Blog Archives - Woman Zone CT

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.

COVID19 ALERT! Please note that while the Women's Library is closed during lockdown, 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!

NUANCES and other stories

9/30/2021

Author: Dianne Stewart
Publisher: Fine print Books
Reviewer: Beryl Eichenberger
Short story writing is notoriously difficult – at least that is my take on it, having found them almost impossible to write. My angst at not being able to pen a good story saw me enroll for a Cape Town Summer School course with the wonderful Dianne Stewart. I can remember feeling relief when she dispelled my myths taking me with such expertise towards completing a short story that satisfied me. Dianne Stewart is an award winning, prolific and respected writer.

Having published mainly children’s books, both locally and internationally this is her first published collection of short stories, not a new genre for Stewart as two of the included stories, ‘The Crash’ and ‘Bread for the journey’ have already won national awards. When this neat volume arrived on my desk I was delighted to see that it was from the teacher I had learned so much from.
‘Nuances’ is an apt name for this collection as the short story in itself is full of nuances. It is a moment in time, a snapshot of life and many readers may find them wanting…inasmuch as there is more to be told and it is left to the reader’s imagination to take the story forward. That is the beauty of these stories – to evoke a curiosity for what comes next.
This volume of 22 stories is rich in its variance, with characters (mostly women) who hail from across cultures, countries and living circumstances. They draw on Stewart’s wide understanding of African languages. They are you and me and that is what draws you in, the likeness in so many ways of the people one knows.
From Grace in ‘The Drought’ and a home invasion that highlights the vulnerability of rural living, to ‘The Trophy’ where a beautifully woven basket is a means to education for its weaver Miriam but is a fiercely contested prize for its prospective buyers. Stewart’s obvious love for the rural craft skills of Kwa Zulu Natal is evident in this story, but she brings home how so many of these artefacts disappear into mere décor pieces. Stewart dips into many cultures and displays her powers of observation as she cannily and in many cases ironically, picks up on societal traits. In the title story we see the arrogance of an international publishing agent his actions leading to a journey of discovery for author Emma. The nuances in each carefully crafted story are thoughtful and memorable.
Weather is always a subject on a South African’s lips and in many of the stories water features prominently. Whether this was intentional I have no way of knowing but the addition of storms, downpours and crashing seas seemed to signify the washing away of the past – a purification - a new beginning, a dimension adding greatly to the enjoyment.
This is a handbag sized book to enjoy at any time, to return to and savour as each reading will bring a new perspective.

Songbirds

9/29/2021

Author: Christy Lefteri
Publisher: Bonnier Books UK
Reviewer: Beryl Eichenberger
Christy Lefteri has a poetic, almost mystical style with a depth and passion that is woven into every word. She is the daughter of refugee Cypriots whose first book “The Beekeeper of Aleppo’ won international acclaim as it highlighted the plight of refugees. In ‘Songbirds’ she tackles the theme of migrant domestic workers in Cyprus, and their treatment, a subject all too familiar. It is a story of loss, entrapment and love which is heart-breaking in its reality.

