Search“DIOPTRA-L”

I read this book once back in 1986 while I was walking through the forests where this takes place. I then read it again in 2008. The magic of the book is in the setting - colonial days in a forest on the southern tip of Africa where the elephants hid...

Read for my book group. Very well researched and subject matter clearly close to the author's heart . Told it is better in original Afrikaans than in English, it reads easily but was nevertheless a little hard to get through in places. Interested to ...

The struggle (and discomfort) is real with this winner of the Booker International Prize 2020. Very unsettling, sad and more than a tad nasty. It might sound crazy, but I miss my parents even though I see them every day. Maybe it’s just like the thin...

Dis een van daardie boeke wat jou verbeelding aan die gang kry en jy in 'n ander tyd saam met die karakters loop. Dit was fantasties.

I read this book at school. It was assigned to High Grade Afrikaans students. As a native South African, Saul related a lot to me.

This affricaans language author from South Africa is excellent! Her works have obviously been translated into English, making her accessible not only to non-affricaans speakers in SA, but to the world anglophone community. Her stories are well told -...

Saul Barnard comes from a long line of woodcutters in the Knysna forest of South Africa. Only Saul is different...he begins to question some of the lore and is accused of having his head in the clouds. He realizes what all the cutting is doing to the...

Een van ons voorgeskrewe lees boeke op skool in standerd 9 (2002) was een van my gunsteling en seker ook waarom dit een van die enigste boeke is wat ek kan onthou wat ons gelees het (behalwe vir Charlie and the Chocolate Factory op laerskool!). Ek wa...

I have so much to say … that I don’t know where to start. I’ve had this book since first learning about it being the winner of the 2020 International Booker Price— I put off reading it for obvious “DISCOMFORT” reasons. Many of my lovely respecting fr...

Dis n mooie storie oor die Bosmense. En de liefde. Die verdomde liefde. Verhaal speelt zich af in de 19e eeuw rondom Knysna, Zuid-Afrika. We volgen Saul Barnard, een telg uit een houtkappersfamilie. Hout kappen is hun leven. Ze kennen het bos op hun ...

Like the other two books by Dalene Matthee I've read it worthwhile when you are new in South Africa as I am. They provide wonderful descriptions of the famous Knysna forest and how people used to live there during the last two centuries.

Dit maak nie saak hoeveel keer ek dié boek lees nie (selfs al is dit meermale omdat ek dit as voorgeskrewe boek behandel), dit bly uitstekend, interessant en ontroerend. My suster het onlangs die saak knap opgesom: Dalene Matthee was dalk nie die ko...

The rightful winner of the 2020 International Booker Prize Death announces itself in most cases, but we’re often the ones who don’t want to see or hear it. We knew that the ice was too weak in some places, and we knew the foot-and-mouth wouldn’t skip...

NICE BOOK TO READ

Read it in the original Afrikaans, of course. Haven't read the English translation yet so can't speak for that. But the original book is haunting, stayed with me, even years later. The descriptions of the Knysna forest and the people living there, we...

What a nice book! Although it took me a while to get into, by the end I could not put it down. It makes my short list of books to read about South Africa.

Razendsnel. Superspannend. Goede plot. Tegen de achtergrond van een turbulent Zuid-Afrika. Zalige lectuur.

Quite enjoyed this despite his use of what seems to be a new trend of switching the focus of the story from thread to thread every few paragraphs with no notice. That makes me crazy, and it seems as if more writers are doing that. I don't know why si...

For decades, Dutch literature has been dominated by tormented male authors, men who mostly wrote about middle-aged men, completely stuck in life, full of frustration, mostly drinking, and often with a very derogatory view of the opposite sex. Epigone...

Na het lezen van Duivelspiek, het eerste boek met inspecteur Bennie Griessel, ben ik gelijk verder gegaan met het tweede boek 13 uur. En dit was wederom een zeer prettige leeservaring! Deon Meyer is een enorm goede schrijver, alles wordt tot in detai...