NO TIGERS IN AFRICA

A turgid story about a teenager and his family, deeply warped by their South African past, trying to build a new life in England. Haunted by guilt over the killing of a black man back in Johannesburg, Selwyn retreats into silence, nightmares, and thoughts of suicide, which he eventually attempts. In a confessional narrative slowed to a crawl by overdetailed digressions, he recalls watching his father become an alcoholic and discovering his mother's affair with a black man; somehow, working his remorse down to a manageable level, he finally admits that his father, not he, actually pulled the trigger. Though readers may feel bludgeoned with the alienation theme, Selwyn's racism is treated with some perception; he decries apartheid and denies being prejudiced, but advocates separate black government, casually calls black children ``piccanins,'' and is profoundly disturbed to see a black and white couple kissing. Heavy-handed writing and superfluous teen-novel detritus—vomiting, rough language, a glandular romantic subplot—make this hard-going; still, this South African author explores the ways his native society victimizes everyone in it. (Fiction. YA)