- Paperback: 400 pages
- Publisher: Longman; New edition edition (Oct 8 1990)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0582052939
- ISBN-13: 978-0582052932
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Fiela Kimoetie cares deeply for the elements in her lifethe farm she owns (no small source of pride for a black South African), her sick husband, once so beautiful, and their children. Of these last, her white child, Benjamin, who wandered into her life at the age of three, is dearest, because there may come a time when he is taken from her. Fiela is prepared to fight if that happens, but her strength doesn't prevail on the day the census-takers discover Benjamin, now 12, and remove him from the open loveliness of the Long Kloof into the confining forest, where a shiftless couple whose son wandered off nine years before lay claim to him. He never accepts the transition of identity from Benjamin to Lukas, nor from Fiela to the woman he is told to call Ma, any more than Fiela accepts his absence, and his feet keep seeking the Long Kloof, where his spirit was free to rise. Benjamin's escape, its involvements and consequences, bring the story to a close in a way perhaps not so persuasive as its beginning; but readers will carry away from Matthee's (Circles in a Forest tale a profound sympathy and affection for Benjamin and Fiela.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Fiela's child has two identities and two lives. He is Benjamin Fiela, a white foundling raised from age three to twelve by a black family, farmers in the Long Kloof region of South Africa. But he also becomes Lukas Van Rooyen, son of a poor white couple in the Knysna forest, who reclaim him by identifying him as the long-lost child who had strayed from their home. This beautifully written, moving novel dramatizes Benjamin/Lukas's search for his self: his growing love for Nina Van Rooyen, the girl who may be his sister; and his complex relationship with two women and two men who claim him as their son. Less complex but more powerful than Matthee's Circles in a Forest ( LJ 10/15/84), this historical novel, set in the 1860s and 1870s, is highly recommended for African and fiction collections. Peter Sabor, English Dept., Queen's Univ., Ontario
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most helpful customer reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
a mundane read,
By A Customer
This review is from: Fiela's Child (Phoenix Fiction Series) (Paperback)
the themes of this book could be classified as "vaguely" interesting, but the writing was extremely mundane and the story plodded along tediously with heavy, dragging footsteps. i also found the story to be overly sweet and cliche. highlights of the book, if they exist, could be fiela's depth of character and her hypocrisy, but even this spark of hope is eradicated by the saccharine content. the ending was predictable from the first sentence of the book, stooping to the level of a soap opera. too bad, but an amusing read at times.
5.0 out of 5 stars
a powerful story,
By Kathy Dias (Modesto, Ca.) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Fiela's Child (Phoenix Fiction Series) (Paperback)
There is so much to be learned and so much to be absorbed inwhen reading Fiola's Child. The perfect love and acceptance between amother and a child, although different races, the still-presiding conflicts between the black and white race, the need we all have as human beings to understand who we really are, the wreched and empty lives gained by those who take and do not give, and the heartfelt passion between a man and woman, thought at once to be siblings. The plot is thick, and the end is thought provoking. I think somebody should make a movie from this book. It's truly a must-read.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Heart wrenching scenes and some that make your veins boil!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Fiela's Child (Phoenix Fiction Series) (Paperback)
It is a book that brings back the disharmony and racialistic view of the Whites aginst the Coloureds. And in this point of view we see the struggle of a Coloured mother protecting the safety and haven of her White child like a tigeress over her cub. This is a book about romance, about the individual hearts and philosophies; it is also about greed and chauvinism, yet most importantly Fiela's Child is centered and wrapped in but one word - love. The love of Benjamin over Fiela and Nina, Elias' love over money, the love of Nina towards nature and many more. Those who are sentimentalists and with a touch of feminism in them, you will experience a world so real and yet with such illuminated beauty.
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