This is one of the last books that my grandfather gave me before he died that I hadn't read yet. I can see why this is an important book. And it is beautifully written in an unusual style that forces you to read in a different voice than you normally would. The prose is beautiful and I thoroughly was brought in by the story. His pre-apartheid perspective brings to life a South Africa that, with today's hindsight, you can see the fissures appearing.

I'm still not sure how to fit his perspective on South Africa into my own. I think his writing of the Umfundsi is problematic - especially since he is a white man born in South Africa writing the perspective of a native South African. From what I've read about him, Paton was a good man who did good things for South Africa when white allies were needed. However his perspective of how they got there (at least the way it is put in this book) I may not 100% agree with. I would need to read more of his books in order to further deconstruct it, but at the moment I think I am at odds with him on that one.

Regardless, the book was excellent. I laughed, I cried, and I empathized so much with Kumalo and Absalom and his his family.

Read if you like: unusual prose, the Kite Runner, fiction that makes you think.