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South African authors - Fiction - |
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Iron Love |
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| Iron Love by Marguerite Poland Penguin Books 448 pages - September, 2000 ISBN 0140297057 Reviewed by Marie Thorpe, South Africa adams.west@saol.com Note: Iron Love was reviewed from an Advance Reading Copy (ARC). This is a story of boys growing up and the pressures that mould or mar them. Marguerite Poland has captured poignantly the almost life-or-death struggle for acceptance which every adolescent goes through. We are led through the growing years of half a dozen boys at a school in colonial South Africa before the First World War. Each boy's story is loosely linked by the theme of iron love: Eyes to the front. No sentiment. No betrayal. The characters are convincing and their joys and despairs touch the reader deeply at times. However, because each character is explored in such emotional depth, the effect is a little overwhelming, with potential material here for several novels. It is a little bewildering for the reader to jump with such frequency from one character's consciousness to another. The novel would be stronger if there were fewer viewpoints, perhaps one or two key characters through whose eyes the other characters were perceived. Marguerite Poland is the author of several children's books including The Mantis and the Moon. Iron Love is her first adult novel which was launched recently in Durban, South Africa. |
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