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Review: The Enemy Within

Author: Steve Jacobs

My Rating: 4.5 Stars

Genre: Fiction/Literature

Year of Publication: 1995

Date Read:16/08/2017

Number of Pages:185

ISBN: 9780435909987

SUMMARY
A black man, brutalised by apartheid, murders his wife. His fate is in the hands of a young Jewish lawyer, Jeremy Spielman. As Jeremy prepares to defend his client, he discovers uncomfortable facts about his own life: the racism of his girlfriend, the injustice of the legal system and his own weakness in the face of his country's enemies.



MY THOUGHTS
The Enemy Within  is one of numerous books, which are part of the African Writers Series (AWS). If you don't know what the African Writers Series is, click here to educate yourself :) This book was really quick and easy to read, yet it carried so much depth in it's pages. This is a quality that all the AWS books I've read all possess and for this reason, I hope to read all the books in the series- all 200+ of them.

 I caught a glimpse of how horrible the apartheid in South Africa was just by reading this book. It honestly amazes me how people can despise a whole class of people simply because of the colour of their skin- It baffles me, honestly. And I guess that was why I disliked Elmarie. I sympathized with her on some occasions, but disliked her for the majority of the book. She is the prime example of what a flawed perception of others can do to a person.
From Jeremy's character, I could somewhat determine the author's views on apartheid and racism.

 I disliked the fact that Jeremy  had to quell his racial views because of Elmarie and I believe that when two people don't share the same views it can jeopardize any relationship, whether romantic or platonic. I hoped that the author would write more on the accussed, Themba, but I guess he intended for Jeremy to have the spotlight.

 I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, especially with all the racial tension rising in the world at the moment. I look forward to reading more books on apartheid, because this book ignited  a desire in me that I need to satisfy . I highly recommend this book. You can purchase it at the bookshop in Terra Kulture or here.

Thank you for reading!
P.S: Check out my favourite quotes page xx


Comments

  1. Unknown15 September 2017 at 23:27

    I love AWS. But I haven't read this one. When I was opportuned to, Ama Ata Aidoo's "Changes" stole my attention.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chiamaka Amonye17 September 2017 at 17:56

      Oh that book is on my wishlist. How was it? It looks great. Maybe we can swap books sometime. Thanks for stopping by Sikemi :)

      Delete

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