Lefteri has the talent to draw out the ugliness of society and bring a face to issues.
Maids, domestic workers, au pairs, call them what you will, we are all familiar with the women who make our homes run smoothly. But how well do we know them? Have we an insight into where they came from, their lives, their families, and individual stories? This is the hired help, invisible, faceless, unobtrusive, bound to their employer.
For these women, who leave their home countries full of hope, they seek a life where they can provide for their families back home, but also free themselves from the shackles of poverty. Or so they are lulled into thinking.
As Lefteri introduces us to a middle class life in divided Nicosia , Cyprus, we meet Nisha, the trusted maid of Petra, the busy optometrist with a nine-year old daughter, Aliki. It is the Sri Lankan woman who has brought Aliki up, is devoted to the child, and runs the household for the emotionally distant Petra. Because her husband died shortly before the birth of Aliki, Petra has a strained relationship with her daughter. For Nisha coming to this far land is for the future of her own daughter Kumari back in Sri Lanka, her contact with her only through the light of a phone. When Nisha vanishes, leaving her passport, precious things and Aliki behind, it is Petra and Yiannis, Nisha’s lover, who realise this is out of character. Yiannis, a poacher with his own sad history, nets the tiny songbirds, an illegal delicacy, to make a meagre living. Trapped into this by the loss of his wife and business his future is bleak until Nisha.
No one seems to care about her disappearance least of all the dismissive, racist police. But how well do they all know this quiet, exotic and responsible woman? ‘I had started to see the rhythm of these women with new eyes – how the whole neighbourhood pulsed with their activity. They had been invisible to me before Nisha had gone missing….’
And as Petra and Yiannis start their search a heartbreaking story unfolds, one that will change their lives forever.
Lefteri crafts a spellbinding book, she takes you to the heart of this divided city, to the cruel and unfeeling employers and the inherent racism that separates these women from the residents. They are trapped by a past that seems insurmountable, just as the songbirds are trapped by the inescapable nets thrown around them. But it is also a story of a mother’s love, and the parallel that exists between employer and employee if only we opened our eyes and ears to the song that is being sung.
Disturbing as it is, the reader is kept entranced. Lefteri has researched her subject matter intricately and, with its descriptive writing, she unlocks the beauty of surroundings contrasted with the bleakness of the ‘maids’.

The Skipper's Daughter

9/28/2021

Author: Nancy Richards
Publisher: Karavan Press
Reviewer: Beryl Eichenberger
Well known in South African homes for her many SAfm broadcasts, veteran journalist , columnist, broadcaster and founder of NPO Woman Zone, Nancy Richards, brings us an extraordinary story of adventure in ‘The Skipper’s Daughter ‘, as she recounts her mother (big) Nancy’s sea faring voyage at the age of 16. Buried deep within the family psyche Richards had always known some of the story but it was not until a trip with her mother in 1988 that big Nancy spoke at

length about the voyage that ended in tragedy.
In Richards’ gentle yet incisive style she faithfully brings her mother’s voice to life in a legacy tale that is intimate and revealing. Transcribing her mother’s logs, letters and recollections the story is interspersed with Richards’ own memories bringing us this tale of a fearless young woman with love and honesty. Richards’ writing is unsentimental but totally engaging.
Life in a sailor’s family is not easy with a husband away at sea for months at a time. It takes a strong mother to bring up three children and there is no doubt that Ethel Brooks was a tough woman. In 1938 Thomas William ‘Billy’ Brooks had been at sea for two years. When he finally puts into Cardiff his wilful elder daughter, 16 year old Nancy, is off to meet him. He is about to take command of the newly built tramp ship the SS Nailsea Manor and Nancy announces she wants to travel with him on this round the world trip.
Despite her mother Ethel’s misgivings and a gypsy fortune teller’s warning, Nancy gets her way, and signs on as Captain’s clerk at a shilling a week. The many adventures of that trip were recorded faithfully in her log. She became known as Nancy Fancy Pants due to her practical attire, garnered media coverage at almost every stop on her voyage – after all she was something of a novelty, and worked alongside the crew learning the ways of the sea. Tireless and with boundless energy, she endeared herself to the crew and to ship’s agents and their families in port, many of whom remained lifelong friends. Exotic destinations, a reserved friendship with the young 2nd Mate and the everyday happenings on board are a wave scape of wonderful words. Big Nancy was a strong, curious and feisty young woman.
Having taken some 30 years to compile, Richards tells the story memorably with all the family reverberations that it ultimately created down the years. It is a glimpse of a colonial world and Richards takes us into her family after the journey, post war and to the near present. A role model for her generation big Nancy travelled widely, was always busy and would arrive to visit with a plethora of stories - she embraced life in every way. The words, the letters from those friends made so many years ago, the wide array of black and white photos of family, friends, crew and locations on that ill-fated voyage attest to that and poems from Skipper Billy add to the enjoyment.
Richards pulls the threads together skilfully as we traverse the sometimes choppy waters of her mothers’ journey. Ultimately it is a deeply personal, utterly absorbing story and one in which I was completely immersed. Part proceeds from the sale of the book will go to the NSRI, a fitting tribute to the men who sail the high seas.

