The Smell of Apples

by Mark Behr

Set in the bitter twilight of apartheid in South Africa in the 1970s, The Smell of Apples is a haunting story narrated by eleven-year-old Marnus Erasmus, who records the social turmoil and racial oppression that are destroying his own land. Using his family as a microcosm of the corroding society at large, Marnus tells a troubling tale of a childhood corrupted, of unexpected sexual defilements, and of an innocence gone astray.

Genres: Fiction, Africa, South Africa, Historical Fiction, Novels, Literary Fiction, Historical

200 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Jennybeast · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book for the portrait of South Africa, which was moving. I feel that it connected me to a time and a place in a believable way. I do not understand why the author decided to add random sexual trauma #3 to the end of the book. For me it did not connect in any way to anything else that was going on. Like the Kite Runner, it took a fascinating book and turned it into sensationalistic dreck. I absolutely believe that childhood sexual abuse occurs more frequently than we want to admit, and that it causes terrible harm, but I don't understand it as a literary conceit.

[Kathryn in FL · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow.

I found this tale at a yard sale or thrift store at least a decade ago and it kept me at full attention throughout the pages. The key figure, Marnus is currently an adult serving as a soldier in Angola in 1988. While I don't recall why he is reminiscing about his past, it does lend insight into the broader storyline. As a young adolescent, he reveres his father, a military man, who is respected though he comes to realize is not necessarily admired. Life seems safe and protected for Marnus. He has a family that has a position in community, a certain cachet as a result and a friend that follows his lead. And yet... we know that his perception of calm and serenity is not the quite reality, something is just underneath the surface but what is it exactly? Marnus is privileged as a white and those who are not white are careful around him.

As we travel through his past, the reader becomes so involved in Marnus and his friend, discoveries of the opposite sex, puberty in all its power envelops us and we follow right along; we have suspicions of course, we know that nothing in life, especially in childhood is as it seems. Yet, when he finally realizes that his idyllic life and those he respects the most are not at all what he has believed, well we struggle all the same. As the reality of his childhood is exposed in the light of truth, I remember saying aloud "oh, no, oh no!". I even shut the book for several minutes. Like Marnus, I didn't want to believe the truth.

I read hundreds of books a year, I have kept about 50 due to space limitation. This was one I held on to for years, I don't know where it went. I probably donated it because I didn't think I could see it with fresh eyes. If that is the case, I regret it.

I found the narrator's voice true to form for his age and circumstances. He is unsophisticated and that is part of what makes the reveal so shocking. At the time of its printing, it definitely appeal to a wider audience with much more regard than the jaded readers of today. For those who like psychological thrillers/dramas this would have much more appeal than those who require gory, horror tales. I am saddened that so many readers did not relish the subtleties this book offered. I found it to be a treasure.

[Dylan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. The Smell of Apples will stay with me for a long time after reading this one.

"Only the hypocrite is really rotten to the core" - Hannah Arendt.

From the outside looking in, the Erasmus' are a wealthy and admirable white South African family. The father, a pillar of society, raises his children with a loving sternness one might expect of an army general. He expects them to behave well, work hard, and adopt his political views; unwavering loyalty to protecting (white) South Africa. The mother is a beautiful and well-known opera singer who is loyal to her husband and devoted to raising her children to be successful and morally upstanding Christian citizens. Marnus, the 11-year-old boy who narrates the story, is a naive, impressionable and loyal young boy who idolizes the male adults in his life. Ilse, Marnus' older sister is smart, a school prefect and head girl of the most prestigious school in False Bay.

Marnus' idyllic life by the sea is not all that it seems. On the surface, the boy's relationship with his father is seemingly normal, and reminiscent of a different time; skinny dipping, fishing and tough love. But hints are made that there is something odd about the father - inappropriate comments are made as he showers with his on-the-cusp of puberty son, and his friend Frikkie, a normally harsh and confident young boy is shy and meek around the father.

