Woman Zone CT - Book Reviews

WELCOME TO THE WOMAN ZONE BOOK REVIEW PAGE.
This is where members of the WZ Book Club get to share their thoughts on titles seen on the shelves of our Women’s Library. All reviews are unsolicited and only those attending the WZBC may borrow and review books.
The Woman Zone Book Club meets on the 2nd Saturday of every month between 2pm and 4pm at The Women’s Library, ground floor, Artscape. All are welcome.

We welcome your reviews of women-authored books. Send between 200-500 words and cover pic if possible to info@womanzonect.co.za or hipzone@mweb and we will post it here!

Quinella's Pipe

6/9/2023

Author: Catherine Eden
Publisher:
Reviewer: Ambre Nicolson @ambrenicolson
Did anyone else go through a tween animal story phase? I remember that sometime after my Nancy Drew fascination but before I got into Tolkien and Terry Pratchett, I spent many happy afternoons up in my favourite tree, reading Tarka the Otter, the Snow Goose, Watership Down and Duncton Wood.

Quinella’s Pipe, by local writer Catherine Eden, reminded me a lot of these classic animal tales - with the added delight of the creatures and the setting being recognisably local.
The book traces the adventures of a community of creatures in a semi-urban garden as they race to help their friends the moles escape to safety after their home is invaded by property developers. The characters include a set of slightly co-dependent frogs, a charming leopard toad, a family of squirrels and Quinella herself, a wise porcupine based on a real-life counterpart who lived nearby the author - just as she does in the story.
The book would make for good bedtime reading for little kids and a book that older children could read by themselves. The story includes lots of action (one of the best bits is a heroic resuscitation effort by one of the humans in the story), charming illustrations and a heartwarming outcome. “

The Phoebe Book of Poems for Children

6/4/2023

Author: Patricia Schonstein
Publisher: The Cactus Foundation and African Sun Press I Seed Readers in Association with Poetry in McGregor
Reviewer: Catherine Eden
Open the bright and beautiful Phoebe Book of Poems for Children and you will find a note from a little brown dog, appealing for kindness to all creatures, big and small.
This is not any dog; this is Phoebe, who in real life had a very bad start but who is now an animal welfare ambassador and the inspiration behind South African poet and novelist Patricia Schonstein’s collection of

verses celebrating the wonder and diversity of life on planet Earth.
Some content is drawn from her earlier work, Sing Africa! Poems and Songs for Children. With the additional of new material, the poems are now wide-ranging. The main sections are dedicated to African wildlife, earth, sea and sky, but there are poems about pets and even some that deal with colours and counting – all brought to life by Izak Vollgraff’s glorious illustrations.
There are catchy rhymes, easy repetitions for the very young, and verses built around familiar songs, famous poems and animal-themed children’s classics, such as The Tiger Who Came to Tea. There are also a few wise words from Chief Seattle, the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, reinforcing the theme of conservation and stewardship of our resources. From the short and simple to the longer, more complex poems, every lively, colourful page carries Phoebe’s message to appreciate and respect all sentient beings.
It’s a pressing topic, but handled in a gentle, playful and informative way. Take the poem ‘Something About Snakes’, for example. Every line begins with S: ‘Snakes are very/ Secretive and / Shy and they / Slither away if they hear you coming except that / Some don’t, like Mr Puffadder who is / Simply lazy. He / Stays right there in the path...’ The poem ends with a reminder that, ‘Snakes are very / Stylish and worthy of respect / Since everyone in nature has their place, even / Scary ones.’
The book is both educational and celebratory, not least because it was born out of very dark circumstances. Phoebe’s story began in Lusaka, Zambia. An adult man, believing the pup to be responsible for some bewitchment, instructed children to torture her. Someone eventually intervened, but not before Phoebe had been badly hurt.
Mindless cruelty to animals is guaranteed to spark public outrage, but in Phoebe’s case it also sparked some positive change. When South African Sarah Clayton heard about the dog’s suffering, she brought Phoebe to Johannesburg for specialist treatment, and then adopted her. Sarah went on to establish The Cactus Foundation, an organisation dedicated to animal welfare and the protection and education of children in Africa.
In the course of her research into childhood experience and criminality, she made contact with Patricia’s husband, Don Pinnock, an expert on youth at risk, and that was how Patricia began to collaborate with the Foundation as its Story Weaver.
‘It is a serious thing to teach children to be cruel,’ she says. But, as Phoebe’s introductory note explains, ‘... those children hurt me – not because they were nasty – but because no one had ever taught them to be kind to animals.’
The Phoebe Book of Poems for Children with its positive, educational messages, is a wonderful resource that can help to break that cycle of ignorance and cruelty. It belongs in homes, classrooms, veterinary surgeries – anywhere where its healing message can work its magic.

