- Paperback: 316 pages
- Publisher: Prentice Hall & IBD & Scribner (18 Dec 1995)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0684818949
- ISBN-13: 978-0684818948
- Product Dimensions: 20.3 x 12.7 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,017,503 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
Cry the Beloved Country is the deeply moving story of the Zulu pastor Stephen Kumalo and his son Absalom, set against the background of a land and a people riven by racial injustice. Remarkable for its contemporaneity, unforgettable for character and incident, Cry, the Beloved Country is a classic work of love and hope, courage and endurance, born of the dignity of man. (20020218)
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
About the Author
Alan Paton was born on January 11, 1903 in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Paton became a science teacher in 1925, the start of a varied career, which ran parallel to his writing. He died in 1988. (20020218)
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
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First Sentence
IT IS SOME eleven years since the first Author's Note was written. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
IT IS SOME eleven years since the first Author's Note was written. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The compelling and sad tale of South Africa,
By
This review is from: Cry, the Beloved Country: A Story of Comfort in Desolation (Paperback)
Reverend Stephen Kumalo lives with his wife in a remote village, Ndotsheni, where he is a respected umfundisi. His sister Gertrude, his brother John and his son Absalom have all gone to live to Johannesburg. One day The reverend receives a letter from Theophilus Msimangu urging him to come to Johannesburg because Gertrude is very sick.And so begins Stephen's long descent from the mountains to the capital which almost resembles a descent into Hell. Indeed, he is to discover that Gertrude is a prostitute and liquor seller who doesn't care about her young daughter, that John is a politician fighting against the white leadership and that Absalom has murdered a white man. Mr Paton admirably portrays all the contradictions which the people of South Africa endured in the 1950s. And he does so through the eyes of a forlorn old man who tries to make sense of the way the members of his family behave. The author's humanity, compassion, generosity and wisdom are apparent in every sentence he writes and his novel shows with sensitivity the complex social and racial issues in a country where so many had to suffer for so long.
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A gripping story,
By Sancho Mahle (Charlotte, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Cry, the Beloved Country: A Story of Comfort in Desolation (Paperback)
It is a blessing for a booklover to come across a story which is so deep like Cry the beloved country. The characters are dissected and made so real. The plot is awesome and the pace of the story is fast moving. Plotted in the depth of Apartheid South Africa, this story brought out the lamentation of a soul of a nation, a lamentation that is felt by all the different ethnic and racial groups involved. I watched the movie on the story "Amok" and it gave the full visual presentation of the story. I will recommend this book to all booklovers with a curious mind about an era, a people and a nation that stared at disaster straight in the eyes and chose the option of peace.Also recommended:The usurper and other stories, Disciples of Fortune,Animal farm
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Paton touches a nation 's soul.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Cry, the Beloved Country: A Story of Comfort in Desolation (Paperback)
I have read this novel twice. It is truely a work which challenges the reader on various levels. At times you are locked in a wonderful lyrical poem; the descriptions of South Africa are vivid and so authentic that you are there. Paton is wise enough to pace the action in a previous time. There is no one that is naive enough to keep the heart wretching drama in the past. It is prehaps these fact that everyone can relate to in the pathos of Rev. Kumalo in his journey to reunite the tribe and his gradual awakening to the fact that there are changes that are occurring that his compassion and tears can do nothing for. Indeed this is worth the reading. The only complaint I have is that there is not enough attention given to Gertrude. But this criticism does not decrease the value of the book. One can still see Mr. James Jarvis in the delipated church as the rain washes away his hatred and it is replaced by compassion. "Cry The Beloved Country" is not just a novel about South Africa but about the social injustices we all see around, or at least we should be able to see .
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