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The Leper Compound
“ The Leper Compound will . . . remain with the reader long after the book has been closed.”—Stuart Dybek, author of I Sailed with Magellan For Colleen, motherless at seven, isolated from her schizophrenic younger sister, illness unleashes the uncanny and essential of human identity. Growing into womanhood in Rhodesia’s final conflict-ridden years, she transgresses social, racial, and political boundaries in her search for connection. This masterly novel is a searing evocation of late-twentieth-century African life. Paula Nangle was raised by missionaries in the United States and southern Africa and now lives in Benton Harbor, Michigan. This is her first novel.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
December 7, 2020
This was a book loaned to me by my friend Sandy. It is an unusual book, but I am very glad I read it. Set in Rhodesia (first), renamed Zimbabwe, and then in South Africa, it offers a glimpse of a very specific young White woman's life with her widowed father, schizophrenic sister, teachers and classmates in an African country (Rhodesia) experiencing unrest. She grows from childhood to her 40s during the course of the book. She becomes a nurse, marries, and has a son. All parts of her life flow seamlessly together like a dream, with little explanation of the changes of scene and situation. I was pulled into the book emotionally, and I ended up wanting to know more. I will look for more by Paula Nangle, the author, who was raised in Africa by missionary parents and now lives in Michigan. Superb writing--spare, tight, beautiful.
August 8, 2015
Really struggled to finish this. It should be retitled "Colleen Does Things."
November 21, 2018
The Leper Compound, by Paula Nangle, was difficult not to compare to . Fuller writes memoirs, while Nangle's book is fiction, but both write about the days before, during, and after the civil war in Rhodesia from the perspective of a young white farmer's daughter.
The Leper Compound, a story about a white girl named Colleen, begins with interesting characterization and themes, but as Colleen gets older, the themes dissolve. Early in the book, Colleen seeks to fit in with her black friends, who can't help but to think of her as a privileged white girl. She identifies with the liberal resistance while enjoying all the perks of her race. Even the threat of leprosy seems to be reserved only for black people. Here we have a theme, a character, and a unifying structure tying into the book's title.
By the time Colleen reaches adulthood, it becomes impossible to characterize her. She just becomes an average person dealing with normal problems. She still deals with racial privilege, but she stops trying to fit in and just seems embarrassed. This doesn't suggest that her character has grown. It's more like she's become less passionate about racial issues and more interested in the difficulties of adult life, which is normal in life but doesn't make for an interesting read. It seems like Nangle loses site of her character and just starts writing about life experiences: relationships, marriage, illness, childbirth, and death. Even in the final pages, Colleen's character changes again, becoming envious of her father's wife. Then the book ends. Colleen doesn't learn or grow. She just stops.
If you want to read about this period in African history, you might want to stick with Alexandra Fuller.
The Leper Compound, a story about a white girl named Colleen, begins with interesting characterization and themes, but as Colleen gets older, the themes dissolve. Early in the book, Colleen seeks to fit in with her black friends, who can't help but to think of her as a privileged white girl. She identifies with the liberal resistance while enjoying all the perks of her race. Even the threat of leprosy seems to be reserved only for black people. Here we have a theme, a character, and a unifying structure tying into the book's title.
By the time Colleen reaches adulthood, it becomes impossible to characterize her. She just becomes an average person dealing with normal problems. She still deals with racial privilege, but she stops trying to fit in and just seems embarrassed. This doesn't suggest that her character has grown. It's more like she's become less passionate about racial issues and more interested in the difficulties of adult life, which is normal in life but doesn't make for an interesting read. It seems like Nangle loses site of her character and just starts writing about life experiences: relationships, marriage, illness, childbirth, and death. Even in the final pages, Colleen's character changes again, becoming envious of her father's wife. Then the book ends. Colleen doesn't learn or grow. She just stops.
If you want to read about this period in African history, you might want to stick with Alexandra Fuller.
November 24, 2015
Paula Nangle's The Leper Compound seemed like a books with incredible potential, but it ended up being pretty disappointing in the end. The writing style, very loose and dreamlike, didn't lend itself well to the material, which was harsh and unforgiving. Maybe Nangle did that on purpose, aiming for contrast, but it ended up muddled and confusing instead.
The novel focuses on Colleen, a white girl growing up in the late 20th century in Rhodesia. Her mother died when she was seven, and Colleen herself nearly died of malaria, which left her bedridden for a year. Meanwhile, her little sister has schizophrenia (and gets sent away), and Colleen's father refuses to succumb to the reality of the politics surrounding his coffee farm. We watch Colleen grow up, go away to school, become a nurse, get married, etc. The chapters all stand apart as little stories, but they jump around a lot. Colleen's isolation remains the biggest theme -- she doesn't fit in with the African kids, she doesn't fit in with the racist whites, she's not really a missionary, etc. When she goes away to school, she comes back to a nearly unrecognizable community, as freedom fighters have taken over and war rages around her.
The author seems to assume that the reader understands a lot more than I did -- both the timeline of Colleen's life (which, like I said, bounces around -- there's no real sense of how much time has passed when each new chapter starts), as well as the political situation she's living in. I, for one, know next to nothing about Rhodesia, and the series of militant uprisings that led to its splitting into multiple countries. I thought this novel might be a good way to learn about those things, but Nangle seemed unwilling to explain just about anything.
