Whitethorn by bryce courtenay

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 16,2025

An excellent novel from the point of view of a narrator from the age of 6 to 30 years of age. The narrator Tom FitzSaxby, who begins his story-- as an orphan in an abysmal orphanage called the farm, endures a panoply of abuse, tragedy and love --ends as he is a barrister of the Court. From the events, friends and acquaintances from his childhood through adulthood culminate in a courtroom is Pretoria. Notable are his experiences in the mines in Rhodesia and his stint as an officer during the tragic Mau Mau rebellion.

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4minsTooSour

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 16,2025

I thoroughly enjoy Courtenay's books. Whitethorn was excellent, as usual. He brought the apartheid issues to life in the form of his characters. Some of them suffered under the regime, while others enjoyed and benefited by it. The characters were fleshed out well. I 'read' the audio version, and the narration was just excellent. I don't know how the narrator managed to convey so many different accents and personalities, not to mention gender.

The book was probably longer than necessary. Toward the end of the book, I sometimes felt that the storyline was there only to illustrate the political climate of the time. But that's the appeal of historical fiction...to understand the place and era from a personal point of view.

I highly recommend it!

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zacoist

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 16,2025

Narrated by Humphrey Bower

24 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's Summary

From the author of The Power of One comes a new novel about Africa. The time is 1939. White South Africa is a deeply divided nation with many of the Afrikaner people fanatically opposed to the English. The world is also on the brink of war, and South Africa elects to fight for the Allied cause against Germany. Six-year-old Tom Fitzsaxby finds himself in The Boys Farm, an orphanage in a remote town in the high mountains, where the Afrikaners side fiercely with Hitler's Germany. Tom's English name proves sufficient for him to be ostracised, marking him as an outsider. And so begin some of life's tougher lessons for the small, lonely boy. Like the whitethorn, one of Africa's most enduring plants, Tom learns how to survive in the harsh climate of racial hatred. Then a terrible event sends him on a journey to ensure that justice is done. On the way, his most unexpected discovery is love.

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dendaitan

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 16,2025

One of my favourite authors. and this is one of my favourite books.

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HaXXspetten

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 16,2025

I'm having a tough time picking a rating number for this one. As usual with Courtenay, I was sucked into the story, which makes me want to rate it high.

However, it's 100% a white savior story. There's one Black character (in a story set in Africa!) and he serves in the 'dead wife' role for the main character's motivation.

Warning: There are so many vile (just plain evil) characters. And even plenty of "nice" characters who turn a blind eye to things going on around them. In fact, one of the worst characters is one of the only ones who doesn't ignore a terrible act they truly believe happened - it was based on a lie, but she thought it was the truth (backed by her own prejudices). If you are triggered by child molestation (rape), murder and mutilation, and constant racism (it is set in South Africa, from the 30s to 50s/60s) you may want to skip this one.

All that said, I am still tempted to give it a 4 star rating. Courtenay can just spin a tale that gets into my head.

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Torint

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 16,2025

It's probably better than the 3 stars I rated it, but the only other person that I know that's read it said he thought it was better than The Power of One, so I went in went my expectations high.

It was quite similar to The Power of One: a young child grows up in an orphanage in South America, the only English boy surrounded by Boere. He's taken into the tutelage of several adults and becomes an extremely smart boy. He becomes a Rhodes scholar and goes to Oxford to become a lawyer, but pays for it by working in the Rhodesian mines.

But I never felt for Tom the way I did for Peekay, and as a result the book wasn't even on par with it. It was an enjoyable read, but it'll never make it into my favorite books.

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FiddlePie

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 16,2025

A moving story about a 6 year old South African orphan Tom Fitzsaxby who because of his English name is the recipient of much mistreatment because at the time South Africa sided with Hitler's Germany. We follow his trials and at the Boys Farm orphanage, his friendship with Mattress, a Zulu who looks after the pigs who is wrongly accused of sexually assaulting one of the boys and who is then murdered, a puppy called Tinker and some kindhearted men and women who see him as the clever boy that he is and beyond when as grows into a highly intelligent young man and adult.
His life unfolds throughout the book and as a barrister he ultimately gets justice for Mattress.

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