The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam

by Lauren Liebenberg

Nyree and Cia live on a remote farm in the east of what was Rhodesia in the late 1970s. Beneath the dripping vines of the Vumba rainforest, and under the tutelage of their heretical grandfather, theirs is a seductive childhood laced with African paganism, mangled Catholicism and the lore of the Brothers Grimm. Their world extends as far as the big fence, erected to keep out the 'Terrs' whom their father is off fighting. The two girls know little beyond that until the arrival from the outside world of 'the bastard', their orphaned cousin Ronin, who is to poison their idyll for ever.

Genres: Fiction, Africa, Zimbabwe, Book Club, Historical Fiction, Novels, Historical

245 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Lauren Liebenberg was born in Zimbabwe, where she spent most of her childhood pedal-by bog-rolling the neighbours, playing ding-dong-ditch and dreaming of someday becoming the lead singer of Boney-M. She was sent to Brescia House, in Johannesburg, for high school, where she was awarded full colours for deportment in Standard 9 (although she says that had she known that no-one would ever care about that particular achievement in her entire career, she might have slouched a bit more).
When her boho back-packing phase ended in squalor, she completed an MBA at Witwatersrand University's Business School, and became a writer after an aborted career in investment banking – which is a fantastic job for anyone with a rabid ego, a weakness for over-sharing and a penchant for living a secret double life full of high-octane drama, she says.
She resides in the suburban outback of Johannesburg, in the shadow of the sewerage pipe that spans the e-Coli infested Jukskei River, and shares her home with a pack of three dogs, two cats, (who are sworn enemies), a husband and two boys – in whom the feral instinct runs strong.
Lauren brands herself a lipstick feminist – it’s jalapeño hot, she says, like champagne and Mardi Gras.

Reviews

[Kiwiflora · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is the 1970s in eastern Rhodesia. Eight year old Nyree lives with her younger sister Cia, her mother and grandfather on a remote farm. Her father, under compulsory conscription of white men, is away fighting the Terrs in the civil war. Nyree and her sister create a world of magic and imagination combining the best parts of their Catholic upbringing, fairy tales and African magic and ritual. It is marvellous reading what these two wee girls get up to and how they make the most mundane surroundings into something magic. Despite their dad being away for long periods of time the farm seems to function well enough under the care of their mother and cantankerous, racist, homophobic, ultra-Catholic grandfather. There are black employees who are part of the family and who the girls turn to as much as their own family. At all times however the threat of the Terrs hang over the farm. Into this mix, one summer, arrives their cousin, 14 year old Ronin - the 'bastard', an orphan whose grandfather Seamus is the black sheep of the family and brother of the girls' grandfather. What this boy's problem is is never really revealed but what becomes quickly apparent is that grandfather puts all of Seamus's sins, whatever they may be, onto the boy, creating a climate of fear, hate and loathing. As you may expect it ends badly.

This is a novel about the innocence of childhood, how as children we intuitively know that something is not quite right but, being children, of course, we don't know what that it is or how to fix it. The writing is beautiful, lyrical, magical and all the more heart rending because of this. I loved it, just loved it, it made me want to be a child again so I could convince my younger sister that we will indeed grow wings just like fairies and fly away.

[Kayleigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like most charity haul books, I chose this one simply because of the title... I love peanut butter and jam. It was a lucky pick, as I really loved the book.

It’s a pretty simple story told from the eyes of a child which makes the whole story and the main characters (Nyree and Cia) super lovable. It reminds you of what it was like to be young and what was important back then, such as “I’m eight and three quarters” and the all important invisible boundary down the middle of the back seat when travelling in the car with a sibling.

Most of the novel is light-hearted; from the blurb I thought there would be more mention of war, as the novel is set during the Bush War in Rhodesia (what is now Zimbabwe).

The novel follows Nyree (eight and three quarters, VERY important) and her little sister Cia on their adventures on and around their farm, nearby forest, school time and family trips. They acquire a sweet stray dog who becomes their lovable pet, Moosejaw.