April 5, 2008
Paula Nangle's debut novel, The Leper Compound, is a book I won't soon forget. I'm tempted to call it a novel-in-stories as each chapter is perfectly self-contained and yet the whole does provide one full narrative. Regardless, it is a brilliant effort.
The book starts out with Colleen as a motherless child ill with Malaria and ends with the death of her father and with her mentally ill sister (schizophrenia since childhood) finally finding a mother in their father's new wife. Throughout, Colleen struggles with her sense of identity and her desire to make sense of life and death--she is a lover, a nurse, a mother--and through it all, an outsider.
All of this could take place anywhere at any time, but it does not: it takes place in the waning years of Rhodesia. A fascinating back drop lending the book political and social overtones and adding to its richness (especially poignant with Zimbabwe so present in the news these days).
I cannot quote from the book as the copy I have is an ARC, but I can tell you this: Nangle can write. In fact, she writes beautifully--her words are moving and yet never overdone. It would have been easy for her to be melodramatic with her subject matter. Instead, she opts for clean, precise language.
I hope to read more from her and I hope that you will look for this book and read it and allow it to move you in the way it has moved me.
The book starts out with Colleen as a motherless child ill with Malaria and ends with the death of her father and with her mentally ill sister (schizophrenia since childhood) finally finding a mother in their father's new wife. Throughout, Colleen struggles with her sense of identity and her desire to make sense of life and death--she is a lover, a nurse, a mother--and through it all, an outsider.
All of this could take place anywhere at any time, but it does not: it takes place in the waning years of Rhodesia. A fascinating back drop lending the book political and social overtones and adding to its richness (especially poignant with Zimbabwe so present in the news these days).
I cannot quote from the book as the copy I have is an ARC, but I can tell you this: Nangle can write. In fact, she writes beautifully--her words are moving and yet never overdone. It would have been easy for her to be melodramatic with her subject matter. Instead, she opts for clean, precise language.
I hope to read more from her and I hope that you will look for this book and read it and allow it to move you in the way it has moved me.
April 20, 2012
The book cover gave few details about Paula Nangle, other than that she lives in Michigan. However, it would appear that she must have lived in Rhodesia as her inside impressions are more than those attained from good research. These are feelings, impressions and experiences that can only come from first hand living. She makes use of cultural vocabulary, expressions and vernacular as only a native of Rhodesia or South Africa could. Nangle's stream of consciousness prose verges at times on poetry, basting the reader in the deep emotional trauma of the characters. Her writing and story are unpretentious, stark and raw. The reader frequently feels "wounded" with the searing emotions to which she exposes you. For a non-South African a glossary of terminology would have been helpful ( I made one in the back of my copy) in order to better grasp the political and social context of the story. Without an understanding of this time and place the story may verge on meaningless instead of the brilliant narrative that she has written. Definitely a book that you should read only after familiarizing yourself with the setting.
November 26, 2007
A stunning debut novel by a psychiatric nurse in which illness unleashes the uncanny and essential of human identity, featuring an American missionary's daughter who grows into womanhood amid the social and political conflict of 1980s southern Africa.
"The Leper Compound succeeds remarkably in giving a sense of how, during the last years of white rule in southern Africa, the daily experience of ordinary people was interfused with the larger historical drama."
—J.M. Coetzee, 2003 Nobel Laureate for Literature and author of Slow Man
"The Leper Compound succeeds remarkably in giving a sense of how, during the last years of white rule in southern Africa, the daily experience of ordinary people was interfused with the larger historical drama."
—J.M. Coetzee, 2003 Nobel Laureate for Literature and author of Slow Man
April 17, 2008
I thought this was a memoir but it isn't. It's newly released. So far it's a bit slow and hard to follow.
Not the greatest book. Time jumped without explanation and didn't have a thread to connect all the woman's experiences together. And it practically ended in the middle of a though. Interesting history about Rhodesia / Zimbabwae but that's about it.
Not the greatest book. Time jumped without explanation and didn't have a thread to connect all the woman's experiences together. And it practically ended in the middle of a though. Interesting history about Rhodesia / Zimbabwae but that's about it.
June 20, 2008
Paula Nangle was raised by missionaries in the US and southern Africa and directly witnessed the transition of Rhodesia to Zimbabwe.
Her debut novel, The Leper Compound, follows Colleen as she grows to adulthood in a similar setting, experiencing the violence and repercussions of racism.
This is a powerful book.
Her debut novel, The Leper Compound, follows Colleen as she grows to adulthood in a similar setting, experiencing the violence and repercussions of racism.
This is a powerful book.
Want to read
September 2, 2008Started reading this and enjoying it --- written from a young girl's (sometimes complicated) perspective. But it's not a light read and it's due back at the library, so I'm going to let it go and pick it up again when I can give it the concentrated set of hours it deserves. Good winter book.
February 26, 2009
This is the book of Charlotte growing up in South Africa and each chapter bounces around to a new point in her life's journey. I found it very disjointing and it did not in my mind really address the political issues and the ramifications for a girl/woman growing up in this country.
May 30, 2012
I don't know why this was called the leper compound when they only talked about it for a moment. Also, I got this book for $3 at a used book store, and I don't even know if it was worth that. It took me months to finish, because I kept getting bored with it. Not the best.
May 24, 2015
A wonderfully cryptic short novel. I'm sorry it's not better known.
October 14, 2016
I liked to be challenged and this book gave me that. I had to learn, and pause and look things up. I needed to focus and think absolutely amazing! More to come on my chanel.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews