readingresa's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.5
I've been meaning to read this book for a while, ever since I saw Sisonke Msimang present a panel at the Perth Writer's Festival. This book helped me ubderstand the history of South Africa a bit more, and to get in the head and understand what it felt like for the people who were fighting for change. There were many emotional parts of this book, and I thought most of it was well-written.
margaretefg's review against another edition
4.0
Sisonke Msimang is not just telling the story of growing up in exile and returning to, and leaving South Africa, she also explores race, class and gender. She is unflinching in analyzing how her own privilege blinds her. I wondered about whether her rosy memories of Zambia were shaped more by her family's personal circumstances living with other ANC exiles in revolutionary community, or how much her perception of Kaunda and the hopefulness of the early independence period was accurate. But even writing about Zambia, when she was very young, she is aware of her own class privilege and she mentions the people who work for her family. She takes us on her journey, through school in Canada, college in the US, the family's return to South Africa in the early 1990s. She grows up and things become more complex, in her life and in her country.
textpublishing's review against another edition
‘Few of us have felt the grinding force of history as consciously or as constantly as Sisonke Msimang. Her story is a timely insight into a life in which the gap between the great world and the private realm is vanishingly narrow and it bears hard lessons about how fragile our hopes and dreams can be.'
Tim Winton
‘Msimang pours herself into these pages with a voice that is molten steel; her radiant warmth and humour sit alongside her fearlessness in naming and refusing injustice. Msimang is a masterful memoirist, a gifted writer, and she comes bearing a message that is as urgent and timely as it is eternal.’
Sarah Krasnostein
‘Msimang is a talented and passionate writer, one possessed of an acerbic intelligence…This memoir is also full of warmth and humour.’
Saturday Paper
‘[An] eloquent memoir of home, belonging and race politics.’
Big Issue
‘It is not possible to do this book justice in so few words...Always Another Country is eloquent and powerful. Msimang’s explication of what it means to be from – but not of – a place is profoundly moving. Msimang deserves to be widely read and fans of Roxane Gay and Maxine Beneba Clarke, in particular, will not be disappointed.’
Readings
‘It is rare to hear from such a voice as Sisonke’s—powerful, accomplished, unabashed and brave. This is a gripping and important memoir that is also self-aware and funny, revealing the depths of a country we’ve mostly only seen through a colonial perspective.’
Alice Pung
‘An excellent blend of both the personal and political…a bold memoir…a tale that will sustain itself for generations.’
Books & Publishing
‘Brutally and uncompromisingly honest, Sisonke’s beautifully crafted storytelling enriches the already extraordinary pool of young African women writers of our time.’
Graça Machel, Minister for Education and Culture of Mozambique
‘A brave and intimate journey. Msimang delivers a deep call for fierce courage in the face of hypocrisy and compassion when faced with our shared humanity.’
Yewande Omotoso, author of The Woman Next Door
‘Sisonke Msimang kindles a new fire in our store of memoir, a fire that will warm and singe and sear for a long, long while.’
Njabulo S. Ndebele, author The Cry of Winnie Mandela
Tim Winton
‘Msimang pours herself into these pages with a voice that is molten steel; her radiant warmth and humour sit alongside her fearlessness in naming and refusing injustice. Msimang is a masterful memoirist, a gifted writer, and she comes bearing a message that is as urgent and timely as it is eternal.’
Sarah Krasnostein
‘Msimang is a talented and passionate writer, one possessed of an acerbic intelligence…This memoir is also full of warmth and humour.’
Saturday Paper
‘[An] eloquent memoir of home, belonging and race politics.’
Big Issue
‘It is not possible to do this book justice in so few words...Always Another Country is eloquent and powerful. Msimang’s explication of what it means to be from – but not of – a place is profoundly moving. Msimang deserves to be widely read and fans of Roxane Gay and Maxine Beneba Clarke, in particular, will not be disappointed.’
Readings
‘It is rare to hear from such a voice as Sisonke’s—powerful, accomplished, unabashed and brave. This is a gripping and important memoir that is also self-aware and funny, revealing the depths of a country we’ve mostly only seen through a colonial perspective.’
Alice Pung
‘An excellent blend of both the personal and political…a bold memoir…a tale that will sustain itself for generations.’
Books & Publishing
‘Brutally and uncompromisingly honest, Sisonke’s beautifully crafted storytelling enriches the already extraordinary pool of young African women writers of our time.’
Graça Machel, Minister for Education and Culture of Mozambique
‘A brave and intimate journey. Msimang delivers a deep call for fierce courage in the face of hypocrisy and compassion when faced with our shared humanity.’
