The Jack Bank: A Memoir of a South African Childhood

by Glen Retief

An extraordinary, literary memoir from a gay white South African, coming of age at the end of apartheid in the late 1970s. Glen Retief's childhood was at once recognizably ordinary--and brutally unusual. Raised in the middle of a game preserve where his father worked, Retief's warm nuclear family was a preserve of its own, against chaotic forces just outside its a childhood friend whose uncle led a death squad, while his cultured grandfather quoted Shakespeare at barbecues and abused Glen's sister in an antique-filled, tobacco-scented living room. But it was when Retief was sent to boarding school, that he was truly exposed to human cruelty and frailty. When the prefects were caught torturing younger boys, they invented "the jack bank," where underclassmen could save beatings, earn interest on their deposits, and draw on them later to atone for their supposed infractions. Retief writes movingly of the complicated emotions and politics in this punitive all-male world, and of how he navigated them, even as he began to realize that his sexuality was different than his peers'.

Genres: Nonfiction, Africa, Memoir, Biography, Queer, LGBT, Gay

288 pages, Hardcover

First published April 12, 2011

Reviews

[Peterson Toscano · Rating 5 out of 5]

Regardless what Retief writes about, his use of language and deep reflection is gripping. Excellent memoir. There is something for everyone. He offers a meditation on violence from the natural world to the Apartheid state. Moving, insightful, and brilliantly executed. (I read a pre-released version of the book)

[Lindsey Tate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written, brutally honest memoir about growing up in South Africa during a time of extreme political change. Retief's first years of childhood are spent in the middle of a game preserve, the Kruger National Park, surrounded by exotic animals and impressive landscapes. Yet this paradise hides its own dark shadows: the abuse of his sister by his grandfather, a father's friend involved in state-backed murders - and at the age of twelve when Retief goes away to boarding school any innocence he once knew is left far behind. At school he suffers vicious beatings and psychological torture at the hands of a prefect, incidents that scar him deeply and are carried deep within his psyche as he journeys into the adult world. Fragile and unsure, Retief begins to come to terms with his homosexuality then, against a backdrop of increasing violence and political change, he gets involved with the Gay and Lesbian Association of the University of Cape Town working on a bill of rights for gay and lesbian equality. His personal awakening is reflected in his whole-hearted embrace of everything that is changing in South African society.
Retief's honesty is impressive as is his writing: his ability to convey his excitement at making a childhood friend, his terror and bewilderment during his boarding school years, his heart-rending need for someone to love, the tender moment when he comes out to his parents. Retief's South African odyssey is accessible and universal and well-worth reading.

[Doreen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jack bank refers to the hazings/beatings that the author endures while at boarding school. He could 'bank' some of this torture against future 'infractions', real or fabricated. A sophomoric, brutal tradition at the boarding school, Retief suffers from PTSD in the following years because of it.

The memoir spans Retief's childhood in the natural beauty of South Africa, his adolescent and teen years, grappling with bullies and his budding sexuality, and his years as an adult, as he experiments with life, struggling to become himself, whomever that may be. And all this takes place as South Africa struggles to become a better nation; a bill of rights supporting equality for blacks and a ban on homophobic discrimination.

The writing is magnificent; descriptive, honest, raw. It's a personal memoir, but also a brief account of South Africa's blood-shedding in the year's during and after Apartheid. Retief is a gifted writer. I highly recommend, "Jack Bank".

[Allyson Kling · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very important book, and I think excerpts from it should be a mandatory read for South African boarding school teachers/students. This memoir is beautifully written, and it is a raw telling of what Glen, and many other boys went through in the boarding school system. It also shines a very important light on the Apartheid Era and South Africa’s road to acceptance in regards to the LGBTQ+ community. To anyone who hasn’t read this, pick it up asap!

[Literature Teacher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vivid and beautiful. I may assign it in a postcolonial literature class.

[TDR · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the most evocative memoir of South African childhood live that I have ever read. I have read no better description of the Afrikaner psyche and its attendant culture and Glen's time in the boarding school comes as no surprise at all.
I believe Glen's writing surpasses that of JM Coetzee and definitely that of Mark Behr, whose somewhat fictionalised autobiography, Embrace, simply doesn't have the impact of The Jack Bank.
Congratulations on your courage, Glen. Your work for LGBTIQ in Capetown and your book do you proud.

