Full name: Playing in the Light: A Novel

Author: Zoe Wicomb Year: 2006 Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: Fiction Purchase/reserch links: LibraryThing Goodreads Amazon ISBNs: 9781595580474 9781595582218 1595580476 1595582215

Set in a beautifully rendered 1990s Cape Town, Zoë Wicomb's celebrated novel revolves around Marion Campbell, who runs a travel agency but hates traveling, and who, in post-apartheid society, must negotiate the complexities of a knotty relationship with Brenda, her first black employee. As Alison McCulloch noted in the New York Times, "Wicomb deftly explores the ghastly soup of racism in all its unglory--denial, tradition, habit, stupidity, fear--and manages to do so without moralizing or becoming formulaic." Caught in the narrow world of private interests and self-advancement, Marion eschews national politics until the Truth and Reconciliation Commission throws up information that brings into question not only her family's past but her identity and her rightful place in contemporary South African society. "Stylistically nuanced and psychologically astute" (Kirkus), Playing in the Light is as powerful in its depiction of Marion's personal journey as it is in its depiction of South Africa's bizarre, brutal history. Similar books: Imaginings of Sand by Andre Brink Forgive Me by Amanda Eyre Ward Frankie and Stankie by Barbara Trapido The Good Doctor by Damon Galgut The Finest Type of English Womanhood by Rachel Heath Bitter Fruit by Achmat Dangor Whitethorn by Bryce Courtenay Tandia by Bryce Courtenay My Son's Story by Nadine Gordimer Absolution by Patrick Flanery The Pickup by Nadine Gordimer A Blade of Grass by Lewis DeSoto Ah, But Your Land Is Beautiful by Alan Paton Ties of Blood by Gillian Slovo The Quarry by Damon Galgut Take Me With You by Catherine Ryan Hyde Empire Falls by Richard Russo Anne of Windy Poplars by Lucy Maud Montgomery The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson