Not an easy read, but fairly compelling. Part of what makes it difficult is that the story flows back and forth between a community of people in the 1850s and their descendants in the late 1990s. It doesn't help that some of the present-day people have the same names as the past people. Another challenge for the reader is that there are a lot of characters, and they come and go in such a way that I found it hard to keep track of them for about half of the book.

I'm glad I stuck with it, though. The Eastern Cape province in South Africa remains largely undeveloped even now, and the Xhosa people of the area have never recovered from the incursion of British settlers and the Dutch before them. That much of their story I already knew. But I didn't know about Nongqawuse and Nonkosi, so-called child prophets in the 1850s. They made prophecies that included a command to the local people to kill all their cattle, and many did so. And then they starved.

The shadow of that tragedy covers the present-day people in the area called Qolora-by-the-Sea. A highly educated South African man who has lived abroad for many years comes to the community by way of Johannesburg, and he quickly becomes enmeshed in local dramas. He's a kind of anchor for us present-day readers, and he's a sympathetic character in that he recognizes the Xhosa people for who they are today. A lot of the deep, abiding issues of South Africa are brought out and examined in this story about one small locale — in particular, the problem of self-sufficiency. Ways to make a decent living, whether to move far away from rural home villages, and what kind of impact will result from attracting tourism.

Overall it's well worth reading, but for me at least it took a bit of effort and dedication.

I didn't find this book particularly compelling, and had to force myself to keep going (it was for a book club). None of the characters particularly resonated with me, and they all seemed quite caricatured. Rather than fully embodied human beings, they were made to stand for ideas.

The ending was also bizarrely abrupt, and left several loose ends hanging. Genuinely wondered whether my library copy may have had some pages removed.

Having said that, the book does a great job of using magical realism to introduce an ignorant reader to the conceptual world of the amaXhosa people of South Africa, and the issues surrounding South Africa's 19th century heritage, the sins of which continue to be visited upon the modern generation.

I particularly liked the book's portrayal of ancestral (would you call them religious?) beliefs and what effect they have on the lives of their descendants. The pervasive and often insidious influence of Belief and Unbelief is well explored.

We are left with not one single hero, and no one side is shown to be completely blameless. Amidst the melee of different and competing cultures in the story, human weakness is shown to be universal.

(n.b. discovered my new favourite word in this book: sneezewood.)

- Gamagu used to see himself as a pedlar of dreams. That was when he could make things happen. Now he has lost his touch. He needs a pedlar of dreams himself, with a bagful of dreams waiting to be dreamt. -

i acknowledge everything this novel tries to do but i just couldn't connect to it at all. i found the storyline confusing if not irritable, i did not like any character and i just generally didn't enjoy this. I should probably point that i am probably missing a lot of cultural / historical background which would be useful for this novel.

Generally good. Interesting characters if sometimes one-sided. Past and present histories of South Africa alternate and intertwine. Gives a pretty good idea of the affects of Colonialism and Globalization on the smaller towns and cities of post-colonial societies esp. South Africa. A better understanding of why building super resorts is not necessarily a way for societies to emerge from so-called economic and technological backwardness. Can be a little idealistic at times in offering social and economic solutions, but why not imagine big. Is very easy to read and bridges the cultural differences with respect and ease.

Ambitious and challenging. Tour de force for insight into contemporary South Africa. Some knowledge of history of country will help a lot unpack all the layers and insight in the stunning and powerful book