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Are We There Yet?
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| List Price: | £7.99 |
| Price: | £5.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Delivery on orders over £15. Details |
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Average customer review:
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #295291 in Books
- Published on: 2006-06-01
- Binding: Paperback
- 320 pages
Editorial Reviews
Park and Holiday Home
"Smiedt is a genial, perceptive and questioning host"
Choice
'Smeiedt is a genial, perceptive and questioning host revelling in
a country's many treasures'
TLS
'a jaunty, light-hearted romp through modern-day South Africa'
Customer Reviews
Almost but not quite
Yes David does over-labour the "we must all repent ... " bit and he's not as good a storyteller as Alexandra Fuller (Don't Let's go to the Dogs Tonight - 5*), but David does tell a good yarn at times. It's light, pacey and easy reading. As it doesn't pretend to be any more than that, he pretty much succeeds. He's able to bring alive some of the heat, smells and dust of Africa and if that';s what floats your boat, give it a go.
Disappointing..
It's very rare that I'm critical of anybody who has the patience and motivation to write a book but I was so disappointed with this that I felt I had to say something. The title and back cover blurb led me to believe that this would be a novel that followed the lines of "Mukiwa", "Don't lets go to the dogs tonight" and "The Zanzibar chest" instead what I got was some second rate travelogue written ostensibly with the Australian traveller in mind.
David Smiedt seems so immersed in his adopted country of Australia that it seems he has forgotten what it's like to be South African and takes every opportunity to big up Oz.
It would be wrong to say that it was all just bad travel writing because there were a few points when David opened up and talked about his father and his family in a very moving way and I feel that if he'd expanded on these then the book would have been elevated to a position where I would want to re-read it as I have with all those mentioned above.
Like all white ex South Africans he also seems to feel the need to apologise for Apartheid. It's over and we should all be looking forward to a future without discrimination of any kind in South Africa (white or black) and forgetting about a past that we cannot change.