Soul Sisters

9/25/2021

Author: Lesley Lokko
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Reviewer: Nancy Richards
Sitting on my bedside table for a while was Soul Sisters by Lesley Lokko. I wasn’t getting round to it, because it felt like it was going to be a long read. So when I saw that Cheeky Natives, Alma-Natlisha Cele and Letihogonolo Mokoroane were talking to Lesley on facebook, it seemed like a good opp for a bit of a sneak preview. And what, I thought, is not to going to be intriguing about a Ghanaian-

Scottish architect, formerly at City College in New York and director of the African Futures Institute now based in Accra. Bit of a book in herself.
It’s my best thing listening to authors talk about their books – it adds layers and often throws spotlights into overlookable areas. Adding still more layers is the perspective of the questioner – or in this case, questioners. Well the CN’s had impressively got their q’s worked out causing Lesley more than once to respond with, to the effect, ‘that’s a really interesting question’ – which can sometimes mean ‘I have no idea’. But all kudos to the very articulate architect who in each instance, not only tackled the question but added to it considerably.
Anyway – the point here is that, now having read it, I wondered, now what would I have asked? Where to even start? The book opens in Matabeleland 1921, shifts quickly through to Edinburgh, to London and Johannesburg, back and forth a few times and finally to Cape Town in 2010. So have your time travel passport with you. The Soul Sisters of the title are about as different as they come. The red headed, brow-beaten, underloved, chauffer-driven, art-world wannabee Jen and the beautiful, obedient, bright-minded and out-of-place, ‘negro’ (this is Scotland 1978) turned 5-star surgeon Kemi. ‘A whole world separated them’ is to understate the case.
They do however become inseparably close – until the wickedly attractive Solam Rhoyi comes along and badly damages both their lives. Mercifully their souls remain intact. Mr Rhoyi’s duplicity is breathtaking, and that he eventually, shamelessly climbs the political ladder in Cape Town without a care for who gets trodden on the way, equally so.
The story closes at the time of the World Cup in Cape Town. But events in between move at a pace across so many situations, struggles, circumstances (some alarmingly familiar) and continents such that only someone who has ‘been there’ could really deliver. To conclude where I began, I really don’t know what I would ask Lesley – but I suspect that whatever, her answers would be both informed and very interesting.

Being Dianne

9/23/2021

Author: Qarnita Loxton
Publisher: Kwela
Reviewer: Nancy Richards
Let me first admit that I have huge respect for Qarnita Loxton – practiced as an attorney, studied psychology, worked as executive coach – but you can read all that in the blurb at the back of her latest book. But my respect is born from the fact that she is unpretentious (despite the success she’s had with her Being books), she’s openhearted and minded, stylish, funny and, judging from this latest book, filled with insight.
So Being Dianne follows on from the series

featuring friends Kari, Lily and Shelley – you may know this/have read them – if not, you can catch up now. But notable about Qarnita and this book specifically, is that through Dianne, her divorce from the unlikeable Alan, her desperate attempts to reach her clammed-up teenage daughter Kate to discuss issues of same-sex relationships, or anything else for that matter, not to mention her own multiple, complicated and colourful relationships (why she ever married the narrow, mealy-mouthed Alan is a mystery), she addresses so many enormously contemporary social conundrums.
There are some agonizing conversations between characters – both deep and slight, a very recognizable, revealing and expletive-laden friends @HELP WhatsApp group with from-the-hip advice, some killer confrontations and a jaw-dropping, very public confession that can only be described as… sjoe, out there! The local Cape Town settings, in the city centre, Blouberg, Noordhoek, Waterfront Primi etc, and not least the very real and much-loved Book Lounge in Roeland St, scene of a catalytic Teen Pride meeting, make it extraordinarily relatable for many of us Mother City residents – but not exclusive. What she’s dealing with here is universal first-world.
Putting it all into bang-up-to-date context, there’s even an emerging COVID lockdown backdrop – she claims in fact that writing Dianne kept her sane during the chaos of 2020. But the sense I get about Qarnita is that she inhales the world around her - the dialogue, the mood, mixed-upness, the pain, passions and peccadillos - processes it all and wraps it neatly in a package of humour and empathy. And while she liberally credits all the people who have helped her craft this and all the other Being books – she is undoubtedly the chief cook who has so perfected the Being recipe.

