Africa: World of New Men by John J. ConsidineReview by: K. I.Africa Today, Vol. 2, No. 3 (Jul. - Aug., 1955), p. 20Published by: Indiana University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4183726 .

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MINE BOY by Peter Abrahams. Knopf. $1.25 (paper)

In each of his novels Peter Abrahams creates a haunting evocation of South African city life. His latest book, Mine Boy, has been published in a pleasantly-produced cheap edition in order that this talented couth African Colored writer may establish the wider American readership that he deserves to have.

Mine Boy tells, in prose that is sometimes almost too dramatically simple to carry the weight of its emotional content, how Xuma came to the city, who took him in, how he got a job, whom he loved, whom he hated, and how life carried his friends away to death, prison, and the anonymity of separa- tion. It also tells how he came to learn not only that the white man's oppression had indirectly brought about many of these mis- fortunes, but also that bitterness might be overcome, and that he might look forward to a world where men could be "without color". -- K. L.

THE TRAP by Dan Jacobson. Harcourt, Brace & Co. $2.95.

In The Trap Dan Jacobson demonstrates in complex and varied ways that Africans and white men do not understand each other, and have failed as yet to find a way in which to communicate. This basic dilemma under- lies the many misunderstandings and mis- carriages of justice which compose Jacob- son's brief, violent novel.

As a work of fiction The Trap is worth reading. hr. Jacobson describes, simply and well, life on a South African farm, and particularly the deadening effect of drought upon both the farm and its owner. Des - criptions of violence between white and African, however, tend to become tedious, and some of the minor characters seem superfluous. Nevertheless The Trap is an arresting and eloquent novel. -- D. M.

AFRICA: World Of New Mn by John J. Considine. Dodd, Mead & Co. $4.00.

Virtually every African territory is covered in this reportage, which is primarily in- formation in character. Father Considine's book, however, tends to bog down in unillu- minating detail, occasionally adopts an oddly patronizing tone, and sometimes reads like a chattily-phrased Directory of Catholic Africa. Although on page 3 Liberia's population is 1, 700, 000, whereas on page 37 it has risen to 2, 500, 000 (yet who is in a position to quote the correct answer?) the facts cited by John Considine are generally reliable, and he sometimes presents us with fresh facets of African reality. -- K. I.

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