R350 plus vat. Available in retail book stores from August, but can also be purchased on the website, https://cactusfoundation.africa/shop/

Eye Brother Horn

5/29/2023

Author: Bridget Pitt
Publisher: Catalyst Press
Reviewer: Beryl Eichenberger
Colonialism. Much has been written about it, much discussion has ensued and many fingers pointed at the perpetrators. For missionaries the opening up of Africa to convert the heathens was a zealot’s dream, for the British landed gentry the promise of huge wealth in these untamed lands with the sugar cane, mines and wild animals was too good an opportunity to miss. Our current environmental devastation is very much because of the uncontrolled and vicious

hunting of that time. Dispossession was the name of the game for the superior colonists.
We live with that legacy today and, in Eye Brother Horn Bridget Pitt has written a sensitive and unusual novel of late 19th Century life in the depths of the Natal bush on a small mission station. The novel has a magical quality where Pitt has taken African beliefs and the mysticism that surrounds them and employed them in a rich and spiritual story.
Spanning 17 years from 1862 we follow the story of brothers: the sensitive Daniel, son of missionary parents and Moses, found in a basket on the river bank (biblical connotations noted). These are not biological brothers; Moses, is black and Daniel is white. Their parents, Reverend Whitaker (umFundisi - Teacher) and his wife Kazi consider them as brothers and bring them up equally. Fairly easy at first, however tribal influences are at play in this remote station and the reader is fully aware that this seemingly idyllic childhood cannot continue. Growing up as they do, the pull of African culture versus white colonialism will have its effect on both of them.
For Daniel it is the pulse of the animals – his brush with a rhino as a babe in arms has unlocked an awareness of animal suffering – a pain that overwhelms and sends him into strange trances when an animal is threatened. As much as Moses feels his tribal roots, he has embraced the sciences – astronomy and maths - and the education given him, planning on how to use it. A sensible boy with ambition. It is Daniel who seems to have that mystic soul, a connection to the inner emotions through that brush with the rhino and ‘ with its single fleeting gaze into his own eye, forging some intractable bond.’ And this is where the story takes an unusual trajectory
As I read I was struck by the reversal of roles of the two boys, Daniel is dependent on Moses, but Moses has an inner strength that drives him. But it is the coming of age that is heartbreaking when the promises of the greedy Sir Roland split the boys apart. Moses is forced to take his place amongst the natives and their apartness has a devastating effect on the softer Daniel.
Pitt writes in the present tense, a style that I enjoy as I felt very much within the story. She skillfully brings the Zululand of the 1860s into focus. The bush, the missionary station, the native’s disdain of the ‘white man’, their underground rumbles, the Zulu royalty and the importance of the tribal rituals. But the arrogance and superiority that lay with the colonialists is prevalent, the dismissal of an ancient culture, ancestors and customs and the ownership of man and beast are shameful. Good on Pitt to evoke those emotions and her obvious love of the wild and rhinos in particular make us remember why this current generation has a duty to preserve what many of our own kin destroyed. While this is an account of the destruction wrought by the colonialists it is also a poignant story of bonds, of defying convention and being true to oneself – at whatever cost.
My only criticism is that the many Zulu words included could be lost on a wider audience and this would be a pity, as there are strong messages that apply globally.

