Kraal

by Fenek Solère

In a South Africa teetering on the brink of civil war, a society riven by racial strife and violence, death and tragedy stalk one another across the veldt, and calamity is come upon the land. But some rise bravely to face it, leading their kith and kin to a new destiny, in a new home, a new future.

Genres: Fiction

206 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 6, 2019

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Note: Spoilers ahead

I thought this book would be interesting seeing as it was written against the backdrop of the ongoing violence in South Africa.

The book started off strong but I began to grow disappointed as the characters quickly fell into a ridiculous and unbelievable binary: all of the black characters in the book were slovenly, slothful, violent, stupid, and cruel while all of the white characters (save for one French woman) were noble, brave, morally upright, and seemingly perfect. Ultimately though, the book really didn’t make the white South Africans look all that great given the scene where they callously (and cowardly) murder a little black girl by shooting her in the back.

The one plot line I found the most interesting was that of the professor (whose name escapes me at the moment) who is introduced as a well-respected academic but, over the course of the book, descends into insanity and becomes increasingly unhinged as he loses himself in his own hubris.