JOHNSON, Shaun - The Native Commissioner - (Paperback)

Covered in DC Fix but remains in good condition. ***    I was profoundly moved by this novel - couldn't put it down. Johnson's style is direct, simple, strong. - but great pathos comes through: surely the best kind of writing - I became an instant fan and hope he'll write something else. His evocation of the life of an ordinary white South African family in the 50s and 60s,the changing landscapes, their everyday battles and aspirations, is very moving. The father, an African linguist and humanitarian, is trapped working within the ugly machine of apartheid bureaucracy. With dreams foiled and a compromised self-image, tragedy follows. - The story is driven by the narrator's unpacking of his mother's sealed box of memories and moves from near-present, to the past, and back to the present - with a very tidy ending, but the suggestion that family demons have not entirely been put to rest. The story was so convincing in its details that I felt sure it was at least partly autobiographical.
Compulsory reading for any S African of our generation.

*N.B.*  If you buy more than one book from me you only pay R 6 postage each on each additional book instead of R 24 – see what else I have to offer, it might be worth your while.