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The Man Who Loved Crocodile Tamers

4/30/2022

Title: The Man Who Loved Crocodile Tamers
Author: Finuala Dowling
Publisher: Kwela
I wept when I finished this book. Not just because I had finished it. Though it was that too. It was a long and intense book which kept me sustained for a long stretch, and became a friend. I had to keep stopping to re-read a sentence, reflect a while its deeper or double meaning. To breakaway and look up a word. Penumbra for instance, while you might know what it means, how skillful its

use in a phrase. Occasionally I lost the thread of the story by getting so caught up in the words. It’s been pointed out that the author is a poet, by which you might think her work might be flowery, filled with mystic analogy. But it isn’t that so much as the way she places words alongside one another: ‘There was nothing wrong with his body, except that a feeling that a clawed creature from prehistory had it pinioned.’ (That’s not necessarily the best example, but as a I scanned back to find you one, I kept getting caught up again reading). Wait – I just found another one: ‘I lay on my bed aching, my spirits scraping the loose pebble bed at the bottom of my soul.’ Okay, that one might be a bit poety, but hey – is it not truly evocative. It is the very architecture of her sentences, paragraphs – the construction of the whole book really - that’s been so very thoughtfully crafted. With knowledge. And experience.
I wept for that too – the knowledge, the experience. All the little, and big, things that she has clearly learnt and absorbed growing up – I love it that she remembers Vandy saying that something or someone had ‘gone for a Burton’ – no one says that anymore. That she refers to the feather in yankee doodles cap that looks like macaroni – though the image it accompanies of intestines seeping from a dead man’s body is a haunting one. I tried hard to shake it off.
I wept for the dialogue – though sometimes I laughed, or nodded in approval at its nuance or irony. She is a listener, is Finuala. Not for just what and the way in which something is said, but for what else is unsaid. Or implied – hinted at or hidden. ‘I am under no obligation to use my genius’ said Paddy. ‘How very dramatic of you,’ said Vandy. ‘What an excellent moment for a prop.’ Again, perhaps not the best examples, but it was fun running the search.
I wept and shook my head in amazement at the depth of research. Who, of this generation can know the horrors of WWII battlefields (though God knows we will have enough images of Ukranian devastation to last to eternity). But it’s not just Paddy’s battle with battle, and its aftermath, that she has put her mind through – it’s old schools and churches, hospitals and circus tents, it’s even advertising agencies and the downtrodden of Marseille. The streets of London and bars of Cape Town. It’s also a reference library of book titles from the past – The Plague and I, The Alexandria Quartet, Jude the Obscure, Moominland Midwinter, agonizingly an outdated Writer’s & Artists Yearbook…a magazine called Outspan and an even more old-fashioned women’s radio programme. And that’s not to mention music bristling with nostalgia – Greensleeves, Neil Young’s Heart of Gold – Jaques Brel’s If We Only Have Love. Sorry, at this point, I might just weep again. You will find out why when you read it yourself.
I realise I have told nothing of the story of The Man Who Loved Crocodile Tamers, but honestly to trot out what it’s about would most certainly be to understate the plots windings. Finuala herself gave a presentation on How This Novel Came About which I was lucky enough to attend. It was not a straight path, and there were many avenues leading off, back and forth. But the kernel was the fact that her own father had once loved a Crocodile Tamer (though in fact they were alligators) called Koringa. An eccentric wench, with whom he had once been infatuated, and who later appeared at the church to threaten his wedding to his new love, Vandy. It’s an indelible nugget of real-life family legend that no writer could resist. But it is a story of many layers and Finuala has worked her way through all of them in search of the truth - perhaps finding it, perhaps creating it - but certainly unearthing a lot more besides.
Perhaps the most endearing components of the books construction are the Fragments from a writer’s diary. These are interspersed between the chapters that start in Salisbury Plain, 1917, and weave across the world through a host of other destinations like Harrogate and Leicester, 1928, Khataba, Egypt 1943 to The Farm, Lakeside 1966 closing in Kalk Bay, 1976. They are not Finuala’s own diary fragments she insists – but those of the writer who is putting together this book with Doubt sitting on the chaise longue, the opinions of her siblings and her own inner voices with which to contend. These fragments are revealing and priceless and make you want to rush at her, or not her, with a reassuring hug. ‘How can you ever be sure another piece of cutting, adding or rephrasing wouldn’t improve it?’ Feel her pain. Feel her poetry. Read her book.

