I just finished this classic novel by Alan Paton last week. I enjoyed it so much that I wrote a review of it for Suite 101. Although I love happy endings and the ending of this book can best be described as bittersweet, I enjoyed it immensely because of the poetic language used to tell the tragic story of apartheid in South Africa, but more importantly, the ability of people to find redemption and show mercy even in the face of horrible personal loss. I don’t have much more to write today, I think the book best speaks for itself: “Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor of our fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply. let him not laugh too gladly when the water runs through his fingers, nor stand too silent when the setting sun makes red the veld with fire. Let him not be too moved when the birds of his land are singing, nor give too much of heart to a mountain or a valley. For fear will rob him of all if he gives to much”. (Paton, Cry, the Beloved Country, pg. 111).
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