No Tigers in Africa

by Norman Silver

Newly arrived in England from South Africa, a fifteen-year-old's family deteriorates, as the effects of living under apartheid take a toll on every aspect of the family members' lives.

Genres: School

100 pages, Hardcover

First published April 27, 1992

Reviews

[River Wilde · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautifully written book that cleverly explores the hidden roots of racism and how they affect both sides. It describes the random acts of violence faced by black people in South Africa and the context that often leads white people to violence.
For those born in this context, racism can be internalised and may come out in small, disparaged and escalating acts before it reaches full violence.
The teenager in the book is forced to confront his own racism when his family leaves South Africa and settles down in England. We see things through his eyes, while battling with depression and failing to let go of his life back home.
As usual, it takes a girl (who gets no character background or development) who he wants to date to do a lot of the emotional labour to help him. But, on the other hand, he's also helped by Bala, his therapist at the Villa, and the other kids he interacts with.
We're not all born racist, we're made that way. And some of us can also be unmade. I think it was interesting to go on this journey inside the mind of someone struggling to understand who he was (how racism shaped him) and who he can be in the future (hopefully a better person).

[Tallulah · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was interesting to read fiction surrounding South Africa and apartheid and the gradual awareness Selwyn gains on the racial biases he has grown up with, once he’s left the country.
However i think there were a lot of descriptions that didn’t particularly add to the story, and the writing felt fairly rushed and didn’t flow too well :/

[Lilly · Rating 1 out of 5]

I do not like the main character. I think he has a victim complex and I can't really see any character development. It probably didn't help that we read this in school because we always had to empathize with him, which was nearly imposible for me

[Mohamed Bourezi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The novel No Tigers in Africa is a story of the teenager Selwyn living with guiltiness and remorse throughout his teen years. The novel opens up with the arrival of Selwyn and his family in England. Being immigrant in England gives him new ways of looking back to Black vs white relations in South Africa and. At first, it causes him more distress and shame, but he ends up tolerating his own self after the meeting Rosalie (another white South African living in England) and telling her his story and his own feelings about the incident which causes the death of the young Philemon Majodena
The story is told in the first person narrator in order to reflect deeply the insight of the shameful white teenager who is born into a certain type of black vs white relationships, conflicts, and way of life. He makes his way out of this system after getting out of it and look at it from a distance. In England, blacks are humans again and it takes Selwyn a little time to adapt to that in a similar manner of how he got over the incident of Philemon Majodena. The narrator reflects this experience through his constant narration of how he and his family treat blacks in South Africa, and with great caution, he constantly reminds the reader that he is not being racist but narrating how the life is in South Africa for both whites and blacks. The narrator provides these insights to suggest that is born into that system (narrating events) and that he becomes aware of it and feeling ashamed and guilty for it (how events are portrayed).
The second point that the narrator alludes to is that Selwyn has a mixed origins. He is South African. Yet, One of His grandfathers escaped Nazi persecution in Poland, the other one is Englishman, his grandmother is German but they are all Jews. The significance of his origins is that they are all minorities, who survived horrible times and they all have the same fate. Leaving for England makes Selwyn realize how ignorant he is, not knowing the history of his roots while feeling superior in the way they treat blacks. All this creates a psychological trauma for him. He gets over it when he accepts and tolerates himself finding a compromise in humanitarian reason. Humanity!

[bjneary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Students might have trouble wading through this book because Selwyn is always using words they won't know and then explaining them afterword. Apartheid, angst and teen guilt are all to real in this book.

[LeAnne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of cultural detail about his South African up-bringing as he rethinks his racial views and guilt, but there is more monologue than scene as is often a problem with first person novels. This is a first novel with room to grow.

[Yumi Kaioh · Rating 2 out of 5]

aprendi aquela palavra que o protagonista vê pela janela

jacarandá

[Helena Ferry]

Svenska: Inga tigrar i Afrika