When "Mister Smith" stays with the Erasmus' for the week, Marnus and his friend admire the man's masculinity and world-view. It must be kept secret that Mister Smith is in fact a Chilean General. The boys become "blood-brothers" and Marnus tells Frikkie this secret. They promise to never tell anyone their secrets except to each other. The boys admire Mr Smith, but their curiosity leads them to question if his intentions are pure. The boys misinterpret comments of Ilse and the General in reference to the book Moby Dick. Marnus has been previously mocked by his sister for only reading the children's version of the book. Marnus believes she is flirting with the General, and suspects that the two are sleeping together, however, after the General asked the mother to sing a song to remember her by, it is hinted that they slept together, which Marnus later works out.. Marnus' mother is a flawed character. She is uncompromising in her world-views and disassociates with anyone who disagrees (her sister), condescendingly shows care for a poor but "beautiful young white girl", by offering to take her along to see her daughter become the head girl of the prestigious school in order for her to become more "cultured". Additionally, when the son of her maid, Neville, is almost burnt to death for steeling coal, she says that he probably deserved it (Christian values of no stealing) while feigning sympathy by visiting the boy and offering the mother money to replace wages (to be paid back of course).

The Chilean General has left, and, Marnus, having woken up in the early hours of the morning, wondering where his friend, Frikkie, is, peaks through the floorboards and witnesses him being raped by his father . Frikkie, who seemingly cannot remove the smell from his hands after this event, believes that every apple he is offered by Marnus is rotten, and refuses to tell his blood-brother what is bothering him. Marnus, now fearing his father, is later beaten for not willingly accepting the gift offered by the General. Marnus later reflects that it is for the best that all remains secret and forgives his father; revealing that saving face is an important characteristic of the privileged white South African family.

There are many layers to this haunting 200 page story that I didn't touch on - I wish it was longer.

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story of Marnus, a young Afrikaaner boy growing up in South Africa during the Apartheid years. It is a moving account of his childhood experiences and of his interactions with the world around him. 'The Smell of Apples' was a enjoyable read but also an insightful one. The way Aparteid touches Marnus'life defines his attitude and relationships with others. His family live a privileged life but there seems to be the underlying, ever-present threat that everything they and their forebears have fought for could all be taken away. The distance they maintain from the coloured and black people around them enables them to maintain the myth and to hold on to past greivances and hurts. Marnus' mother didn't know her maid's last name even though she had been with the family for years and when the gardener disappeared after years of loyal service there was no concern for his wellbeing only the irritation of finding a new gardener and a stock take of what items were missing. There is constant distrust and fear. Apart from his parent's influence, Marnus is also indoctinated at school where he is taught a one-sided view of their history which takes no account of the development of the world or of time moving forward. It is stuck in the past. The image and stereotype of the other races that were formed in a violent and difficult time are not allowed to change with the passing of the years. By not engaging with the 'enemy' and trying to understand them, the stereotypes are not challenged and are perpetuated; as fresh in the 21st century as they were in the 17th and 18th. There is no opportunity for reconciliation. Every new betrayal or act of violence is held up as justification for deeply held predjuices and stored carefully in a large box called 'I told you so'. It seems that in order to live in a country where apartied is practised you either buy into the image of the past and vision of the future as purported by its supporters or you convince yourself there isn't anything you can do even though you don't agree with it. So you do nothing. Once you start questioning the status quo there is a danger that your life and relationships will begin to unravel. Your itentity, values and beliefs all come into question; sometimes it seems easier and less painful to go on living a lie. Growing up in his secure and certain world, Marnus slowly begins to discover that thing's are not what they seem to be. A well written and thought-provoking book.

[Ali M · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not what I expected. Disturbing to say the least. Took a long time to reach the climax and when it did at last arrive, I wish it hadn't. It may be well written, but this book just wasn't for me.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a striking book about South Africa in the 1970s with a consideration of the harrowing legacy of this period. Whether or not they agree with it, most students of colonial/post-colonial literature are familiar with Frederic Jameson's controversial thesis made in 1986 that all third-world literature is national allegory. Personally, I think that because an author loses control of his work once a reader picks it up to read, it is difficult to come to a conclusive decision such as this one. Certainly a student of post-colonial literature might pick up a work and be looking for such allegory and draw conclusions in line with Jameson's argument. Although I wouldn't today classify South Africa as "third world" (the whole scheme of first, second, and third world has become messier after the end of the Cold War)I think it's worth considering how Behr's debut novel fits into Jameson's thesis. I think that neatly packaging The Smell of Apples as national allegory is misguided, although the history of South Africa (or characters' abuse thereof)deeply influences the novel, there is more than that.

