AUGUST '24 LIBRARY REVIEWS

PHOTOGRAPHY (MOROCCO)

Morocco: Kingdom of Light by Oliver Pilcher, Ariel Wizman, 2023
R2550 from Pezula Interiors

Assouline is synonymous with gift books, specialising as it does in lavish photography and beautiful book covers. (Its founder Prosper Assouline is quoted as saying, “Ninety-nine percent of the time, a book is closed in your apartment. So if it’s ugly, it’s a problem”.) Morocco: Kingdom of Light, with its lustrous silky cover featuring a lion in a red sash, is glossy and gorgeous. There’s an opening essay by Casablanca-born French musician, DJ, journalist and actor Ariel Wizman. And the photographs by Oliver Pilcher give us a sense of the richness of al-Maghrib (the Land of Sunset), from the lively streets of Marrakech to the serene Atlas Mountains. Georgia Black

CONTEMPORARY FICTION (SOUTH AFRICA)

The Kopano Matlwa Collection by Kopano Matlwa, 2023
R295 from The Book Lounge

The Kopano Matlwa Collection draws together, in one edition, three novels published between 2007 and 2016: Coconut, Spilt Milk and Period Pain. This arc of time conveys the development and struggles of a young post-apartheid South Africa. Reading all three books, in close succession, makes clear the ways in which they all explore the lasting legacies of white supremacy in relation to personal identities, relationships, institutional structures and the replication of separation, oppression and violence. Coconut has all of the hallmarks of a first novel; particularly the energy of a creative endeavour that just needed to find expression in the world. The second, more allegorical book, Spilt Milk, felt a bit contrived to me – while I understood intellectually what the author was doing with the story, I found it difficult to connect with the characters. And Period Pain felt like a combination of the other two books: still allegorical and clever, but with a raw honesty and character depth that made it compelling. Shivani Ranchod

CONTEMPORARY FICTION (SOUTH AFRICA)

The Kopano Matlwa Collection by Kopano Matlwa, 2023
R295 from The Book Lounge

The Kopano Matlwa Collection draws together, in one edition, three novels published between 2007 and 2016: Coconut, Spilt Milk and Period Pain. This arc of time conveys the development and struggles of a young post-apartheid South Africa. Reading all three books, in close succession, makes clear the ways in which they all explore the lasting legacies of white supremacy in relation to personal identities, relationships, institutional structures and the replication of separation, oppression and violence. Coconut has all of the hallmarks of a first novel; particularly the energy of a creative endeavour that just needed to find expression in the world. The second, more allegorical book, Spilt Milk, felt a bit contrived to me – while I understood intellectually what the author was doing with the story, I found it difficult to connect with the characters. And Period Pain felt like a combination of the other two books: still allegorical and clever, but with a raw honesty and character depth that made it compelling. Shivani Ranchod

CONTEMPORARY FICTION (KENYA)

Rinsing Mũkami’s Soul by Njambi McGrath, 2024
R450 from Exclusive Books

Rinsing Mũkami’s Soul is a powerful tale about finding your voice amid hopelessness and despair. The novel follows Mũkami, a young Kenyan girl whose life is turned upside down after a fateful encounter with a charming new boy at school. Left with the broken pieces of a once-promising future and no hope in sight, Mũkami is forced to leave behind her youthfulness and instead embrace an armour of strength to face her harsh new reality. This is a painful yet compelling story about the loss of innocence and the quest for peace and justice in a world that seeks to disempower and suppress women. Nokwanda Mngxitama

ESSAYS (SOUTH AFRICA)

Show Me the Place by Hedley Twidle, 2024
R295 from The Book Lounge

If you’ve never considered the essay to be a form of creative writing, Show Me the Place will change your mind. The nine lyrical, eloquent pieces collected here are anything but “dry” or “academic”, and they cover a broad range of topics. “A Line of Light” explores grief due to an especially wrenching loss of a parent, and considers the workings of memory; “Offshore” is about learning to surf in your thirties; and several pieces examine utopias and the recurring human impulse to create an ideal community. The most diverting essay of all covers the author’s years-long attempts to discover who carved the nose off the bronze bust of Cecil John Rhodes at the latter’s Cape Town memorial in 2015 – a story about the everyday strangeness of people and places that is wry, enlightening, and perfectly formed. Robyn Alexander

ESSAYS (SOUTH AFRICA)

Show Me the Place by Hedley Twidle, 2024
R295 from The Book Lounge

If you’ve never considered the essay to be a form of creative writing, Show Me the Place will change your mind. The nine lyrical, eloquent pieces collected here are anything but “dry” or “academic”, and they cover a broad range of topics. “A Line of Light” explores grief due to an especially wrenching loss of a parent, and considers the workings of memory; “Offshore” is about learning to surf in your thirties; and several pieces examine utopias and the recurring human impulse to create an ideal community. The most diverting essay of all covers the author’s years-long attempts to discover who carved the nose off the bronze bust of Cecil John Rhodes at the latter’s Cape Town memorial in 2015 – a story about the everyday strangeness of people and places that is wry, enlightening, and perfectly formed. Robyn Alexander

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