Yewande Omotoso, author of The Woman Next Door
‘Sisonke Msimang kindles a new fire in our store of memoir, a fire that will warm and singe and sear for a long, long while.’
Njabulo S. Ndebele, author The Cry of Winnie Mandela
betweenbookends's review against another edition
I inhaled this book. I couldn't pause, I couldn't put it down. By the end I was in tears, simply because I wasn't ready to let go of this remarkable journey Sisonke had taken me through. It is an exquisite, evocative, compelling memoir of a young South African girl, born in exile, an itinerant coming of age story as her family moved places every few years, her political awakening and her incredibly complex yet intimate relationship with her home, South Africa.
Sisonke Msimang is a phenomenally perceptive writer and she presents her story with such thought provoking clarity that completely transfers to page. Despite growing up in several countries, the way she perceives and considers South Africa as home was eerily synonymous to the way I see India as home. Her relationship with her sisters and her mother, at times, felt like the unwritten pages from my non-existent diary. In the second half of her memoir, Sisonke explores the political disenchantment of her idealistic views of post-Apartheid Africa and the startling reality that snubs back. With deft honesty she writes about her foray into political activism, the repercussions of being vocal with her opinion while balancing pressures of early motherhood and battling postpartum depression.
I know next-to-nothing about the history and politics of South Africa aside from a basic understanding of the horrifying/atrocious Apartheid laws and Nelson Mandela playing a key role in the fight against it and it's eventual abolishment. However, at no point did I feel alienated from the narration. Reading this memoir felt like sitting with an extraordinarily intelligent and wonderful person narrate their life's story to you. It's also one of the most exquisitely written memoirs I have ever had the pleasure to read. I had initially begun to underline quote-worthy sentences and then I realized the futility of what I was trying to do. Every second passage was quote-worthy.
Another aspect I loved was how self aware she is of her position in the context of the experiences she narrates. There are points in her narration of incidents and encounters where she completely acknowledges the privilege that she had in comparison to thousand others in South Africa that didn't have that luxury. There's heartbreak and humour, vulnerability and strength, integrity and an unflinching honesty in her memoir that sets it apart from so many other books I have read. I don't say it lightly when I say this was my best book of 2018. It was the very best and rightfully so.
Sisonke Msimang is a phenomenally perceptive writer and she presents her story with such thought provoking clarity that completely transfers to page. Despite growing up in several countries, the way she perceives and considers South Africa as home was eerily synonymous to the way I see India as home. Her relationship with her sisters and her mother, at times, felt like the unwritten pages from my non-existent diary. In the second half of her memoir, Sisonke explores the political disenchantment of her idealistic views of post-Apartheid Africa and the startling reality that snubs back. With deft honesty she writes about her foray into political activism, the repercussions of being vocal with her opinion while balancing pressures of early motherhood and battling postpartum depression.
I know next-to-nothing about the history and politics of South Africa aside from a basic understanding of the horrifying/atrocious Apartheid laws and Nelson Mandela playing a key role in the fight against it and it's eventual abolishment. However, at no point did I feel alienated from the narration. Reading this memoir felt like sitting with an extraordinarily intelligent and wonderful person narrate their life's story to you. It's also one of the most exquisitely written memoirs I have ever had the pleasure to read. I had initially begun to underline quote-worthy sentences and then I realized the futility of what I was trying to do. Every second passage was quote-worthy.
Another aspect I loved was how self aware she is of her position in the context of the experiences she narrates. There are points in her narration of incidents and encounters where she completely acknowledges the privilege that she had in comparison to thousand others in South Africa that didn't have that luxury. There's heartbreak and humour, vulnerability and strength, integrity and an unflinching honesty in her memoir that sets it apart from so many other books I have read. I don't say it lightly when I say this was my best book of 2018. It was the very best and rightfully so.
jigglydelight's review against another edition
It took me 4 months to get through half the book so I told myself to stop because it was preventing me from reading other books. I'm mad at myself because this is a perfectly fine book! It just wasn't the right time I guess. Maybe in the future I'll try an audiobook version.
Brooke's Star Rankings (2023):
⭐: DNFd after reading 50%
⭐⭐: finished the book, probably out of spite. Did not like it.
⭐⭐⭐: Fine!
⭐⭐⭐⭐: pretty good book
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: Book that has stuck with me for some time after reading it/shifted my perspective
Brooke's Star Rankings (2023):
⭐: DNFd after reading 50%
⭐⭐: finished the book, probably out of spite. Did not like it.
⭐⭐⭐: Fine!
⭐⭐⭐⭐: pretty good book
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: Book that has stuck with me for some time after reading it/shifted my perspective