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serendipitysbooks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The Conservationist is the story of Mehring, an unlikeable, racist, rich, white South African businessman, lacking in awareness, who has just bought a farm for tax purposes. It’s a not so-subtle metaphor highlighting much that was wrong in apartheid-era South Africa when it was written. Fairly early on the body of a Black man is discovered on the farm. No one knows who it is. The police aren’t interested in investigating what is obviously a murder so just dig a hole and drop the body in it. At the end of the novel there is a huge flood and the body is uncovered. This time the local Black farm workers give it a proper burial. Like I said not subtle. The stream of consciousness style, the jumps in time and topic, the don’t make for an easy read. One of the things I most admired was the sense of unease, the vague but increasing feeling that something wasn’t right on the land, that permeated the book. An important book, especially when it was written, but one I appreciated rather than enjoyed.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Sexual assault, and Colonisation
hannnah's review
challenging
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
damc's review
2.0
socially and historically relevant peep at the effects of the white man in africa, but too discursive in its narration.
futurelegend's review
4.0
I finished this while in hospital recently.
There's something going on, and you don't know what it is, do you Mr Mehring? Mehring farms tax breaks for fun in the High Veld. He doesn't need it to make a profit; it would defeat the object if it did and anyway he's already a rich man from his status as a pig-iron magnate. But his world is falling apart in some vague way. His wife has left him and gone to New York, his son who has funny ideas about overturning the natural order has gone to join her, and his radical lover has gone off somewhere too and can't come back. His black workers are oddly distant and when a dead body appears on the farm the police don't seem in too much of a hurry to do anything about it.
It's all very mysterious, played out as if in a dream, fuzzy and somehow not quite right. The story moves along slowly, as lazy as life on the high veld under a burning sun, fantastically atmospheric and fuzzy as a dream. Just when you think you're going to drop off, there's an episode of startling and perverted eroticism. That weakness for young women, it's going to be the death of Mehring, you just know it.
Not an easy book to love, but I'm glad I read it and one day I'll read it again to pick up all the subtleties I undoubtedly missed. I have a feeling it ought to be magnificent, but it falls a little short.
There's something going on, and you don't know what it is, do you Mr Mehring? Mehring farms tax breaks for fun in the High Veld. He doesn't need it to make a profit; it would defeat the object if it did and anyway he's already a rich man from his status as a pig-iron magnate. But his world is falling apart in some vague way. His wife has left him and gone to New York, his son who has funny ideas about overturning the natural order has gone to join her, and his radical lover has gone off somewhere too and can't come back. His black workers are oddly distant and when a dead body appears on the farm the police don't seem in too much of a hurry to do anything about it.
It's all very mysterious, played out as if in a dream, fuzzy and somehow not quite right. The story moves along slowly, as lazy as life on the high veld under a burning sun, fantastically atmospheric and fuzzy as a dream. Just when you think you're going to drop off, there's an episode of startling and perverted eroticism. That weakness for young women, it's going to be the death of Mehring, you just know it.
Not an easy book to love, but I'm glad I read it and one day I'll read it again to pick up all the subtleties I undoubtedly missed. I have a feeling it ought to be magnificent, but it falls a little short.
stephanielynnrp's review
4.0
If I read this again, after studying the context a little, I have no doubt it would be 5 stars. The writing is powerful - beautiful - and gives you a darkly uncomfortable feeling as you read it. For a relatively short read in terms of pages, it forces you to work hard; the reward, for that, is worth it.
jpmedina's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
rosadunnett's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
soapyme's review against another edition
2.0
This is an important book, I guess, but not really a fun one to read. It's essentially the portrait of someone who believes he is a good man but is not, and who has no epiphanies regarding how unloved and lonely he is. So, yeah, not a pick-me-upper.