However, not all ends well, with the murder of poor Moosejaw, the death of a main character and the family home being confiscated when Mugabe takes control of the country. A sad but sobering ending.

This book is definitely a keeper for the shelf and not being recycled back to charity!

[Julia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found this a very difficult read. This is a South African writer and I'm also a South African. It's hard to put my finger on it, but I'll try. I personally don't think it is very well written. It's as if the author is trying too hard and the story is all over the place. I couldn't "feel" any of the characters. Maybe I had too much of an expectation - people were going on about it and it won a prize etc etc. Sorry - it just didn't do it for me ... or maybe I'm just a book snob. :) Oh yes - and the other thing is - the title and cover of the book is also misleading. I was in the mood for a light read and I assumed (my mistake) that it was, but it was everything but light.

[Tim Holden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful, poignant, vibrant, sad, lyrical, evocative and moving.

Myth and superstition is beautifully integrated into 'modern' life as cultures and beliefs, old and new co-exist peacefully and mostly harmoniously. But the political wolf stalks at the gate!

Overflowing with metaphor this novel provides the reader with an emotional and touching view into the micro world of the main characters and parallels their experiences with the macrocosm of a very unstable and dangerous Africa.

Reading this novel has enriched my life.

[Hazel Edwards · Rating 3 out of 5]

Extremely 'lush' writing which creates a child's view of an Africa which no longer exists politically. Well drawn eccentric characters, especially the grandfather. Underlying sense of menace and evil of the boy. Intriguing title which symbolises the child's obsessional delight in the sensual.

[Morlette Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is an unsettling book....but captures a history that is now gone but nontheless real and a history I understand. I really recommend it.

[Elda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do not kill dogs in books!

[Carrie CJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an odd one, because on the one hand, I found this very compelling and readable (I really raced through it), and there were some general elements I liked - I always enjoy reading about a period in recent history that I don't know anything about, and books from a country I've not read much about before too. I think in hindsight it was the exploration of the political turmoil in what was Rhodesia in the 1970s that I enjoyed the most and that was my lasting souvenir if you like - it definitely addressed a gap in my knowledge and I think also a gap in modern literature (although if anyone else knows of any good books about this period in Zimbabwe's history I would love to read them). However, in terms of characterisation, this felt lacking to me. I could not agree more with every criticism that has been made about the use of dialect in the text - it felt largely contrived and I quickly got incredibly irritated having to flick to the glossary probably once every two pages (currently reading Stay with Me which employs dialect in a much smoother and less jarring fashion). Ronin felt like a cipher or symbol rather than a person and I think because of that I struggled to find him at all threatening or to believe in the tension, because he just seemed so two-dimensional. Having a character presented as uniquely evil without motivation just isn't particularly interesting, let alone particularly believable. More than anything, this book struck me as derivative and a bit tropey - I feel like I've read so many examples of a forced, traumatic coming-of-age that are more affecting than this and I put this down to being unable to care about the characters enough.

[Amanda Ngudle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have never been so conflicted by a book. It's well written in an apologetic language familiar to the author but that takes nothing away from it. The scenes are vivid and unpretentious and so are the characters. But when it comes to the nocturnal activities of these two children: Ny'ree and Cia, it's as if the entire world dies in its sleep. Not once does their mother catch them in their tracks. It's impossible to be that busy. Or is it not?
The story of the pending visit by Ronin, a bastard uncle of theirs is nicely hyped, creating a trepidation over his arrival. He does not disappoint and actually strikes twice. But when he should be atoning for his bloody sins, he is sent off without so much as a tongue-lashing. And this is out of the fact that the book is written through the eyes of a child. It is a great book, nonetheless. I give it 9/10.

