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An Ounce of Practice
Set between London and Harare in the present day, the novel follows a group of quasi-revolutionaries who are fighting against Mugabe’s dictatorship and in favour of Socialist policies. It is a novel about hope, fear and failure.
576 pages, Paperback
Published January 26, 2017
298 people want to read
About the author
Leo Zeilig
24 books52 followersLeo Zeilig is a researcher and writer of books on African politics and history. His books include a biography of Patrice Lumumba, Africa's Lost Leader (Haus Books, 2008) and a history of social movements on the continent, Revolt and Protest (I. B. Tauris, 2012). His most recent non-fiction book is a biography of Frantz Fanon, Philosopher of Third World Liberation (I.B Tauris, 2016). Leo is currently working on a study of Thomas Sankara. Eddie the Kid is his first novel and his second, An Ounce of Practice. has just been published by HopeRoad.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
July 28, 2017
No sooner had Viktor built Tendai up, turned him into a colossus of the liberation movement, an eccentric genius of the continent's great, tragic history of revolt and plunder, a one-man freedom fighter who joined the Global South with the crisis-ridden North, than Tendai veered off and plunged headlong into the garbage. Why couldn't Tendai just be an honourable goddamn stereotype, a cliché, a figure of unequivocal righteousness - drawn in bold realism with a jutting Lenin jaw, beautiful and serene?
Hope Road Publishing is part of the UK’s thriving independent publishing scene, a scene which is the source of much of the innovative fiction being published today. Hope Road describe themselves as:
In an early scene his partner Nina, and he, on a trip to Paris just before Rosa is conceived, have a very different view of what they see as they approach their hotel (in the novel's world I think 2 stars is supposed to indicate decadent luxury):
He noticed a man sitting by the door, protected with earmuffs and a fur collar drawn across the neck; he had telephone and lottery cards pinned along the length of both lapels. Viktor took a photo.
'Jesus, Viktor,' Nina snapped.
She's right, Viktor thought. Why can't I see the hotel's two stars? Why can I only see this man and his phone cards?
He tried to shake his head clear, refocus away from the man's shame; he wanted to find a path to Nina's world, her automated edit of human suffering. Nina had an ability to see the heated, welcoming reception, the complimentary chocolates on their pillows, the crisp, folded towels, while he saw the stained corridor carpet and that man, that hopeless, eternally present human being, sitting outside their hotel in the night, as he embraced Nina and bathed away the February freeze. Viktor knew that the whole of life, the erratic, fleeting joy of their weekend together, would be reduced in his memory to that man, that unknown, undesiring recipient of his pity. He tweeted the photo.
@viktorisaacs #europeancrisis in evidence on the streets of #paris. #neoliberalism #austerity pic.twitter.co....
This response via twitter is symptomatic of Viktor, even when he later gets involved in real danger he assumes that a virtual campaign will have more effect that feet on the ground, to the despair of his fellow activists.
Viktor is a lover of operas, Verdi's in particular, references to which are interwoven throughout his story, although even there he rationalises his love based on his perception of Verdi's political sympathies. Indeed he tells his 5 year-old (!) daughter:
When Aida premiered, sweetheart, in Egypt, the audience was full of politicians and businessmen, not ordinary Egyptians. When Verdi heard this, he was furious. He wanted the music to be heard by everyone.
Incidentally, and not mentioned in the novel, this view isn't universally shared. Verdi's biographer John Rosselli admitted to being no-fan of the later-life Verdi, "that autocratic rentier-cum-estate owner”, although I suspect Zeilig was aware of this, since he presents Viktor to us warts-and-all, drawing attention to his flaws and contradictions.
At the University, Viktor meets Tendai, a South-African radical, imprisoned both under the apartheid regime but also the ANC, who then moved to Zimbabwe just as most fled in the opposite direction, and thence to London.
In Tendai's worldview Nelson Mandela was a sellout, and Robert Mugabe a friend of Western neo-liberalism (at least initially):
When the regime, the racists, the apartheid dogs, wanted to negotiate, they fingered Mandela - not because he was the best of the ANC but because the bastards knew he would talk, bend, compromise on everything ... Mandela was the low point of our struggle, our failure, not the symbol of our hopes but the end of them. He was the counter-revolution.
In London Tendai is now organising the low-paid cleaning staff at the University, against the will of their official Union, in a strike against the contractor that employs them. He berates Viktor for being more concerned with his political blog and his music than actually taking action:
You are like the bosses, drinking your cafe latte, listening to that … that noise, and writing. While we, us” – the indicated the women at the counter with a sweep of his arm – ‘the poor, the poor of the poor, we protest.’ Breaking his whisper, he laughed loudly again so that people turned.
‘You have it all wrong, Tendai,’ Viktor answered calmly. ‘Being an academic today means poverty, insecurity – we’re proletarianised too. No contracts, no stable jobs, no benefits, no overtime. Déraciné, unrooted, forgotten, members of the poors.'
The story of the strike is based on a impressive real-life successful action in the University of London in which the author participated: https://rs21.org.uk/2017/05/26/there-....
Viktor's relationship with Nina starts to break down, causing obvious distress to their young daughter, Tendai blaming neo-liberalism rather than Viktor's obvious shortcomings:
All such 'hell on earth is produced by bosses conscious competitive accumulation - the source of all exploitation, oppression, inequality and suffering.
