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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! 

The Wilderness Between Us

7/31/2021

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Author: Penny Haw
Publisher: Koehler Books
Reviewer: Gail Gilbride
​In the Tsitsikamma region of South Africa, a hiking group are separated due to a sudden, unexpected flood. Clare, the youngest member, is critically injured and finds herself being taken care of by the anxious Faye.
The two women embark on a surprising journey of discovery, while the other members of the group struggle to survive the raging river. 
Penny Haw immerses us in the rugged wilderness on every level. I found myself resonating with the landscape, as well as with the unfolding drama amongst the group of old friends. Haw’s charming writing and deep connection with nature, are coupled with an understanding of how humans and animals tick.  
The author skillfully intertwines the challenging physical journey with the inner worlds of her characters. Many demons are faced and Haw does not shy away from confronting them.
The unlikely friendship which develops between Clare and the seemingly fragile Faye, is deftly handled. Penny Haw nudges uncomfortable truths to the surface and brings the sometimes chilling wilderness right into our hearts.

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Theatre Road

7/29/2021

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Author: Sindiwe Magona
Publisher: Karavan Press 
Reviewer: Hazel Makuzeni
Reading Thembi Mtshali-Jones book (Theatre Road - My Story as told to Sindiwe Magona) reminds me that biographies are not an easy feat. One has to dig deep in the past (no matter how uncomfortable and painful that past is), remember and be truthful.
People like Thembi who share their intimate 
with the world leave me in awe; asking myself - why? Why does one take this enormous journey of introspect and bare one's soul to the public? Why does one reveal their most inner self to scrutiny? But, I guess sharing your life's journey is something one wants to do - to share one’s legacy.
Award winning actress and world renowned theatre practitioner, Thembekile Mtshali, came to the world on the 7th November 1949. Born to a young mother (sixteen-year-old Margaret Mtshali) in Durban, Thembi grew up with her paternal grandparents in the village of Sabhoza near Ulundi in KwaZulu-Natal. A well-knit and loving community - where everybody knew everyone and cared for each other. She would later join her mother and father (and other siblings) in Durban at the age of thirteen.  
Reading about Thembi’s young life in Sabhoza made me yearn for the abundant love, care and security that village life offered back then. The book takes us from Sabhoza village to KwaMashu Township where everything was strange and new for teen Thembi. From the small, four roomed house she shared with her family - to the township lingo (language), to mannerism and the games that the children played.
Thembi was introduced to the world of entertainment earlier on in life. Her father, Aaron, had a gramophone back in Sabhoza when she was a child and he bought the family in KwaMashu a radio. She would sit in front of it, listening and singing along. Something her mother did not encourage. Back in those days; Thembi never thought even for a moment that one day she would earn a living from singing!
Isilimela Higher Primary (where she attended) in KwaMashu was world apart from Nqabaneni. The village school had four classes all accommodated in one hall. Here in Isilimela there were hundreds of pupils in different classrooms.
Thembi enrolled at a nursing school straight after high school; a big achievement that brought great joy to both she and her mother. But this journey was cut short - she had to leave her studies as soon as it was discovered that she was pregnant. This period was that of turmoil. I wanted to cry with her. Her thoughts on disappointing herself and mother were overwhelming. Her pain was raw. She had let down her mother; the only parent present in her life. At this stage; her father was married to wife number three and was out of sight.
Thembi’s great love and talent for singing landed her in the Senior School Choir after she was heard singing during school assembly by one of the music teachers. And, it was while working as a domestic worker (to help raise her baby daughter Phumzile) that her talent was once again spotted. Charlene, the daughter of her employer, after hearing her sing, encouraged her to go for an audition for a show.
She went on to be cast in the production of uMabatha, the Zulu adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Thembi was part of Ipi ntombi - her second important production in terms of the impact it had on her life. She toured extensively with the show. I was mesmerised by her journeys with the production to Nigeria (where she met for the first time Miriam Makeba. At the time Miriam’s music, and even Miriam herself, was banned in South Africa) and New York in 1976. Ipi ntombi came to an abrupt end in New York after many picketers objected to the state of apartheid in South Africa.
Thembi with some cast members did not leave the Big Apple. Her life in the city is a must read! She would spend almost a decade there; meeting incredible people and artists. She was working, studying, collaborating and performing in the States, throughout Europe and other countries in Africa. She worked immensely with Bra Hugh Masekela and Mam Miriam Makeba.
Thembi finally came back to South Africa in 1984. She missed her home and daughter (Phumzile, now a pre-teen) terribly. Thembi learned to adjust and reinvent herself in theatre and film. Needless to say - she soared! She became well known as Thoko in the hugely popular sitcom Sgudi’s Snaysi. She has graced our screens ever since and is one of our country’s theatre doyennes.
Theatre Road is vividly written and is honest. Thembi did not shy away in sharing moments in her life that were hard to comprehend. The actions of her father at times left a bitter taste in my mouth. So did the actions of others in the book; including the production of Ipi ntombi where the whole cast was Black and the entire management white. Theatre Road takes place during the height of the apartheid regime where forced removals and state brutality towards black lives was the order of the day. Theatre Road explores the hardships of being black and an artist.
The book celebrates Thembi’s life - from her humble beginnings to the world star she is.
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If You Save Me

