I did it, yall! I finally finished this book!

I started reading it again at the beginning of the month (only before bed), and it really only took a few days to finish the second half of the book.

So, what was the freakin’ book about, anyway? I’m going to tell you all of it (unlike usual), so you don’t have to suffer through it.

Basically, this old parson, Stephan Kumalo, is looking for his son who’d left for Johannesburg and never came home. His initial reason for going to Johannesburg, though, was in response to a letter from Reverand Msimangu saying his sister, who’d also gone to Johannesburg, was ill and he needed to see her.

The first half of this book is spent following Kumalo and Msimangu through Johannesburg as they go house to house picking up the breadcrumbs forming the trail to his son’s last known whereabouts. It’s terribly slow, the conversations are drawn out and mostly uneventful.

Eventually, Kumalo finds out Absalom (his son) has been arrested with his cousin and a friend for breaking into a home and killing a white man who they thought wouldn’t be there. Absalom said he was startled and firing the gun was an accident.

Since Absalom fired the killing shot, he is held solely responsible, found guilty, and sentenced to hanging with no mercy despite coming forward about his mistake and telling the truth about who also played a part in the situation. The other two, whose idea it was to rob the home in the first place, are released. According to the judge, even though Absalom had told the truth about the entire event, and he believed him, Absalom’s word could not be taken seriously in implicating his accomplices and he had to let them go.

Kumalo does find his sister as well as Absalom’s pregnant girlfriend along his journey and brings them to where he is staying during his search for his son. After Absalom’s trial, when Kumalo is to head back home with his sister, nephew, and pregnant daughter-in-law (she and Absalom married immediately after his trial), his sister decides she needs higher intervention for her unacceptable lifestyle and presumably runs off to be a nun (she’d mentioned the thought but not the decision and just disappeared one night instead of returning to Ndotsheni with her brother and child).

At some point, Kumalo runs into Jarvis—the father of the man Absalom killed—while fulfilling his promise to someone else to inquire about a young woman who’d gone missing from her place of work (with Jarvis’ sister). The interaction is awkward. Kumalo instantly knows who Jarvis is and then explains to Jarvis who he is (the father of the man who killed his son). There isn’t an altercation.

After returning to Ndotsheni, Jarvis’ grandson begins visiting Kumalo. On his first visit, he asks for milk and Kumalo says there is no milk because there are no cows because there is no rain because of the drought. The boy asks what happens to the little children who need milk, and Kumalo responds “they die.” The next day, milk is sent from Jarvis to the village to feed the babies, one in particular who was very close to death.

Eventually, more people show up, including a man who specializes in agriculture. Jarvis’ big ol’ heart has decided he wants to save Kumalo’s village, improve their agricultural practices, build a damn so they have more consistent access to water, and rebuild the church.

Other minor things happen along the way. There’s a lot of talk about the condition of Johannesburg. There are a couple chapters about mining and finding gold and how greedy people can be. There are threats by Kumalo’s brother toward him, and a big speech about how the native population should be paid more for their labor in the mines instead of just making white men rich.

Basically, there’s a lot of space-filling.

There is no mercy for Absolom from the higher court, and we are made to believe he is killed for his crime. There is no description of the event, thankfully.

I did not enjoy this book. I am glad that it’s over and will be donating it to my local thrift store as soon as I get the chance. Maybe someone else will enjoy it.

Next up, finishing How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents—another taking-to-long-to-get-through read.

I’ve also been reading Jurassic Park, which is great!

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

🖤