[Gemma W · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairly enjoyable, and I read it in one sitting so clearly very readable. It’s not quite what I had expected from the description. It’s really the story of a lost childhood, and an almost gothic, “tragedy is going to get you” type of tale. Full of nostalgia, it was almost playing in sepia tones in my head. The fact it was based in Zimbabwe at a highly important historic moment, however, was fairly incidental. It could really have been set anywhere. There was quite interesting scenery and some Afrikaans vocabulary scattered in, but I would have enjoyed more political / social colour. That’s not really the fault of the book, more that I was reading it expecting something different.

[mrzokonimow · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Smak dżemu i masła orzechowego" to jedno z tych wspaniałych przypadkowych doświadczeń czytelniczych, z których wychodzę zdrowo poobijany.
Piękna, mroczna i magiczna opowieść, momentami dokuczliwie okrutna; opowieść o dzieciństwie pełnym i beztroskim, skonfrontowanym z czystym, bezrefleksyjnym złem.
Warto.

[Steffi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not at all what I expected. An almost lyrical, metaphorical telling from innocence's perspective of life moving from Southern Rhodesia to Zimbabwe. A very non-political telling of a political situation spattered with childhood wonder and confusion. A beautiful piece of literature

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

My grandma gave me this book to read as one of her favorites when she was in South Africa. One of my absolute favorite books, the introduction to a culture I never knew of. The writing, characters. What a journey. Beautiful!

[Eilagh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! The language is enthralling. The story symbolises the death of 'white' Africa, told in conjunction with a family history. Great read!

[Lizzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

First book in a while that has made me cry.

[travisburne · Rating 4 out of 5]

It brought laughter, tears and memories. Thank you.

[Lynn Hutchinson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, I’ve read it, can’t say I hated it but I couldn’t get involved with any of the characters at all.

[Janet Bird · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this through in one go, could not put it down.

[Tracy Foedisch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite what i was expecting. This is a painful story about a white family in Rhodesia when the country fell apart.

[Don · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mildly Interesting

The descriptions were quite good but the subject matter didn't hold my attention. Just me I'm a afraid. Nice insight into life in period and place.

[Bridget Copeman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book and found the characters believable, the relationship between the two sisters was touching and realistic. I loved the Grandfather!

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rhodesia imploding, the perspective of half-wild bush children on a farm that is dessicating in the heartless climate, an interloper child who tortures animals and is damaged goods, but plays nicely with adults. Lots of good meat to hang a story on but it somehow fails to move me.

The book has a strongly biographical feel, but the author has written what I presume is a part-memoir of her own childhood with a fictional mount, and I'm not sure she pulls this off. The hybrid tribalbelife-child-mythologies of the two sisters are compelling, as is the strange, brutal pronouncements of their gin-soaked grandfather, but the bad child Ronin who disturbs their innocence sometimes feesl contrived, driven to act by the authorial need for tension rather than motiviations of character.

I understood the use of slang and afrikaans was to keep a real flavour of how the white Rhodesians spoke, but the book had a whopping glossary and I sometimes felt I was consulting a Lonely Planet phrasebook to decode what was going on. Too much - it broke the flow.

I felt curiously unmoved by the denouement. Perhaps it was because the end-of-colony story is a pretty old trope, as is the child's perspective in bigger political landscapes. Would make an interesting contrast to Richard E. Grant's fillm "Wah-wah".

[Liralen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, and I'm not sure what to make of this. As the book opens, the protagonist, Nyree, is a young girl living with her family in Rhodesia. Her father fights 'terrs', but the country is months away from black majority rule and an end to their colonialist lives.

Nyree's sister, Cia, is her playmate and best friend; the two are relatively isolated but not short on imagination. When their cousin Ronin comes to stay, though, he acts as a wrench thrown into their happy childhood.

And -- nope. Still not sure what to think. In places I thought the writing was lovely; in other places I thought it awfully heavy-handed (the foreshadowing especially). Lots of casual racism, which is fitting for the time and place but made me uncomfortable as a reader. Lots of questions remaining at the end of the book -- about Ronin especially, but also about their great-uncle Seamus, Oupa and Angélique (grandfather and grandmother), the employees on their farm, etc.

