Bitter Fruit: A NovelThis novel provides insight into the intricacies of a changing South Africa at the end of the 1990s. Silas Ali, a former political activist, now a middle-aged civil servant working on the final Truth and Reconciliation Commission report, is shopping in the Killarney Mall in Johannesburg when he bumps into a ghost from his past--Lieutenant Franois du Boise, a retired security policeman. This chance encounter brings back a memory that Silas and his wife Lydia have been avoiding for 20 years. The past erupts into the present, cracking off the shell of normalcy that encloses their family life. This story of Silas, Lydia, and their son Mikey, a university student with a curious mind and a calculating will, provides an understanding of the politics of race, the brittle surface of urban life in postapartheid South Africa, and the deeper, more disturbing historical currents that run beneath it. |
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Afrikaner Alec Alec's apartheid asked beauty Berea body Boise child close cold dancing dark daugh daughter door Dr Johnson drink Du Boise Durban eyes face father feel fuck fucken glass Gracie hand hospital husband Imam Ismail Janine Joćo Johannesburg Julian Kaaba Kate Kate's kind kissed knew kwaito laugh leaned Leonard Cohen listen live looked Louis Botha Lydia looked Mam Agnes Michael Mikey Mikey's mind Mireille mother Moulana Muslim Nelson Mandela Newclare night okay Ouma perhaps pulled quiet rape realised remembered Sadrodien seemed sense Shit Silas and Lydia Silas's silence sipped sits skin sleep smell smile someone Soweto speak staring stopped street talk tariqah taxi tell things thought told township trying tsotsi turned Vinu voice walked watched wife woman words young