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The Broken River Tent
The Broken River Tent is a novel that marries imagination with history. It is about the life and times of Maqoma, the Xhosa chief who was at the forefront of fighting British colonialism in the Eastern Cape during the nineteenth century. The story is told through the eyes of a young South African, Phila, who suffers from what he calls triple ‘N’ condition—neurasthenia, narcolepsy and cultural ne plus ultra. This gives him access to the analeptic memory of his people. After being under immense mental pressure, he crosses the mental divide between the living and the dead and is visited by Maqoma. They engage in different conversations about cultural history, literature, religion, the past and contemporary South African life.
The Broken River Tent was the University of Johannesburg Debut Novel Prize 2019, and long-listed for the Sunday Times Literature Prize 2019 for Fiction.
The Broken River Tent was the University of Johannesburg Debut Novel Prize 2019, and long-listed for the Sunday Times Literature Prize 2019 for Fiction.
368 pages, Paperback
Published April 29, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
December 2, 2018
We live in a time when some white people deny that apartheid was a crime against humanity. In the midst of such clear and utter madness, fiction, not history – jerks us back into reality – to remind us that not only was apartheid a crime against humanity, but this country and the economy of the world is built on a murderous civilization that enslaved people the world over and in the main, dispossessed them of their land.
The Broken River Tent is one such book – it is a left-hand slap on the face of a slumbering democratic nation and a jab on the gut of a nation that seems to slowly wake up to the reality of its current dispossession and dire situation. The Broken River Tent is a medley of historical fiction, psychological drama (for lack of a better genre or classification) and the story of imagination. It is a journey of questions, existential debates and musings. It is a philosophical conversation between ancient Xhosa wisdom and the vanity of the modern democratic society of South Africa.
It is a conversation between the past, casting aspersions on the present while making well-defined proclamations about the future – for by living in the now, we are actively creating the past, experiencing the future. In this book Ntabeni succeeds in revealing many of his deeply thought-out philosophies that indicate the depth of not only his academic knowledge, but true intelligence that runs deep in his people. He also succeeds in what he called “mining the aesthetic rigour of history” – and not just so that he can polish the turd that is history, but so that we can ask deep questions about history itself.
Ntabeni uses fiction to traverse the physical and the metaphysical – to confront the past with his character’s present. He interrogates the idea of psychological sanity by placing a historical figure who died two centuries ago in the present timeline of South Africa’s democratic madness.
This forces his main character to question his own sanity and the sanity of his generation and country. Ntabeni’s interlocutory disposition of the land question is prominent in this book. His Maqoma – that true son of amaXhosa did not just jump out of the ancient moth-eaten pages of history. Instead he waltzes – or ukugida – into the young Phila’s life to provide him with direction, spiritual connection, traditional wisdom, and to root him back to the historical landscape of his forefathers. Ntabeni is not cursory about the politics of land dispossession of black Africans.
In fact, he is not shy to centralize the issue that is relevant today as it was 400 years ago when colonialism hit our shores. He is deliberately political and provocative about the land question. I am disheartened by the use of Latin and German in this otherwise perfect blend of history, drama, fact, fiction, fantasy, mythology and prose as if Ntabeni is over-hammering his intellect into the heads of mere mortals.
Ntabeni is the new age author with the correct dose of intellectual acuity and traditional rigour and the correct Afro-politics in his brilliant mind. This book is a perfect account of the great lineages and houses of Phalo, of Rharhabe, of Ngcikana, of Sandile, of Ndlambe, of Hintsa, of Gcaleka and the fascinating intrigues of abaThembu, amaMfengu and Xhosa. I did not feel betrayed by the highly-learned and often precise language of the author. Well done.
March 8, 2021
For a debut novel, this book is exquisitely written. Ntabeni shows off with his lyrical prose and there are many beautifully crafted sentences that will leave you gasping for air. Some of the memorable lines and believe you me there are many:
“The nascent cacophony of night insects pronounced the falling dusk.” Page 279
“The dazzling way the Sentinel, the tilting mountain, arrests, midway, its totter into the sea.” Page 290
Ntabeni has the ability to paint a landscape with words is remarkable and the writing is rich. He also demonstrates his lingual prowess by flitting through different languages from German to isiXhosa. Some is skillfully interwoven into the text without disrupting the flow of the text. Even without understanding of the languages, the writer is able to convey meaning to the reader.
