Empire Settings

by David Schmahmann

Danny Divan is a white teenager in South Africa under apartheid when he falls in love with the daughter of a black domestic servant. His family forces the two apart, and eventually his discomfort with the poisonous political atmosphere drives him from the country and to a new life in America. Within weeks of his arrival in Boston, Danny meets Tesseba, an offbeat but trusting artist who takes him in and marries him so he won’t be deported. Even as they live as a couple and build a life together, and as Danny prospers and his family joins him in exile, the memory of his forbidden first love does not fade. Twenty years later, when Danny returns to the "new" South Africa to salvage what he can of his family’s fortune, he sets out to discover what became of the girl he cannot forget. What he finds instead is the truest version of himself. This novel traces the ambiguities of love within a family and for another, and tests the shakiness of memory. Empire Settings reveals how love, and the memory of love, can be overwhelmed by changing assumptions about race and belonging. David Schmahmann was born in Durban, South Africa, and is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the Cornell Law School. He has also studied in India and Israel, and his publications include a short story in The Yale Review and articles on legal issues. He lives in Brookline, Massachusetts and practices law in Boston. This is his first novel. The book has been optioned for a film by noted producer Danny Wilson.

Genres: Africa

328 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2001

About the author

David Schmahmann was born in Durban, South Africa. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Cornell Law School, and has studied in India and Israel and worked in Burma. His first novel, Empire Settings, received the John Gardner Book Award, and his publications include a short story in The Yale Review and articles on legal issues.

He practices law in Boston, and lives in Weston, Massachusetts.

Reviews

[Naomi]

This was a strange book. I almost liked it, but every single character was annoying and the interesting parts weren't fleshed out.

[Pamela Pickering]

Hard to describe. Not really a story of love but one of family and loss. I had picked up this book several years ago and was unable to make it past the first 20 pages but this time I read it very swiftly. The story did not really follow the description on the back of the book so if you're about to read it, give up that expectation. It was told from veiwpoints of each of the main characters. At first, I found the varying viewpoints interruptive but later I thought it added more interest and information to the story (especially regarding some culture and politics). Interesting points on an area of history and culture (Afrikaner) I know little about. I might have given it 4 stars but I thought the ending fell a little flat.

[Leah]

I love the story and the writing style.

The story about a life growing up in South Africa during apartheid and looking back on it from Boston. I particularly enjoyed how each character told their story without having the book feel fragmented. The book reminded me of childhood friends who moved to Canada from South Africa. I feel like I gained a better understanding of their story as well.

The rich language in the book transports you to different places as well as into the minds of each character.

The people and places seem so real that you want to play a part in each of their lives and change the course of many of their stories.

[Gillian Katz]

This is the second, or maybe third time I have read this book. I am sure I will read it again. It brings back all the nostalgia of a South African immigrant to the United States. I am also a South African expatriate author and that is why I keep returning to this book. David Schamahmann vividly describes growing up in South Africa with all the vivid details I remember from my childhood. As a white Jewish expatriate from the apartheid system we share many memories and values that are past and long forgotten. I recommend this book to every South African who has left home and continues to long for it decades later. I also recommend it to people from other countries who want to know what it was like to grow up and leave this wonderful and terrible country.

[Robin]

Quite the history lesson - at least the one that the author is knowledgeable of and presumably experienced in some ways. I won't forget this story any time soon. There's so much that goes on in the world of which we have only a passing knowledge. Glad that this book passed through my Little Free Library. Happy to pass it along to another reader.

[Richard]

This is a first-person novel where the narrator changes with each chapter. It's a wistful love story about a budding romance cut short by the realities of apartheid in South Africa. An interesting enough book, I suppose, although quite a bit more soapy than what I usually read.

This was the tenth of a projected 19 consecutive Africa-related books I plan to read, and only the second that was a work of fiction. It's also yet another "white voice from Africa" that ended up on my reading list and it offers a particularly tame view of apartheid, especially compared to the previous book I read, Rian Malan's My Traitor's Heart: A South African Exile Returns to Face His Country, His Tribe, and His Conscience

[Tuck]

not a well written novel, but has sparks of beauty and insight. sa is a rough ass place, but then from this fresh perspective of the author's, so is usa. you could say sa apartheid learned all the tricks it needed from good ole usa. this novel is about a comfortable sa white kid who immigrates to usa, then goes back to new sa, then comes back to usa. human racism can be terribly destructive, cruel, and disgusting. funny how we so easily take to it.
a note on white pine press of buffalo ny, i think its gone. a shame.

[Sarah]

This novel is simply stunning. The prose is lyrical, chock full of wonderful descriptions of South Africa, and manages to keep a firm balance between multiple narrators. The story is an enthralling tale of love, family, and loss, and Schmahmann handles the subjects of apartheid and the loss of one's home country very well, weaving it all together with very honest, personal emotions. A magnificent read.

[Kristin]

I loved the beginnings of this book which has the voices of several family members talking about the changeover from apartheid to Mandela days in South Africa. And then the housekeeper too. I wish that the unrequited love part was not such an important part of the story because for me it was the most improbable. If the writer had skipped that and kept to the splintering of the family and the change in their lives, it would have been much more successful. I did enjoy it though!

[Elizabeth]

This was a different portrayl of life in South Africa during and post- Apartheid. Now, it's diffiulct to describe... Nonviolent. A love story without anything sexual (no Danielle Steele). Biracial "couple" torn apart in the beginning stages of dating...he moves away...she stays. They're always wondering about each other.

Surprise ending. Honestly, never saw it coming.

[Dr Penner]

A very compelling book. The plot was entirely unique from my perspective. A bit of history, romance, and family drama told by a series of characters over a span of twenty-some years. I thought the prose was particularly well written and even captivating at times. I’ve been recommending this book to friends and family and I guess some strangers on the internet too.

[Suzy Ruskin]

This was a really good read.

[Gail]

It is about a Jewish man born in South Africa who had to leave at the age of 17. He settled in America but never recovered from leaving South Africa.
The sequel, Ivory from Paradise is better.

[Karen Eagle]

Well written with beautiful descriptions of South Africa. This book could be used as an educational read for young adults, it dances around sex and violence while keeping the story line intact.

[Lisa]

Interesting perspective of apartheid from a Jewish South African and a good story as he discovers what love and home really mean.

[Amona]

Reminded me of Namibia in a way

[Louise Bailey]

I was moved by the author's fluent skilful writing, the characters who feel like friends, the story told from several points of view. A story of love, loss and how our memories can deceive us.

[Leonor Martinez]

3/5