Personal Opinion: I loved this book. I’ve read two previous books by Paton, Cry, the Beloved Country, and Ah, But Your Land is Beautiful, and both of them were inspiring, and prompted me to buy yet another work of Paton’s; neither of them were as moving, to me, as this one was.

Lieutenant van Vlaanderen lives in a South Africa before apartheid was repealed. He is not disgusted by black people as so many Afrikaaners are; he speaks to them as people, and he has popularity in the black community because of his ease of manner. A husband and father of two children, he is married to a simple country-woman who does not share his views. Nella, his wife, is disinterested in sex except occasionally, and the libido of young Pieter van Vlaanderen is a strong one. He is tempted by a young black woman, but under the Morality Act [Act 5 of 1927, to be precise!],  a white person having sexual relations with a black person is performing an illegal act, one punishable by a term in jail, and by public loss of reputation.

It is worth noting here that Alan Paton was the founder of the South African Liberal Party. It was begun in 1952, in response to the rise to power of the National Party, which put apartheid into law. Paton held the post of Party President from the founding until 1969, when the party was made illegal and forced to disband. However, Paton spent most of his life, until his retirement, fighting against the restrictions of apartheid. I am sorry to say that he died in 1988, a mere four years before Nelson Mandela became President of South Africa; I am sorry that he missed that. I guess I’m also glad that he can’t see the mess that present-day South Africa is in; its political heyday was far too brief.

Moving away from editorial and back to review [with apologies], I’d say that this is Paton’s strongest, most tautly-written novel. I know that he’s more famous for another novel, but I truly believe that his “minor” novels are better, and I’d like to read the lot, as well as any non-fiction that I can get my hands on. Most of his works are out of print and may take some tracking down. I recommend this book fiercely.

Personal Opinion: I love Durrell’s books; have since the spring of 1995 when my boyfriend [now my husband] first put Three Singles to Adventure in my unwilling hands and then listened, pleased with his recommendation, as I giggled, laughed out loud, and read to him passages of that book, and then asked for more Durrell when I was done. Over the years I’ve read most of Durrell’s books, bought the ones that John’s collection lacked, and somehow managed to miss this one, despite the fact that I’ve unpacked it onto several bookshelves. I’m glad I finally read it, travelled to Patagonia with him, and met some more of Durrell’s animal friends, most notably Juanita, the baby peccary.

Peccaries are in the pig family, but they’re wild, with hard hooves and sharp tusks, and when young members of them fall ill to pneumonia, they take a lot of looking after, during and after the illness. Sleeping next to them during recovery is Durrell’s style, which is painful and hilarious:

A baby peccary’s tusks and hooves are extremely sharp, and their noses are hard, rubbery, and moist, and to have all these three weapons applied to one’s anatomy when one is trying to drift off into a peaceful sleep is trying....sometimes she would do a sort of porcine tango with her sharp hooves along my stomach and chest....at other times she would become obsessed with the idea that I had, concealed about my person somewhere, a rare delicacy....whatever it was she could make a thorough search with nose, tusks and hooves, grunting shrilly and peevishly when she couldn’t find anything....

I recommend any and all of Durrell’s books to animal lovers, naturalists, those fond of humour, and to those simply looking for a relaxing read. Durrell is perfect for all of you.

Personal Opinion: Most of the time I really enjoy Gaiman’s work, and this volume of short stories is no different. I enjoyed all but two of the stories, which is a remarkable percentage, thought that several of them were exceptional, and liked one of them so much that I read it aloud to my husband and to my ten-year old daughter [at separate times.  Both of them loved it.].

What I really don’t like about Gaiman is that his ego seems to be increasing at the same rate as his fame. The author question-and-answer period shown on the DVD of the film Mirrormask is unbearable when Gaiman is speaking, [Dave McKean seemed like quite a nice guy] and even in this 1998 volume, I found his pretentious “Where I Got These Short Story Ideas From” prelude to the book extremely annoying and arrogant. It is getting to the point where I will stop reading Gaiman because I dislike the author so much, and thus miss out on his artistic excellence, sad,  I admit, but true.

The excellent short story to which I referred in the first paragraph was “We Can Get Them for you Wholesale”, which manages to be so humorous, and end up so spine-tingling, that it is on my list of favourite short stories ever. I also really enjoyed “The Goldfish Bowl and other Short Stories”, which sees Neil Gaiman doing a screenplay of one of his books while staying at the Beverly Hills Hotel; it is quietly spooky, and a superb mood piece.  “One Life, Furnished in Early Moorcock” was genuinely chilling, really seemed to understand adolescent boys, and ended on a note of uncertainty that I found really artistic. Finally, “Babycakes”, a two-page piece that Gaiman wrote for PETA, genuinely disturbed and disturbs me.

I found Gaiman’s poetry abysmal. After the first three or four poems I gave up, not willing to torture myself further.  There was also one short story that I thoroughly disliked, because I have always disliked stories where characters in a story tell another story. This was “Murder Mysteries”, and the character was Lucifer.

Still, if you enjoy fantasy and you like short stories, I’d recommend this book heartily. Not as good as Sandman or Neverwhere but great stories nonetheless. Definitely read them.