Marnus's story shows how the legacy of South African fathers' (I say fathers because I think the book mainly emphasizes the father-son relationship, plus South Africa in this period was quite a masculine society) affects lives of their sons. It explores the relationship between father and son at a period when the father is still his son's hero, and the way influence (or perhaps indoctrination) is possible at this point. But there is also a less political influence and more horrific influence-- the rape. I'm still trying to think about how this is used at a symbolic level; but at the literal level it is a horrific moment and clearly demonstrates another, darker, legacy of fathers.

The use of Moby Dick as an inter-text is interesting. I was uncertain about the purpose until the exchange between Ilse and Mr. Smith (the General). I like that Marnus can't grasp the symbolic meaning of his favorite book, it shows how he is still innocent and reliant on other people for his "bigger picture" understandings, demonstrating the danger of the racist, sexist, so many other "ists" ideas of his father and other fathers of South Africa. Marnus reads an abridged version of Moby Dick "for children" similar to how his history of South Africa he receives from his father is a simplified one for children. But Ilse suggests that the real Moby Dick is fundamentally about having to choose between two sides. Ishmael must choose between Queequeg and Ahab and betwee wha they represent. This choice is mirrored in the characters of Ilse an Marnus.

So the book is obviously a South African novel. But I think that its structure could be taken out of this context and applied to many other modern states that use a manipulation of history to prosper; it explores the way youth are raised to honor and protect a state based on lies and the fathers who perpetuate these untruths. The damage is unsettling and so is this poignant novel.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about a young boy growing up Afrikaan during the 1970s South African apartheid era in a fairly privileged family with an authoritative father. The child narrator was a great move here by Mark Behr because even though I did not agree with the views of the narrator, I was able to see things from that point of view. Very descriptive prose in some places, great use of dialogue to showcase character flaw. Though the book really did not talk about apartheid as I thought it would, it discussed racial and social divisions with much brevity. The main character's father was an army man whose ideologies were passed to his family: South Africa was given to him by God and he would fight to keep his country from black South Africans--even the apples in South Africa was their doing, he told his son. Eleven-year-old Marnus gets to show this environment through the mind of a child and as a reader, you get to experience his environment with him, hear about what he thinks of people who are not like him, learn as he learns, feel his devastating moments with him. The simultaneous usage of past and present tense narrative style really worked well in this case.

Until the adult narrator comes in. Why Behr decided to have inner thoughts of the adult narrator scattered throughout the chapters, baffles me. You get this parallelism: young Marnus, and adult Marnus who is a soldier fighting in Angola. Details about the war? Nothing. Transition to the war? Nothing. Instead you get random thoughts (some scenes)...so confusing it makes you want to stick with the child narrator.
As for the character flaws, it was hard to remember or love the narrator because you don't get to see the learned young man at the end. Sure, there's something that happens at the end that changes his perspective but you don't get to see the character change. There is also an incident that happens to him as a soldier (won't spoil it) but again, you learn about it through these weird snippets in the book.

[Nicole Gervasio · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, I'll admit: I totally misread this novel the first time, and I carried that misreading into a graduate class this fall (five years after my first read) and ended up liking it far less once my classmates clued me in on the fact that I was blind/a moron. Since my misreading won't actually be a spoiler, I'll tell you what I'd remembered happening: I'd thought the General had gotten with Marnus's father, not another adult (to tell you this would be the spoiler). To me, this knowledge helped make sense of the traumatic rape that happens, to some extent. If there had been another adult male homosexual pairing, the rape might have seemed more reasonably like an outgrowth of repressed sexual rage (which is still not at all permissible-- just more logical).

Knowing what had actually happened made me much more able to see the heavy-handedness that had bothered a lot of other people in the novel. In terms of what really happens, Marnus's family becomes a family of symbols-- very grim, unyielding symbols of the hypocrisy of national liberation in South Africa and the insidiousness of the racism and sexism that continue to pervade social culture and the family home.

I still find Marnus himself believable and endearing; his voice is eerily objective, and it's easy to imagine an adolescent rehashing verbatim the racist diatribe he's heard from his parents in the same voice that he would use to recite bible verses in Sunday school. Watching him come of age in the midst of so much trauma may be somewhat overwrought, but it's nevertheless moving and dredges up a lot of difficult-to-ask (or answer) questions.

