While this book shouldn't get a person excited, per se, the issues presented in the book, I mean, the excerpt puts it right in the wheelhouse of things I love to read. As I try to imagine some of what the specifics what will happen in the book from the excerpt...an accident, a white culture, a minority culture that predominates the majority black culture, which is a class structure that always befuddles the mind (especially when the native culture is now dominated). How does this even happen? And, just the injustice that a native, majority culture has been subjugated in this way. It sounds like the experiences that Harare Voice and Beyond will give insight into what living like this is like. Even if the point of view is from the white eyes in the culture.
When you begin to learn about some of the things that go on in countries like Zimbabwe and South Africa, it is a sad state to see what people experience, go through, the struggle. I wonder what it will be like to hear it from Rhys, one of those with white privilege and the secrets that unfold. I know these topics,they are, to me, very emotional and this book, at times, is going to be hard for me to read. Sometimes when things are too hard for a character, I have to put down a book and walk away for a moment, to calm myself down. Reading excessively from a young age, I believe, has given me a great ability to empathize. It has been both a blessing and a curse. Sometimes you don't want to feel that much, if only to protect yourself (and, your blood pressure, lol). However, I believe it has also made me a better thinker and writer.
And, I happened to catch one of the confessions that came out, in the book, while it seems all secrets of a white family are being spilled, that there is false philanthropy. The reason this really gets me is that they are, in some way, cheating people out of money by presenting themselves as charity workers when in fact they are the charity themselves! The sad thing is that I have met many people like this in the world, it is one of the reasons why our country does not solve the problem of homelessness. Too many people who make too much money while those who are not in need go without charity meant for them!
The cover of the book, what can you expect to introduce a book with such serious topics. I like that there is one color, only the side profile of an “exotic” woman. I only define her as this because of the earrings, paired with the hair. But, it is a classic exotic, not too much of anything much there, simple, really. It reminds me exactly of the profiles that my grandmother collected of her children and grandchildren that are framed and on the wall in her house. When a new child came into the family and grandma was due her profile picture, an artist would be found who could cut your profile from black paper and I remember, vaguely, sitting for mine. The best artists can do exactly what was done with the profile picture here. They can make cuts in the paper, such as the small gaps in the cover profile, that define eyelashes, a nose, things in a profile that make it a little more complicated to do but when presented to the customer, a better prize. I remember sitting and looking at the profiles on my grandma’s wall when I was young, at my mothers, my uncle, my sister, mine, and cousins. And, with my little sisters, her curls, how cute her profile was, I remember thinking, as a young girl, how did the artist make the cuts for her eyelashes so perfect? And only the younger profiles had the harder to do cuts in the profile that define things inside the picture rather than cutting just the profile from the paper with nothing cut from the inside as my mother and uncle, the older profile pictures, had. Great choice on the cover!
My prediction for Harare Voices & Beyond will be that it is not just a book but a piece of literature that will be useful in the classroom, even, to teach children about the world and the things that should not go on in it! Even the cover is a work of art as I was able to think, when I look at it, as it brought forth memories of even my own life. And, when people make a choice of what to read, the book needs to speak to them, the cover, the summary (the excerpt). If it does, then the book is picked to read. This book speaks to me from cover to summary and I have not been more excited to read a book for a long time and though I have the smallest of doubts (as I have not read it), surely this book will live up to my hype!
When you begin to learn about some of the things that go on in countries like Zimbabwe and South Africa, it is a sad state to see what people experience, go through, the struggle. I wonder what it will be like to hear it from Rhys, one of those with white privilege and the secrets that unfold. I know these topics,they are, to me, very emotional and this book, at times, is going to be hard for me to read. Sometimes when things are too hard for a character, I have to put down a book and walk away for a moment, to calm myself down. Reading excessively from a young age, I believe, has given me a great ability to empathize. It has been both a blessing and a curse. Sometimes you don't want to feel that much, if only to protect yourself (and, your blood pressure, lol). However, I believe it has also made me a better thinker and writer.
And, I happened to catch one of the confessions that came out, in the book, while it seems all secrets of a white family are being spilled, that there is false philanthropy. The reason this really gets me is that they are, in some way, cheating people out of money by presenting themselves as charity workers when in fact they are the charity themselves! The sad thing is that I have met many people like this in the world, it is one of the reasons why our country does not solve the problem of homelessness. Too many people who make too much money while those who are not in need go without charity meant for them!
The cover of the book, what can you expect to introduce a book with such serious topics. I like that there is one color, only the side profile of an “exotic” woman. I only define her as this because of the earrings, paired with the hair. But, it is a classic exotic, not too much of anything much there, simple, really. It reminds me exactly of the profiles that my grandmother collected of her children and grandchildren that are framed and on the wall in her house. When a new child came into the family and grandma was due her profile picture, an artist would be found who could cut your profile from black paper and I remember, vaguely, sitting for mine. The best artists can do exactly what was done with the profile picture here. They can make cuts in the paper, such as the small gaps in the cover profile, that define eyelashes, a nose, things in a profile that make it a little more complicated to do but when presented to the customer, a better prize. I remember sitting and looking at the profiles on my grandma’s wall when I was young, at my mothers, my uncle, my sister, mine, and cousins. And, with my little sisters, her curls, how cute her profile was, I remember thinking, as a young girl, how did the artist make the cuts for her eyelashes so perfect? And only the younger profiles had the harder to do cuts in the profile that define things inside the picture rather than cutting just the profile from the paper with nothing cut from the inside as my mother and uncle, the older profile pictures, had. Great choice on the cover!
My prediction for Harare Voices & Beyond will be that it is not just a book but a piece of literature that will be useful in the classroom, even, to teach children about the world and the things that should not go on in it! Even the cover is a work of art as I was able to think, when I look at it, as it brought forth memories of even my own life. And, when people make a choice of what to read, the book needs to speak to them, the cover, the summary (the excerpt). If it does, then the book is picked to read. This book speaks to me from cover to summary and I have not been more excited to read a book for a long time and though I have the smallest of doubts (as I have not read it), surely this book will live up to my hype!