White Dog Fell From the Sky

White Dog Fell from the Sky

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Personally, this book had all the elements I look for in a good read. It was well written and utterly lyrical in places, it had a bit of history, a bit of romance, a bit of mischief making, and it had an important story to tell; both about racism, and about preservation of culture and wildlife. I loved the characters, I laughed, I cried, I was scared and anxious, I was heartbroken, I was relieved.

I felt the If I could, I'd give this book six stars. I felt the heat, I tasted the dust. I cheered on the good guys and cursed a world that blindly harbors such injustice. I'm sure that in analysis, this book is much more than that, with underlying themes and structure that give it significance. I've always wanted to write a book, and this is the one I wish I'd written. This book was in some way a disappointment, as I was expecting a story turning around the apartheid or even the life of a South African refugee in Botswana.

At the end, over a third of the book was dedicated to the romantic relationship between an American and British expat, a story that I found completely uninterested and which seemed to me as way to just put more pages into the book. The main character of the story or so I supposed when I started reading the book , Isaac Muthethe could have b This book was in some way a disappointment, as I was expecting a story turning around the apartheid or even the life of a South African refugee in Botswana.

The main character of the story or so I supposed when I started reading the book , Isaac Muthethe could have been a little better developed but alas, he was seen just at the beginning and at the end of the story. It took me over three weeks to finish this book, an indication of how interesting I found the book. He seeks shelter in Botswana. This books is extremely well written, alternately beautiful when describing the country and horrible, when describing more inhuman acts that man continually perpetuates on others. The dog of t 3. The dog of the story is one that adopted Isaac when he gets to Bostwana.

Alice, the white woman is married at the beginning of the book and I really have no idea why he was introduced because he leaves and plays no other part. Alice herself is a somewhat stereotypical white do gooder who does put herself out for Isaac, but her affair with Ian I really did not like nor did I like his character very much. Isaac, who was the most interesting is not developed as much as I would have liked him to be. Yet, this book is very readable and I love learning about places and cultures I have not read very much about.

I actually downloaded the E-book of Mandela, which I hope to read soon as he is man that I admire very much. When I saw this book, I thought it would provide more background on apartheid and what it did to the country and its people. Feb 17, Irene rated it really liked it Shelves: Will write more later. Jan 05, Booknblues rated it it was amazing Shelves: Isaac lands in the middle of the road in Botswana, with a strange white dog following him and becoming his friend for life as dogs are want to do.

Here Eleanor Morse shows her ability to quickly craft a character: Amen gestured for Isaac to sit down on the stoop. I want to know the whole story. His wide-set eyes were intense, passionate, but something else was there tooan ancient injury living side by side with an easy arrogance. Menace, the child of this union. Shortly thereafter, Isaac meets and becomes a gardener for a young American woman, Alice Mendelssohn.

White Dog Fell From the Sky is the story of how there lives interweave in a brutal stark story of two people and two countries Botswana, the country of great promise which welcomes all people and all races and yet needs to resolve issues of environment and indigenous people and South Africa which still holds to the brutal and rigid apartheid. I think this is purposeful , which I understood at the end. Going through trying times we often suppress emotion, become anesthetized. I, myself would have liked Isaac to have stood out a bit more and our antiheroine, Alice, to have been a bit less heroic.

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I think it is an important story and it left me a bit agonized so I was kind in the rating. Mar 14, Suzanne rated it really liked it. Isaac, a medical student, forced to flee Johannesburg , finds employment as a gardener just as Alice's marriage is ending. This is a love story, but no, not between Isaac and Alice. Alice has left Cincinnati and married her boy friend who had moved to Botswana. Though the novel fills i White Dog Fell from the Sky is not an apt title for Morse's heart felt novel about Alice, a white American living in Botswana and Isaac, a South African who has arrived in Botswana in a hearse.

Though the novel fills in a some details about Alice's relationship with her mother, there are few details about why Alice, a PhD student, left the USA. She is at a crossroads in her own life and she just decides that she needs a garden. She kicks her disinterested and philandering husband out and adopts Isaac as her gardener though he has no experience.

White Dog seems to have adopted Isaac, also, for no reason. Alice, who does not wish to be called "Madame " is unusually independent.

Of course she bares no prejudices and treats Isaac as an equal. She also accepts kittens which Isaac saves from drowning and Isaac's young siblings. Alice is a remarkable character because she just does. There seems to be no calculations on her part. Although Morse's writing can be beautiful, skillful, I am confused by Alice. Alice goes to great lengths to save Isaac and care for his family yet, she barely knows him.

