Middlepost

by Antony Sher

8vo. A good copy in cherub-patterned burgundy paper covers. Small coffee stain to front cover tail and fore edge, not affecting pages internally. Immediate despatch from the UK.

Genres: Fiction, South Africa

Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Sir Antony Sher, born in Cape Town, South Africa on June 14th, 1949, was an actor, memoirist, playwright, painter, and novelist, best known for his performances of Shakespearean characters like Richard III, Macbeth, and Sir John Falstaff. He has performed in plays by such writers as Molière, Chekhov, Brecht, Arthur Miller, Mike Leigh, and Harvey Fierstein, and has portrayed historical figures as diverse as Primo Levi and Adolf Hitler, Benjamin Disraeli and Ringo Starr. In 1985 he received the Laurence Olivier Award for his work as Richard III, and again in 1997 for Stanley.

His writings include novels, plays, and memoirs, including Year of the King: An Actor's Diary and Sketchbook, his account of playing Richard III for the Royal Shakespeare Company, called by actor Simon Callow "the most wonderfully authentic account of the experience of creating a performance."

He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2000.

In 2005, Sher and his partner – director Gregory Doran, with whom he frequently collaborates professionally – became one of the first gay couples to enter into a civil partnership in the UK.

Reviews

[David Ellis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very strange and memorable book, but not always a likeable or an easy read. Set in early 20th century South Africa, just after the Boer War, the innocent, unworldly Smous is trying to join others from his Jewish family in Calvinia, fleeing persecution in their native Lithuania. But he finds himself lost, without identification or language, and stuck in the small settlement of Middlepost, trying to fashion a life amongst its strange inhabitants. Much good writing, sometimes funny, sometimes touching, but sometimes brutally violent (gratuitously so, it seemed to me). Nonetheless one feels engaged with Smous, and wishes him well on his bewildering journey.

[Jean · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unusual and slightly weird

[Shelly Dennison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up having enjoyed The Year of The Fat Knight and The Year of the King with no real expectations except curiosity - how would Sher's novel writing compare to the diary format? I found myself really enjoying it - the novel tells the story of Smous and his journey from Eastern Europe to South Africa, attempting to find those members of his family who have emigrated. I was impressed with how well both locations sprang off the page and how well characters who don't understand each others languages interact and come to understandings (or not). I have no idea how accurate the portrayal of turn of the century South Africa is but it certainty felt real. It's a pacey read and full of incident - I enjoyed it very much.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

read it a long time ago, but I found it to be intriguing and very surreal...

[Judith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best and most unusual book I have read for a long while.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A riotous, somewhat raunchy,and at times fanciful, but in the main believable, recreation of the life of a European, probably Lithuanian, Jewish settler in South Africa.