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely writing. Interesting story and perspective. The continuous reference to the jack bank toward the end was repetitive & a bit overkill. Felt bad for him during days with Cecil, he just seemed lost and unsure who he is in a strange and shifting world.

[Sharon Holderbaum · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this book up in Airport to find out my son had this professor at Susquehanna Univ! Good read!

[Liralen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Combine South Africa, boarding school, and questioning of sexuality -- three book topics that interest me more or less to no end -- and stir. Add a bit of seasoning; stir again. Yay?

What surprised me, I think, was how little the book had to do with the cover copy. I mean, yes, he talks about growing up in a game preserve; he talks about boarding school and the jack bank. But that's more or less where the cover copy ends, leading me to think that that was the focus of the book; as it is, the jack bank is not too much more than an anecdote, and the cover copy only takes us halfway through the book.

Much of my ambivalence about the book, then, stems simply from it not being entirely what I'd expected. The rest stems from a wish that the author had gone deeper. He talks about events, and actions, but stops short of examining what they might mean in a greater context or in terms of himself. Take as an example the titular jack bank: He talks in some depth about how awful the beatings were when he was a young student -- but then mentions, almost as an afterthought, that he beat younger students too when he was a prefect. I would have loved to see him address the questions of why, and whether it troubled him, and so on -- even if he didn't have solid answers. Or, later in the book, race: What does it mean to him that he is, or was, primarily attracted to black men? I'm not fishing for particular answers in either of these cases -- I can just imagine a number of different answers to each and am consequently curious as to which, if any, might be true.

Interesting book. Misleading copy. Not-entirely-fulfilled expectations.

Chatter on the mythical trifecta here.

[Brian Reeves · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't have much experience with memoir, but this one was great. Written by one of my grad school associates and friends, Glen Retief, The Jack Bank tells of his early years in South Africa, in an environment where violence often merges with power and sexuality. Life in an African National Park itself was interesting, but his depiction of the horrors taking place in boarding school was gut-wrenching. The title and back cover only touch on the depth of violence and depravity inflicted upon the lowerclassmen by the seniors late at night when there are no teachers around.

But for me the most interesting part of the book took place toward the end, when as a young gay man in his 20s, Glen lived in Cape Town and dated a man from the ghetto of Soweto, many hours' drive away. Glen has lived a fairly sheltered life (the "Jack Bank" notwithstanding), and has become aware of his privilege and power as a white man, but he is still easily fooled by romanticized notions of how those in poverty live, seeing them as more pure and honest. He moves through the ghetto like a privileged white boy: unaware of danger, unwilling to believe the locals about the reality of the place, and falsely secure in his misunderstanding about his relationships with locals. This all comes crashing down quickly when rivals of the ANC (this was in the early 90s) raid Soweto while Glen is still there.

A great book, which I highly suggest.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Growing up in South Africa: Man, this is going to be cool, with wild animals hanging out in your backyard and maybe a lion mauling or something. I pictured lush tree-lined streets on the way to school, boyhood adventures.

Not that my initial expectations were wrong, but there is so much more.

Like most children, Glen thinks his childhood is fairly common. We open up with an interviewer who wants to know the gritty details about living on a game preserve, but he talks about his hobbies and his friends instead. It doesn't take long for Glen to realize this is the wrong answer, but he doesn't know why. Is he supposed to be different?

He grows up, goes to boarding school, is mentally and physically abused by his peers. But it's not until college—the chapter titled The Castle—that I really got into this tale. Before then, you don't feel the racial and/or sexuality changes that are happening. It's not until Glen befriends a black boy, in the black dorm, that you realize what's happening in South Africa during that time. It paints a picture not just of one boy's life, but of an entire historical movement.

He goes from a clueless boy living in the game reserve to a gay rights activist. And everything in between helps define his identity, those little (and often not-so-little) details that we learn on the way as we grow up.