A Spell of Good Things

5/11/2023

Author: Ayobami Adebayo
Publisher: Canongate Books
Reviewer: Hazel Makuzeni
This is a second book by award-winning author, Ayobami Adebayo. It’s an enthralling novel like nothing I have read in a while. A page-turner with a twist of romance, diversity and suspense. It’s a fascinating gaze on humanity showing a world without care for the vulnerable, where corruption is rife, where power, parentage and generational wealth is everything. Ayobami’s book is set in Nigeria,

where she was born, but it could easily be placed in any country on the continent where the poor are often marginalised and essential services, like hospitals, are left wanting. Her writing style is engrossing, almost hypnotic. Her saga left me with feelings of despair and anger. I’m (so) torn apart by the two protagonists – even having finished the book, my heart still bleeds for them. There were moments I wished I could step inside the book and stop them from taking their woeful decisions. –But, I guess, what is done is done.
Eniola comes from a poor family, his father lost his job in the public sector with thousands of other teachers when a corrupt government decided that they were not essential workers. Now he and his mother and sister are left begging on the streets while his father is drowning in depression at home. Life is hard at home, even the last sliver of soap is precious. Instead of playing soccer with other boys from the neighbourhood, Eniola spends most of his time running errands for the local tailor. He will do anything and everything to get back to school. He just needs enough naira’s to pay-off his fees and be able to write his final exams at the cheapest private secondary school his parents could find.
Enter our second protagonist, Wuraola. Her world and Eniola’s (Their) worlds are so far apart. She comes from good stock, her parentage is certified gold. Her family is wealthy with prestige and political connections. As a medical doctor in her first year of practice, Wuraola is frustrated and overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of her workload, and the absence of basic and vital medicines and equipment. It doesn’t help that the hospital she works at is inflicted with daily electricity black-outs. But Wuraola’s life is mapped out, she’s meant to marry Kunle, the son of family friends. Even for a good, genuine, educated young woman from a loving home, some societal evils are hard to escape. Wuraola is facing just such a demon.
The climax of the book is jaw-dropping and haunting. With a political twist that will infuriate and leave the reader, this one anyway, utterly dismayed at how politics are run in some countries on this continent. At how life can so easily be discarded in exchange for power and wealth. I cannot wait to get my hands on the author’s debut novel, Stay with Me. From what I just read, she’s one of a kind as a writer. She’s thorough, well-informed and brings this blazing story to a powerful finish.

Chinongwa

4/21/2023

Author: Lucy Mushita
Publisher: Weaver Press and Modjaji Books
Reviewer: Hazel Makuzeni
Chinongwa is a glaring reminder of the countless horrors faced by many young girls, from mostly impoverished and deeply patriarchal societies, around the globe. It’s a sad indictment on mankind and the abhorrent treatment meted out to the truly vulnerable and most deserving of our love, protection and care. Even though the novel is set in the early twentieth century in rural

Zimbabwe, similar experiences are still felt by girls living in countries like Afghanistan, Yemen, South Africa and where child marriages occur even now. Lucy Mushita’s poignant novel explores the consequences of these marriages.
Protagonist Chinongwa, knew earlier on that she would soon be married off. Even though she was only nine, her grandmother did not shy away from revealing to the child that: “Your sister was even younger when she was given”. Truth is, Chinongwa had resigned to her fate. Why would anything be different? She already knew that two of her aunts were given away in exchange for food and cattle. Her family, like many in the village, were dirt poor. This hasn’t always been the case. Once they were people of affluence living on fertile grounds rich with cattle and game. But everything changed as soon as the colonisers arrived. They were now displaced people, living on arid land with few or no cattle, or indeed anything else. So it was that daughters were given away to feed the family.
The journey to finding a husband for Chinongwa was tiresome and humiliating. To her father’s and aunt’s dismay, nobody wanted to take her as a child-wife as she was neither plump, tall nor beautiful enough. Just skin and bones really. Their fortunes changed when, during an unforgiving hailstorm, they crossed paths with a childless woman. This woman offered to take the young girl for her elderly husband as a second wife. At that point life as a child ceased for Chinongwa. Her pursuit of independence in the face of so much adversity and treacherousness, is extraordinary.
Can there ever be any justification for continuing the practice of child-marriage? I solemnly ask with a heavy heart. When guardians of children turn into predators devouring their young, what future is there for humanity? Thanks to the author for this touching, timeless read.