And Viktor begins a cyber-relationship with a Zimbabwean activist, Marie-Anne, to whom Tendai introduced him. At Tendai's urging he travels to Zimbabwe both to meet Marie-Anne, but also to experience the "ounce of practice" and the reality of on-the-ground radicalism.
On arrival, in a rather odd side-story, he befriends Louis, a belligerently racist South African but one who oddly cares for the locals despite regarding them as an underclass:
Louis and Viktor were a strange match, the thin, cerebral, frustrated, awkward internet activist and the gruff, squat, thick, loud racist.
A typical exchange in their relationship, when Louis explains the source of his wealth (exporting raw materials to China), a wealth from which Viktor and his causes benefit:
'Don't you think your business is a parasite on the continent's inability to process its own resources?'
'These monkeys couldn't develop a community of grass huts, let alone a continent.'
But the main focus of the larger second part of the novel set in Zimbabwe is Viktor's involvement with "The Society of Liberated Minds", to which Marie-Anne belongs, a radical group that opposes both Mugabe and the opposition MDC, wanting a full-blown Marxist revolution. Viktor's well-meant naivety leads to the arrest, torture and imprisonment of Biko, their key figurehead in Zimbabwe's second city of Bulawayo. Viktor embarks on a worldwide cyber campaign to free Biko, as well as experienced the personal reality of beatings, police brutality, impoverishment and the day-to-day life of the local radicals.
Overall, An Ounce of Practice was an interesting read (although I found the politics more convincing than the personal relationships), and certainly an eye-opener to another world, and a different perspective.
The prose is relatively mundane, only occasionally taking flight when Viktor maps his experienced on to his beloved arias, and at times too didactic. 'Why is he explaining this to me?, thinks Anne-Marie as Viktor laments how the self-professed socialist Mugabe's regime in practice imposed austerity and structural adjustment, I know the history better than he does. For the reader's benefit, is the obvious retort.
But the novel, although highly political is not at all polemical. Indeed, oddly, it perhaps wasn't polemical enough: this was a novel preaching to the converted (a worrying trend of 2016-17 politics), a book for people who think Jeremy Corbyn's 2017 manifesto was a conformist sellout. The characters involved are very much presented with their flaws evident (the one disappointing exception being Biko, who is over-lionised). But while their personalities and methods are very much open to the reader's question, their is an implicit but strong assumption that the reader shares their goal - the ushering in of a full-blown socialist revolution - and the confidence that the collapse of the Western capitalist system is imminent.
So a mixed view from me - I enjoyed it and it would certainly appeal to many people, but I would struggle to recommend to everyone.
For a more detailed - and more sympathetic - review see:
https://theconversation.com/from-lond...
Thanks to Hope Road for providing me with a free review copy.
Hope Road Publishing is part of the UK’s thriving independent publishing scene, a scene which is the source of much of the innovative fiction being published today. Hope Road describe themselves as:
an exciting, independent publisher, vigorously supporting voices too often neglected by the mainstream. We are promoters of literature with a special focus on Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. At the heart of our publishing is the love of outstanding writing from writers you, the reader, would have otherwise missed.Leo Zeilig’s Ounce of Practice tells the story of Viktor, a member of the teaching staff at London University, busy failing to complete his PhD. Politically from the radical left, his young daughter named Rosa after Luxemburg, but a keyboard social-media warrior. The novel’s title is taken from Engels saying “An ounce of practice is worth a ton of theory” [except of course, but not acknowledged in the novel, there is no evidence he ever said it] and follows Leo on a journey both to Zimbabwe, where he experiences the brutal realities of front-line activism, and of self-discovery, particularly his relationship with his daughter and her mother.
In an early scene his partner Nina, and he, on a trip to Paris just before Rosa is conceived, have a very different view of what they see as they approach their hotel (in the novel's world I think 2 stars is supposed to indicate decadent luxury):
He noticed a man sitting by the door, protected with earmuffs and a fur collar drawn across the neck; he had telephone and lottery cards pinned along the length of both lapels. Viktor took a photo.
'Jesus, Viktor,' Nina snapped.
She's right, Viktor thought. Why can't I see the hotel's two stars? Why can I only see this man and his phone cards?
He tried to shake his head clear, refocus away from the man's shame; he wanted to find a path to Nina's world, her automated edit of human suffering. Nina had an ability to see the heated, welcoming reception, the complimentary chocolates on their pillows, the crisp, folded towels, while he saw the stained corridor carpet and that man, that hopeless, eternally present human being, sitting outside their hotel in the night, as he embraced Nina and bathed away the February freeze. Viktor knew that the whole of life, the erratic, fleeting joy of their weekend together, would be reduced in his memory to that man, that unknown, undesiring recipient of his pity. He tweeted the photo.
@viktorisaacs #europeancrisis in evidence on the streets of #paris. #neoliberalism #austerity pic.twitter.co....
This response via twitter is symptomatic of Viktor, even when he later gets involved in real danger he assumes that a virtual campaign will have more effect that feet on the ground, to the despair of his fellow activists.