What makes this novel unique is that we vacillate between past and present through the main protagonist, Phila. He becomes our link to Maqoma’swar torn past, chronicling the Xhosas centurion struggle against the British colonial invasion. This technique of going back and forth was cleverly executed because it illuminates how the past affects our present. Through this technique we see how the colonial land occupation has influenced the current land question. We often think the incarceration at Robben Island began with the ilk of Mandela and co yet it actually began with 19th century chiefs who were also fighting the same struggle against white domination yet those historical figures are less celebrated in the history of SA. It begets the questions, which heroes do we celebrate and which heroes does we discount and why?
The author cleverly uses Phila’s analeptic or ancestoral memory to flash back into the past. Nonetheless can one really place faith in Phila as a reliable narrator? Like Maqoma, he too has a drinking problem and often overindulges on whiskey and moves through the entire storyline shifting from inebriation to being hung-over. It is important to note how alcohol was used by colonial governments to subdue the masses. Even if we fast forward to apartheid townships you will notice there was a proliferation of taverns and liquor stores. Often the question is raised. Does South Africa have a drinking problem? One thing for sure, the country still carries a hangover from the past.
Like his historical contemporary Maqoma, women were his weakness and he had several wives which his chiefdom would have encouraged.We are introduced to Phila’s lovers: Arunny, Nandi, Matswane and later Martyana. Through each encounter we learn something new about our protagonist.
The war narratives, although compelling at times may become long winded for the reader. This is the only pitfall with the Maqoma monologues. Nonetheless, I particularly enjoyed the Chapter “Brother Brother” which dramatized the encounter between Maqoma and Thyali. It is in this chapter that we get to really experience the vulnerability of Maqoma.
There are many important themes in this book. Religion and its role in the subsequent oppression of natives. I found myself drawing comparison between Nongquase and Eve. I feel as if history has contrived to blame the fall of humankind on women. The account of Suthu was not flattering either. Other important themes are: Self discovery; Relocation and dislocation; Culture versus cult and mysticism; Oppression and possession; Spirituality.
I felt the book could have been concluded in the Chapter titled: Nongqause, the death of a nation. I was actually reluctant to read past this chapter even though there are two more chapters before the book reaches a conclusive end.This book will not only educate you but it will entertain you in the process. It is a highly recommended read for those curious to understand why we are where today and the historical underpinnings are.
“The nascent cacophony of night insects pronounced the falling dusk.” Page 279
“The dazzling way the Sentinel, the tilting mountain, arrests, midway, its totter into the sea.” Page 290
Ntabeni has the ability to paint a landscape with words is remarkable and the writing is rich. He also demonstrates his lingual prowess by flitting through different languages from German to isiXhosa. Some is skillfully interwoven into the text without disrupting the flow of the text. Even without understanding of the languages, the writer is able to convey meaning to the reader.
What makes this novel unique is that we vacillate between past and present through the main protagonist, Phila. He becomes our link to Maqoma’swar torn past, chronicling the Xhosas centurion struggle against the British colonial invasion. This technique of going back and forth was cleverly executed because it illuminates how the past affects our present. Through this technique we see how the colonial land occupation has influenced the current land question. We often think the incarceration at Robben Island began with the ilk of Mandela and co yet it actually began with 19th century chiefs who were also fighting the same struggle against white domination yet those historical figures are less celebrated in the history of SA. It begets the questions, which heroes do we celebrate and which heroes does we discount and why?
The author cleverly uses Phila’s analeptic or ancestoral memory to flash back into the past. Nonetheless can one really place faith in Phila as a reliable narrator? Like Maqoma, he too has a drinking problem and often overindulges on whiskey and moves through the entire storyline shifting from inebriation to being hung-over. It is important to note how alcohol was used by colonial governments to subdue the masses. Even if we fast forward to apartheid townships you will notice there was a proliferation of taverns and liquor stores. Often the question is raised. Does South Africa have a drinking problem? One thing for sure, the country still carries a hangover from the past.
Like his historical contemporary Maqoma, women were his weakness and he had several wives which his chiefdom would have encouraged.We are introduced to Phila’s lovers: Arunny, Nandi, Matswane and later Martyana. Through each encounter we learn something new about our protagonist.
