The Classifier

by Wessel Ebersohn

What happens to Chris and Ruthie comes naturally to teenagers: they fall in love, obsessively. But it isn’t natural that their love can only survive in secrecy, being against the wishes, even beyond the imagination, of their parents. And above all being illegal. At home Chris half loves, half fears his taciturn father, who never speaks of his important work for the Government. As Chris’s world opens up he learns about his father’s job as head of the province’s Race Classification Office, whose every decision can make or break somebody’s life in the 1970s South Africa. In this moving rites-of-passage story set in extraordinary circumstances, a coloured girl and white boy head for devastating consequences as their vulnerable lives hurtle down a collision course with the pitiless laws of society and the implacable resolve of his father.

352 pages, Paperback

First published June 27, 2011

Reviews

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

this writer is now one of my favourite south african authors. this is the second book i've read, and i'm definitely going to read all the others.

wow - what a story. this was so emotional and is something that is close to my heart. my husband and i are from different races, and to think it was against the law in south africa to marry somebody from a different race. it is just so horrendous how people were treated and the worst - classified.

the characters in this book are great and the story has been written with so much passion. a well deserved 5 star rating.

[Christina’s Word · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this coming-of-age story. He captures the times in South Africa, Durban well; the violence and confusion of growing up an white Afrikaans boy during apartheid. Teenage angst, adolescent love, peer pressure, rugby, trying to understand family. The kindle version certainly needs an edit - sowed/sewed et

[Mililani · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book wove three story lines into one novel. The protagonist was successful in some and dreadfully destructive in others. In some ways the protagonist was brilliant and in other ways, totally clueless about consequences. Win some...lose some.