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Paradiso Amaro (2002)

by Tatamkhulu Afrika(Favorite Author)

3.85 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

8889113332 (ISBN13: 9788889113332)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Playground

review 1: I received this book through GoodReads. Although the book is an autobiographical work, I found it to be a difficult read. There was no structure to it and it read like a very long meandering poem full of sexual symbolism. I appreciate the experiences that the charcters survived and was disgusted by the treatment of the mentally ill prisoners, but I really could not relate to the characters, Afrika kept his cards close and I never really got a sense of who he really was. A love story, a life story and a tale of war horrific to acknowledge, Afrika does address the issue of lonliness and homosexuality as a result of proximity in prisons. At times touching, sometimes confusing and entertaining as well, Bitter Eden has left me wanting.
review 2: I unhesitatingly fil... morech (quote) the synopsis provided by reviewer Benjamin on amazon.com, since he has done a very good job at summarising the story: QUOTE Young South African soldier Tom Smith (Thomas Aloysius Smythe) is a prisoner of war initially taken by the Italians. At his capture a fellow prisoner, the rather prissy Douglas, latches on to him and takes an almost motherly interest in him. But later when a new prisoner, Danny, takes an interest in Tom, conflicts of loyalty arise. But that is just the first of many conflicts the men will encounter during their imprisonment.UNQUOTEBitter Eden is a story about the relationships between men who while they consider themselves straight, face the conflicting emotions that result from being closely confined under the most difficult conditions. When men build such close friendships, so close that they come to depend upon each other for day to day survival, for the closeness of shared body heat through freezing nights, it inevitably leads to confusions which can be betrayed by the bodies own natural responses. It is this confusion that is so convincingly portrayed that forms the backbone of the story.The story is written by a man who was a soldier and PoW himself for three years and,even if he writes nearly 50 years after the experience, it has the ring of an extraordinary directness and truth when he speaks of the relationships between the men. Tatamkhulu (Grandfather) Afrika was a very old man when he wrote Bitter Eden but the voices of his main characters Tom and Danny are as you would expect from very young men who have been thrown together in the abnormal situation that is war and imprisonment. The emotions are raw and direct, the unspoken love at times heart breaking at others beautiful in its almost innocence. This is as far from a story that seeks to titillate as you can get, but the few moments of physical contact that are described are of an immediacy that draws you in and that took my breath away. And even while the voice is young, there is another tone underlying it like the bass providing the continuum to the melody. It is more elusive, consisting all at once of the wisdom of one who has lived through much, of a certain weariness of the spirit that rings entirely just also for those weary PoWs and finally of a voice that regrets but does not judge even when it is critical of itself. I have just finished reading these 233 pages in one go and I'm still reeling from the enigmatic and powerful end that leaves it almost entirely to you to make up what it might mean. For me it is acceptance, forgiving and finally love. This is quite easily the most compelling and deeply moving story of soldiers and the extraordinary relationship between them that I have read in a long time. less

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