The war narratives, although compelling at times may become long winded for the reader. This is the only pitfall with the Maqoma monologues. Nonetheless, I particularly enjoyed the Chapter “Brother Brother” which dramatized the encounter between Maqoma and Thyali. It is in this chapter that we get to really experience the vulnerability of Maqoma.
There are many important themes in this book. Religion and its role in the subsequent oppression of natives. I found myself drawing comparison between Nongquase and Eve. I feel as if history has contrived to blame the fall of humankind on women. The account of Suthu was not flattering either. Other important themes are: Self discovery; Relocation and dislocation; Culture versus cult and mysticism; Oppression and possession; Spirituality.
I felt the book could have been concluded in the Chapter titled: Nongqause, the death of a nation. I was actually reluctant to read past this chapter even though there are two more chapters before the book reaches a conclusive end.This book will not only educate you but it will entertain you in the process. It is a highly recommended read for those curious to understand why we are where today and the historical underpinnings are.
March 23, 2020
'i am gathering the wind from the four corners of the earth. Before my body became the property of maggots, I had no wisdom in me. But when I joined the ancestors, wisdom became my companion. I have come to you as a friend, and a guide for your thoughts ... My duty is to teach you the message I denied with my own life on earth. I have been a man of misfortunes. Yet my heart is not bitter. And that, I carry to Qamata as my prize.'
April 14, 2019
The Broken River Tent (TBRT) is a novel of epic struggle over land. It is also about the life and times of Moqoma, the Xhosa chief who was at the forefront of fighting British colonialism in the Eastern Cape during the nineteenth century.
The story is told through the eyes of a young South African, Phila, who suffers from a condition that makes him feel far removed from events happening around him, allowing for his mental access to the analeptic memory of his people.
Under extreme pressures he crosses the mental divide between the living and the dead. That’s when he gets visits from Maqoma. They engage in different conversations – more like what Rebecca West called intersecting monologues - about cultural history, literature, religion, the past and contemporary South African life in general.
Phila finds himself traveling around the Eastern Cape, documenting historical routes, mostly places Maqoma lived in. Amidst all that, he must attend to the living pressures of his own life: close his architectural firm, bury his father, impress his girlfriend away from regarding him as a failure and, perhaps, make a new start somewhere, away from the Eastern Cape he loves.
Interweaving all of this the story makes for an interesting read of human development. It is a historical novel that marries exhaustive research about the past with current events. It provides insight into characters that makes a story feel immediate. Here history meets the present, religion meets scepticism, ubuqaba (the rawness of Xhosa culture untouched by Western civilisation) meets sophisticated despair. Partly internal and external travelogue; partly historical and romantic chronicle, it is written in a style of subdued poetic realism.
It goes beyond the bounds of observable facts into the surreal, especially of African mythology, while striving for a language of verbal freshness found in authors who were able to capture the tone of Xhosa oral folklore, like S.K.E. Mqhayi. It invokes the vanished and the ideal world of the Eastern Cape.
It is published by Black Bird Books in June 2018.
The story is told through the eyes of a young South African, Phila, who suffers from a condition that makes him feel far removed from events happening around him, allowing for his mental access to the analeptic memory of his people.
Under extreme pressures he crosses the mental divide between the living and the dead. That’s when he gets visits from Maqoma. They engage in different conversations – more like what Rebecca West called intersecting monologues - about cultural history, literature, religion, the past and contemporary South African life in general.
Phila finds himself traveling around the Eastern Cape, documenting historical routes, mostly places Maqoma lived in. Amidst all that, he must attend to the living pressures of his own life: close his architectural firm, bury his father, impress his girlfriend away from regarding him as a failure and, perhaps, make a new start somewhere, away from the Eastern Cape he loves.
Interweaving all of this the story makes for an interesting read of human development. It is a historical novel that marries exhaustive research about the past with current events. It provides insight into characters that makes a story feel immediate. Here history meets the present, religion meets scepticism, ubuqaba (the rawness of Xhosa culture untouched by Western civilisation) meets sophisticated despair. Partly internal and external travelogue; partly historical and romantic chronicle, it is written in a style of subdued poetic realism.
It goes beyond the bounds of observable facts into the surreal, especially of African mythology, while striving for a language of verbal freshness found in authors who were able to capture the tone of Xhosa oral folklore, like S.K.E. Mqhayi. It invokes the vanished and the ideal world of the Eastern Cape.
It is published by Black Bird Books in June 2018.
