Rate this book

De Jongen Van Hiernaast (2009)

by Irene Sabatini(Favorite Author)

3.69 of 5 Votes: 1

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

De Arbeiderspers

review 1: This was very emotional book that touched you to the core. Set in Africa Zimbabwe during the current war and glimpses of previous wars (conflicts). It is a sad book however well written. It touches our humanity on many levels, family, community, country politics, personal growth and many other aspects of life. This book makes you think and ask yourself if I'd be in Lindiwe's shoes would I do the same? I also was taken by character Ian - the man had guts and sense of duty regardless of his social status. It truly opened my eyes on some social issues that I had no perspective on at all. Great book!
review 2: I tried to give this book a chance, but I honestly did not enjoy reading it. I had a number of issues:- The use of slang. I don't mind it when the words are ... moreexplained, but as they were not, it was very difficult to understand what the characters were referring to a lot of the time. A skilled author could use the context of the story to explain to the reader what the words mean - otherwise, a glossary would have sufficed. - The political aspects of the story. I don't know anything about Zimbabwe/Rhodesia and the political movements that happened there, and so I had no idea what was going on when this part of the story came into play. There didn't seem to be much of an effort to explain it either. For those readers who have a good understanding of Zimbabwean political history, I am sure they would have enjoyed it more than I did. I only like being left confused in a story if there's a resolution or an explanation somewhere down the line, and I never got it in this book. - The main character, Lindiwe, annoyed me. She was far too touchy when it came to race and she was very unfair to Ian who, while he had his flaws as well, really cared about her and tried to do the best by her. I don't feel like she was a strong character at all. Some other characters, such as David, Danielle & Rosanna, weren't developed enough and I felt like I never got to know them. - The timeline was difficult to understand at certain points. The skipping back and forth in time was off-putting because once again there was hardly any explanation as to when the particular section was taking place. - The storyline itself didn't seem to go anywhere. A scene would just begin to draw me in and then it would jump to the next scene, 6 months later, with no resolution. I felt myself often wondering what the point of having certain plot points in the book at all was. While I understand that this book is highly critically acclaimed, I felt no sense of warmth, connection and love that I do for a really good story. A book can have all the right literary aspects in it but if the plot and characters don't connect with the reader, I don't see much point in reading it. Almost 2 stars because the one character I really enjoyed was Ian and I felt like he was the most well-developed and likable character in the book, but overall it was not an enjoyable read so I'm sticking with one star. less

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