[AJ Payne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really can't decide if I liked this one. I did for the most part - I liked most of the stories told, I generally liked the author, I liked the South Africa part (of course), and I loved the honesty... but there were things I definitely wasn't into, too.

I didn't really understand the title, and I definitely didn't understand why the author had to keep bringing it up constantly. I understood what the jack bank was when it happened in boarding school, but then the author incessantly brought it up as a symbol that I didn't quite get in what seemed like an effort to draw a running theme throughout the book, and it just didn't work for me. I also didn't really need to know about every sexual escapade. I don't mind sex talk, but eh, sometimes I thought it was too much here.

But, overall I don't regret reading it, as I don't regret reading most memoirs (especially out of South Africa), and there was some interesting insight into gay rights in South Africa in the 1980s/early 1990s that I don't know much about. So overall, worth it.

[Gwen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I expected to really like this. What is not to like about a child that grows up in Kruger Park? However, it ends up being more about his childhood, where he was bullied for being different - and about him finally figuring out that he was gay. His family were English Catholics, which was different than all the other white people. So, he grows up, has trouble making friends, goes to boarding school where he is beaten, goes to college and finds out he is gay. And then, he wants to move to the USA to avoid military. All this occurs during aparthaid which is barely addressed in the book.

[Corey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this for school and had the opportunity to meet the writer, a really interesting and bright fellow. To be completely honest, I didn't think I'd be all that crazy about the book, it just didn't sound like my cup of tea. But Retief's journey is fascinating and inspiring, not to mention quite well-written. I especially enjoyed the "Black Boys of My Youth" section. Retief's recollections of his adolescence are both amusing and enlightening. Definitely worth a read.

[Mia · Rating 3 out of 5]

retief has a very interesting story to tell, but unfortunately feels the need to hit his reader over the head with his 'theme,' thereby sacrificing the art of subtlety a book like this would really benefit from. it ends up feeling contrived, especially towards the end. which is a shame, as he's a good writer and, as i said, his is a fascinating story.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. I met the author this summer at a reading. Very interesting to learn about what it was like growing up gay in South Africa. This book was especially pertinent last month with the death of Nelson Mandela.He is an excellent writer. Very descriptive memoir. I would highly recommend reading this book.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's incredibly difficult to create a review for a book that one of your professors wrote. I'll let the rating speak for itself on this one for the time being until I manage to choke up the words to express how awesome I thought it was.

[Meghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An engrossing memoir that draws some really interesting parallels about institutionalized hatred and violence, from homophobia and bullying in a boarding school to the racism and discrimination of the apartheid system.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

An insight into growing up not-straight in South Africa in the dying days Apartheid. I enjoyed the story and the recounting of Glenn's coming to terms with his sexuality in the midst of turbulent familial and political times.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's actually better than a 4! I loved this book and an so proud of my faculty colleague at Susquehanna whose story it is and who writes beautifully. This book won a Lambda award last year and I can see why!

[Jane Brazell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Retief's telling of his childhood and youth in South Africa is gripping and beautifully written. The ideas presented about bullying are applicable to our current situation. It is also a wonderful look at South Africa.

[Kelly Syhre · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the author's writing, beautifully descriptive. This memoir tells the journey of growing up as a white boy & young adult in South Africa. He comes to terms with his sexuality & discovers who he is during times of political upheaval.

[Brian G. Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved loved loved it. Beautifully written. Deeply moving.

[Kristin Rawls · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely, hilarious, painful, wise and truthful. A beautiful book.

[Mariana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I happen to know Glen Retief's husband-to-be. This was a difficult book to read. Violence begets violence. Only love can redeem violence. I look forward to the next installment.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoughtful, painful, but most of all, honest. Beautiful language as well. This story needs to be heard.

[Hannah Langhoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is often difficult to read, given the subject matter, but it's beautifully written.

[Brandon Shire · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't usually do memoirs, but this book, the authors use of language... beautiful.
Highly recommended.

[willowdog]

Found I was more interested in the SA events than in the characters life.

[Kristin · Rating 5 out of 5]

By turns moving, hilarious and wise. A lovely book.