Viktor is a lover of operas, Verdi's in particular, references to which are interwoven throughout his story, although even there he rationalises his love based on his perception of Verdi's political sympathies. Indeed he tells his 5 year-old (!) daughter:
When Aida premiered, sweetheart, in Egypt, the audience was full of politicians and businessmen, not ordinary Egyptians. When Verdi heard this, he was furious. He wanted the music to be heard by everyone.
Incidentally, and not mentioned in the novel, this view isn't universally shared. Verdi's biographer John Rosselli admitted to being no-fan of the later-life Verdi, "that autocratic rentier-cum-estate owner”, although I suspect Zeilig was aware of this, since he presents Viktor to us warts-and-all, drawing attention to his flaws and contradictions.
At the University, Viktor meets Tendai, a South-African radical, imprisoned both under the apartheid regime but also the ANC, who then moved to Zimbabwe just as most fled in the opposite direction, and thence to London.
In Tendai's worldview Nelson Mandela was a sellout, and Robert Mugabe a friend of Western neo-liberalism (at least initially):
When the regime, the racists, the apartheid dogs, wanted to negotiate, they fingered Mandela - not because he was the best of the ANC but because the bastards knew he would talk, bend, compromise on everything ... Mandela was the low point of our struggle, our failure, not the symbol of our hopes but the end of them. He was the counter-revolution.
In London Tendai is now organising the low-paid cleaning staff at the University, against the will of their official Union, in a strike against the contractor that employs them. He berates Viktor for being more concerned with his political blog and his music than actually taking action:
You are like the bosses, drinking your cafe latte, listening to that … that noise, and writing. While we, us” – the indicated the women at the counter with a sweep of his arm – ‘the poor, the poor of the poor, we protest.’ Breaking his whisper, he laughed loudly again so that people turned.
‘You have it all wrong, Tendai,’ Viktor answered calmly. ‘Being an academic today means poverty, insecurity – we’re proletarianised too. No contracts, no stable jobs, no benefits, no overtime. Déraciné, unrooted, forgotten, members of the poors.'
The story of the strike is based on a impressive real-life successful action in the University of London in which the author participated: https://rs21.org.uk/2017/05/26/there-....
Viktor's relationship with Nina starts to break down, causing obvious distress to their young daughter, Tendai blaming neo-liberalism rather than Viktor's obvious shortcomings:
All such 'hell on earth is produced by bosses conscious competitive accumulation - the source of all exploitation, oppression, inequality and suffering.
And Viktor begins a cyber-relationship with a Zimbabwean activist, Marie-Anne, to whom Tendai introduced him. At Tendai's urging he travels to Zimbabwe both to meet Marie-Anne, but also to experience the "ounce of practice" and the reality of on-the-ground radicalism.
On arrival, in a rather odd side-story, he befriends Louis, a belligerently racist South African but one who oddly cares for the locals despite regarding them as an underclass:
Louis and Viktor were a strange match, the thin, cerebral, frustrated, awkward internet activist and the gruff, squat, thick, loud racist.
A typical exchange in their relationship, when Louis explains the source of his wealth (exporting raw materials to China), a wealth from which Viktor and his causes benefit:
'Don't you think your business is a parasite on the continent's inability to process its own resources?'
'These monkeys couldn't develop a community of grass huts, let alone a continent.'
But the main focus of the larger second part of the novel set in Zimbabwe is Viktor's involvement with "The Society of Liberated Minds", to which Marie-Anne belongs, a radical group that opposes both Mugabe and the opposition MDC, wanting a full-blown Marxist revolution. Viktor's well-meant naivety leads to the arrest, torture and imprisonment of Biko, their key figurehead in Zimbabwe's second city of Bulawayo. Viktor embarks on a worldwide cyber campaign to free Biko, as well as experienced the personal reality of beatings, police brutality, impoverishment and the day-to-day life of the local radicals.
Overall, An Ounce of Practice was an interesting read (although I found the politics more convincing than the personal relationships), and certainly an eye-opener to another world, and a different perspective.
The prose is relatively mundane, only occasionally taking flight when Viktor maps his experienced on to his beloved arias, and at times too didactic. 'Why is he explaining this to me?, thinks Anne-Marie as Viktor laments how the self-professed socialist Mugabe's regime in practice imposed austerity and structural adjustment, I know the history better than he does. For the reader's benefit, is the obvious retort.
But the novel, although highly political is not at all polemical. Indeed, oddly, it perhaps wasn't polemical enough: this was a novel preaching to the converted (a worrying trend of 2016-17 politics), a book for people who think Jeremy Corbyn's 2017 manifesto was a conformist sellout. The characters involved are very much presented with their flaws evident (the one disappointing exception being Biko, who is over-lionised). But while their personalities and methods are very much open to the reader's question, their is an implicit but strong assumption that the reader shares their goal - the ushering in of a full-blown socialist revolution - and the confidence that the collapse of the Western capitalist system is imminent.
So a mixed view from me - I enjoyed it and it would certainly appeal to many people, but I would struggle to recommend to everyone.
For a more detailed - and more sympathetic - review see:
https://theconversation.com/from-lond...
Thanks to Hope Road for providing me with a free review copy.
