Mother to Mother, Sindiwe Magona
Mother to Mother, Sindiwe Magona
List: $20.00 | Sale: $14.00
Club: $10.00

Mother to Mother

Author: Sindiwe Magona

Narrator: Janina Edwards

Unabridged: 8 hr 16 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Beacon Press

Published: 08/21/2018


Synopsis

Sindiwe Magona's novel Mother to Mother explores the South African legacy of apartheid through the lens of a woman who remembers a life marked by oppression and injustice. Magona decided to write this novel when she discovered that Fulbright Scholar Amy Biehl, who had been killed while working to organize the nation's first ever democratic elections in 1993, died just a few yards away from her own permanent residence in Guguletu, Capetown. She then learned that one of the boys held responsible for the killing was in fact her neighbor's son. Magona began to imagine how easily it might have been her own son caught up in the wave of violence that day. The book is based on this real-life incident, and takes the form of an epistle to Amy Biehl's mother. The murderer's mother, Mandisi, writes about her life, the life of her child, and the colonized society that not only allowed, but perpetuated violence against women and impoverished black South Africans under the reign of apartheid. The result is not an apology for the murder, but a beautifully written exploration of the society that bred such violence.

About The Author

After leaving the black township of Guguletu, South Africa, Sindiwe Magona earned her master’s degree at Columbia University. She currently lives in New York, where she works at the United Nations. She has contributed to The New York Times and her work has been anthologized in Under African Skies.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Filiz on December 30, 2021

Ich mochte das Buch jetzt nicht besonders. Ich mag nicht das die ganze Story am Anfang des Buches schon vorweggenommen wird. Zu dem war es jetzt auch nicht so leicht verständlich geschrieben. Den Geschichtlichen Part in dem Buch fand ich ganz interessant, jedoch kam es in dem Buch jetzt nicht all zu......more

Goodreads review by Emily on May 02, 2018

Okay. Here we go. I adore the idea of this book. The justification of a murder by the mother, explaining what Apartheid has done to her son? Sign me up. The adaptation is a solid 2 stars, if that. First of all, this book was not about the son. That was absolutely falsely advertised. I probably would ha......more

Goodreads review by Jack on April 26, 2020

I read this for school and I'm honestly too done to point out everything I didn't like so just the main points: - barely any focus on the psychological side of the son - more focus on the son and him growing up would have been cool (more samples of oppression for example, to emphasize how it's been g......more

Goodreads review by Fiffy on January 31, 2022

When I read Chapter 1 of this book I was convinced I was going to enjoy it. Unfortunately for me, the rest of the book was so slow paced which made it hard to look forward to finishing it (yet here I am).......more

Goodreads review by Nick on March 31, 2019

I chose this as a book to read on a recent trip to Cape Town, my first visit to South Africa. Although Coetzee is the most famous SA author, I wanted to read a black writer. This book seemed like an interesting mix of fiction and history. It takes as its jumping-off point the real historical murder......more


Quotes

"Haunting . . . a most unusual novel, in which a black South African mother dares to explain her son's violence to the grieving mother of the white girl he murdered." --Jordana Hart, Ms.

"Unforgettable." --Hazel Rochman, Chicago Tribune

"Mother to Mother is a stunning novel; Magona has succeeded in her grand ambition to write a story of healing and confrontation. She has written a graceful, terrible story; it is an eloquent indictment of Apartheid and a passionate lament over the loss of Amy Biehl's life." --Angela Salas, The Boston Book Review

"As a lament for the terrible legacy of apartheid, the novel is surely a tour de force. As a story of individuals attempting to deal with choices made and perhaps regretted, it is a moving work of fiction." --Lee Milazzo, Dallas Morning News

"Gripping. . . . Points to a redemptive hope for those who can come together for healing, even when they have been bound together by sorrow. The writer's own courage in writing this novel is evidence of an increasingly powerful literary voice for [her] nation." --Heather Hewett, The Washington Post Book World