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I normally steer clear of books that appear on bestseller lists. I’ve always had the (possibly arrogant) impression that these books are written for the masses, and that their success is more due to the efforts of marketers than to the quality of the product itself. A truly good book normally requires such a time investment and such an incredible amount of effort to fully appreciate that I am inherently suspicious of anything that aims to offer the masses immediate gratification.
However, I had a strange feeling that The Kite Runner would be different, that it would be more The Life of Pi than the Angels and Demons word vomit.
The story kicks off in the 70′s, focusing on a childhood spent in an Afghanistan as yet untroubled by the Soviet Union or the malignant regimes that we became all too familiar with following the events of 9/11. And it is this setting itself that seems to be the book’s main draw-card. I can’t help but think that the only reason that this book was such a success is that it provided a glimpse into an intriguingly alien culture that had the world’s attention focused upon it immediately following the World Trade Center attacks.
While the writing in the first third of the book is admittedly very good at times, it soon begins to falter and rarely reaches a level deserving of such wide acclaim (the part where the protagonist attempts to write his first story is a noted exception). The plot is cleanly simple and should have provided a powerful mechanism through which to reveal complex and often dirty character traits that normally go unexplored by most authors and readers. However, Hosseini has a tendency to over-dramatise, and the main character swings so drastically between opposing stances that the reader never feels that he has the choice to make up his own mind about him. Rather, the author forces him upon you as either a hero or villain depending on what is required to move the plot forward at the time.
Ultimately The Kite Runner is a good book, but I’d be hard pressed to call it anything more than decent. I feel that if it weren’t for all the hype surrounding it, little attention would have been paid to the mostly average writing. Many have suggested that Hosseini wrote the book with the intent of having it translated into a movie, and this is evident as it is loaded with very obvious sentimentality throughout (and by the fact that it was indeed quickly adapted into a film).
It is a pity though, as at many times during the beginning of the story I felt that I was about to undertake a remarkable journey. By the end however, due to its poor characters and by the author seemingly taking the easy route out with the story, it was a book that left me feeling vastly underwhelmed.
Posted in Reading | Leave a Comment »
In thinking about US political candidates one can get a little distracted with what’s happening closer to home in Zimbabwe and start to take the race for the primaries a bit too seriously. When news channels show how much the candidates are spending on TV advertising, a person begins to wonder if we’re all living in the real world.
On our doorstep we have a potential democratic election that may yeild another African miracle (South Africa being the example to follow here). The MDC say they will “forgive and forget” and start building Zimbabwe up. Here’s to change.
Thinking about change, if you haven’t seen a recent Onion offering – do yourself a favour.
Did you know that sunny SA has our own version of the mighty spoof-page? Indeed we do. And what did they call it? Not Eish, Eina, Ys-Rys-en-Vleis or even Pap-en-sous… rather Hayibo. Nice SA flavour to it.
Posted in Politics | Tagged Hayibo, Obama, The Onion, Zimbabwe | 2 Comments »
Barak Obama did indeed respond in a speech some are calling his ‘Lincoln moment’.
Michael Trapido blogs about it very eloquently. The full transcript of the 37-minute long speech makes stirring reading, and almost convinces you that he writes his own stuff.
The speech: A More Perfect Union
Posted in Politics | Tagged Michael Trapido, Obama, speech | 1 Comment »
Before you laugh, bear in mind that my heading is realtive to South African politics where parliamentary debate like watching a B-grade sledge-fest rather than one where smart verbal riposte is appreciated.
Currently the primaries (which candidate the parties will endorse) are being decided with the main attraction being the Democrat race between Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton. The republican guy sounds like a slightly smarter version of Dubya (note: not that difficult) with the same agenda.
So Obama’s campaign to win the hearts and minds of American voters by being the clear cut-above of the two democtrats was steaming ahead when it hit a snag. Yes, the fact that a) he is black and b) knows people who say politically incorrect things seems to be playing into Hillary’s hands.
Sure, Hillary is a woman and also has loud-mouthed friends… but not like this she doesn’t. Here is abc television’s take on Obama’s pastor.