Bantu Knots

9/22/2021

Author: Lebo Mazibuko
Publisher: Kwela books
Reviewer: Hazel Makuzeni
COVID has done us wrong; horribly wrong. It has stolen from us and paralysed our psyche. It is thus quite refreshing and uplifting to read a number of books this year written by black South African women. Bantu Knots is

one of those books I had the pleasure of reading. The novel revolves around Naledi Kwena. It’s an adolescent tale of growing up in a township and navigating life’s hurdles while pursuing your dreams.
Naledi is born and raised in Zone 2, Ndende Street in Pimville, Soweto. Her mother Dineo had her when she was still a teenager and for the most part of the book, is busy chasing the good life with ama-blessers. Naledi is raised by her grandmother, Norah. A strict Christian woman who hasn’t forgotten nor forgiven her daughter Dineo's past transgressions. This leads to her stern approach in parenting Naledi. To be fair to grandma Norah, Dineo is not pulling her weight around the house. Most times – she’s nowhere to be seen and her relationship with Naledi is non-existent.
You feel for Naledi right from the start. As a young girl, she’s banned from playing with the other kids from her street. She watches them by the gate and is envious of their freedom. She has only one friend at school and the only person she can have a meaningful talk to in Zone 2 is Karabo, her next door neighbour. Even then, their talk is usually through the wire fence that separates their two homes. The less said about her father Xolani, the better. He has denied paternity and is demeaning towards her – lowering still further Naledi’s already fragile self-esteem. On the home front it’s no better. Mama (Naledi calls her grandmother Mama) demands complete obedience – almost suffocating the poor girls independence and imagination. Each and every night she recites Bible verses with Naledi. And is quick to put the fear of God and Hell in the heart of the growing young lady whenever she senses mischievousness. She’s also militant about the household chores that Naledi must fulfil. Mama is definitely not the sentimental type. She will not even say “I love you” to Naledi.
Dineo’s wishes do come true when she finally meets a blesser who ends up marrying her. But not without drama! Naledi gets liberated at university. She takes up drama, makes new friends, parties, falls in love and have sex. Danger lurks around the corner; and she soon discovers that. Dineo’s fairy tale romance crumbles to dust and she moves back home abused and defeated. A sorry state of affairs for a girl who once got a Porsche Cayenne as a wedding gift from her sugar daddy. She’s now car-less and is back sleeping on the mattress on the floor of Mama’s living room.
Bantu Knots is a book that examines notions of beauty. Why should your worth and status depend on the hue of your skin colour or on whether your hair is relaxed or an Afro? The book also looks at the generational-gap and the importance of finding common ground. It touches on the taboo issue of sex discussions especially in black families. It explores religion, identity, youth, freedom, guilt and redemption. Dineo’s episode is a cautionary tale to the girls pursuing the blesser lifestyle.

FLOW - the book about menstruation

9/20/2021

Authors: Karen Jeynes, Candice Chirwa, Pontsho Pilate
Publisher: Kwela
Reviewer: Beryl Eichenberger
This is a vitally important book for every woman. It is seminal in unpacking menstruation taboos and demystifying the period. It is also a practical, empowering read skilfully navigating the ebb and flow of this most natural of female bodily functions. With contributions by Dr Ilana Johnson, Tariq Hassan and Claire Fourie and other experts it addresses everything you need to know.
Candice Chirwa, is known as the Minister of