Read
August 25, 2020Ntabeni book is an excellent example of how history can be disseminated through the form of the novel. Phila, a disillusioned architect is one day visited by the legendary Xhosa chief, and anti-colonial hero, Maqoma, who forces his life story on poor Phila. Although Maqoma's story at time is a bit static, given the Ntabeni's choice to have Maqoma narrate it in an archaic style. Phila's reflection about history, life and love tend to drag on for too long. Particularly his incessant allusions to famous authors and philosophers were intriguing during the fist 50 pages, but after then it became tiring, as it hampered the flow of the narrative. Fortunately the books other supporting characters are fortunately colourful to drag the reader back into the narrative. I wouldn't compare it to Heart In Redness, for while the two books both deal with the legacy of the Frontier War, and have a flare of magical realism with them, the prose, style and narrative are all very different.
All in all, an enjoyable read, and I look very much forward to Ntabeni's next novel
All in all, an enjoyable read, and I look very much forward to Ntabeni's next novel
April 3, 2020
“The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting” said Nelson Mandela at a rally in the late 90s, quoting Milan Kundera. The Broken River Tent is an epic book. It brings past to life at a time where history is increasingly forgotten in the fast pace of our age. This book is an important read, and not an easy read. The narrative increasingly privileges the historical narrative over the contemporary plot - perhaps purposely putting our individual lives into context within the arch of time and history?
If you can get your hands on it I highly recommend reading this together with Cedric Nunn’s Unsettled. It was a special treat to visit so many of the same locations we find in the Broken River Tent, visually, with Nunn.
If you can get your hands on it I highly recommend reading this together with Cedric Nunn’s Unsettled. It was a special treat to visit so many of the same locations we find in the Broken River Tent, visually, with Nunn.
October 30, 2025
It just kept going on and on
November 23, 2024
The Broken River Tent -Mpush Ntabeni
The novel - which gets its title from TS Elliot’s poem “The Fire Sermon” - is a metaphoric and graphic representation of how colonisation has eroded the magic and spiritualism of the Xhosa nation through the introduction of commercialisation, consumerism and Christianity.
The story introduces us to Phila the protagonist who describes himself as “dogged by his middle-class timidity” while attending a community meeting in Hangberg in 2017 regarding evictions of illegal occupiers of the Hangberg slopes. This begins to introduce the recurrent theme throughout the book which is the dissatisfaction that current black South Africa has with what freedom has yielded for us.
The book then takes us back to 2007, to a younger Queenstown-born Phila who has come back from Germany a qualified architect and has been living in Port Elizabeth for 11 years. His aspirations of being a successful architect are dashed by the corruption that exists in the South African government and he thus decides to do research and write on the history of his people, the Xhosa nation. He feels disconnected from life and sees himself as a “dangling man”. This is also evident in his close relationships with his sister Siya, his girlfriend Nandi and his estranged father. He explains to Nandi that “Most of the time I feel nothing where I am supposed to feel something, and everything where I’m supposed to feel nothing, and it all confuses me.” When he receives news from Siya that their father has passed on, it serves as a catalyst for a journey to self-discovery.
The story then takes a turn to a psychological drama as we are introduced to Maqoma (1798-1873) who was a Xhosa warrior and chief. He is considered to be one of the greatest Xhosa military commanders and played a major part in the Xhosa Frontier Wars. Phila sees Maqoma dressed in his traditional Xhosa attire on a bus ride home after the news of his father’s passing. What unnerves him at the beginning is that it seems he is an apparition that only he can see, hear and talk to which he attributes to an analeptic memory. However, as the story progresses one can detect supernatural elements to Phila’s ability to see and interact with the warrior. Maqoma then declares that he was instructed to tell Phila about his life. “To learn you the truth.” This begins a series of stories regarding the history of the Xhosa nation and how the British arrival brings with it destruction and introduction of foreign beliefs i.e. Christianity as well as commercialisation such as barter transactions for guns, buttons, clothing, liquor etc. “Xhosas here acquired addictive tastes for sugar and brandy. From there they became dependent on white people, treating them like their baas. It was these fairs, together with the missionary activity, that were the main destruction of Xhosa social structure and the transformation of what had been their national torpor to the religious and market principle. Things like these undermined the authority of the chiefs”.