Obama’s Pastor: God Damn America, US To Blame for 9-11
Okay, so they’re not so subtle after all but I’ll be watching with interest to see how this soap opera plays out.
Posted in Politics | Tagged Jeremiah Wright, Obama, Politics, primaries | Leave a Comment »
Cheap flights are great. For a couple hundred rand a person has the chance to zoom about all over the country. But cheap or expensive seats always have one catch that I try and bypass every time – waiting for your luggage at the end of the trip. This is fast becoming one of my top pet peeves. And a reminder to only pack hand luggage. Ever.
Flying with 1Time nourished this dislike of waiting. After twenty minues of waiting after touching down in Cape Town I was still wondering what happened to my luggage. The ever-present crew – on hand to handle any queries – said they thought the luggage truck hadn’t gone to meet the plane.
I can’t say this is the last time I’ll fly with 1Time, but it’ll make me thing twice. I normally fly with Kulula, South Africa’s original cheap airline, but Mango is alright – although only when the price is low enough for me to forget that it is owned by SAA. If you don’t know who SAA are, they’re a national airline company that’s proved to be a complete black hole for taxes, kept afloat to ensure doesn’t humiliate itself by admitting incompetence.
It routinely gets swindled by a new, flashier CEO after paying it’s previous fat cat out to try and introduce a business plan that doesn’t include cronism.
Posted in Marketing | Tagged cheap flights, reputation | Leave a Comment »
Pretoria. Jakaranda Stad. Diplomatic Capital of South Africa. Tshwane.
It’s the place for people with one foot in the Joburg rat-race to live. Most of the city lies to the east of the CBD and is suburban, with lawns, pools and other middle-class trappings. The town planners lined the streets with Jacaranda trees which ignite the city into a blaze of purple in late spring. What no one tells you is that in the middle of the Jacaranda-lined streets of the city lies the biggest zoo in the country.
It is massive. It stretches of 80 hectare, has thousands of species on display, active breeding programmes and contributes to research. The Pretoria Zoo takes itself seriously.
Some of the highlights
Koalas – these cuties have their own air-conditioned domes where they can munch on all the Eucaliptis leaves they want inbetween their 19-hours of sleep. The walkways are a story up so visitors can see them in their trees at eye-level.
Gorillia – 200kg of slumbering doormat is all i saw but the enclosure is excellent, the glassed off area giving you a private eye into his world reminded me of the 2 Oceans Aquarium‘s shark tank. More the expanse of glass and the quiet than the actual animal inside. You get my drift.
Red Panda – the makers of Chuckie have nothing on him. Like a live teddy bear this guy paced his enclosure, sniffed about and nibbled off a few things while I was watching. His name’s apparently Hobbit and it was his birthday the other day too, he probably recieved a block of ice with fruit frozen inside it as a gift. This I found out from the information boards on the sides of the exhibits – they are very organised indeed.
The tigers, lions, mountain goats, hippos, elephants, giaraffes not to mention every bird of prey you’ve ever seen or reptile or fish were also pretty spectacular. When you go be sure to take a picnic cause walking about builds up an appetite pretty quickly.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged day trip, pretoria, zoo | Leave a Comment »
I’m going to feel real unique being in crowd of 35 000 people dressed up in lycra and perched on masochistically-hard saddles when the biggest organised cycling race in the world pedals out of Cape Town and around the Cape peninsula.
Trying to see if I could improve on my time from last year I went to check out the Split Time Calculator that the organisers have put up on the website. I was quite impressed that I could not only see which points I needed to be at and when simply entering my desired finishing time.
Clicking on the split times brings up a line in an altitude graph which shows you where you will be on the race, and a real sweat addition of opening up a Google Earth tag for that position so you can have a look at the road and conditions.
I have also recently reviewed a very true-to-life book on the 108km cycle.
If you’re interested, here is a rather cheesy official video about the race.
Posted in Sports | Tagged cycling, google earth, lycra, Pick n Pay Argus Cycle Tour | Leave a Comment »