She is able to live in her house,support her maid and her child, Isaac's sister and brother, and work. Alice's reaction to the children's head lice is the most realistic part of Alice. Even children in private schools in NY get them and there seems to be no way to get rid of them, other than using the lice shampoo and "nitpick comb". As Alice finds, it is an arduous task which can not be put off. Isaac's incarceration also rings true.

Sadly, it reminds me of the horrors I read about in Abu Ghraib. I can not understand why prison guards reduce themselves to criminals against humanity, but the Nazis did, the Japanese did, the South Africans did and so did Americans. Isaac' s body and spirit are broken by the beatings , lack of food, living conditions which are worse than those provided for animals awaiting slaughter. What bothers me most is that the dog, and Isaac both seem to fall from the sky. White Dog just attached himself to Isaac who had no food and no interest in acquiring a dog.

Alice took in Isaac for no particular reason and is totally loyal to him. I read this book quickly and was definitely caught up in Alice's personal traumas, and Isaac's integrity , skill and his heinous debasement, and the turmoil of South Africa as it fell into a civil war. Yet, I was confused. Maybe it is the damned "dog". I can't figure out her loyalty, her metaphor and her place in the title. Read this novel, not because of White Dog's loyalty, but because, and now I'm paraphrasing my friend,Steve and his rules: I'm always a skeptic and found Alice's character implausible, not because she couldn't have been so caring, but something just didn't ring true.

Therefore I give it four stars and hope that some can explain the dog to me. View all 3 comments. There were some lovely and interesting parts of this book, mainly in the descriptions of the landscape, culture and politics of newly independent Botswana. I also enjoyed the ending very much.

Book Review: White Dog Fell From The Sky by Eleanor Morse

But it's not a book I'd recommend. I'm glad to be done with it and did think about giving up on it a third of the way through. I find it so hard to do. Though the characters were mostly well-drawn, complex and believable, somehow I never believed in the relationships between them. Often I didn't find the d There were some lovely and interesting parts of this book, mainly in the descriptions of the landscape, culture and politics of newly independent Botswana. Often I didn't find the dialogue to be credible, especially in the new central relationship that emerges halfway through, and I was completely unmoved by the various moments of tragedy and despair.

I thought the book would have been much improved with some further editing - I hardly ever felt like I needed to worry at all if I missed some words here and there. In fact I was quite impatient with it at times. Lastly, I didn't love the audiobook recording, though I think the reader is not the same as the one who's listed on this edition.

It wasn't terribly engaging, and the accents weren't right. It's hard to do accents, I know, but why not just read the characters in a normal voice rather than attempt some weird concoction that just grates? I guess I should have given up on the book and found something I enjoyed more, but I'm not unhappy to have spent some time with these characters in this landscape.

Mar 09, Marsha rated it it was amazing. This is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read! It is an incredible story about love, respect, integrity, loyalty and hope. It takes place in the late 's in the country of Botswana during the Apartheid period. One of the main characters, Alice, is a white American woman who came to Botswana with her husband. Her counterpart, Isaac, is a highly intelligent, black man who escaped from the horrors and atrocities of racial prejudice in South Africa. An amazing white dog "adopted" Isaac This is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read!

An amazing white dog "adopted" Isaac as soon as he arrived in Botswana and became an integral force in the book. This is not a "love" story between Alice and Isaac. They are not a "couple. Eleanor Morse's writing style is almost poetic. She paints a beautiful picture with her words that carries one away to another time and place. It captivates your senses and holds your attention. When I was about halfway through the book, I found myself dreading the end of the book because it was so beautifully written.

I highly recommend this book. Feb 28, Friederike Knabe rated it it was amazing Shelves: It is rare that I read a book over a couple of days besides having a busy travel weekend. This novel is impossible to put down or to let the story of the main characters slip from your mind. Review to follow shortly. Apr 25, Jan rated it it was amazing. An escapee from South Africa into neighboring and more liberal Botswana in the mids, he brings with him hope for a life free of fear, a wisdom earned in the harsh realities of apartheid, a willingness to work hard, and the wish to avoid political conflict.

He also desperately wants to save the family members he had to leave behind. When he is dumped from the vehicle carrying him across the border, a stray white dog approaches him, as if she had fallen from the sky.