July 29, 2017
"An Ounce of Practice" is published by HopeRoad Publishing. On their website, HopeRoad say:
"HopeRoad Publishing is an exciting, independent publisher, vigorously supporting voices too often neglected by the mainstream. We are promoters of literature with a special focus on Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. At the heart of our publishing is the love of outstanding writing from writers you, the reader, would have otherwise missed."
The title of the book is pulled from the saying that "an ounce of practice is worth a ton of theory". The novel attributes this to Engels, but the internet is less sure: if you Google it, there are several people credited with it including Mahatma Ghandi, and it seems likely it is really just an English proverb (logically, why would Engels talk about ounces and why would he say something that has no equivalent phrase in German?). Whoever said it, it is the key idea behind the novel.
This book is one that focuses on Africa, specifically Zimbabwe. It follows the story of Viktor who we meet in London where he is hard at work failing to complete a PhD and failing in his relationship with Nina. He befriends Tendai who is an older South African radical who spent time in prison, in Zimbabwe and now in London. Tendai is busy organising strike action for the low-paid cleaning staff at the university. This section of the book is based on a real-life strike in which the author was involved. Tendai believes that Viktor is too cerebral:
"Oh, Vik." He spoke softly. "What you need is less theory. Get it the right way round. You can have your ideas, your theories, the PhD, after liberation. You need to spend some time in a township, not in a bloody school". Then, raising his voice, "Practice, experience; the rest is sterile nonsense. If you haven’t seen and lived, what good are you?"
Through Tendai, Viktor is introduced to Anne-Marie in Harare. They begin a cyber-relationship which quickly becomes about more than politics. Eventually, Viktor heads to Zimbabwe, ostensibly to gain the experience he is missing, but equally because he has fallen for Anne-Marie. Once in Harare, he is confronted with the reality of what “an ounce of practice” really means as he gets involved with "The Society of Liberated Minds" which is the group Anne-Marie is part of. Through this group he meets up with Biko (not THE Biko). Biko’s story is told in parallel with Viktor’s in early parts of the book but later on the two narratives join together as the brutality of the state imposes itself on the story.
I found the first half of the book hard work. It was simply too long, I think, and repetitive in establishing the key story elements (Viktor needs experience instead of theory, his relationship with Nina isn’t working, he loves his daughter). The narrative moves along more interestingly in the second half of the book but, even then, I found I couldn’t get fully engaged with the characters.
It’s an interesting book to read but a lot of the writing is fairly unexciting (and who uses “alas” nowadays - as in He mutters, “Alas, what have I done?”?) and I struggled to get involved in the story, so I have mixed feelings about it overall.
2.5 stars lifted to 3 because it finished quite well (although the very final page is a bit sentimental!).
UPDATE: On reflection, a few weeks later, I have decided that 2.5 stars should be rounded down, not up.
"HopeRoad Publishing is an exciting, independent publisher, vigorously supporting voices too often neglected by the mainstream. We are promoters of literature with a special focus on Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. At the heart of our publishing is the love of outstanding writing from writers you, the reader, would have otherwise missed."
The title of the book is pulled from the saying that "an ounce of practice is worth a ton of theory". The novel attributes this to Engels, but the internet is less sure: if you Google it, there are several people credited with it including Mahatma Ghandi, and it seems likely it is really just an English proverb (logically, why would Engels talk about ounces and why would he say something that has no equivalent phrase in German?). Whoever said it, it is the key idea behind the novel.
This book is one that focuses on Africa, specifically Zimbabwe. It follows the story of Viktor who we meet in London where he is hard at work failing to complete a PhD and failing in his relationship with Nina. He befriends Tendai who is an older South African radical who spent time in prison, in Zimbabwe and now in London. Tendai is busy organising strike action for the low-paid cleaning staff at the university. This section of the book is based on a real-life strike in which the author was involved. Tendai believes that Viktor is too cerebral:
"Oh, Vik." He spoke softly. "What you need is less theory. Get it the right way round. You can have your ideas, your theories, the PhD, after liberation. You need to spend some time in a township, not in a bloody school". Then, raising his voice, "Practice, experience; the rest is sterile nonsense. If you haven’t seen and lived, what good are you?"
Through Tendai, Viktor is introduced to Anne-Marie in Harare. They begin a cyber-relationship which quickly becomes about more than politics. Eventually, Viktor heads to Zimbabwe, ostensibly to gain the experience he is missing, but equally because he has fallen for Anne-Marie. Once in Harare, he is confronted with the reality of what “an ounce of practice” really means as he gets involved with "The Society of Liberated Minds" which is the group Anne-Marie is part of. Through this group he meets up with Biko (not THE Biko). Biko’s story is told in parallel with Viktor’s in early parts of the book but later on the two narratives join together as the brutality of the state imposes itself on the story.
I found the first half of the book hard work. It was simply too long, I think, and repetitive in establishing the key story elements (Viktor needs experience instead of theory, his relationship with Nina isn’t working, he loves his daughter). The narrative moves along more interestingly in the second half of the book but, even then, I found I couldn’t get fully engaged with the characters.
It’s an interesting book to read but a lot of the writing is fairly unexciting (and who uses “alas” nowadays - as in He mutters, “Alas, what have I done?”?) and I struggled to get involved in the story, so I have mixed feelings about it overall.
2.5 stars lifted to 3 because it finished quite well (although the very final page is a bit sentimental!).
