Into the Valley - Hardcover

Williams, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0399225161 ISBN 13: 9780399225161

Publisher: Philomel, 1992

Synopsis

After the death of his older brother during military service, a young South African boy embarks on an odyssey of discovery, encountering a rich variety of colorful characters who reveal the complex issues and implications of apartheid.

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Grade 8-12-Walter Hudson, 16, must come to terms with his soldier brother's death, his parents' grief, and his own impending subscription in the South African Defense Force. Since Boetie's death was senseless, the result of a stupid practical joke gone bad, Walter feels compelled to find a cause-not only a cause worth dying for, but also one worth living for. A newspaper article describing a youth army led by a 17-year-old called General Biko catches his attention. The band's defense of their home of Illongweni in Zululand must surely be a just cause, so Walter sets out to join them. But during his stay in the village, he soon learns that the issues are complicated, and that right and wrong are not clearly defined. Walter is a likable young man who turns anger and grief into a positive force that exacts courage and fortitude from him. His character shows both the immaturity of youth and emerging maturity as he struggles to understand the forces at work in the war-torn land. Even though the premise that Walter's parents would let him be absent for weeks without leaving so much as a phone number is a flimsy one, it makes the story work and is only a minor flaw. The various factions at work within South Africa are presented in a forthright manner, making them comprehensible even to readers with scant knowledge of the area's unrest. Also to Williams's credit is the absense of a tidy ending.
Marilyn Makowski, Greenwood High School, SC
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews:

Walter, a 16-year-old South African whose brother has just died in a military accident, is troubled by how little he knows about what goes on in his own country. When he reads about a band of Zulu boys who've sworn to defend their Natal town against rival Inkathas, he decides to seek out their leader, ``Biko.'' But though local people are polite, they wonder what the naive white boy is doing in their riot-torn province. Soon, skirting a minefield of issues and in serious danger, Walter is wondering too. He examines the mysteries--and his own motives--in a deftly wrought morality play in which he's exposed to white farmers, a corrupt factory- owner, the officer in charge of white troops, a store-owner, and a sage Indian potter, while continual shifts in point of view shed light on each character's dilemma. Eventually, Walter confronts the misguided ``Biko'' while the author works through the consequences. Williams (Crocodile Burning, 1992) is primarily a dramatist; his scenes and dialogue are strong, but he omits transitions and nuances that might be self-evident in theater--black characters, especially, are viewed from a white perspective, even where Walter isn't the narrator. Still, a high-caliber adventure that offers a thoughtful insider's view of a complex, intransigent cultural conflict. Winner of South Africa's 1990 Sanlam Prize for Youth Literature. (Fiction. 12+) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Philomel
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0399225161
• ISBN 13: 9780399225161
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 194