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The Conservationist
 
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The Conservationist (Paperback)

by Nadine Gordimer (Author)
3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; New edition edition (23 Feb 1978)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0140047166
  • ISBN-13: 978-0140047165
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 11.9 x 1.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 71,811 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #5 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > G > Gordimer, Nadine

Product Description

Synopsis
Mehring, a wealthy, dominating South African industrialist moves to preserve his way of life, his power, and his possessions in the face of massive injustice and suffering, changing times, and death.

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Customer Reviews

2 Reviews
5 star:
 (1)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
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Average Customer Review
3.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, 7 Sep 2008
By BookWorm "BookWorm" (UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: The Conservationist (Paperback)
Despite having won the Booker Prize, and Gordimer herself being a Nobel literature laureate, I found 'The Conservationist' rather disappointing. It's not terrible, but it's unexciting and often quite hard work to read. It does improve as it goes along and you become more familiar with the style, but it was one of those books I had to make a conscious effort to pick up and read.

The story is set in South Africa during the seventies, and focuses on a rich white businessman who owns a farm as a weekend hobby. Other characters are the farm workers, the local shopkeepers, and the son of the businessman. I found it hard to get to know or really empathise with any of the characters. The prose from Mehring's point of view frequently refers to his former mistress, a liberal humanist, and his arguments with her. There are some interesting points in there but I found the intrusion of flashbacks into the past and sudden changes into second person narration irritating and confusing.

This is a story that may have more resonance for those who lived in or visited South Africa during the seventies. For those who haven't, this book doesn't bring the setting or era alive enough to draw the reader in.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars This is writing at its best., 21 Sep 2008
By Xaves "Pete" (Leicester, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Conservationist (Paperback)
Form and style are matched to content in this expertly crafted novel by Gordimer. 'The Conservationist' was my introduction to Gordimer's writing and I wasn't disappointed. Her Modernist style, with its rapid shifts of narrative viewpoints, stream of consciousness and insertion of flashbacks is exactly suited to the tragedy that is Mehring's life and times - capturing his increasing ennui, uncertainty and his inability to fit. It's not difficult to understand why they gave her the Nobel.
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