures on the other hand are more often stereotypical than flesh-and-blood, with the possible exception of Ma'am Sanders, and the Karl's choirmaster-lover, Cilliers. Similarly, Bok and Bokkie appear more like guardians than parents in spite of fine delineation of character, behaviour and attitude, possibly a subtle device to suggest Karl's emotional isolation from his family.
The threads of betrayal and self-deception, coupled with anxiety and guilt, including sexual guilt, are woven within a texture of dream-like, sometimes nightmarish expression. The occasional adoption of free-flow (stream-of-consciousness) writing is intended as a window into the workings of the adolescent psyche by a writer for whom the story is clearly personal and to an extent autobiographical. The colours are stark and strong, the nuances of language and experience being from time to time weakened by overstatement, and indeed a kind of emotional extremism. (One must however allow literary licence in respect of an adult narrator recalling his boyhood in such depth and detail.) The willowy figure of Dominic, Karl's 'best friend', is a caricature of the aesthetic and intellectual prodigy: the well-educated and liberal Webster family stand apart from the conventions and social norms which surround them. There is a kind of Forsterian symbolism at work here, yet in the mad, prophetic figure of Uncle Klasie, the imagery becomes distorted.
The story can be seen as a brilliant interpretation of the contradictory forces and values acting upon a young life to the point of an eventual rejection of spontaneity, friendship and love in favour of convention and conformity. The tragedy is in the inevitability of the transformation. There is a sense of 'quest for fulfilment' in this work: the struggle of a creative artist to find reason and meaning in a dislocated world. Mark Behr attended the Drakensberg Boys' Choir Music School and studied at the University of Stellenbosch. After the success of his first book he confessed to having spied for the government and later for the ANC while he was a student leader. Refusing to elaborate on his spying, he announced he was working on a second novel whose theme was 'betrayal'. "The truth," he said, "was so big it could be described better and interrogated better through fiction."
'Embrace' explores the relationship between language , politics, and sexuality, but may fall short of achieving the author's ambitious hopes, and its aspiration as 'the great South African novel'.