Man and dog soon have two significant encounters in Botswana: I especially relished the wisdom in this novel, much of it from Isaac, whose life is truly tested. One of my favorites from him particularly appealing to me as a former English teacher: This was good advice, not only for writing but for life itself. It was best to let commas and periods carry you. Though if I were to rank books with punctuation marks, I would definitely award this an exclamation point. Dec 23, Amy rated it liked it Shelves: Bad things happening to good people.

Good writing, compelling story. You have to be in the mood for sad--love found and lost, political repression, torture. It reminded me more of the writing from Latin America in the s, s. Simple goals, politically, crashing into a murderous force. May 07, Cindy rated it really liked it. What a beautiful and well written book but oh so sad and heart wrenching. It made me angry then hopeful and eventually in tears. I highly recommend this brutal yet tender novel. I have book shelf where I keep my "keeper" books about Africa, both fiction and non-fiction.

Some have been with me for a long time, as Africa has long been a passion and an itch that other than a two week tour of Tunisia pre-Arab Spring, I've not scratched. And I am a big fan of The No. So when I saw that Eleanor Mo I have book shelf where I keep my "keeper" books about Africa, both fiction and non-fiction.

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So when I saw that Eleanor Morse was doing the kickoff for this book - a book about Africa, in particular Botswana - at Longfellow's Books in Portland, Maine while I was in town, I made it a priority to attend. I was not disappointed. Morse was a good speaker - she explained how she came to leave in Botswana during the 's and what it was like.

But for some reason, I put the book on the shelf and never got around to reading it until now -- exactly six years later.

The book did not disappoint. The book opens with the first of the three main characters Isaac wondering if he is dead or alive and what country he is in. Isaac, a black medical student, was standing beside his best friend when two South African police officers throw his friend onto the train tracks and despite Isaac's pleas, the conductor ran over him. His brother found a way to get him out of South Africa to Botswana. Isaac was crammed into a small space underneath the casket of a Botswanian who was being transported home for burial.

Isaac was the bright star in his family's universe. His mother and his older brother worked hard so he could go to school. His mother's employer - a liberal South African - helped. Isaac dreamed of being able to put his younger siblings through school. Isaac gets a job as a gardener for Alice our second main character - a white woman from the US working for the Botswanian government.

At her boyfriend's request, Alice came to Botswana one summer during graduate school, ended up marrying the boyfriend, but now the marriage is failing. She frightens Isaac by insisting he not call her madam and that he build her a creative garden but giving him no direction on what she wants, other than that it not be square and that he plant some hot peppers.

The book mostly moves back and forth between Alice and Isaac but others pop in from time-to-time with their perspective something that I did not particularly like. Alice goes on a life-changing work trip and asks Isaac to stay at the house while she is gone. But Isaac gets arrested and deported and ends up in prison. Before this happened, however, Isaac had asked his mother to send his young siblings to live with him in Botswana and, with the help of her employer, his mother does this.

When Alice returns from the trip, Isaac is gone. She eventually manages to find out that he was deported. Her life is then upended but not, initially, as a result of Isaac. Then Isaac's siblings arrive and at least this upending helps her deal with the first upending. I would like to meet Alice. She is a strong woman who thinks for herself. She is far from perfect but is someone I would like to have as a friend. So who is the third main character? It is the white dog that fell from the sky. She is a pillar of love and solidarity for Isaac, for Alice, and for Isaac's siblings.

Where she came from to appear at Isaac's side when in Chapter 1 of the book is never explained but she is always present thereafter. The author paints wonderful word pictures of Botswana and its peoples. She shows the horror of apartheid in South Africa and provides a view of the very different race relations in Botswana.

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She allows you to see and interpret this story on your own. There is little preaching limited to the bad decision to build fences that prevent the animals to migrate across Southern Africa to find water. This is a highly recommended story for anyone who wants to know more about Africa, Botswana, or South Africa. Feb 08, Calzean rated it it was ok Shelves: I thought this book was trying to do too many things.

A review of apartheid? Isaac's story was strong enough to make a book; the various romances of Alice just lost my interest and I felt disinterested in what was happening. Mar 14, Bonnie Brody added it. It is an ode to love, tenacity, and an homage to the indigenous people of Botswana. The novel has two story lines, both taking place in The first is that of Isaac Muthethe, a young South African man who is in his first year of medical school when his good friend, an apartheid activist, is killed by the South African police. Isaac witnesses this and knows that his own life is in danger and so he escapes White Dog Fell From the Sky is bound to be one of the ten best books I've read this year.