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Luntu Masiza Tells The Truth

4/23/2022

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Author: Penny Lorimer
Publisher: Tafelberg
Reviewer: Hazel Makuzeni
This book was awarded the Silver Sanlam Prize for Youth Literature 2021 for very good reasons. It is completely engrossing. The style of writing is refreshingly fun, young and with no limits. It captured my imagination from page one and the more I read, the more I fell head over heels in love with the main character, Luntu Masiza. It’s really not hard to love the teenage boy even though he does

misbehave badly in some circumstances.
It all starts with sixteen-year-old Luntu been given a holiday project by his teacher, Mr Bali Silal. The assignment: Luntu must write his life story. This, according to his teacher, will help improve his writing skills and his English, teach him how history is recorded and may encourage even deeper self-exploration. Great you say. Not according to Luntu who believes that the assignment is boring and a waste of time. Not when he should be enjoying his July holidays in peace and preparing for the year’s final terms. “It is not matric, it’s true, but all the teachers say that Grade 11 is the most important academic year. Matric is just revision!” he protests.
The first time Luntu met Mr Bali it’s after the Easter holidays, on his first Term 2 Grade 10 English Class. Mr Bali, having taken over from Ms Clare “who left to have a baby”, is his new English and history teacher. He is also his new class teacher. Luntu was not aware of this when he and a friend entered the classroom. “Hey, who is this mophead?” are the first words Luntu uttered. It was downhill from there on. He disagreed with his teacher almost daily. You see, Luntu was loved by all his teachers and had never been challenged before. He enjoyed success and excelled in public speaking. He joined the debating club and in Grade 9 was his class representative on the Student Leadership Council. He was even entrusted to show visitors and funders around the school. All this changed when Mr Bali arrived. And they were at loggerheads as the new teacher saw right through him. That he was all a big act.
What makes the book fun and an easy read is its format. You are reading Luntu’s daily email to his teacher. And each day he covers a different subject. Why Do We Study History? Secrets of The Female Body, Revealed. Romance Is Dead. Mr Bali Loses His Cool. These are some of his colourful topics. He does his writings at an “internet café” which is basically a container filled with computers where one pays money to use one of them. From his daily entries you get to see who this young man is and his struggles. He lost his mother at a young age. He doesn’t know who his father is. He lives with his blind gogo and they survive on her grant and the special grant he gets for being an orphan. He goes to Walter Sisulu High School – a school where most learners manage to pass their matric, unlike other township schools where many fail. He has big dreams for himself but he’s also longing for a father.
The book covers some of the pressing issues faced by many teenagers in this country. It’s frank on teen love and life. It talks about sex, teenage pregnancy, sugar daddies, HIV/Aids, poverty, peer pressure and death. If you manage to get your hands on the book, please read the entry with the subject: The Power of Hair. I caught myself Laughing Out Loud. It’s a thin book and it’s both brilliant and creative. You can’t put it down once you start reading it.

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The Book of Magic

4/4/2022

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Author: Alice Hoffman
Publisher: Scribner
Reviewer: Beryl Eichenberger
I seem to have been immersed in magic recently – in books not in reality but for anyone who loves magical reality, witches and a darn good story then ‘THE BOOK OF MAGIC by Alice Hoffman is an absolute must. This conclusion to her PRACTICAL MAGIC series is, as always a good read, grasping you and drawing you into a world that hovers just beyond our reach. And if you don’t believe in magic and witches – read this with an open mind, perhaps your perception will change. . .
We are of course talking about mostly good