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

On some level I enjoyed this book for the most part - It was well written with the voice of the narrator as a 10 year old feeling authentic and believable. Most of the political and moral values made very uncomfortable reading but it was made understandable how they were passed down through generations through their own perception of history, however one sided that might have been (and a degree of religious fervour - plenty of hell and damnation available to those who cross the lines).

For all that, there were some painfully discordant notes thrown in seemingly at random. I won't add a spoiler but those that have read it will know the scene I mean and I suspect many will also have thought "where the heck did that come from" - or words to that effect and maybe even more so the question "WHY???"!

Frustratingly the book ends just at the point where the story could have gone into far more interesting directions. We know Marnus ends up in the army and fighting a war but have no idea how he got there or what happened to his relationship with his father, mother and best friend after the "incident". Did he join up voluntarily out of family tradition or simply to get away from home .... we shall never know!

There are probably around 10 years missing and I feel these would have been fascinating both in terms of Marnus personal development and changes in SA itself.

A bit of a curate's egg.

[Anna Chrysostomou · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a Grade 12 student in South Africa, I was obligated to read a South African novel of my choice, in compliance with our syllabus. Although it sounds terribly unpatriotic of me, I don't care much for South African literature. Although I am proud of my country and its population, I feel little connection to its history (perhaps because my parents only arrived here from Cyprus and Romania in 1992); this country's history is plagued by propagandistic and imperialist foreign powers who exploited the people and the land for their own benefit -- such disgusts me. However, hearing the same refrain -- Apartheid was evil -- in every South African novel can become excessively tedious.

*Warning: Here Be Spoilers*

I must say that "The Smell of Apples" functioned as an interesting case study in the extent of indoctrination of the South African youth: the beliefs that "coloureds" and "Bantus" had "different blood," were "unreliable," "dishonest" and "stupid" were considered scientific fact; South Africa was "nothing" before the white people came; South Africa was "given" to the white foreigners by God and they were obligated to "protect it from the blacks" and the supposed minions of the Antichrist (aka the "evil communists").

Beyond that, this novel was a mind-numbingly boring story about a rich little Afrikaaner boy who worshipped his "perfect" father (revealed to be a psychotic paedophile), idolised his mother (to the point where my inner Freudian would jump up and down while pointing and shrieking "Oediopus Complex"), an annoying big sister (cliché much?) and a mentally inferior, abusive best friend. "The Smell of Apples" was a meagre 200 pages, but it took me days to persevere through this book. Initially, I had thought that I had chosen a children's book by mistake, due to the immaturity of the prepubescent ignoramus who served as the narrator -- until one of the scenes occupying the 1988 time frame comprised of a one-page description of the protagonist's penis. I didn't know quite what to do with that information. I felt as if the author included the scenes from the war-torn future, as well as random incidences of sexual abuse and supposed and/or actual infidelity, in order to supply a brief reprieve from the monotony of the actual plot. Also, just as the novel would begin to introduce some interesting material, the author nipped the seemingly fascinating trajectory of the story, and instead gave us more fickle, bland monologue of the protagonist -- this was only a relief when the book actually ended.

Unfortunately, we were left with unanswered questions:
-What did Ilse want to tell Marnus after their father beat him?
-Did Marnus "forgive and forget" his father's disgusting act of violence against his "blood-brother?"
-What became of Marnus' and Frikkie's relationship? And were they more kind to Zelda now that Marnus thinks she's "pretty?"

In conclusion, the only effect this book had on me was an increase in my disgust of imperialism and propaganda, and a feeling that I exchanged my valuable time for a pointless novel and permanent emotional scarring.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written over 20 years ago, I think this is still a deeply troubling novel. I rate highly the way Mark Behr slowly peels away the seeming innocence and security of an 11-year-old Afrikaans boy from an apparently respectable conservative home, while interweaving reports from the young man years later as a soldier on the Angolan border.
The patriarchy of this nuclear family starts to be challenged by the teenage daughter; the presence of a house guest on mysterious political business also helps to build tension. The parents' trite observations and self-justifications reflect the ugliness of a divided fearful society, as well as adult hypocrisy. Things unravel; there are hints of sub-plots and symbolism (which I haven't quite analysed). Marnus's childhood ends in the most shocking way; the father is exposed, yet tight paternal control is quickly restored. There is no resolution in the story young Marnus tells, but there are hints that it comes later, in death. A very affecting story set in the time of SA's most turbulent recent history.

