Dancing the Death Drill

The story of the sinking of the SS Mendi off the Isle of Wight in 1917 is not well known. Also obscure is who was on board - mainly black soldiers, who having just fought the horrific Boer War in SA, were unfathomably drawn in to soldier with the Allied forces in World War 1. The context, setting and ingredients for a grand tale of injustice, heroism, political manoeuvring and intrigue are evident in abundance.
Fred Khumalo, who has a masters degree in creative writing and an EU literary award (for Bitches Brew) makes the most of this in an extraordinary tale of a few good men. He deftly draws us in from the very first page when, in Paris in 1958, there is a strange encounter in a restaurant that leads to an unexpected murder. What has that to do with anything? We then go back in time to meet Pitso Motaung, a young South African who is caught up in all the drama and emotion and cruelty of the earlier times, the plot forging ahead to a dramatic conclusion.
I expected to find it a dense, difficult to read, yet worthwhile endeavour. In my experience, worthwhile is never my most enjoyable encounter. Fred, I don’t know how, but you made this very personal, page turning, gripping and unique. I loved every word.
An epic adventure, exposing the horrors of war and humanity, yet revealing a vulnerable underbelly of love, justice, kindness and compassion.

I received this as an eARC from Jacaranda Books, and was first drawn to it because of the stunning cover. I'd not read any Historical Fiction in a while, and this sounded particularly fascinating as I'd never heard of the SS Mendi before this and I really enjoyed reading Salt to the Sea last year about another navel disaster, that of the Wilhelm Gustloff which I had also not heard about before reading the book.
The novel starts off with Pitso serving customers in a restaurant when suddenly he stabs two of them to death and calmly waits to be arrested. A reporter tracks down a friend of his to learn his life story and from there we go right back to the Boar war, following first the story of his father and mother then Pitso right through from when he was a child until he enlists on the SS Mendi and the events that surrounded the sinking and the aftermath of that.
The book was very well written and it was clear that a lot of research had gone into it, and I was particularly pleased with the end where the author discussed his research and even included a suggested further reading section.

Pitso was an excellent character, I really loved reading about his life and the difficulties he faced due to his background. The rest of the characters were all very well written and I really enjoyed the use of language in the book - both the way it was written, and the inclusion of several languages that the characters spoke (the main two being Sesotho and Zulu). The mix of various South African languages really helped immerse you in the novel and I enjoyed seeing the interaction between the different cultures.
I was a huge fan of this book, and ended up staying up until almost 3am to finish it as I just couldn't put it down. I would highly recommend it to everybody and it also works really well for a variety of challenges that are running - it works as a "Book about War" for Book Riot's challenge, it's a South African book for those doing Read Around the World challenges and could count for several squares on #DiversityBingo

3 and 1 / 2 stars

A waiter is accused of murdering two men in a restaurant. That fact that he did it is outlined in clear prose. In a cell awaiting trial, his friend Jerry Moloto speaks to a journalist who may be able to help.

What follows is a very interesting story that begins in 1900 with the Boer War in South Africa. It follows the journey of one man who later befriends the future waiter. It is a fascinating story of both the people and countryside of South Africa.

This book is well written and plotted. I liked it very much. This is my first Fred Khumalo novel and I immediately went to Amazon to look for other books that he might have written.

I want to thank Netgalley and Jacaranda Books for forwarding to me a copy of this book to read.

Jean-Jacques Henri, an Algerian waiter at a restaurant in Paris, has committed murder. His story however, does not begin at the point of murder; It goes far back to South Africa, where he is known as Pitso Motaung, a mixed-race, hot-tempered young man who volunteered to join the war because he had something to prove.

Pitso's journey, although not nearly as interesting to me as that of the Mendi and the peoples/cultures of SA, is the frame through which the events unfold. Many of Khumalo's characters are well-developed and consistent, even though I found some of them unnecessary, or maybe just allotted more lines of speech than were strictly necessary. I also thought there was some redundancy in the writing.

I was not intensely gripped by the story, but I definitely enjoyed reading it. Before reading 'Dancing the Death Drill,' I had not heard of the SS Mendi. This book is a good education not only on the ill-fated ship, but also on colonial relations and racial tensions in South Africa, and for this reason, I would recommend it.