UPDATE: On reflection, a few weeks later, I have decided that 2.5 stars should be rounded down, not up.
August 26, 2017
The book is published by HopeRoad Publishing who “vigorously [support] voices too often neglected by the mainstream …. with a special focus on Africa, Asia and the Caribbean”
This book is the second novel by a researcher and writer on African politics and activists and on the development of revolutionary movements – and builds on the author’s expertise and experiences as both an academic and an activist.
In particular Zelig has crafted a novel which draws on his own involvement in a successful strike by cleaners at the University of London (who effectively established their own union in face of the apparent impotence of the official Union to win them basic rights from their outsourced employer), and which also draws on his views on the catastrophic impact on Zimbabwe of Mugabe’s dictatorship twinned with the economic impositions of the IMF/World Bank.
The book consciously tries to join these two themes together to draw out the global nature of the struggle that the author sees against the effects of globalisation and capitalism on the marginalised, and the way in which that struggle is fought.
The key character is Viktor – an untenured academic, struggling to complete his PhD and an on-line left wing activist who runs his own website Mutations as well as tweeting his rejection of capitalism and belief in its imminent collapse, for example after his morning cup of coffee
He is in a dysfunctional relationship with Nina, both surviving on sleeping pills and lapsing into a pattern of passive-aggressive behaviour and almost constant rowing – their relationship only just kept together by their shared responsibility for their daughter Rosa.
Viktor is pulled into the orbit of Tendai – a much older African activist, jailed in South African for killing a black policeman and to his disgust not released when apartheid ended – an experience which makes him class Mandela and the ANC as capitalist conspirators. Post his eventual release he travelled via Zimbabwe to the UK where he now works as an outsourced cleaner at the University where Viktor is based. Tendai organises (against the wishes of their Union) a series of strikes and direct actions drawing attention to the lack of holiday pay, living wage and other benefits for the (mainly African) cleaners from their outsourced employer.
At the same time Tendai critiques Viktor’s blog and his lack of practical engagement in “the struggle” – eventually putting him in touch with an activist and NGO worker Anne-Marie in Zimbabwe. Anne Marie is a member (and occasional lover of the leader) of a fiercely Marxist political organisation "The Society of Liberated Minds" which opposes Mugabe and the opposition MDC (who they regard as equal sell outs to capitalism and neo-liberalism).
Anne-Marie and Viktor strike a sexually charged on-line relationship and under the pressure of this attraction, Tendai’s urgings for him to get practical revolutionary experience and his realisation that his relationship with Nina has failed, Viktor leaves Nina and goes to Zimbabwe, working for a London based website to report back on the revolutionary movement.
In Harare, Viktor and Anne-Marie become lovers but Viktor is urged to get even more involved in the front line struggle and travels to Bulawayo to meet Biko, a fiery activist and dangerously renegade member of the Society, who he had previously interviewed for his blog. Viktor’s naivety and Biko’s recklessness end with them both detained by the police and Biko assaulted and imprisoned and Viktor returns to Harare and throws himself into a campaign for Biko’s release, all the time haunted by a feeling that he has let down Rosa by leaving her and Nina.
The book’s title is from the (possibly) Engel quote “An ounce of action is worth a ton of practice” and this forms the centre-point to the book. Even Viktor’s engagement tends to be on-line and he seems unable to distinguish this from real involvement:
As Anne Marie says
The writing style is very straightforward other than either when one of the characters strays into Marxist language or when Viktor reflects on his other main interest - operatic music. Even there though his enjoyment depends on his perception of the revolutionary credentials of the composer. At one point he lectures two bemused Zimbabweans on a bus
Other than a white-racist Louis meets when he first arrives in Harare and with who he forms a strange bond of mutual incomprehension – all the book’s characters are left-wing activists with a common world-view of the imminent and welcome collapse of the neo-liberal capitalist system, with their role to channel the power of the marginalised to bring about this collapse. Their only disagreement being on the exact methods to achieve this.
In most novels the character of Viktor or Tendai would come across more as an exaggerated archetype, and for the first part of the book I often read Viktor’s musings or Tendai’s impassioned emails to him in more of a spirit of satire than I think is intended. This narrow worldview both adds to the book (by portraying an unfamiliar world) but also detracts from it as it removes some of the tensions of colliding views and characters.
Thanks to HopeRoad for providing me with a free review copy.
This book is the second novel by a researcher and writer on African politics and activists and on the development of revolutionary movements – and builds on the author’s expertise and experiences as both an academic and an activist.
In particular Zelig has crafted a novel which draws on his own involvement in a successful strike by cleaners at the University of London (who effectively established their own union in face of the apparent impotence of the official Union to win them basic rights from their outsourced employer), and which also draws on his views on the catastrophic impact on Zimbabwe of Mugabe’s dictatorship twinned with the economic impositions of the IMF/World Bank.
The book consciously tries to join these two themes together to draw out the global nature of the struggle that the author sees against the effects of globalisation and capitalism on the marginalised, and the way in which that struggle is fought.