The story was a challenging read and should not be rushed as the volume of information contained therein needs to be digested and assimilated slowly because of the significance of the story that is being told. There were also numerous European and philosophical references which couldn’t be read at face value without researching how they fit into the story. This broke the continuity in reading and pacing the story. We found the text verbose in some instances which required consultation of the dictionary.
What Mphuthumi managed to do beautifully was to tell a vivid and graphic tale of how the Xhosas fought and resisted white domination. How desperation turned brothers against each other using religion and unsavory alliances. He also highlighted the underhanded tactics that the British employed to gain the upper hand: “Bravery was not their strongest virtue, that’s why they hid under artillery; but they were skilled at adopting cunning tactics like - what did you call it? The scorched earth policy - burning our planted fields.” He detailed graphically the Waterkloof battle, Hintsa’s death, the great Xhosa famine and Maqoma’s incarceration at Robben Island. Phila’s journey took him to different cities within the Eastern Cape which highlighted how rich in history the cities are. In addition, through Phila’s eyes who at the beginning of the story saw buildings for what they were structurally and was able to describe the style and materials used, we began to see the buildings in those particular cities as more than just bricks and mortar. He describes his illumination as scales coming off his eyes. His clever use of Maqoma, Phila and Zwelinzima to narrate the story broke the monotony of one narrator and also added depth to the story telling when it was done from different points of view.
This novel was complex, multi-faceted and multi-dimensional which touched on many themes with the most prevalent and a current hot topic in our country: Land. The novel detailed how the British claimed the Xhosa land as their own, driving out the Xhosa nation from the most fertile and commercially viable land. “Where they are most dangerous is in giving a semblance of legality to their fraud. Hence you could sleep in your house and the following morning they would bring a magistrates’s paper saying that the land beneath your house had been given to the British colony - against your wishes. All of a sudden you are the illegal one, invading your own land!” Christianity was also very well discussed in the book detailing the arrival of missionaries and the introduction of God to the Xhosa nation. Mphuthumi also highlighted how Christianity began to divide the nation and how traditional practices which had been acceptable and the way of life were frowned upon post the Christianity introduction. Death also permeated each chapter with the novel beginning when Phila’s dad dies, the devastation of the famine and ending with Maqoma’s death through Phila’s eyes.
Mphuthumi used symbolism to a great effect. The River was one strong symbol throughout the book which was considered a very powerful natural element. This translates to the Xhosa’s being referred to as the ‘River People’. He highlights how the river tent is broken through various descriptions and instances in the book.
His writing was poetic and philosophical with infusions of humour to lighten what was sometimes a heartbreaking and difficult history to read. I couldn’t help but reflect on the cyclical nature of life and how history seems to repeat itself over centuries. Mphuthumi juxtaposed current and past so well that it seemed that although Maqoma lived in the 1800s, we continue to struggle with similar issues today.
The book lit a fire within to discover my identity and what price my ancestors paid for our freedom but more than that, it ignited a desire to rewrite our history through making a difference in the present.
“History is like the created; it cannot be changed.”
“But the present and the future it gave birth to can be changed by learning lessons from it.”
Thank you for the history lesson.
The novel - which gets its title from TS Elliot’s poem “The Fire Sermon” - is a metaphoric and graphic representation of how colonisation has eroded the magic and spiritualism of the Xhosa nation through the introduction of commercialisation, consumerism and Christianity.
The story introduces us to Phila the protagonist who describes himself as “dogged by his middle-class timidity” while attending a community meeting in Hangberg in 2017 regarding evictions of illegal occupiers of the Hangberg slopes. This begins to introduce the recurrent theme throughout the book which is the dissatisfaction that current black South Africa has with what freedom has yielded for us.
The book then takes us back to 2007, to a younger Queenstown-born Phila who has come back from Germany a qualified architect and has been living in Port Elizabeth for 11 years. His aspirations of being a successful architect are dashed by the corruption that exists in the South African government and he thus decides to do research and write on the history of his people, the Xhosa nation. He feels disconnected from life and sees himself as a “dangling man”. This is also evident in his close relationships with his sister Siya, his girlfriend Nandi and his estranged father. He explains to Nandi that “Most of the time I feel nothing where I am supposed to feel something, and everything where I’m supposed to feel nothing, and it all confuses me.” When he receives news from Siya that their father has passed on, it serves as a catalyst for a journey to self-discovery.