Menstruation, a menstrual activist with an avid interest in gender and youth issues. Karen Jeynes, a writer for stage and screen has co-authored teenage books as well as the Karen Book of rules and published numerous short stories, articles and poetry. Pontsho Pilate an award winning journalist, editor and media training.
We know that in this country 30% of our girl children miss school because of lack of access to sanitary products. Equally sad is that, even now in the 21st Century, so many young women also suffer embarrassment, stigma and cultural barriers about their monthly flow.
All three authors are passionate about talking about menstruation and answering all those questions about a woman’s period. The book is an important source on the natural, biological and fundamental bodily process. It opens all the doors on being period positive. And if talking about this is making the reader uncomfortable – then you need to read the book.
Warmly chatty and incisively written the book is divided into three parts, the physical, the psychological and the political (coincidence that all they start with the letter P?) Reading through the chapters the personal experiences from these three young writers and their research subjects is revealing. Pontsho relates her own journey with her ‘Flow Journal’ and brings up the question of ‘why is having a vagina so expensive?’ – by counting the cost of having a period the need for free sanitary products (as with free condoms) is long overdue but, when you read of the long political journey in making sanitary products Vat free – only achieved in 2018 – how far is this into the future?
Menstrual rights are human rights – why is it then that it can be so difficult to talk about menstruation? ‘Well, it is because it is still unacceptable to talk openly about their period, to make it visible. When we think of how society portrays menstruation, it is usually in the format of horrific PMS jokes or first menstruation horror stories, and this results in socialising our young menstruators to expect to hate their periods before they even start.’
With conversations conducted with young and old, the chapters are open and informative as they speak from the hearts of women and their experiences. Men, both young and old, reveal the ignorance perpetuated through generations but also there is empathy, understanding and a desire to be supportive. Gender issues and transgender experiences are spoken about with sensitivity and practicality: sex, pregnancy, disability, sexual assault all come under the microscope. This is a tightly packed book where the authors have explored every avenue. It should be required reading, not just in schools but for all adults. Drawing as it does on both lay and professional experiences, there is passion and purpose towards a period positive country which is to be applauded.
I would encourage everyone to join the #FreeToBleed campaign - the journey for free menstrual pads products in our lifetime. Menstrual activism is an important part of allowing our young girls to grow up being proud of who they are and what they represent.

Unbecoming

9/8/2021

Author: Joanne Fedler
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Reviewer: Beryl Eichenberger
Fearless and feisty is how i would describe Joanne Fedler’s new novel “Unbecoming” . Published by Penguin Random House this is a story that packs a punch with its bold, humorous and beautiful writing. For any woman who has suffered or is suffering the ‘slings and arrows’ of menopause this novel will take you by the hand and lead you into a place that is so familiar, binding as it does the sisterhood of over 50s, the changes that are wrought in those years and the process of finding the new person that is you. ‘Unbecoming’ by Joanne Fedler is written with huge empathy, pithy prose and laugh

out loud moments that catch you unawares.
As Fedler warns in the author’s note – ‘you are about to enter perilous terrain’. For women of this age are entering their last phase of life and what the hell are they going to do now the kids are grown, childbearing is over and perhaps the partner is not quite up to expectations. It is a trying and turbulent time.
Set in Australia, protagonist Jo has taken a three month sabbatical – a sort of eat, pray, love quest - from husband and adult children. Writer’s block, is she happy with Frank, her children’s choices, all have become bewildering questions in her life. When she bumps into former friend Fiona who suggests she joins her and some friends on a ‘sacred silent walk’ to mark her 57th birthday, Jo is reluctant to say the least. Not her friends, not her thing at all, not one to bare her soul…a lot of nots and yet she is persuaded. And into the bush they go these six dissimilar women – or so it seems. For one night they experience the midnight sky, camping out,peeing through special funnel (i kid you not) fabulous food and meet a stranger who unleashes such powerful and conflicting emotions that they are all forced to take stock. Tongues are loosened, secrets shared and futures become clearer as the wild land creeps into their bones and preconceived ideas are taken on the wind. As perceptions, women’s rights and stereotypes are dissected Fedler draws on her talent to expose and shock as the conversations turn inwards and revealing.
Fedler draws the most wonderful and memorable characters. The gentle Fiona, struggling with her husband’s death, the earth-child attuned to nature, the immigrant Yasmin with her passion for food and her cultural family history, brittle Liz, corporate to the core with her own pain, nurse Kiri who is the all-embracing mother earth and the profane Cate who says it likes it is. Deliciously colourful they are all pursuing the ‘what next?’ They are the friends each of us know and love.
“Menopause is where sexism meets ageism’. Ouch! Here we are in the 21st Century and still women contend with the stigma of normal bodily functions, those bodily functions that bring life and latterly give us a new path. In my own experience i have seen the blossoming of over 50s women as they experience a new freedom and creativity. Fedler takes us through this dense bush and brings us out on the other side into the gleam of a different liberated future.