The key character is Viktor – an untenured academic, struggling to complete his PhD and an on-line left wing activist who runs his own website Mutations as well as tweeting his rejection of capitalism and belief in its imminent collapse, for example after his morning cup of coffee
@ViktorIsaacs #KingLatte has enslaved a whole city w/ pathetic pleasures & promises. Caffeinated, we work harder for less. #neoliberalism bit.ly/j3sr8f
He is in a dysfunctional relationship with Nina, both surviving on sleeping pills and lapsing into a pattern of passive-aggressive behaviour and almost constant rowing – their relationship only just kept together by their shared responsibility for their daughter Rosa.
Viktor is pulled into the orbit of Tendai – a much older African activist, jailed in South African for killing a black policeman and to his disgust not released when apartheid ended – an experience which makes him class Mandela and the ANC as capitalist conspirators. Post his eventual release he travelled via Zimbabwe to the UK where he now works as an outsourced cleaner at the University where Viktor is based. Tendai organises (against the wishes of their Union) a series of strikes and direct actions drawing attention to the lack of holiday pay, living wage and other benefits for the (mainly African) cleaners from their outsourced employer.
At the same time Tendai critiques Viktor’s blog and his lack of practical engagement in “the struggle” – eventually putting him in touch with an activist and NGO worker Anne-Marie in Zimbabwe. Anne Marie is a member (and occasional lover of the leader) of a fiercely Marxist political organisation "The Society of Liberated Minds" which opposes Mugabe and the opposition MDC (who they regard as equal sell outs to capitalism and neo-liberalism).
Anne-Marie and Viktor strike a sexually charged on-line relationship and under the pressure of this attraction, Tendai’s urgings for him to get practical revolutionary experience and his realisation that his relationship with Nina has failed, Viktor leaves Nina and goes to Zimbabwe, working for a London based website to report back on the revolutionary movement.
In Harare, Viktor and Anne-Marie become lovers but Viktor is urged to get even more involved in the front line struggle and travels to Bulawayo to meet Biko, a fiery activist and dangerously renegade member of the Society, who he had previously interviewed for his blog. Viktor’s naivety and Biko’s recklessness end with them both detained by the police and Biko assaulted and imprisoned and Viktor returns to Harare and throws himself into a campaign for Biko’s release, all the time haunted by a feeling that he has let down Rosa by leaving her and Nina.
The book’s title is from the (possibly) Engel quote “An ounce of action is worth a ton of practice” and this forms the centre-point to the book. Even Viktor’s engagement tends to be on-line and he seems unable to distinguish this from real involvement:
He published daily updates, posted articles, appeals, blog posts in a frenzy of action, a barrage of activity and information that he believed would bear down on the Zimbabwe High Commission in London, the prison switchboard in Harare, the ZANU and MDC MPs …… If Viktor kept moving quickly enough between tasks, plugged the holes that opened between emails, online petitions and phone calls, his activism would free Biko …. He wondered if this was how it felt to be totally, completely immersed in practice. Was this the life of a militant?
As Anne Marie says
“Your messages of success, even for Biko, are the number of likes you receive or how extensive the comments are on your latest update
He [Biko] doesn’t think, he just leaps into action. No wonder you don’t like him. You think and never act, he acts and never thinks
The writing style is very straightforward other than either when one of the characters strays into Marxist language or when Viktor reflects on his other main interest - operatic music. Even there though his enjoyment depends on his perception of the revolutionary credentials of the composer. At one point he lectures two bemused Zimbabweans on a bus
Viktor explained that Verdi supported the revolutionaries of 1848 and that it had been illegal under Austrian occupation in Northern Italy, where his operas were performed, to play an encore - you see an encore was deemed a political act and outlawed
Other than a white-racist Louis meets when he first arrives in Harare and with who he forms a strange bond of mutual incomprehension – all the book’s characters are left-wing activists with a common world-view of the imminent and welcome collapse of the neo-liberal capitalist system, with their role to channel the power of the marginalised to bring about this collapse. Their only disagreement being on the exact methods to achieve this.
In most novels the character of Viktor or Tendai would come across more as an exaggerated archetype, and for the first part of the book I often read Viktor’s musings or Tendai’s impassioned emails to him in more of a spirit of satire than I think is intended. This narrow worldview both adds to the book (by portraying an unfamiliar world) but also detracts from it as it removes some of the tensions of colliding views and characters.
Thanks to HopeRoad for providing me with a free review copy.
March 8, 2017
Leo Zeilig’s An Ounce of Practice is a sweeping exploration of human connections and a search for meaning beyond mere existence. It is a journey driven by sex, politics and idealism. The flawed characters are radicals fighting for personal freedom and a better way of living. They are striving for a Promised Land, unable to be present and satisfied, unwilling to accept.
The protagonist is Viktor, a member of the teaching staff at a London University where he is prevaricating over completing his PhD. Viktor struggles with his everyday situation and seeks a cause to champion. Having befriended members of the outsourced cleaning staff, many of whom are illegals, he becomes involved in their campaign for worker’s rights. His contribution is to document their protests on his blog.
Through these workplace connections Viktor is put in touch with a group of resistance fighters in Zimbabwe and acquires an interest in their struggle. Eventually he will be coerced into visiting, to gain his ‘ounce of practice’.
