Cry, the Beloved Country

By: Alan Paton

Narrated by: Michael York

Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

This is the most distinguished novel that has come out of South Africa in the 20th century, and it is one of the most important novels that has appeared anywhere in modern times. Cry, the Beloved Country is in some ways a sad book; it is an indictment of a social system that drives native races into resentment and crime; it is a story of Fate, as inevitable, as relentless, as anything of Thomas Hardy's. Beautifully wrought with high poetic compassion, Cry, the Beloved Country is more than just a story, it is a profound experience of the human spirit. And beyond the intense and insoluble personal tragedy, it is the story of the beautiful and tragic land of South Africa, its landscape, its people, and its bitter racial ferment and unrest.

Public Domain (P)1993 Blackstone Audiobooks

beautifully written

Michael York's performance was simply magnificent. worth listening just for him alone. But the book is must read for everyone.

Important story

Beautifully written and read. I read this book a few years ago but now really enjoyed the audio version. Thank you.

The best book to which I have ever listened

What did you love best about Cry, the Beloved Country?

A toss up between the beautiful, broad story and the beautiful warm narration

What other book might you compare Cry, the Beloved Country to and why?

The Spike Lee movie "Do the Right Thing:

What about Michael York’s performance did you like?

A voice perfect for the characters and his lovely use of Zulu terms. One of the reasons I love audio books is the ability to hear foreign language. Zulu seems to be a beautiful, expressive language.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No...I never wanted it to end. I eagerly awaited every opportunity to listen

Any additional comments?

This is a title I have often heard recommended but I thought it had to do with rebellion, violence and protest. I had no idea it would be such a beautiful, loving, honest story of the struggle to change , both personally and in a culture.

Extraordinary performance

If you could sum up Cry, the Beloved Country in three words, what would they be?

This is one of the the most extraordinary narrations I have ever hear. Truly brings this moving story to life. Highly highly recommended!

poignant work

Beautifully written, memorable work. This book is probably a classic; if not, it should be. Michael York is one of my favorite readers. Excellent novel...educational as well as entertaining! Paton's novel is now on my list of all-time favorites.

Excellent narration for an amazing story

Michael York’s narration of this book makes it one of the best audio books I have ever listened to. It is a gripping story of complex relationships across generational, socioeconomic, and racial lines. It’s a rare book that I want to listen to again just after finishing it!

What a Story!

Why have I never read this before? A classic story of mankind, never fully evil or fully good. And of the heartbreaking story of Africa.

INJUSTICE

Well the book was really inferesting story but the part that was injustice was when they let the other 2 accomplices.

A Story of Lost Opportunity for South Africa

This book is well-known and many of you have probably read it before. It was twice made into a film, in 1951 and 1995, but I have not seen either and had not read the book before. When I started reading, I didn’t look at the book’s publishing details. I was more than halfway through before I noticed that it was written in 1948. It seemed much more “modern” than that and I had been thinking that it was written as apartheid was beginning to crumble. Instead it was written before apartheid began to be truly put into practice. After seeing the publishing date, I read it with more sadness--sadness that it didn’t make more South Africans stand up and realize what was happening in time to change the arc of its history. The National Party, the proponents of the apartheid system, was elected only 4 months after the book’s publication. His book was banned in his home country of South Africa. Paton was a strong Christian (Anglican) and a Christian mindset and worldview forms the basis of this book. He later became an anti-apartheid activist. He testified at Nelson Mandela’s trial and it is hard to know how much of his views influenced Mandela. Certainly this book is a picture of the land and the system that was Mandela’s life. 

South Africa, at that time, was already divided along racial lines, but the rules were not codified until the National Party took over (after the time covered in this book). 

The main story takes place over a short period of time, most of it over probably a few weeks to a few months, though the end takes us a bit further in time. It is a combination of a quest, an odyssey, and a mystery novel. A Zulu tribesman, who was also the local Anglican pastor, Stephen Kumalo receives a letter from a pastor in Johannesburg that he doesn’t know. He is hesitant to open it, fearing that such a letter must bring bad news. He and his wife are alone in their village. His brother, John, had gone to Johannesburg many years ago and had never returned or written. His sister, Gertrude, had gone to Johannesburg also many years ago to find her husband who had gone there to find a job. She also had not returned and he had not received any letter from her. Finally his son, Absalom, had left for Johannesburg as well, to expand his world and find a job. 

