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This is Jennings’ first novel, but she has written and published poetry and short stories, winning both the Maskew Miller Longman Award in 2009 and the Commonwealth Short Story Competition‘s Africa Region prize in 2010.I enjoyed Finding Soutbek. It’s an ambitious, layered novel that switches between the 17th century and the present in a small, remote community in South Africa, the fictitious Soutbek in an area called Namaqualand. The town comprises two groups of people, the upper-towners and th
With the recent attention in the US and Europe to the whitewashing of history, this 2012 novel couldn’t be more topical. While I enjoyed the history, politics and social justice theme immensely, I found the psychological threads a little loose in places. But don’t let that put you off!https://annegoodwin.weebly.com/1/post...
[Disclaimer: Karen and I were really good friends when we were young.]This was incredible. It's the best South African novel (and novel about South Africa) that I've read to date. It's a moving story that includes a fair amount of social commentary. I've been to the area of the West Coast that is the setting of Soutbek, I see the poverty and despair of people every day. And what do I do? I try not to think about it, I avoid it because it's painful and immense and the little I can do for other pe...
Soutbek is a small (imaginary) fishing town on the western coast of the Cape, many miles north of Cape Town.Much of the novel "Finding Soutbek" consists of two interwoven parallel narratives. One of these, set in post-Apartheid South Africa, deals with the consequences of a huge fire that has devastated much of one part of the town, leaving most of its inhabitants destitute and homeless and dependent on the charity of the unscathed inhabitants of the other part of Soutbek. Episodes of this story...
Shortlisted for the 1st Etisalat Prize for LiteratureThe focal point of the novel is the small town of Soutbek. Its troubles, hardships and corruption, but also its kindness, strong community and friendships, are introduced to us in a series of stories about intriguingly interlinked relationships.Contemporary Soutbek is still a divided town – the upper town destitute, and the lower town rich, largely ignorant – and Finding Soutbek is a novel about the real conditions that shape the lives of ordi...
Title: Finding SoutbekAuthor: Karen JenningsPages: 165Year: 2012Publisher: Holland Park PressNote: I received a complimentary copy for an honest review of this book. The opinions shared in this review are solely my responsibility. Other reviews can be read at http://seekingwithallyurheart.blogspo... . Also follow me on Twitter @lcjohnson1988This novel is a work of fiction that portrays life in South Africa. The gulf that exists between its inhabitants is wide. The reasons for this gulf are varie...
Enjoyed this one set in South Africa
Although unremittingly grim, FINDING SOUTBEK is a delicate and intricate novel that juxtapositions a utopian ideal with the harsh reality of the new South Africa.A fire strikes a devastating blow and destroys the poorest areas of Soutbek, a small West Coast village, increasing the hardship and suffering of the needy. The aftereffects also unravel the lives of its first "coloured" Mayor, Pieter Fortuin, his wife Anna and his nephew Willem. Contrasting this bleak reality of a dream gone sour is Th...
Picked this up in the Book Lounge while in Cape Town this May