In London, Viktor lives with Nina. They embarked on a passionate love affair but soon grew discontented. Viktor has detached himself from Nina’s attempts to facilitate understanding of her needs, leading to rows that drain his energy. Despite moments of clarity when he recognises his flaws they serve only to pull him further into self-contemplation. For all his efforts to make a positive difference in the world, his focus remains on himself. Even their daughter, whom Viktor adores, struggles to maintain his attention.
When Viktor travels to Harare he is perturbed by the crumbling infrastructure and disparate living conditions. He joins a small group of socialists who eagerly pontificate on revolution. He meets NGOs enjoying their pampered lifestyle whilst ‘helping’ poverty stricken locals. He is told of the former socialists who gained power but then grew out of touch, travelling the world fund-raising, always business class.
The sweeping narrative can at times feel bogged down in the details of the radicals’ polemic. It is worth wading through these sections for when the pace once again picks up. The section set in Bulawayo is tense and pivotal, although does little to improve Viktor’s naval gazing and insatiable need for affirmation.
Viktor is not the only conundrum. Biko, the cogent student radical, the future hero of the movement, trades the fine jacket his dying mother worked and saved for a year to buy for a few moments on a sofa with a girl. Details are shared of sweat, phlegm, mucus and semen. The reader is offered little respite from the messiness of being alive.
Although this is partly a tale of a white man’s attempts to save Africans, there is no glossing over the locally endemic corruption. Easy answers do not exist for a problem centuries in the making.
Their flaws may make many of the characters difficult to like but they add depth to the complex personal and political situations.
Any Cop?: There is little to raise the spirits in this tale despite the many well meaning efforts. What it does provide is rich food for thought.
The protagonist is Viktor, a member of the teaching staff at a London University where he is prevaricating over completing his PhD. Viktor struggles with his everyday situation and seeks a cause to champion. Having befriended members of the outsourced cleaning staff, many of whom are illegals, he becomes involved in their campaign for worker’s rights. His contribution is to document their protests on his blog.
Through these workplace connections Viktor is put in touch with a group of resistance fighters in Zimbabwe and acquires an interest in their struggle. Eventually he will be coerced into visiting, to gain his ‘ounce of practice’.
In London, Viktor lives with Nina. They embarked on a passionate love affair but soon grew discontented. Viktor has detached himself from Nina’s attempts to facilitate understanding of her needs, leading to rows that drain his energy. Despite moments of clarity when he recognises his flaws they serve only to pull him further into self-contemplation. For all his efforts to make a positive difference in the world, his focus remains on himself. Even their daughter, whom Viktor adores, struggles to maintain his attention.
When Viktor travels to Harare he is perturbed by the crumbling infrastructure and disparate living conditions. He joins a small group of socialists who eagerly pontificate on revolution. He meets NGOs enjoying their pampered lifestyle whilst ‘helping’ poverty stricken locals. He is told of the former socialists who gained power but then grew out of touch, travelling the world fund-raising, always business class.
The sweeping narrative can at times feel bogged down in the details of the radicals’ polemic. It is worth wading through these sections for when the pace once again picks up. The section set in Bulawayo is tense and pivotal, although does little to improve Viktor’s naval gazing and insatiable need for affirmation.
Viktor is not the only conundrum. Biko, the cogent student radical, the future hero of the movement, trades the fine jacket his dying mother worked and saved for a year to buy for a few moments on a sofa with a girl. Details are shared of sweat, phlegm, mucus and semen. The reader is offered little respite from the messiness of being alive.
Although this is partly a tale of a white man’s attempts to save Africans, there is no glossing over the locally endemic corruption. Easy answers do not exist for a problem centuries in the making.
Their flaws may make many of the characters difficult to like but they add depth to the complex personal and political situations.
Any Cop?: There is little to raise the spirits in this tale despite the many well meaning efforts. What it does provide is rich food for thought.
May 22, 2017
Set between London and Harare in the present day, the novel follows a group of quasi-revolutionaries who are fighting against Mugabe’s dictatorship and in favour of Socialist policies. It is a novel about hope, fear and failure.
December 10, 2017
This is a good mix between political and personal emotions, but the overall subject is only gripping for the truly interested.
July 3, 2017
This story follows Viktor, a white man from London. Viktor struggles with life - with his PhD, his wife and daughter, the lack of anything of any great meaning. At the university he meets Tendai, a political rebel who has been in prison in Zimbabwe and is now living in London. Tendai is organising a strike action by the underpaid and undervalued cleaners at the university. Viktor learns of the struggles still going on in today's Zimbabwe, where Mugabe is acting as dictator after the black Zimbabweans have fought for so long for the right to democracy. Enthused by the opportunity to oppose this injustice Viktor sets off to Harare. He joins a small group who are inciting their fellow countrymen to rise against the Mugabe regime. Most of Viktor's contribution is via the internet, using posts to update people about the group's plans and how to get involved.
While the background story is very interesting, I found Viktor to be too vague a character to really make me sympathise with his trials. I also felt that this story could have been completed in far fewer pages, the action was too diluted. The main spoiler for me was the names of the protagonists. Nelson and Biko, Lenin and Stalin. I felt that this diminished the standing of Nelson (Mandela) and (Stephen) Biko. Lenin and Stalin? Stalin had a reputation as a cruel dictator who had any potential rival put to death. Not a good image for this character.