7/25/2021

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Author: Lisa-Anne Julien
Publisher: Kwela
Reviewer: Nancy Richards
‘It’s complicated’. A loaded phrase these days. Similarly, I would say this is a loaded book. And it’s complicated. In her cover shout, Karin Schimke says ‘Complex, vivid and thrilling.’ So, complexity is a recurring theme. But simply, the story is all about a living donor liver transplant, about which of course, there is nothing simple whatsoever. And that’s where the complexity comes in – with the lives and emotions of all the players involved. The surgeon, the donor, the recipient and all of 
their respective lovers, partners and family members, located variously in London, where the ‘action’ takes place, in South Africa where there’s the fall out and in Trinidad and Tobago where….well, let me not explain too much, you’ll need to work it out for yourself. But none of these characters is without issues.
Just some of the issues worked through, with each of the characters individually, are, alcoholism (remember the liver transplant), AA meetings and feelings of worthlessness. There’s fatherlessness and all the attendant resentment and anger. There are relationships of all sorts, gay and straight, faithful and otherwise – there are also medical morals as well as artistic jealousy. But over and above all of this, there is a huge amount of information on – well all kinds of things - cultures, language, passions, prejudices, perceptions and misperceptions. Lisa-Anne herself is originally from Trinidad and Tobago. She’s lived in New York and London before making Jo’burg her home. That she has a wealth of lived experience and plenty words and wisdom to share is in absolutely no doubt – but it’s complicated. I take my hat off to her for a huge task masterfully tackled.  ​
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I Am A Girl From Africa

7/15/2021

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​Author: Elizabeth Nyamayaro
Publisher: Jonathan Ball
Reviewer: Nancy Richards
‘We desire to bequeath two things to our children: the first one is roots, the other one is wings’. This proverb, one of a series attributed to different African countries and used as chapter openers, seems to me to epitomize Elizabeth Nyamayaro’s spirit. She is hopeful, she is well-grounded, she has vision and motivation – she has both roots and wings. She is Mwana Wevhu – a child of African soil. And she has a story.
At the age of eight, on the verge of dying 
​from hunger she was rescued by ‘the girl in the blue uniform’. The girl that she dreams one day to become. The ‘girl’ worked for the United Nations. It was a long and difficult journey but Elizabeth eventually realized that dream, and went on to become senior advisor on gender equality to the United Nations. In that role she was also head of the global, ground-breaking HeForShe movement designed to encourage men to play an active role in achieving gender quality.
But in these days where so many seek self-enrichment, hers is a truly inspiring story of a genuine commitment to uplifting others by first uplifting yourself.
In this book, which she dedicates to her ‘dearest Gogo’ and her indomitable spirit as well as to Africa, her ‘beloved continent’, she moves between her childhood and adult journeys. So she begins in the rural, famine and HIV-ravaged village of Goromonzi in Zimbabwe where she lives with her grandmother who teaches her all the values of the African soil. She later meets her own Amai and Baba (mother and father) and goes to live with Uncle Sam and Aunt Jane, a childless couple who educate, elevate and cherish her.
Her quest to join the UN takes her to London, to a dreggy hostel and dreggier work until miraculously, a chink in all the barriers against her, not least having no university degree, opens up and her journey into the heart of the UN begins. She meets a number of mentors and role models, primary amongst them Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of UN Women. She travels to Geneva, New York, across the world meeting communities and heads of state alike and effecting change wherever she can. There are some amazing breakthroughs – in 2018 20,000 child marriages were annulled in Malawi, and some heartbreaking moments – she describes hugging one of two-week old twin girls whose teenage mother, victim of an enforced, abusive marriage, in desperation hung herself from a tree.  
There are so many stories and anecdotes, wisdoms and experiences woven in and written in a style so tender as to almost make it sound lovely. But I suspect that’s as a result of Elizabeth’s own caring nature, committed as she is to the spirit of ubuntu.
Interesting to know that she also studied Political Science at London School of Economics, attended Harvard Business School and is also the founder of Africa IQ, a nonprofit that aims to contribute to Africa's economic growth and development. She really is the one who has both roots and wings.
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Ougat

