I liked the book of Cry, The Beloved Country. The begining of the book was a little confusing, but then when I began to understand more of what was going on, I began to like the book. The book demonstrates the racism that existed in South Africa and how different types of people were treated. The book is about a parson from Ndotsheni who went to the city of Johannesburg to find some members of his family, who have moved there. Most of the book explains what happens while the man is in that city, and what happens afterwards when he comes home to his country. This book would seem like an interesting book to someone who likes to read about segregation and family life. This book is an exciting adventure, which includes many interesting suprises and evens. Overall, I learned many facts about South Africa and the life that people have there, while reading Cry, The Beloved Country.

This novel paints a vivid picture of the tragic injustices that occurred in South Africa long ago. It portrays the life of a native man as he struggles to reclaim his old life. Umfundisi, reverend Kumalo's blind eyes are exposed to the dreaded reality of famine, fear, and inferiority. Kumalo ventures to Johannesburg to rejuvenate his lost sister and find his son Absalom. Through his triumphs and disappointments he clearly sees the ways of life and becomes consumed by them. His life begins to crumble, but his hope for the country grows. After descrimination, lies, murder, and betrayel, the only rejuvenation that will be done is the renovation of a country in trouble. This book's symbolic message moved me greatly on account of its horrible truth. It displays descrimination of the past and how it thrives through the future. This is a bold book that opens eyes and minds, but will leave your mouth closed.

I am studying at the Uviversity of Stellenbosch, SOUTH AFRICA, and are doing Cry the Beloved Country as a literature text. I think it is an excellent book which gives great insight on the situation in South Africa a few years ago. However, when I read the review of Melissa T. from West Bloomfield, MI, I was shocked to see that she actually thought that Stephen Kumalo travelled through "all parts of Africa" to look for his sister and son. He just got on the train at Carisbrooke and went straight to Johannesburg, one of the main cities in South Africa. The description of all the places they passed on their way to Johannesburg might have confused her, but I just wanted to set straight the fact that Africa is a large and diverse country, and not just the size of South Africa.

It's been almost 30 years since I read Cry, the Beloved Country and I'd forgotten how strangely Paton structures his books. This novel gives us some excellent insights on how sick a society South Africa was in the 1950's. However it's an extremely difficult read; shifting between past and present tense, dialogs were the author doesn't explain which characters are speaking, a great many references that are unclear to readers who know little about South Africa. Another reviewer called the novel "docu-fiction". That's exactly what it is. It has no protagonists. We learn very little about who these characters are and have trouble caring about them, aside from the grief inflicted on them by hateful Afrikaners. This was Paton's last novel. He was pushing 80 when he wrote it. He still had plenty to say. His ideosyncratic story telling detracts from the message.

Alan Paton descibes realistic events of South Africans involved in 20th century conflicts. It's a great book. There are two main charcaters, Mr. Robert Mansfield and M.K. Bodasingh. It is often hard to determine which character is expressing his thoughts and for some to follow the story line, but definitely worth reading.

"Ah But Your Land is Beautiful" is far and away one of the best books written about the old South Africa, and in many ways still applies very much so to today's "Rainbow Nation." Taking the reader into all of the minds in South Africa at the dawn of apartheid, this gripping multi-viewpoint docu-fiction is an amazing experience for those with everything from a little to an extensive background in South African history. It is a must for anyone who was captivated by "Cry, the Beloved Country," and in my opinion is his best work.

How can anyone find this confusing? This is a pretty simple work, and I find it difficult to believe that anyone can be confused as to what it's about. And why would you need Cliff Notes for this?

In any event, my problem with this play is that its just too simple: not enough meat and the characters aren't all that interesting. Yes, it shows us how narrow-minded the Puritans were. It's also an allegory for McCarthyism, for those of you who don't know. But do we really need this play to point out what it tells us about human nature? I personally find it overly long and overly dull for what it's trying to convey.

i was required to read this book for an english class, and am glad i did, because it really made one think about how narrow minded the puritans were and how that really brought on the hangings of the so called witches. this is definately a book to read.

this is a great piece of art by arthur miller. he catches your attention with the lies and injustices of the 1600's. this is a good book because of it's content. the speech is, as it was in that time. it tells a tale of a little girl who gets caught being "naughty" and blames it on the circumstances of those she doesn't like or has problems with. this book teaches that to lie about something that could have been small makes it much larger and much more complicated to deal with. the girl in this this book is in witchcraft and is caught dancing naked in the woods by her uncle who is the reverend. with her are two other girls, a servant, and a cousin. the town is brought down to a level where every one is accusing every one else for past happeneings. farmowners are accusing neighbors of it so that the land is auctioned off at low prices so that they can increase the quality of their own land. it becomes a big issue when it could have been solved completely with a simple confession. the subject is blown out of proportion and it destryos a lot of lives and families. the truth is finally found after nine-teen people are hanged for the crime of witchcraft. i reccomend this book to anyone who enjoys "a good book".

The author makes statements about the humane use of animals in research, but never admits any abuse done to them by any researcher, ever. For a fairer picture of animal experimentation, I'd recommend Barbara Orlans "In the name of Science: Issues in responsible animal experimentation" or Andrew Rowan's "Of Mice, Models, and Men: A critical evaluation of animal research".

This is a rare example of an objective, authoratative review of the use of animals in medical research. The account includes detailed philosophical discussions, balanced by abundant factual data and further references. The style is clear and readable. There are few books written from the pro-research viewpoint, and this book admirably fills this niche.

It was excellect, though very dark in it's discription of the injustice of the apartide. And continuing motifs of oppresion and curruption and hoplessness made it very deppresing. Not as good as his other book, Cry the Beloved Country.

about a guy who went to find the rest of his famil

I thought that the book was very good overall. It did have drawbacks though. Some of the things I thought were not very interesting. But I thought that the court scenes and racisim scenes were very well written. I could very well imagine myself in the position of characters. The characters were good also. There is a lot in it about fear. It describes the fear and suffering the feel very well.

Seeing these other reviews, I felt I had to add my own, since none of them were really nice. The book wasn't the most thrilling for most of the gum snapping rabble that high schools are full of. But for more mature people it was interesting. Don't go by the reviews from people who tell u it sux and they type like that.