My Year of Not Getting Sh*tfaced

4/21/2023

Author: Pamela Power
Publisher: Jonathan Ball
Reviewer: Hazel Makuzeni
From the author of three novels and co-author of another, a bestseller in South African terms, comes this candid journal of her journey to moderate drinking. Pamela Power is also a television scriptwriter and script editor, a mother and wife. How she was able to pull through – she begins her voyage to sobriety at the height of the Covid-19

epidemic - and get a book deal is sheer tenacity and anguish. You see at the time of writing this journal, she was busy with not only one, but three television shows. Writing a blog every week. And, working on the novel that would become a bestseller. Oh, and she and hubby got Covid during the course.
Road to not getting sh*tfaced. It all started on Mother’s Day 2021. The author got totally pissed at her friend’s place while relishing a Mother’s Day lunch. Like mwah (the reviewer), after a heavy session of drinking, the author did not remember a thing on the following day. “I was paralysed by a severe shame attack…,” she says. I know the feeling. Good friends, who were at the said lunch, filled her in on her abysmal escapades which included picking a fight with a stranger, falling and hurting her hand and shin badly. Unlike the author, I tend not to entertain reports back about my erstwhile behaviour after getting shi*tfaced and blacking-out. What I cannot undo, I cannot undo. And why were you taking notes? Are you a reporter by profession? These questions immediately silence the concerned citizen and I’m left to deal with my hangover in dread.
Back to the book. Pamela treks her relationship with alcohol back to her uneasy relationship with her parents. Her mother was fully unpleasant when drunk, and her father could be cruel. The demands of her workload are crippling, but as a freelancer she has no job security so she soldiers on. On the home front, her family’s finances are a disaster with hubby not having a steady income. Alcohol is definitely a distraction, to supress the anxiety about money, her kids and the sadness of losing loved ones to Covid. In fact, she has been self-medicating with alcohol for 35 years at least. But as she says, “Getting drunk and falling over might be funny in your twenties, less so in your fifties.” In this entertaining read, she takes stock of her drinking habits and is mindful of how she consumes liquor.
As a soon-to-be reformed binge drinker, myself, I’m in total agreement with the author: moderation is the key for some. Being wary of how much booze I consume at once has staved off the black-outs for some time now😊 Since embarking on this journal, the author has not been drunk once in 365 days. Cheers to that.

Peaches and Smeets

4/19/2023

Author: Ashti Juggath
Publisher: Modjaji Books
Reviewer: Hazel Makuzeni
I would like to say at the outset, that this is a great read. More especially as a first novel coming from a woman who works as a pharmacist – and with a Master’s degree in Pharmacy. With a husband and three children to look after, plus a job with a large corporate, how she found time to envision and put this stunning tale to paper is to be marvelled at. I have a cousin who is very close

and dear to me, she is also a pharmacist, and with all the gruelling studying she had to undertake, and her current grind, I cannot imagine her having the strength and tenacity to follow this author’s diligence. Juggath does though, acknowledge the heavy task of bringing a book to life. She says, “Producing a book is an arduous but exciting journey, and this one would not have been possible without the help of many people.” She wrote Peaches and Smeets “believing that the stories of the past needed to be captured for posterity.”
The book is essentially about Smita (Smeets) Maharaj who grew up in Bakerton, Springs in the 1950’s and ‘60’s. She’s a beautiful child, daughter, much beloved by her father – a language and history teacher who is also a trained Hindu priest honouring his promise to uphold the Brahmins legacy he’d inherited. Simta’s mother is a dutiful, sometimes overly emotional, traditional Indian wife, who just wants to give her husband a boy child and for her daughters to be married off.
The story takes you on a roller coaster ride taking in painful racist injustices, patriarchy, and the journey of a young woman finding her way and becoming more aware of self in a world that is consistently reforming. The set-background traditions and religious rituals of India are mesmerising. Take for example, that of Raksha Bandhan, the day on which brothers and sisters celebrate their love for each other. Other rituals mentioned that accompany the birth of a new born, or support a soon-to-be bride are so to be cherished. Imagine if we still lived in a world where a midwife could be quickly summoned to assist with the healing, bathing and massaging of the new born and mother as practised in the book. Simply awe-inspiring!
I cannot wait for more to come from Ashti. In a country as diverse as ours, it is imperative to hear more voices that amplify our transformations, and common humanity.