7/10/2021

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Author: Shana Fife
​Publisher: Jonathan Ball
Reviewer: Amy-Rae Rispel
If given the opportunity to write your memoir, to document your life story in high-definition, would you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?  Could you go there? Could you share every last rejection, embarrassing experience and failure? Would you be willing to bask in the inevitable discomfort and self-deprecation? Shana Fife not only gets brutally honest about her life but she seems to write an exact script many middle class Coloured women can relate to. 
What's life really like for a girl born in the Cape Flats? This is it. 
Ougat succinctly documents brave observations, familial contradictions, economic frustrations, GBV, generational pain and earnest musings that many young women think but never say. You'll read it in one sitting and feel motivated to share with your inner circle. Guaranteed to make you gasp, laugh and shake your head. 
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Isle

7/10/2021

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Author: ​Claire Robertson
Publisher: Umuzi 
​Reviewer: Beryl Eichenberger
‘No man is an island, entire of itself…’ this famous John Donne quote came to me as I started reading ISLE. And it stayed with me. The very notion of being on a small island conjures up a sense of isolation, sitting on the periphery of society, an onlooker perhaps.
Claire Robertson is a multi- award winning South African author who writes with a melodic pen, haunting, nuanced and meaningful, her prose is a little like the waters that might surround an island, Swelling to 
match the significance of her stories, ebbing to allow one to think through her narrative. ‘Isle ‘is her latest offering and she says the theme is ‘Making a place for yourself’ and ‘The cost of carving this out but also the unexpected freedoms that this brings. ‘
Isle was a challenging yet ultimately satisfying read. Splitting into two stories that cross centuries we meet two women in very different worlds depicted through using two different writing styles.
In the medieval world of 1289 when the first story ‘Forth from this place’ is set, she writes with meticulous construction, speaking of a slower time, creating a very different era.
“On that main river the sometimes steeper banks and betimes incredible breadth, and the fierce castles imitating rock, impress the visitor with their force, and people’s doings are by contrast small.’
It is almost another language but not quite, as careful reading defines the meaning. I did however have to look up words like ‘sennight’, meaning week, amongst others but her use of present tense throughout brings the reader firmly into each time frame and this is Robertson’s strength. This island is home to a group of unmarried women, ‘semi-nuns’, - inspired by the Beguine communities of the 13th Century – they are led by their magistra Lutgard.  Unrecognised by the church, they have chosen to unbind themselves from the men who would shackle them; to seek a freedom from the expected norm of the time. But it is Mechthild, artist and sculptor, to whom we are drawn. It is she who finds the young man stranded on the beach, she who sees his face as that of a perfect Christ model but in the end, she who carves a larger than life Virgin that becomes her masterwork and her freedom.  Her story will resonate as she uses unfamiliar tools and teaches herself the man’s trade of wood carver, a skill that Robertson herself has. Within the bounds of the story, of the isolation, privacy and celibacy the women have chosen, the emotions of desire and lust are fulfilled, despite the seeming separations.  This speaks to that very quote of Donne’s. 
UXO brings us to post World War ll, the early 1950s, and Second Lieutenant Lily Kinsella and Sergeant Burge on a mission to dismantle ordnance units in far flung places. On a tiny island somewhere north there is a munitions pile that will exacerbate their taut relationship.  As a wartime flight nurse Kinsella’s experiences have marked her and she seeks solace with men that cross her path but would never be permanent. There is a barely discernible vengeance in her actions, her debt to Burge ‘she owes him much, she owes him nothing’ outweighed by her own flaunted needs. As I navigated the story i was intrigued as to whether the unexploded munitions is an unspoken metaphor for unexploded emotions.
Robertson’s story takes you inward. It raises many questions and re-reading will be a given. As a woman i questioned my ‘freedom’, its cost and if I have truly been ‘myself’.  Hovering in this intense narrative, however, is that remaining isolated should never be the final choice. ​
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The Gospel According to Wanda B Lazarus

