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Somewhere Over the Rainbow (Paperback)

by Gavin Bell (Author) "It was the warning about ships being attacked off West Africa that caught my attention ..." (more)

4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

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Product details

Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Abacus; illustrated edition edition (1 Feb 2001)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0349112614
ISBN-13: 978-0349112619
Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.6 x 2.2 cm

Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 306,051 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

For his second travel book, reporter Gavin Bell--no stranger to South Africa-- returned to the country to check the pulse of Mandela's "rainbow nation". He is blunt about what he found: "Half of the population had mobile telephones, the other half had no running water, and all of them were afraid of being mugged".

South Africa, "struggling to deal with the legacies not only of apartheid, but of centuries of colonialism", is in trouble, its people not so much divided as simply foreign to each other, history having cruelly widened the gulfs between peoples scattered across this vast, often beautiful, but also often boring, hot and inimical land.

The real threat to South Africa now is globalisation: the destruction of communities by capital. It's easy to sneer at white farmers, as they regret the breaking of the paternalistic bonds that once existed between themselves and their black employees. But Bell makes no such mistakes. He has, after all, just heard much the same lament--from Mandela's country cousin. "'He says he was happy when they were children'", the translator explains. "'They drank sour milk from the cow, and they ate the cow, without buying anything. You can't get sour milk today. Then they wore blankets, now it is Western clothes. Also there were a lot of ceremonies in those days, and there are not so many today.'"

This is not a political study: Bell offers the armchair traveller many sensuous diversions and he is often achingly funny. But he can never quite put out of his mind that this was JRR Tolkein's birthplace; and there is something of Mordor about the landscapes he describes. --Simon Ings --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

'Wry and deft ... travel writing of a high order, given steel by [Bell's] keen understanding of the country's contradictions' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'A fine, gentle and loving travel book about South Africa which captures the magic of the land and the warmth of its peoples' SCOTSMAN 'Wherever Bell goes, he brings a gimlet eye to the human and unusual' YORKSHIRE POST 'One of life's great wanderers, at home when he is away ... a lucid, deeply informative and highly entertaining piece of travel prose' GLASGOW HERALD 'Bell tells of his travels with a good grasp of what makes the country and its people tick- the history of each community, the beauty of the landscape and with a great dollop of wry humour.' ABERDEEN PRESS AND JOURNAL 'A rich portrait, wise and humane...The country emerges as beautiful, its people broken and weary.' THE TIMES 'Bell has a wonderfully clean style that can only come from years of condensed communication and if his prologue alone does not hook you, you have no heart.' THE LIST 'An absorbing account, part travelogue, part history, lightly told and illuminated throughout by the stories that ordinary people relate as they explain their lives and the world around them' SUNDAY TIMES

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It was the warning about ships being attacked off West Africa that caught my attention. Read the first page

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Customer Reviews

5 Reviews

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

4.4 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The real South Africa traveled and discovered, 20 Jan 2002

By A Customer

I picked this book up as Christmas present for a friend who likes travel writing and the history of nations. Having read the first couple of pages I could not put the book down. Here's why:

The author (Gavin Bell)approaches an extremely diffcult topic (change in South Africa after the fall of the Apartheid government)through the eyes of a traveler. The author travels to some of the most remote and dangerous places in South Africa and interacts quite beautifully (and without judgement) with the local people. It is through this interaction that he gains insight into how things have ( or have not changed since the ANC government has come to power).

The descriptions of landscapes (rural and urban) travelled from barren deserts, tropical forests , wild animal infested savanna's, raging seas, magestic mountains, victorian dorps (villages), crime ridden cities and displaced townships are deftly intervoven with local stories and attitudes which provides an accurate and digestable history of the country.

As a South African who has been living in the UK for 3 years I can honestly say he has hit the nail on the head. Politically, he has cpatured some remarkable insights. Geographically, he has explored extensively. He has combined the two brillianlty. This is definatley a book for all, not only non-South Africans as I was treated to new discoveries and insights.

If you want to get an acurate feel for the diverse magic of South Africa, read this book.

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An Engaging Read, 17 April 2004

By	TWAN "tten_0" (South Africa) - See all my reviews

A good introduction to a complicated land. The book is enaging and easy to read, but there is too much over-simplification of the complexities of the country. The humour is also too affected. For a better understanding of South Africa, read Frank Welsh's A History of South Africa; Max Du Preez's Pale Native, or Hermann Giliomee's The Afrikaners.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful insight into post apartheid South Africa, 29 Oct 2003

By	"kaveyf" - See all my reviews

I added this book to my wish list recently as an idle reminder to myself to ask for it for Christmas. An enterprising friend found my wishlist and sent me this book as a surprise for my birthday.

I found the book compelling reading. Full of insightful comments and amusing or thought-provoking anecdotes it taught me much about South African people, politics and history without being in the slightest bit dull or dry.

By describing his encounters with ordinary citizens of South Africa Gavin Bell brings the country and it's people to life and provided me with understanding that I would have found difficult to obtain from a straight history or current affairs book.

His writing is beautiful and sympathetic and some of the best I've read in the genre for a long time.

I very highly recommend it.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Somewhere Over the Rainbow
If you are planning a trip around the lesser known parts of South Africa this will serve as an excellent guide book, as well as being a very entertaining read. Read more

Published 7 months ago by David Beynon

5.0 out of 5 stars A perceptive account
As a frequent visitor to South Africa, I found this a most perceptive account of modern South Africa, revealing some surprising opinions expressed by the different ethnic groups... Read more

Published 20 months ago by M. L. Mears

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