magic but there are those practitioners of bad magic who cast their spells to change the course of innocent lives, wickedly adding spice and drama to the story. But let’s go back a bit to set the scene of this story.
The Owens family have been cursed – way back in the 1600s when Maria Owens was thwarted in love. “Beware of love” – a curse invoked that, over the centuries has ensured that the Owens family have had to hide their loves, escape into new identities and take drastic steps to thwart the curse. But it is the 21st Century and the new Owens generation is unaware of their witchcraft lineage and all that it entails. Beloved matriarch Aunt Jet hears the death watch beetle – a sign that her time is near - the answer to breaking the curse is within her grasp but the path has to be laid. Her great niece Kylie has fallen in love and history is busy repeating itself as Gideon, her boyfriend is run over. With his life in the balance only breaking the curse will save him and Kylie is discovering that she isn’t exactly who she thought she was; neither is her mother Sally or her sister Antonia. Hidden powers are acknowledged and, with the remaining elderly Aunt Franny, the whole family is galvanised into action to save their future.
This is a racy adventure story taking in the Massachusetts of the present, trailing into the Salem of the past, bringing us to the dark underbelly of London’s black magic circles, a secret library, books that burn you when touched, the Book of the Raven- holding secrets that men will die for, the reappearance of brother Vincent and simply an enchanting story that will have you under its spell from beginning to end. Across the continents we follow the imaginative characters to the final conclusion and come full circle to a wonderful finale to this quartet of novels.
What I love most about these books is the research that Hoffman has put into them. She brings healing potions of herbs that we all know, introduces us to Grimoires (magic books) and the good spells (which frankly, I wanted to try!)
Magic has for centuries influenced the cultures of the world, having a role in religion, literacy and tradition. But above all the message is very clear. Good magic outweighs the evil and the values of healing, help and love are those that we should aspire to. Poetic, imaginative beyond the norm , sensual and totally absorbing this is a book that allows you to believe the unbelievable.
(The series: Magic Lessons, The Rules of Magic, , Practical Magic, and The Book of Magic - published by Scribner)

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The Language of Food

4/4/2022

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Author: Annabel Abbs
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Reviewer: Nancy Richards
‘And it seems to me that the kitchen, with its natural intimacy, is more conducive to friendship and love than any other room in the house.’ Such a tender quote. So what’s not to devour about a book called The Language of Food. In this case a period piece based on the English woman who wrote the first ‘break through’ cook book. And with a classic blue &white tiled cover – a winning fusion.

Blending historical fact with appealing contemporary fiction can’t be easy. A bit like Downtown Abbey meets Masterchef. There’s the responsibility of honouring history but allowing sufficient self-licence to add spice. But for a cook book lover, I would say just a taste of the end result will surely be both satisfying and filling.
The story is based on the real-life Eliza Acton who back in 1845 published Modern Cookery for Private Families. Over 576 pages, it took her ten years to compile. Groundbreaking in that she was the first to list ingredients – a practice used by cookery writers ever since. She had however, the help of the poor but instinctively gifted scullery maid Ann Kirby. Adding layers to this lasagna are the secrets both women carry – Ann a drunken, mole catching, crippled father, lunatic mother…I won’t divulge Eliza’s bigger secret as it’s only revealed later in the book – but she is also published poet – with a longing. Her lyrical pen infuses her cookery copy. There is also the issue of love… and marriage. Or not.
The recipe descriptions are eye as well as mouth-watering (in some cases) and used as chapter heads: Tea Kettle Broth, Roast Calves Liver with Lemon Pickle, Oxford Punch, Seasoned Gruel, Mauritian Chutney, Swan’s Egg en Salade, Chocolate Almonds, Ginger Candy and Palace Bonbons on Osier Twigs... The tastebuds boggle. It’s also a reminder of how hot, hectic and close-to-the-bone it was in below-stairs kitchens back in the day.
Eliza Acton was extraordinary – a pioneer and role model, albeit with demons as well as culinary devotion. Ann, whose chapters open and close the story (their narrated chapters alternate) although she existed was more a construction of imagination and research. But Annabel Abbs did plenty of research on Eliza’s life and times too – starting with her mother-in-law’s 200 strong cook book collection. Modern Cookery stayed in print for seventy years – and sold 125,000 in the first thirty. Elizabeth David called it ‘the greatest cookery book in our language’. I steal these facts from the fascinating historical and character Notes sections at the back. For the brave there are also some of Miss Eliza’s Recipes – including, bless her, Soup in Haste appended with what she calls Obs. an abbreviation of Observations. Definitely a cook ahead of her time. PS just fyi, the acclaimed, later Mrs Beeton plagiarized Eliza’s work shamelessly.

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The Man Who Loved Crocodile Tamers

Luntu Masiza Tells The Truth

The Book of Magic

The Language of Food

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