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The Screaming of the Innocent Paperback – February 1, 2002
Purchase options and add-ons
- Print length215 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherSpinifex Press
- Publication dateFebruary 1, 2002
- Dimensions5.5 x 0.6 x 8.5 inches
- ISBN-101876756209
- ISBN-13978-1876756208
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Product details
- Publisher : Spinifex Press (February 1, 2002)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 215 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1876756209
- ISBN-13 : 978-1876756208
- Item Weight : 7.2 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 0.6 x 8.5 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,282,677 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #163,694 in Mysteries (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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- Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2013Dow delves deep into the culture of rural Botswana and explores the tension between tradition and modernity. Although the murder/mystery plot is interesting, as someone who spent several years around this part of the country i find her character studies to be particularly compelling; these feel like living, breathing people I might expect to run into walking down the road in Bots.
- Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2014Quick easy tansaction. Thank you
- Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2002Unity Dow's novels explore the problems facing Africa today. I suggest that you first read her other book, Far and Beyon'. It details traditional customs, gender inequality, and the AIDs crisis, ending with courage and hope for the younger generation. Screaming of the Innocent is a more aggressive book, about a ritual killing. Dow knows her subjects well: as a lawyer, she helped prosecute a case of this sort. Be forewarned that the middle chapters lull the reader into a false sense of complacency. The protagonists seem to be ambling toward a happy ending. Keep reading. The final pages will leave you in total shock. It's a brilliant piece of writing. One can only hope that it helps stop the outrageously cruel killings.
Top reviews from other countries
- Maxine ClarkeReviewed in the United Kingdom on January 31, 2011
5.0 out of 5 stars Tragic but excellent novel
This novel is one of the saddest books I have ever read. It's a superbly told story of village life in Botswana. The first chilling chapters are from the point of view of Mr Disanka, a successful businessman at the village level. He has a wife and several children to whom he is outwardly devoted (so much so in the case of his youngest child that she's obese from all the sweets, ice-cream and other "treats" she demands and receives), he has a mistress who has all the same things as his wife but not quite as good, and he has various liaisons. None of this is sufficient to satisfy a very dark desire, however. He plans how to achieve his malign goal with two other local "dignitaries".
After this mesmerising, and menacing, start to the novel, the reader is plunged into life in this country of ignorance, poverty, superstition and extreme sexism. Attitudes to women and to the poor are deeply ingrained and maintained by long traditions, supported by those themselves who suffer. The police, as well as other low-level "government officials" in their cosy jobs for life, keep everything under control and make sure any benefits are kept among themselves. The country is going through a period of positive change, typified by occasional poor children being able to attend school, and the odd inside toilet (greeted with derision for, from their perspective, very practical reasons by most of the villagers).
Five years after the start of the novel, a young woman called Amantle Bokaa takes up an internship at a remote health centre. As she begins her duties assigned to her by the lazy, unpleasant nurses who run the centre, we read of her life-story. She's the seventh child of a typical poor peasant family, the first sibling to be able to go to school, and wants to be a doctor. She's a determined, brave woman who uncomplainingly accepts the menial jobs meted out to her by the nurses despite the fact she'd clearly be better both with the patients and in diagnosing their illnesses. One of her tasks is to clear out a storeroom, and there she discovers a box inscribed with the name "Neo Kakang", containing some bloody clothes. Amantle remembers that this is the name of a girl who went missing, presumed killed by an animal or drowned, five years previously.
The rest of the novel describes what Amantle does about her discovery, involving a lawyer friend whom she's met previously when unfairly accused of inciting a student riot. In the process, the reader learns many details of the entrenched culture of poverty and repression; and the lazy, smug attitudes of the (mainly male) people who have been lucky enough to be assigned government jobs. These details are seamlessly woven into the narrative, and add a tremendous power and authenticity to the novel. One of the many aspects that I loved was the positive portrayal of young, professional women (and the occasional young man) who, helped by education, are rising above the history and traditions of their tribal, superstition-ridden society to strike out for independence and freedom of choice. The story is, however, unbearably tragic- the last chapter (which explains the title) is so terribly, pathetically upsetting that I could hardly bear to read it.