Walter, a 16-year-old South African whose brother has just died in a military accident, is troubled by how little he knows about what goes on in his own country. When he reads about a band of Zulu boys who've sworn to defend their Natal town against rival Inkathas, he decides to seek out their leader, ``Biko.'' But though local people are polite, they wonder what the naive white boy is doing in their riot-torn province. Soon, skirting a minefield of issues and in serious danger, Walter is wondering too. He examines the mysteries—and his own motives—in a deftly wrought morality play in which he's exposed to white farmers, a corrupt factory- owner, the officer in charge of white troops, a store-owner, and a sage Indian potter, while continual shifts in point of view shed light on each character's dilemma. Eventually, Walter confronts the misguided ``Biko'' while the author works through the consequences. Williams (Crocodile Burning, 1992) is primarily a dramatist; his scenes and dialogue are strong, but he omits transitions and nuances that might be self-evident in theater—black characters, especially, are viewed from a white perspective, even where Walter isn't the narrator. Still, a high-caliber adventure that offers a thoughtful insider's view of a complex, intransigent cultural conflict. Winner of South Africa's 1990 Sanlam Prize for Youth Literature. (Fiction. 12+)
Pub Date: June 23, 1993
ISBN: 0-399-22516-1
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1993
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Not a self-help book but an intriguing report on how we got into the international drug mess and our chances of getting out. Readers are told about different modi operandi among various gangs; drug houses, even in rural areas and small cities; the infuriating political constraints that have kept the drug war from even marginal success; and corruption among narcotics officers. They may be stunned at some of the smuggling methods, e.g. paddling on surfboards or stuffing goldfish with dope. If some of this highly informative inside view seems glamorous, it's balanced by sad stories of grandparents raising children, the relationship between crack and syphilis, and the difficulties of getting treatment. Any initial attraction should be nipped by contemplating the short careers of teen dealers: an average of six months, to be cut off by death, injury, or arrest. Bibliography. (Nonfiction. 12+)
Pub Date: May 30, 1991
ISBN: 0-02-742745-5
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Four Winds/MacMillan
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1991
BOOK REVIEW
In a frank, first-person narrative, an intelligent daydreamer describes her puzzled search for meaning in the real world. After years of steady withdrawal, Deirdre, 13, sets fire to her bed, ending up in a hospital. It's not, she says, that she's been abused or traumatized; it might have been easier if she had. ``But as it was, nothing happened to me. Nothing ever happened.'' The late-in-life child of an inexpressive father and an unfulfilled mother, she has found adults to be dishonest with themselves and others, and school uninvolving. Daydreams were preferable—long, nonrepeating episodes about a rancher's daughter who manages horses and cowboys and rises above her neighbors' misunderstandings. Now adolescence brings Deirdre, literally, to the screaming point; and while a group home provides one young friend who needs her, it's an unorthodox therapist who really helps her find her own way. Though without the power of Oneal's The Language of Goldfish (1980), Deirdre's wry, self-involved voice is believable and the language accessible. And if the reasons for both her withdrawal and her recovery are occasionally either pat or unclear, that's a plausible component of Deirdre's own understanding. Her story should fascinate its teen audience, many of whom have also found the adult world maddeningly frustrating. (Fiction. 12+)
Pub Date: June 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-385-30308-4
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1991
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