The Rose Code

9/8/2021

Author: Kate Quinn
Publisher: Harper Collins
Reviewer: Beryl Eichenberger
I have long been fascinated by the role that Bletchley Park in the UK played in World War ll. So when ‘The Rose Code’, a historical novel by Kate Quinn published by HarperCollins fell into my hands i expected to be in for a really good read. And so it was! With its heady mix

Remembering

9/6/2021

Author: Andile Gaelesiwe
Publisher: Tafelberg
Reviewer: Hazel Makuzeni
If you’re ever wanting to get a personal insight into the workings of the entertainment industry, Remembering is one of the books to get your hands on. A personal story of much-celebrated media personality, Andile Gaelesiwe, this book exposes the murky world of an industry more often portrayed as glamorous and richly rewarding. Andile’s Remembering is a powerful testament of love, forgiveness, perseverance and triumph over abuse, cruelty and evil.

Born in the township of Meadowlands, Soweto, on September 13, 1973, Andile grew up in Phiriphiri Street surrounded by the richness of our country’s diversity. Her neighbour’s included Sotho, Tsonga, Xhosa and Venda families - helping her to become multilingual. A valuable asset later on with her TV career. Andile says she was a problem child - sulky, stubborn and hard to understand, she was also depressed early in life. Given the sexual abuse she suffered as a child this is hardly surprising. Her relationship with her mother (Dolly) was not an easy one. Her mother had her in her late teens. Dolly was a former model and singer and had had a hard life herself. Andile’s biological father had abused and abandoned her while she was pregnant. Andile often ran away from home where life was strained even though her mother had now settled with a wonderful man, Papa Gaelesiwe. It was during this time of strife that Andile connected with her biological father, meeting him without her mother’s knowledge.
These secret encounters with her father would lead to a catastrophic act – his rape of her in his apartment. Rape in our country is rife and this book sadly highlights the scourge. Andile would be senselessly beaten and raped again by a taxi driver who was taking her to the boarding school she was attending in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga. At about sixteen she tried to commit suicide. Through all the trauma, the loss of innocence and the violation of her being, she found solace in music and spirituality. Her exposure to the entertainment industry began when, during the school holidays, she worked as a receptionist at Om Alec Khaoli’s Lyndhurst studio. It was here that she was introduced to the elite in the industry. It was here too that her singing talent was discovered by Om Alec. And, it was here also that she recorded her first album with singer/producer Joe Nina and Om Alec. Her first single ‘Abuti Yo’ was a national hit in 1996!
But Andile had to break from her shell. During this sensational period she says, she went from being a nerdy girl to the “it” girl. She was opening up at concerts for legends such as Brenda Fassie, Lucky Dube and Jabu Khanyile. This was also the beginning of her journey to colouring her hair.
In this book Andile is reclaiming her power. She tells her truth and has no fear. She came out about her rape ordeal in 2001 – live on Yfm. She talks about the sexual harassment she had to endure over the years in the industry and how she took on big men and won. It’s a cautionary tale to every young woman thinking of entering this business. Know who you are, embrace your values and worth. She left the music industry in 2004, refusing to sell her soul and compromise on her principles. Refusing to be exploited as an artist, she also talks about her love life, friends, spirituality, witchcraft, TV shows and Open Disclosure Foundation (ODF) - an organisation she started to support other survivors of sexual as well as other forms of abuse. Her mother is now her number one fan. She’s the project manager at ODP.
Many of us know and adore Andile as the courageous heroine presenter of Khumbul’ekhaya on SABC 1. But in Remembering, she faces her demons and insecurities. She takes charge and now does things on her own terms. This book is her healing.