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Too Late the Phalarope Paperback – 3 January 1996
by Alan Paton (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 78 ratings
From the author of Cry, The Beloved Country comes a powerful novel of terror and remorse "written in exquisitely balanced prose" (Chicago Sun-Times) about a white policeman who has an affair with a native girl in South Africa.
After violating his country's ironclad law governing relationships between the races, a young white South African police lieutenant must struggle alone against the censure of an inflexible society, his family, and himself.
3 January 1996
Product description
From the Back Cover
After violating his country's ironclad law governing relationships between races, a young white South African police lieutenant must struggle alone against the censure of an inflexible society, his family, and himself.
About the Author
Alan Paton, a native son of South Africa, was born in Pietermaritzburg, in the province of Natal, in 1903. Paton's initial career was spent teaching in schools for the sons of rich, white South Africans, But at thirty, he suffered a severe attack of enteric fever, and in the time he had to reflect upon his life, he decided that he did not want to spend his life teaching the sons of the rich. He got a job as principal of Diepkloof Reformatory, a huge prison school for delinquent black boys, on the edge of Johannesburg. He worked at Diepkloof for ten years, and at the end of it Paton felt so strongly that he needed a change, that he sold his life insurance policies to finance a prison-study trip that took him to Scandinavia, England, and the United States. It was during this time that he unexpectedly wrote his first published novel, Cry, the Beloved Country. It stands as the single most important novel in South African literature. Alan Paton died in 1988 in South Africa.
Product details
Publisher : Scribner Book Company; 1st edition (3 January 1996)
Language : English
Paperback : 288 pages
ISBN-10 : 0684818957
ISBN-13 : 978-0684818955
Dimensions : 13.34 x 2.03 x 20.32 cmBest Sellers Rank: 720,228 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)4,493 in Cultural Heritage Fiction
31,538 in Classic Literature & Fiction
39,349 in Contemporary Literature & FictionCustomer Reviews:
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 78 ratings
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roxanne barnyak
5.0 out of 5 stars Book usedReviewed in the United States on 15 March 2024
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Great read for a small price of used book was in good condition
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James White
5.0 out of 5 stars A neglected work.Reviewed in Canada on 11 December 2019
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As a South African who knew Alan Paton I loved his world famed "Cry the beloved country" but I was told that this book was poor by comparison. On should never believe others opinions. So I finally read it for myself. Completely different! Comparisons are odious! This is a superb work too.m
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Amazon Kunde
5.0 out of 5 stars Too late the PhalaropeReviewed in Germany on 2 May 2018
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Ein sehr empfehlenswerter Film für Menschen die über ein sehr gutes Englisch verfügen. Ich denke, es gibt noch keine deutsche Übersetzung. Das wäre aber dringend erforderlich.
Esi
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JS
4.0 out of 5 stars The Internal StruggleReviewed in the United States on 8 April 2014
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This is a book about a young, white lieutenant living in South Africa and his conflicts with people and the law, which is a reflection of the struggle within his own self. Told from the perspective of his wife, this book urges us to discuss the weight behind the words of hope, mercy, justice and forgiveness. Paton does an excellent job describing the internal struggle within the lieutenant, the terror that he felt and how he coped with it. This novel will remind of us the laws of the country we live in and what happens when someone breaks those laws. It will also remind us of the role of religion and what can happen to a person when they are desperate and long to forgive and forget. A well-written novel. I recommend this book.
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Judy K. Polhemus
5.0 out of 5 stars Even better than Cry, the Beloved CountryReviewed in the United States on 23 July 2008
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Until I read "Too Late the Phalarope," I could not imagine a novel richer and more rewarding than "Cry, the Beloved Country." Alan Paton obviously loved South Africa. In "Cry" he wrote of the wretched lives and condition of the black South African. But he imagined a better world through the lives of his major characters.
In "Too Late the Phalarope," published in 1953, five years after "Cry," Paton shows exactly how apartheid negatively affected whites, as well. Instead of murder the central crime in this novel is immorality. Yes, crime. It was on record, meaning against the law, for a white man to have sexual relations with a black South African.
The main character, Pieter van Vlaanderen, taller, stronger, smarter, and more successful than the average Afrikaaner, has a secret sin, a secret guilt: He is attracted to Stephanie, a black South Afrikaaner. What sets Pieter apart from others is his record as a war hero, an efficient lieutenant in the police force, and a celebrated rugby player from his region.
It is not a spoiler if I tell you that Pieter will be destroyed and the family ruined when Pieter is accused of immorality, then proven guilty. One way Paton avoids any description of this ill-gotten pleasure is to have an innocent narrator tell the story. Pieter's aunt, an unmarried woman, never loved by a man, is the narrator. Pieter's journal fills in details the aunt could not know.
Paton raises all sorts of ethical questions in his novel. Can a wife drive a man to another woman if she is unwilling to participate fully in the marriage bed? Does a man develop a weak character, although hidden, because his father is cruel and withholds love? The main question raised several times is this: If God fully forgives, if God gives grace, why then can't the state in crimes such as this? Not only is Pieter ruined, but so is his family, although grace does come into effect in this.
I found "Too Late the Phalarope" (a Phalarope is a bird and no, I cannot explain its meaning in the title), a richer novel than "Cry." It needs an immediate second reading to capture those nuances that run all through the novel that may elude the reader on first reading. And those ethical questions. This is the kind of book that would make an excellent choice for discussion in a book club.
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