Friday, July 27, 2007

No Forgiveness Needed


Forgive Me is Amanda Eyre Ward's newest novel (after How To Be Lost). It's a terrific read about a young woman, a successful journalist, who risks life and limb to cover stories in the most dangerous parts of the world. But she is always RUNNING. Running from love, running from commitment, running from home. We gradually learn about a tragic event in Cape Town, South Africa, that sent Nadine on the run again to a long stint in Mexico and seems to be part of the reason she lives her life so nomadically. After she is assaulted in Mexico, she is sent back home to recover at her father and stepmother's house, but she chafes against anyone taking care of her and insists that she needs to work again. She ends up back in Cape Town to cover the amnesty hearing for the apartheid-era murder of a young man who grew up near her home in Massachusetts. There, she faces her demons and learns the true meaning of forgiveness. I liked this book because in addition to peering into Nadine's life and trying to figure her out, I also learned a bit about what went on in South Africa during apartheid and its aftermath.