7/10/2021

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Author: Lynne Joffe
Publisher: Modjaji Books
Reviewer: Gail Gilbride
Unforgettable Wanda B Lazarus, the immortal female wandering Jew, takes us on a mind bogglingly hilarious romp through history, which I for one will never forget!
In Wanda, Lynn Joffe has created an irreverent, satirical character, who seduced me into all her incredible lives. The forceful, sexually charged muso not only drives the story, she is the story. She is a serial re-incarnator and immerses the readers in her fantastical births, spectacular deaths and her 
time outs in the realm of Pleroma, where the nine muses reside.
So what exactly is Wanda’s mission? If she can fulfil the impossible tasks set by the muses, she’ll be granted the status of 10th muse…
As much as this novel is about a wild, ‘nard using heroine, it is also about re-imagining Jewish history from a female’s perspective. Joffe takes on the treatment of women over the ages and challenges every holy cow imaginable.
I cringed at times and laughed out loud at others. The author’s imagination is outrageous and her use of language is nothing short of magnificent. She makes her incredible research flow seamlessly into the narrative and almost fooled me that it was easy to do.
Lynn Joffe has burst onto the literary scene and I have no doubt in my mind that she’ll be a force to be reckoned with for many years to come. Encore! 
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The Promise

7/2/2021

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Author: Lucy Diamond
Publisher: MacMillan
Reviewer: Beryl Eichenberger
While Lucy Diamond may be a chick-lit author, or let’s say recreational reading, in her latest novel ‘The Promise’  she deals with the difficult subject of losing a loved one. The rollercoaster of grief as it affects each member of the family is beautifully portrayed in a poignant story that will make you cry and laugh. While never undermining the tragedy, she writes in a light and accessible style making ‘The Promise’ an easy read.  With pathos and humour she tracks the journey, the revelations and the legacies that come 
with losing someone. This is a good story which will resonate with many, particularly during this time of so many losses.
When his older brother Patrick is drowned in a tragic accident, Daniel is wracked with guilt. If they hadn’t had that terrible row in the pub and if he hadn’t told him he was not welcome in his home, none of this would ever have happened. Daniel has always looked up to his older sibling. Good looking, happily married, three lovely kids, successful business man, Patrick had everything going for him. Daniel decides, as atonement for his perceived guilt, to take on Patrick’s responsibilities and support his sister-in-law Zoe and the three kids, Ethan, Gabe and Bea, in every way he can – this is his promise. Being the more serious of the brothers, an accountant with a job in the City he methodically puts together a spread sheet of activities.  On sabbatical from his job he has time to make good on his this project. He notes his ‘good deeds’ as he picks up the pieces of Patrick’s life thinking this may dull the pain. But as he unravels Patrick’s life the realisation that he was not as exemplary as everyone thought comes as a huge shock. Who is the mysterious L. Fox  Daniel’s integrity is being tested as he realises that the secrets he has uncovered will have a life altering effect on his whole family.  
But through grief there is growth and the passage of the story takes us subtly through the various stages. As the rather inhibited Dan restores his relationship with his parents, his role as an uncle takes on more meaning and his understanding of his brother’s failings are accepted.  He finds new friends and while the shock, hurt and anger remain we see a new Dan emerge, one with purpose and strength. Gently and with empathy Diamond shapes a telling tale that is realistic and moving.  And of course, as in all chick –lit love will find a way of creeping up on you (no, not Dan and Zoe!) There are wonderful moments of joy, humour and relief as the story unfolds.
Diamond’s keen observations of human nature are evident and she places her cast firmly on the ground as they experience this tragedy.  There are lessons to be learnt through every life experience and by the end of the book I felt that Diamond had clearly dealt with this as each character emerges from their grief to shape a new future.  ​
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