Isaac witnesses this and knows that his own life is in danger and so he escapes to Botswana illegally and without papers. As soon as he crosses the border, carried on a truck underneath a coffin, he is befriended by a white dog.

He also runs into an old school friend named Amen who is deeply entrenched in activities against South Africa. He manages to get a place to stay in Amen's small house. He is able to find work as a gardener for Alice Mendelssohn. The marriage is shaky pretty much from the start and it ends shortly after the book begins.

Alice is working at a job that does not make use of her skills in anthropology. However, she is given the opportunity to go on a research trip with anthropologists and it is there that she meets Ian, an anthropologist fifteen years her senior, who she feels is her soul mate and the love of her life. He is working on a project about the art of the San people, an indigenous group in Botswana. Alice is a generous soul, a gentle but assertive woman who wants more from life than she is currently getting.

She feels she can attain this through her relationship with Ian. Alice and Isaac interact, at first, very formally but their communications warm up. Alice cares deeply about Isaac's well-being and even pays him extra money to send home for his family. Unfortunately, Isaac disappears and Alice does everything in her power to find him. While this is going on, White Dog stays in the same place in Alice's yard, awaiting the return of Isaac. What is the meaning of White Dog. The title says he fell from the sky and I began to think of him as a piece of universal light and goodness, a loyal and stalwart being, perhaps even an angel.

The book is masterfully written with a riveting narrative that grasps the reader from the beginning. It is definitely anti-apartheid and shows the horrific situations that Africans undergo under the South African regime. It's a wild and wooly story in a far away land, yet its relevance is present in our own imperfect hearts: Here's the real thing, a book of genuine intellect and inspiration, superbly written, fascinating.

Eleanor Morse has written a character driven novel with character. White Dog Fell From the Sky has a life of its own that blends reality, insight, observation, and nuance with such ease and grace you forget you are reading A powerful story of love—love of a person, a people, a land and living with purpose Emotionally riveting, heartbreaking, and at times unbearable, while simultaneously embracing hope, insight, and a sense of perpetual mystery. Each sentence is more beuatiful than the last. Her mesmerizing descriptions of Africa will leave readers wondering how a continent of such beauty can harbor so much evil…This is for readers unafraid to plumb the depths of human emotions.

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Don't have a Kindle? Try the Kindle edition and experience these great reading features: Share your thoughts with other customers. Write a customer review. Read reviews that mention white dog south africa fell from the sky dog fell eleanor morse south african beautifully written well written medical student defense force isaac muthethe alice mendelssohn thought provoking american woman long time mccall smith african defense book club must read forced to flee. Showing of reviews. Top Reviews Most recent Top Reviews. There was a problem filtering reviews right now.

Please try again later. Every now and then, someone asks me, "Why do I read? The first character we meet is Isaac Muthethe, a young medical student who was forced to flee South Africa for Botswana after witnessing his friend's death by the white South African Defense Force. Upon arriving there, he is quickly "adopted" by a skinny white dog.

Fate brings him - and the dog -- to the home of Alice Mendelssohn, who works for the Botswana government and whose marriage is quickly disintegrating. Despite his lack of experience, he assumes the role of her gardener. The characters, who fall into an unlikely friendship, are superbly drawn: Isaac, a serious man who never relinquishes his dignity and Alice, who falls deeply in love with a hard-to-tame man named Ian who opens the door to emotions she felt she no longer possessed.

When Alice returns from an intense weekend with Ian, she finds that Isaac is missing The theme, again and again, circles back to our place in the universe and how little we know. We have nothing precious in and of ourselves. We are only precious in that we are part of something that is too big to know," Isaac reflects, early on. And Ian, Alice's soul-mate, later reflects on the same thing when he views paintings from the! She knew his grief, this dog, who was more than a dog, this dog who had fallen from the sky. It also succeeds as a window into Botswana and as a revelation of our broader connection to the entire animal universe, and the fences we build literally and figuratively to keep others at a distance.

It's one of the best I've read so far this year. Loved the loyal white dog and the way Kindle Edition Verified Purchase. I would have given this 5 stars, but I couldn't understand why the heroine fell for the person she fell for. It wasn't unrealistic, I guess, but it just didn't work for me. The story and the other characters were wonderful. Loved the loyal white dog and the way it brought out the best in people. Eleanor Morse is a wonderful writer, poetic and mysterious as well as eloquent. She also captures the ghastly extremes of the South African government and racist whites during apartheid in a way I hadn't really comprehended before, even though I thought I understood.

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