The story then takes a turn to a psychological drama as we are introduced to Maqoma (1798-1873) who was a Xhosa warrior and chief. He is considered to be one of the greatest Xhosa military commanders and played a major part in the Xhosa Frontier Wars. Phila sees Maqoma dressed in his traditional Xhosa attire on a bus ride home after the news of his father’s passing. What unnerves him at the beginning is that it seems he is an apparition that only he can see, hear and talk to which he attributes to an analeptic memory. However, as the story progresses one can detect supernatural elements to Phila’s ability to see and interact with the warrior. Maqoma then declares that he was instructed to tell Phila about his life. “To learn you the truth.” This begins a series of stories regarding the history of the Xhosa nation and how the British arrival brings with it destruction and introduction of foreign beliefs i.e. Christianity as well as commercialisation such as barter transactions for guns, buttons, clothing, liquor etc. “Xhosas here acquired addictive tastes for sugar and brandy. From there they became dependent on white people, treating them like their baas. It was these fairs, together with the missionary activity, that were the main destruction of Xhosa social structure and the transformation of what had been their national torpor to the religious and market principle. Things like these undermined the authority of the chiefs”.
The story was a challenging read and should not be rushed as the volume of information contained therein needs to be digested and assimilated slowly because of the significance of the story that is being told. There were also numerous European and philosophical references which couldn’t be read at face value without researching how they fit into the story. This broke the continuity in reading and pacing the story. We found the text verbose in some instances which required consultation of the dictionary.
What Mphuthumi managed to do beautifully was to tell a vivid and graphic tale of how the Xhosas fought and resisted white domination. How desperation turned brothers against each other using religion and unsavory alliances. He also highlighted the underhanded tactics that the British employed to gain the upper hand: “Bravery was not their strongest virtue, that’s why they hid under artillery; but they were skilled at adopting cunning tactics like - what did you call it? The scorched earth policy - burning our planted fields.” He detailed graphically the Waterkloof battle, Hintsa’s death, the great Xhosa famine and Maqoma’s incarceration at Robben Island. Phila’s journey took him to different cities within the Eastern Cape which highlighted how rich in history the cities are. In addition, through Phila’s eyes who at the beginning of the story saw buildings for what they were structurally and was able to describe the style and materials used, we began to see the buildings in those particular cities as more than just bricks and mortar. He describes his illumination as scales coming off his eyes. His clever use of Maqoma, Phila and Zwelinzima to narrate the story broke the monotony of one narrator and also added depth to the story telling when it was done from different points of view.
This novel was complex, multi-faceted and multi-dimensional which touched on many themes with the most prevalent and a current hot topic in our country: Land. The novel detailed how the British claimed the Xhosa land as their own, driving out the Xhosa nation from the most fertile and commercially viable land. “Where they are most dangerous is in giving a semblance of legality to their fraud. Hence you could sleep in your house and the following morning they would bring a magistrates’s paper saying that the land beneath your house had been given to the British colony - against your wishes. All of a sudden you are the illegal one, invading your own land!” Christianity was also very well discussed in the book detailing the arrival of missionaries and the introduction of God to the Xhosa nation. Mphuthumi also highlighted how Christianity began to divide the nation and how traditional practices which had been acceptable and the way of life were frowned upon post the Christianity introduction. Death also permeated each chapter with the novel beginning when Phila’s dad dies, the devastation of the famine and ending with Maqoma’s death through Phila’s eyes.
Mphuthumi used symbolism to a great effect. The River was one strong symbol throughout the book which was considered a very powerful natural element. This translates to the Xhosa’s being referred to as the ‘River People’. He highlights how the river tent is broken through various descriptions and instances in the book.
His writing was poetic and philosophical with infusions of humour to lighten what was sometimes a heartbreaking and difficult history to read. I couldn’t help but reflect on the cyclical nature of life and how history seems to repeat itself over centuries. Mphuthumi juxtaposed current and past so well that it seemed that although Maqoma lived in the 1800s, we continue to struggle with similar issues today.
The book lit a fire within to discover my identity and what price my ancestors paid for our freedom but more than that, it ignited a desire to rewrite our history through making a difference in the present.
“History is like the created; it cannot be changed.”
“But the present and the future it gave birth to can be changed by learning lessons from it.”
Thank you for the history lesson.
January 2, 2023
A book that educates and keeps you engaged. So many learnings about the history of amaXhosa nation and the Eastern Cape province. Ntabeni did amazing with this debut.
