Bitter Eden [Kindle Edition]

Tatamkhulu Afrika's "Bitter Eden" is a powerful and dark novel about prisoners of war, which is based on his own experiences.

The South African soldier Tom Smythe gets arrested and imprisoned during the period of the Second World War. The imprisonment is beneath human dignity and when he meets Douglas, a talkative and almost motherly man, they two of them form a bond of loyalty in order to survive. Despite them being so unlikely they get along together until the day Danny enters the stage and shows an interest in Tom who also feels a strong attraction towards Danny ...

First, "Bitter Eden" is not a story of a triangle relationship between Tom, Douglas and Danny even if it may sound so. They all are "straight" and prefer women but because of the lack of them in the prisoners' camps the boundary between friendship, need and love is thin. The unintended intimacy between the imprisoned men leads to jealousy and possessiveness and develops a problem in the case of Tom, Douglas and Danny. Douglas is just a motherly comrade for Tom but Danny is more than just a friend for him and the relationship of this two is intense and ambivalent. Tatamkhulu Afrika's characters are very well done and they almost seem to be alive and somewhere out there. Between the prisoners there is no sphere of personal privacy and the reader knows not only the characters' flaws but also their physical problems. You have the impression that you know really all about them and that makes them so alive. Although the characterization is so good, the main character Tom is not an appealing figure for me. He is selfish and he seems to be almost cruel towards certain people.

The setting of "Bitter Eden" is also well done and the description of the prisoners' camps is disturbingly convincing. Filth, fatigue, deprivation and violence are ever-present and the men are enforced of doing things they rather not want to do but boredom or need demands it from them - for example the playacting of homophobic men in a "theatre". The atmosphere of the book is dark and desolate and the lack of humour intensifies that impression. It's not a fun book and sometimes I wondered why I read the book till the end because normally I'm not a fan of books about the war. There was just one thing I didn't like very much. I'm not prude or something but there was just too much information and details about the problems of the prisoners relating to their sexuality - or better - their lack of sexuality. Some things you don't have to describe with filling pages and when I would be the one imprisoned, my sexuality would be the last I would worry about.

My conclusion: "Bitter Eden" is a powerful, intense and dark novel. War is always an ugly thing and brings out the worst of people. In my opinion, the end is the best part of the book and remains in memory because of its symbolism and the question whether some things aren't what they once seemed to be.