I do wonder how closely some of this ties into the author's own childhood. I suppose it's not important, really -- and it could be nothing but that she was born in (what was then) Rhodesia and moved to South Africa. But...curiosity runs strong in my blood...

At any rate, reservedly positive feelings about this one; if I can get my hands on any of her other books I'd be happy to read them.

[Damyanti Biswas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book, intrigued by its title: The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam by Lauren Liebenberg. I felt drawn in by the premise, (the book is set in Rhodesia in the late 1970s, just before it becomes the Zimbabwe we know today) where two girls live in a magical, innocent, yet dangerous world.

This book was shortlisted for the Orange Prize in 2008, and I found out why. The writing is rich, lyrical, without being sentimental or overwhelming, and draws a vivid picture of its setting. I love lines like:

The rainy season has begun and the nights, swollen and sullen, are lanced by dark, spiny curtains of rain. It is raining too, on the day he comes to the Vumba.

Without spoiling the story, I can only say that towards the middle, the story lost me because it added too many stories of the smaller characters...but I came back. The very charm of the book is that like the setting it describes, it harbors an an overpowering fecundity, and excess of small, often unsettling details.

If you like Allende, you might like Liebenberg. I know I did, even though I felt a little suffocated by the tropical atmosphere and the somewhat oppressive ending of the book.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The novel starts off a little hard to read. The odd comma would have been appreciated by my grammar policing brain. I soon got used to it, though, and ended up really enjoying Liebenberg's writing. She puts forward her part of Africa so clearly I felt as if I was back there. I couldn't say what the book would be like for someone who hasn't been to the south of Africa but it was all very familiar to me.

The story itself was heartbreaking. I cried more than a few tears a few different times. And knowing how Zimbabwe has turned out, it's not even possible to imagine a happy ending for Nyree. She's an unreliable narrator. We can't trust everything she says. But we can certainly trust how she feels and at the end of the book, that's probably how we'll be feeling too.

[Carly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this, it was well written. I realised reading this that I know absolutely nothing about the history of Zimbabwe. My education was so localised, we didn't even move much past the history of my province! So I learned a lot about Zimbabwe. The childhood aspects were very familiar to me. I grew up in much the same way, only in a city environment. The informal Apartheid style of living surprised me a bit, because I find that British people love to look down upon Apartheid, but things weren't much different in their colony.

[Chrissy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thia is a delightful book, told from the view point of Nyree, an eight year old child. There are many voices however, as everyone Nyree encounters profoundly affects her thinking. Set on a remote farm in Rhodesia in the late 1970's, it is the story of a childhood "laced with African paganism, mangled Catholicism and the lore of Brothers Grimm". Funny, poignant, tragic and vividly told. It was one of those books that stayed with me long after reading.

[Julia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found this a very difficult read. This is a South African writer and I'm also a South African. It's hard to put my finger on it, but I'll try. I personally don't think it is very well written. It's as if the author is trying too hard and the story is all over the place. I couldn't "feel" any of the characters. Maybe I had too much of an expectation - people were going on about it and it won a prize etc etc. Sorry - it just didn't do it for me ... or maybe I'm just a book snob. :)

[Helen Wood · Rating 4 out of 5]

My second reading of this, for book group - I enjoyed it just as much the second time around, though the reading was slightly spoilt by knowing the end. Set during the civil war in Rhodesia, two young sisters, Nyree and Cia O'Callahan, live in a rambling old farmstead at the edge of a forest. The girls revel in their decaying paradise until the arrival of their orphaned cousin, Ronin, changes everything.

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful and hauntingly beautiful story of two sisters growing up on an isolated farm in the East of what was Rhodesia, in the late 1970's. The girls fending for themselves most of the time create interesting ways to entertain themselves. The book is full of interesting and sometimes dark characters. The author writes in a wonderfully descriptive way and really transports us into the thoughts of these sisters. It was a book that will stay with me for a long time.