[Azeza · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had to read it for a literary Assignment. I was shocked in the end. Really? Did that really have to happend? I know the author wants to show us how looks are deceiving, how an apple can be rotten from the inside, but still shiny from the outside. But smell never deceives.

I think the thoughts from Masrnus in 1988 didn't add much to the story. We know how war is, we knoe how horrible it can be. Nothing surprising there. I also thought that the Marnus we got to know through the book was a completely different from the future Marnus.
We also didn't get to know the future Marnus. He told us a few facts now and then, a few observations and then he died. That's it.

[lawyergobblesbooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Smell of Apples. Evocative of summer days, sunny fields, and a fruit that's great eaten out of hand or chopped up and presented in a pie or salad. It does not bring to mind the last decades of apartheid, the cruelty of evil men, or a child discovering the worst parts of human nature. Mark Behr's novel follows the life of a privileged, white 11-year-old boy named Marnus Erasmus in 1970s South Africa. Marnus and his best friend, Frikkie, are keenly aware of the sharp racial divides in their country, even if they don't yet understand the injustice underlying them.

Despite the heavy load of its subject matter, Behr's prose moves along quickly, and he has immense talent for dialogue. We walk into Marnus' family and inner circle and observe a scaled-down version of the convoluted power dynamics happening outside the well-off family's gates. Marnus' father is a Major General in South Africa's air force, which exposes Marnus and Frikkie on a regular basis to the nation's conflicts and some of its most powerful officers. Racism, of course, reaches even into good-hearted Marnus, and the reader can't help but see that he knows no other way of thinking. These profound issues underlie life as an otherwise normal schoolboy, making the novel a politically charged roman-à-clef.

Marnus' narration stays pitch-perfect throughout; Behr's choice to tell the story through Marnus proves a crucial and very smart move. A child at this age, a turning point in the capacity to understand the complexities and motives in the adult world, makes an appropriate vehicle for displaying the situation in South Africa at the time. You'll learn a lot about that nation and its riches (gold and diamond mines) and the cruel politics now mercifully behind us.

www.whatbookshouldireadtoday.com

[Emilie Hoffmann · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a very quick read, only about 200 pages, and it is set in early 70'ties South Africa. I decided to read the book because I have a big school assigment coming up and I thought I might analyze this novel and wrtite about SA and Apartheid in English and history. I'm not sure I'm gonna do that. Don't get me wrong there were some things I liked about the book and I don't regret reading it (it was very pretty short, but I just don't think I could make a 5-page analysis about it. I was quoite interresting how the narrator was a young boy, who was just beginning to see the the world and it's inhabitants for what they truly are. I also liked how the reader could see how much of an influence your parents have on you and how this was portrayed through the narrator's view of people and especially of the coloured people in his life. I didn't really like the way "The Smell of Apples" is actually to stories about the same boy in one. I thought it was confusing how we all of the sudden were hearing about him fighting in Angola in the 80'ties and then suddenly being back in Cape Town. I didn't get why we had to hear about this, we all know that war is hell. I also didn't understand why the author didn't divide the book into chaptors, but I guess that is just isn't his style. The last thing that bothered me was the thing with the narrators friend (all you who have read it will know what I mean). It was horrible and it is not that I don't think that authors shouldn't write about it because it is a serious problem and tabus need to be dealt with, but I jus didn't feel like it really brought anything to the story. So all though there were some things that I didn't like about the book I would say that "The Smell of Apples" was an okay read.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to revise some of my previous remarks and rating of this novel as I proceed to write my paper. While there is not much in way of stylistic beauty (perhaps the most significant attribute for me in reading a novel), I think that it is acute in its observations of the way that the family and nation place heteronormative policing pressures on an individual, our poor 11-year old Marnus.

I would love to spend more time thinking about how it utilizes Moby Dick as an intertext. It's definitely using MD to think about violent escape from society, homosocicalized identity, and race. The white whale is swimming in the backdrop of this novel in some really elegant ways (that's funny b/c there is a bay behind the Erasmus household where whales can be seen). I wish I would have spent more time with MD to understand all that Behr is doing.

Finally, I think it achieves an authentic examination of Afrikaner prejudice and the rhetorical reversal that Afrikaners engaged in to frame themselves as victims. It puts pressure on this stale idea with the intertext of Moby Dick and the very closely juxtaposed ideas of homophobia.

