English literature; historical fiction

A ripping yarn. The protagonist endures a great deal of physical hardship as well as the loss of his dog and describes his suffering and his emotional state in an analytical manner. He rates himself not highly as a leader. He is able to return with some accumulated wealth and thereby keep his widowed mother from financial difficulties.

I read this because I had recently read an essay on John Buchan by Gertrude Himmelfarb. ( )

i read this in my early teens, which I think was the right time -- I can still visualize it on the shelf in the Bowling Green Junior High School library, and I own the same edition I read there. It involves an young Englishman who gets caught up in an African rebellion against British colonial rule led by a mission-educated African who ultimately dies to protect the boy, if I recall rightly. Nowadays, it would probably be considered racist. since Buchan clearly thought British rule was better than independence for the Africans, and the "happy" ending includes setting up a vocational school so the African will learn more ":useful" trades. However, when I was young I just enjoyed it as an adventure on the level of Allen Quartermain. IT may have been based on a real rebellion that was led by a religiously educated African during World War 1. ( )

Six-word review: Well-crafted but dated adventure yarn.

Extended review:

Despite my convictions about not judging older literature by today's standards, I find that a century of social change imposes a heavy moral burden on this work. Colonialism and racism in South Africa are impossible to overlook in this action tale involving a Zulu rebellion, Boer settlers, British troops, treasure, revenge, loss, and heroism.

The main character is a young Scottish man who sets out to be an ordinary storekeeper in a remote outpost of South Africa. His interactions with a charismatic Zulu leader and several treacherous gem traders lead to a quest fraught with violence and daring escape. It's exactly the sort of story that might have been made into a luridly colorful B movie in the 1950s (and maybe it was, I don't know).

It held my attention like a well-made comic book--pardon me, graphic novel--and afforded some absorbing escapism. But a part of my mind could not let go of 21st-century sensibilities, and for that reason my enjoyment was alloyed with discomfort and collective guilt. I tried to look at it as a mirror of social history, even if it's also an improbable thriller of time and place, and learn something from it. ( )

A classic ripping yarn. Like all Buchan, well-turned, with occasional lyrical and memorable descriptions of the natural world. And as always Buchan proves surprisingly generous towards the antagonist, and willing to endow the adversary with real grandeur and nobility.

That said (and as other reviewers have commented), native self-governance is assumed by the protagonist (and everyone) as a non-starter, and while flat-out racism does not abound, it gets very close, very often. I found it stunning on the re-read.

It is easy for me to say that it's a great yarn and one can enjoy it by abstracting from the views a man like Buchan would inevitably have in 1910. And to a degree, I think that's true. But I'm not sure it's an argument I'd feel comfortable making to a Botsawanan 13 year old who picked it up looking for an escapist. ( )