CAT THERAPY

4/19/2023

Author: Gail Gilbride
Publisher: Self published
Reviewer: Beryl Eichenberger
If you are a cat – lover than you’ll know there’s something so very comforting about the ‘plop’ of a warm, furry body snuggling next to you when you’re feeling low, sick or simply tired. It’s as if there is an unspoken agreement that there’s healing in that snuggle as loud purrs ripple across the bedclothes. You reach out an arm to stroke the warm, curled body and suddenly a glimmer of light flickers at the end of the

tunnel. And when that tunnel is through cancer - that comfort is even more intense.
Gail Gilbride’s unplanned memoir, ‘Cat Therapy” is a tender, honest diary of her journey through ‘Cancer in the time of Corona’ accompanied by her semi – feral cat Archie. Providing that reassuring, regular plop he also gives some meaningful life lessons. Catnapping with her is a welcome diversion from debilitating treatment. Providing meaning to some very inward thinking plus a window on the world beyond is also part of his portfolio!
Having to endure two life - threatening diseases Covid and Cancer = at once was certainly not on the cards and Gail faces them both head on – with fortitude, humour and a light touch that belies the angst that was rippling beneath the surface. Here is a woman for whom life still offers so many possibilities, who is determined to beat this thing with both conventional and alternative treatments. Who is not giving up. A story that will resonate with not just cancer survivors but the larger community as well. Because we were all scared during Corona, we all realized that mortality was finite and locked down as we were, sometimes were quite alone – except for the consistency of our furry pets, by our side through it all.
As Gail writes of her treatments, her love of dancing, her meditation and hypnosis sessions, diving into art, losing her hair, gaining a pixie cut and dreaming of that hot pink bikini she WILL wear to the beach, we are drawn into her world.
She recognizes early on that ‘In order to heal myself, I need to explore not only the outward symptoms, but also the inner workings of who I am and what makes me tick. There are so many ways of exploring this. I plan to become a master.’
And with those words she takes these intruders on! The energy sapping ‘Red Devil treatment comes under fire and Archie teaches her coping methods along the way. It’s warmly written with an easy familiarity as she uncovers, questions and faces those self – doubts that have become beliefs. We may well do the same ourselves on an introspective day. Her positive approach, her effervescence, her down days, her observations and determination are wake-up calls for us all. And all along this path Archie appears – either stalking, curling up, standing in the doorway crying: ‘you owe me a milky tea Ma’, or simply consistently being there. Liz Hardwicke’s quirky sketches add a light and meaningful touch.
It’s a good read, a rich look at a woman who is fighting for her life, acknowledging her strengths and the control that she can take. Uplifting in the life lessons we can all learn. It’s brave but self-effacing, not dwelling too much on the tough times, but not side stepping them. A cancer diagnosis is not necessarily a death sentence – it’s a detour - one that can bring us face to face with ourselves. But it’s the moments by moments that count. The small promises, the achievements, the tiny steps taken on a road that can lead to recovery. And how life can change in an instant.