By the by, there are several luminous critical essays that fully wrench the juices for the text.

[Alistair · Rating 3 out of 5]

i liked this about a boy growing up in an afrikaans christian household in the 1970's in south Africa . the story is told in one long chapter with interspersed passages describing the boy as a grown up soldier fighting the guerillas in Angola where he dies .

clearly the family are decent people trying to maintain their way of life against the oncoming changes when apartheid is dismantled and i really enjoyed the intricacies of family life and the boy's blood brother friendship and his relationship with his older sister .

the father clearly sees his role as protecting God's beautiful country which his race developed from the terrible apocalyptic threat of the natives . the writer makes the mother and father obviously sympathetic which makes disliking them difficult .

Unfortunately such a poignant story is ruined by a scene of gratuitous child sex abuse which seems to be parachuted in from another novel . the rest of the book deserved better than this grotesque hackneyed reminder that childhood innocence is an illusion and that growing up is a harsh experience .

[Ruby · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is all over the place. It is set in apartheid South Africa and written from the perspective of a young boy, but then there are these little flash-forwards interspersed throughout of the young boy as a grown man and a soldier at war. That doesn't sound like such a terrible idea, but all it does is make the story feel even more disjointed. In addition to this obvious slapped on message to the reader that war is hell, you will also discover that racism is insidious, parents are tragically flawed and growing up is hard. Assuming you know these things already, there is really no point to reading the book. The choice of making the boy the narrator reduces any redeeming salacious elements of the story to passing observations made between thoughts about fishing or thoughts about fish while fishing. I don't care for Hemingway, either, but at least he had a grown man's subtlety and liquor cabinet.

[David Fick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This contemporary South African classic is a short read that stays with you for a long time. Set against the backdrop of apartheid, a man fighting in the South African army looks back at a summer in his youth as he tries to make sense of his disillusionment with a life that has always appeared perfect to him, but which is rotten at its very core. Knowing about the specific contexts of the book helps, but ultimately this novel's universal message about how what is instilled in us as children plays out for the rest of our lives resonates in a haunting and horrifying way.

[chucklesthescot · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was expecting a pro or anti-apartheid book but that barely got a mention in this book. I found it a dull book with a dull family and nothing interesting going on and then a visiting paedophile is thrown in for a chapter to molest the boy's friend. Not exactly an inspiring read and certainly not the best read to come out of Africa.

[Thea · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the surface this seems to be a simple story of childhood but it is so much more. This is a story about the hypocrisies of the South African ruling class and the damage done not only to the blacks but to themselves as well. It jumps between a seemingly idyllic childhood and the horrors of war.

[Natalie · Rating 1 out of 5]

why do I bother finishing books I don't like?

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exceptionally fine novel examining what gives rise to the type of racial prejudice that spawned the apartheid system in South Africa, but this isn't a novel about apartheid, it is a novel about being Afrikaans. That distinction may be lost on many readers but it is at the heart of this novel which draws on much of the author's own background (how much can be found here: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/pe...).

The novel is an examination of how pervasive and enduring the myths and lies of childhood are - that Marius despite what he sees and learns at 11 goes on to fight and almost certainly die for the South Africa of his father is one of the most important narrative threads in this novel. Not that you would know it from most of the reviews on GR which concentrate obsessively on what happens to Marius' best friend Frikkie. I am being deliberately vague, but I do find it interesting how what happens to Frikkie is mentioned but what happens to little-Neville is totally ignored. Can it be that the his horrific torture is less upsetting to GR reviewers because he is black?

A exceptionally fine novel which was wildly, and deservedly praised on publication in English in 1995.

[Hoa (Hannah) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think the point of the sudden (but not so surprising) climax, and the lack of resolution, is to further emphasis how messed up everything is. We expect, or perhaps we want, young Marnus to recognise this. We search for it in the voice of his future self. But we don’t really find it and I think that makes it scarier. Young Marnus’ unapologetic narration is blunt but not necessarily innocent. You can tell he knows something is wrong but fear is more powerful. A very quick but very heavy read.