While the background story is very interesting, I found Viktor to be too vague a character to really make me sympathise with his trials. I also felt that this story could have been completed in far fewer pages, the action was too diluted. The main spoiler for me was the names of the protagonists. Nelson and Biko, Lenin and Stalin. I felt that this diminished the standing of Nelson (Mandela) and (Stephen) Biko. Lenin and Stalin? Stalin had a reputation as a cruel dictator who had any potential rival put to death. Not a good image for this character.
April 10, 2017
An Ounce of Practice paints a compelling picture of the desperate world of migrants and émigrés drawn to the flickering flame of revolt despite the tsunami of neoliberalism. Leo Zeilig has delved deep, with a cold eye and a warm wit into the passions and motivations of his cast of committed but troubled characters.
Totally absorbing read. Great to see thoughts one's own thoughts appear in print. Deintely recommend to those that care about the future of the world. Le Carre, Roth, Piercy - add Zeilig to the list...
Totally absorbing read. Great to see thoughts one's own thoughts appear in print. Deintely recommend to those that care about the future of the world. Le Carre, Roth, Piercy - add Zeilig to the list...
April 12, 2017
Fast-paced political action and complex characters are the highlights of Leo Zeilig's second novel, set in Zimbabwe. An Ounce of Practice tells a spellbinding tale of an intellectual leftie from London, a group of southern African activists, and the emotional battles of living, and acting in the global struggles of the 21st century.
Zeilig's characters in London and Harare connect at first in virtual space through Facebook, Skype, emails and blogposts. Then the main protagonist, Viktor is pushed ever deeper into his personal and political crisis; being persuaded, cajoled, and seduced, he travels to Zimbabwe. There he hopes to find “some bloody practice”, grabbing a chance to write “at last for a movement, a people struggling against dictatorship and neoliberalism”. And to meet Anne-Marie with whom he has been flirting online... The action heats up in Harare and Bulawayo. Hotter, more raging, more engaging, more dangerous, more violent than he could have ever imagined.
An Ounce of Practice is a story about the links of the Global North and South, and how people live, love and struggle in the age of neoliberalism and digital encounters. It emphasizes the connection of personal and political crisis, and its antidotes: action, hope and love.
As already in his 2013 debut novel 'Eddie the Kid', Zeilig draws his characters with a close eye, deep psychological insight, and extraordinary empathy. Zeilig's new novel breathes authenticity with a superbly crafted cast of characters and poignant dialogue. He also impresses with acute, sensuous observations of place. The sights, smells and sounds of Harare particularly draw the reader deep into the dilapidated resilience of this once opulent, colonial city.
An Ounce of Practice succeeds as an imaginative engagement with the predicament of global political activism today. Beautifully written, fast-paced and in parts deeply philosophical this is a brilliant work of literary imagination that takes the reader to new realities in an engaging, moving read, hilariously humorous at times. Zeilig's new novel is a page-turner for readers interested in the profound questions of radical politics and humanity in today's world.
Zeilig's characters in London and Harare connect at first in virtual space through Facebook, Skype, emails and blogposts. Then the main protagonist, Viktor is pushed ever deeper into his personal and political crisis; being persuaded, cajoled, and seduced, he travels to Zimbabwe. There he hopes to find “some bloody practice”, grabbing a chance to write “at last for a movement, a people struggling against dictatorship and neoliberalism”. And to meet Anne-Marie with whom he has been flirting online... The action heats up in Harare and Bulawayo. Hotter, more raging, more engaging, more dangerous, more violent than he could have ever imagined.
An Ounce of Practice is a story about the links of the Global North and South, and how people live, love and struggle in the age of neoliberalism and digital encounters. It emphasizes the connection of personal and political crisis, and its antidotes: action, hope and love.
As already in his 2013 debut novel 'Eddie the Kid', Zeilig draws his characters with a close eye, deep psychological insight, and extraordinary empathy. Zeilig's new novel breathes authenticity with a superbly crafted cast of characters and poignant dialogue. He also impresses with acute, sensuous observations of place. The sights, smells and sounds of Harare particularly draw the reader deep into the dilapidated resilience of this once opulent, colonial city.
An Ounce of Practice succeeds as an imaginative engagement with the predicament of global political activism today. Beautifully written, fast-paced and in parts deeply philosophical this is a brilliant work of literary imagination that takes the reader to new realities in an engaging, moving read, hilariously humorous at times. Zeilig's new novel is a page-turner for readers interested in the profound questions of radical politics and humanity in today's world.
April 17, 2017
I always look forward to Zeilig's writing, and in his second novel his trademark searing honesty is especially incisive. There's a lot going on here-- a strike of immigrant workers, a Zimbabwean resistance movement, a relationship disintegrating and another one beginning-- but it's all woven tightly together with the thread suggested in the title: that an ounce of practice is worth a ton of theory, that no amount of digital chatter and half-baked ideology can substitute for real action and real touch, real ties even across continents. Brilliantly realized settings, complex characters, and Zeilig's firsthand knowledge of the contradictions and cruelties of Zimbabwe's politics make this book a triumph. Looking forward to the next one.
April 27, 2017
I won this book as a giveaway on good reads site. I enjoyed reading it. It had a good story to it. It is my first book by this author. I hope to read more books by this author.
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