I Did Not Die

3/24/2023

Author: Tebello Mzamo
Publisher: Kwela Books
Reviewer: Hazel Makuzeni
It’s hard to believe that this is the debut novel by Tebello Mzamo. It is gripping right from the beginning, starting with the prologue. The author held me captive until the last page with this soul-crushing story of a miner named Botho Pere. And thanks to no load shedding, I could read peacefully uninterrupted through the night. Tebello has a deep understanding of the complexities of

migrant life and the disintegration of family that comes with it. The consequences are dire and real, with trauma being pass from generation to generation.
This is an unforgettable story of Botho Pere, his wife Nthatisi, his lover Jemina and their children. Botho’s misfortunes are aplenty. He dropped out of high school and decided to go and work in the mines when he was sixteen. Nthatisi on the other hand had a supportive grandmother who saw to it that she finished high school. She took a secretarial course to further her studies. By the time they get married, Botho is already a mineworker in South Africa. He has to leave his then pregnant wife behind, in Lesotho, and come back to toil the soil in Gauteng.
Almost three years go by without sight or a word from Botho. The letters he normally sends to his wife, their lifeline, have ceased to exist. Tired of being Botho’s sad, lonely wife, Nthatisi has illicit affairs. One ending with a disastrous outcome, forcing her to end her career as a secretary at the primary school in their village. Her tenacity in finding ways to survive and feed their two children is most commendable. Back in South Africa, Botho is living a double life that will eventually cost him dearly. Hearts will be broken and lives ruined. To compound all this misery and treachery is the menacing Mokoto, rumoured to be a witch hellbent on destroying Botho.
This is a tale all too familiar in real life. Fathers leaving their families in search of greener pastures on the other side of the fence. Mothers left behind to care and fend for themselves and the children. Dreams deterred when the family’s pillar of strength is no more. Children dropping out of school, numbers of teenage pregnancies rising steeply, alcoholism rife, and communities falling apart. In our country we are still haunted by the effects of the migrant labour system, and probably will be for years, if not generations, to come.

Charlene - In search of a princess

3/19/2023

Author: Arlene Prinsloo
Publisher: Jonathan Ball
Reviewer: Hazel Makuzeni
Ever since she was a little girl, author and veteran journalist, Arlene Prinsloo has been fascinated by tales about princes and princesses. She traces her love affair with fairy tales from when her mother would tell her stories about them. As she says, “I still have the well-worn books she read to me.” Her enchantment with the lives of royals has seen her covering royal news as a blogger for Sarie magazine and Netwerk24. It’s no wonder her unauthorised biography of Her

Serene Highness Princess Charlene of Monaco is here. Besides thorough research, the author got input for this book from Charlene’s friends and old swimming mates. She approached Charlene through official palace channels but got no response.
“My passion for the lives of royals has taken me to Britain for the weddings of Prince William and Prince Harry. I was one of the thousands of admirers who wanted to drink in the atmosphere and get a glimpse of royalty,” Arlene Prinsloo. She even travelled to London for the funeral of Princess Diana.
In this book the author takes the reader on a tumultuous journey into the astounding life of South African Olympic swimmer Charlene Wittstock, a compassionate, down-to-earth woman who in 2011 married into royalty when she wed Prince Albert Grimaldi of Monaco. Their star-studded union was watched by millions around the globe. To those watching the spectacle, this must have solidified their belief in a modern day fairy-tale. Here was our golden girl from obscure Benoni, with middle-class upbringing, marrying into the grand Grimaldi dynasty who have ruled, the picturesque principality and playground for the rich and famous, for over 700 years.
I must admit I don’t follow the royals that much but the Grimaldi empire is intriguing. Like her late mother-in-law – the larger than life, Oscar-winning Hollywood actress Grace Kelly – Charlene is a commoner who married into royalty. And royal life seems to be quite stifling. From the beginning, her marriage has been rocked by scandals about Albert’s love children and her unhappiness at the life she now lives in Monaco. Her health battles are fodder for the media who scrutinise every single aspect of her life. Nothing is sacrosanct to the paparazzi.
For all the opulence that royal life offers to one, I’m sorry it’s not for me. Not only does one not have any privacy, the archaic set of rules one must follow would drive me to the asylum. I can just only imagine the tremendous sacrifices one has to make, and the isolation you must feel, especially as a commoner when marrying into royalty. The immense pressure to fit in with the royal family must be debilitating. I now fully understand why some parents are today refusing to read fairy tales to their little daughters.
Good luck to Princess Charlene, Prince Albert and their twins. And respect to Arlene Prinsloo for holding on to the dream.