He takes the letter to his wife and asks her to open it and they read it together. Gertrude has fallen ill and the Johannesburg pastor urges him to come and help her. The trip will be expensive for a pastor, and especially a tribal pastor whose salary is much less than a white pastor. He has been saving for his son Absalom’s education in hopes that he would someday return, even though any real hope of that happening seems very unlikely. And they were saving up for a stove so his wife wouldn’t have to cook over an open fire. And, he had never traveled so far away and never seen a big city. But, it means that he can find and possibly help Gertrude and possibly also his brother and his son. 

The rest is a touching odyssey of kindness and betrayal, of grace and depravity. Stephen is portrayed as a very simple man, but not because he is not educated, is mentally deficient, or is unwise. He is a product of his environment and he has moral standards that he is careful not to break. He leaves on the journey and discovers things about himself, the temptations of the city, inequality, racial injustice, the corruption of power, and about selfishness and evil (not confined to either race). He begins to see radicalism developing on both sides. Certainly he has seen some of that even in his village, but in the village there are social relationships that hold radicalism in check. He once speaks to a village farmer who he feels is beginning to harbor radical ideas, saying, “I cannot stop you from thinking your thoughts. It is good that a young man has such deep thoughts. But hate no man, and desire power over no man.” 

Finding Gertrude is easy, though her “illness” is not what he had expected. Finding his brother is easy also, since he has become well known there, though it is difficult to recognize his brother in the kind of man that he has become. Finding Absalom proves to be more difficult as he follows one clue to the next. He finally finds that his son has been incarcerated in a rehabilitation program for those who have broken the law, but when he gets there this becomes a dead end for his son has been released on good behavior only to disappear. And, the city is nervous at the murder of a young white man who had been actively promoting a societal change that will treat the native Africans on more equal terms. 

The novel fills out the details of this story without melodrama and obvious stereotyping. We see both good and evil on both sides. We see kindness and graciousness expressed along with the injustice and prejudice. But, the overall themes are very Christian--reconciliation, family, forgiveness, character, courage, endurance, and dealing with temptation as well as acts and thoughts that do not uphold the moral standards that one should demand of themselves. 

This was Paton’s first book, but it is a masterpiece. His description of the land, both in its beauty but also its destruction, is perfect. He opens a window into the soul of man in general and of the characters in his book. He lets you see without telling you directly. The differences in the two cultures are shown starkly but without judgment or exaggeration. The novel gives the hint of the possibility, of the hope of change, that the two races and cultures could come together in mutual respect, equality, and freedom. In real life, though, that didn’t happen in the author’s lifetime. 

He sees God at work in little things both good and in what seemed to be bad at the time--in the letter from the white pastor in Johannesburg, in the accidental meeting of the man who could destroy him, in the conversation with a young boy that results in aid for his village. There are moments of wisdom throughout the book, in subtle events and profound statements. The pastor who had written Stephen the letter tells him, at a time of chaos and disturbing thoughts, “But there is only one thing that has power completely, and that is love. Because when a man loves, he seeks no power, and therefore he has power.” A repeated theme in the book is a statement repeated in different contexts and different words, when something bad happens to someone or when they make a poor choice, that, if only someone had noticed them and taken the time to speak to them, possibly it would have been different. In a sense it feels as if he is looking back at the story of Cain and Abel and saying, “Why is it that we are still unable to recognize that we are our brother’s keeper.” 

This is the first book that I finished this year and so it would be useless to rate it as the best book of the year, but even if I included it in last year’s books, or maybe even the year before, this one is the best. It’s one of my must reads.

Lovely for a quick listen

I was able to turn this guy up to 2.5x speed and comprehend the book, I love slow readers for that.