[Graham · Rating 2 out of 5]

Behr has the makings of a good story teller, but labors his way through the narrative with detailed descriptions of growing up experiences, most of which are deadly boring. His references to his family ties to famous South Africans serve to detract from the narrative rather than enhance it and are inconclusive in their pertinence. His brief hints of South African society, social and political problems and the essence of the South African racial disaster are briefly and inconclusively touched upon without giving the reader a well rounded picture of how a small white boy fits into the complex social structure of a troubled era in South African history. The entire novel works its way to a shocking climax which is diluted by an inconclusive closure. Too many loose ends, too much pain not adequately addressed, a feeling of still being hungry after an enormous tasteless meal. The prose is clumsy and unpolished. He needs a good editor. I seldom speed read literature, but this one I had to after the first fifty pages. What is sad is that the conclusion has the makings of a powerful story leading up to it: that story is not there.

[Sofie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Narrated by Marnus Erasmus, an Afrikaner boy growing up in South Africa in the 1970s. His blood brother and best friend Frikkie gets Marnus in trouble again and again. Zelda Kemp - not daughter of stripper - wears a hat to avoid freckling (why would you ever?!). Marcus seems to inherit all of his political views from his father, and the moral ones from his mother. Most of the time, he seems unable to form his own such opinions. The harsh reality of Apartheid is described in a matter-of-fact manner, and the racist discourse fills the narrative. Behr is great at describing scenes so they are completely lucid in your mind. However, the glimpses from the future in which Marnus is fighting in the war did not seem (to me) to fit in with the rest of the story.

Mom:
'Mom doesn't want us to listen to it. Pop music can cause you to become a drug addict' (67)
'Mom says if you steal you become a liar and if you become a liar you'll end up being a murderer' (128)
'Mum sings 'Summer Time' by Georg Gershwin. She sings it slowly, like real jazz...' (153)

[Bookguide · Rating 3 out of 5]

My review was delayed so that I had completely forgotten everything about this book, but just flicking through the last pages of the book reminded me of a couple of terrible incidents. The children are indoctrinated into the supposed glory and bravery of the Afrikaners and are not allowed to question their parents' beliefs. Even though they are largely brought up by a black woman, she is never part of the family. Due to the violent nature of society and unthinking prejudice against the blacks and coloureds, her son meets a terrible fate as punishment for a minor misdemenour, stealing coal. Towards the end, there is a very confusing episode of child abuse, glimpsed through a gap in the floorboards. Nothing is right about this book. The apples truly are rotten.

[Lori Clark-Erickson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lexile: 1050
Historical Event / Time Period: 1970 19s, Apartheid in South Africa
Liked: I liked learning about the different cultures and languages in South Africa.
Disliked: I really didn 19t like how long that it took to get to the climax of the story and it had random inappropriate parts that I felt didn 19t really relate to the book.
Summary: The Smell of Apples is set in the 1970 19s during the apartheid in South Africa. The main character, Marnus, faces struggles throughout his life but they always teach him life lessons. Marnus and his friend Frikkie spend every moment together but things between them change when an unexpected even occurs. Marnus 19s dad rapes Frikkie, and Marnus 19s view on life is forever changed.

[Shirley Exall · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this and found it very moving in many parts. The perceptions and memories of a returnee and the attitudes of those he had left behind, mixed in with the pain of family relationships and bitterness and anger, all provide material for an incandescent explosion, and one reads this wondering when the explosion will come. It never really does (there are some minor spurts), and maybe that's a good thing because it might have been too melodramatic had it done so. Anyway, the most important thing about it is that it is written with honesty and an accurate eye. There is great sympathy for each and every character and the language and accents and erratic behaviour of various characters is nicely captured. It was quite an engaging book that I read right through in one sitting.

[Delta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like many of the reviewers, I thought this book was a bit heavy. Not literally weighty; it had a lot of terribly traumatic events take place, but many of them did nothing to seriously progress the story. Even though I thought the flash forward sections were done well, there was real no connection to 11-year old boy. Yes, we are suppose to understand the boy will become the soldier, but the transition is missing. I will say that the perspective was fantastic; one of the few books that used the first person perspective effectively. I totally believed it.

Overall, a bit too grand in the wording, but still a decent book.

[Tessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book while staying In the area where it was set. I appreciated this connection. I also appreciated seeing how permeating the racism was in every-day life as this white boy absorbed the messages that surrounded him. However, I am annoyed by a reading yet another decent book that spends its last section turning the direction of unhealthy relationships. In this book, it felt like a sensational add-on rather than an important part of the book. I'm disappointed this book is lauded to be so good.