"When you have the strength you require, after I have departed from your vision, you must tell of the things you heard from me
Of the tales of the old country. Of things not of this world but living forever in the hearts of its people. You must tell of the River people. Of how they haunted the heart of our nation into self-destruction. Tell of the oceans eye that opened to let in the people of wheat-coloured hair who brought a double-edged sword to our land. This is the only way you shall learn the truth of yourself. But you must first believe in your heart"
"When you have the strength you require, after I have departed from your vision, you must tell of the things you heard from me
Of the tales of the old country. Of things not of this world but living forever in the hearts of its people. You must tell of the River people. Of how they haunted the heart of our nation into self-destruction. Tell of the oceans eye that opened to let in the people of wheat-coloured hair who brought a double-edged sword to our land. This is the only way you shall learn the truth of yourself. But you must first believe in your heart"
April 19, 2020
This novel will stay with me for a long time. Narrated by Phila who feels compelled to dive into Xhosa history especially the Frontier Wars of the 19th Century and in so doing he travels to and fro in the Eastern Cape, with the voice and presence of Maqoma directing him. This is history brought to life. It is rendered more poignant by being juxtaposed with life in the 21st century. The diction is flawless and the language often lyrical.
July 10, 2020
People who keep saying #Tracyzille is factual, are as gullible as those that followed Nongqawuse's prophecy. I love this book.
October 23, 2024
Highly recommended for anyone who has an interest in South African history of the 19th century, especially in the Eastern Cape. This is a powerful and moving novel*; beautifully and often lyrically written - altogether an admirable feat by a highly eloquent second-language writer, who really did not have to include allusions to Dante, or use Latin and German to impress. I learned a great deal about the battles of Amalinde and especially Waterkloof, also the endless infighting between chiefs and clan leaders. The pace of the story is quite languid; at times Phila's 'neurosthenia' went a little far for me: he came across as aimless, taking advantage of two of the three women in this story, and regularly resorting to double tots of whisky. I thought at first that the 'presence' of Maqoma as historical-philosophical commentator asked us to suspend our disbelief a tad too far - but it is fascinating, and a credit to the author, that this device worked convincingly - and the intinerary Phila chose to travel was spot-on. The British can never be forgiven for their oppression and how they escalated Frontier conflict, but there were occasions when Xhosa leaders made mistakes one finds hard to believe today: Ntabeni glossed over the Xhosa national suicide (the Nonquwase factor) and the disastrous tactics and results of Nxele's attack on Grahamstown. Occasionally I felt the story lacked structure and momentum - but suddenly, the last chapters became page-turners, bringing the novel to a deeply moving and satisfying end.
* I need to be reminded why the title 'Broken River Tent' was chosen
* I need to be reminded why the title 'Broken River Tent' was chosen
November 22, 2024
“If a man sees truth in the morning, he may die in the evening without regret.” — Maqoma
In the beginning Maqoma and Phila didn’t have a good relationship. Maqoma would always come when Phila was intoxicated or fatigued. Telling about his history in the 19th century. The outside story with Phila and his girlfriends were good but how Maqoma brought Phila into his life story was beautiful. Maqomas talk about his history was robotic at times but was very informational even poetic at times like when he talked about the war field of his killed friends. And how he ambushed the British. Maqoma ended up in Roben island, and told the judge that his people will rise up again. Phila found himself in Maqomas spirit towards the end.
In the beginning Maqoma and Phila didn’t have a good relationship. Maqoma would always come when Phila was intoxicated or fatigued. Telling about his history in the 19th century. The outside story with Phila and his girlfriends were good but how Maqoma brought Phila into his life story was beautiful. Maqomas talk about his history was robotic at times but was very informational even poetic at times like when he talked about the war field of his killed friends. And how he ambushed the British. Maqoma ended up in Roben island, and told the judge that his people will rise up again. Phila found himself in Maqomas spirit towards the end.
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September 12, 2024DNF pg 74
I have read and enjoyed the second novel by this author.
Unfortunately with this debut, I couldn't get past the pretentious writing, name-dropping and the faulty use of German (wasn't that the editor's job?).
I have read and enjoyed the second novel by this author.
Unfortunately with this debut, I couldn't get past the pretentious writing, name-dropping and the faulty use of German (wasn't that the editor's job?).
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