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The Madonna of Excelsior Audiobook
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(3.07) - 287 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
In 1971, nineteen citizens of Excelsior, a farming community in South Africa's rural Free States, were charged with breaking apartheid's Immorality Act, which forbade sexual relations between blacks and whites on the pretext of avoiding miscegenation. The women were jailed as they awaited trial and their white counterparts were released on bail. In the end, the state withdrew the charges, but the accused women's lives, already complicated, became harder than ever. Mda tells the story of a family at the heart of the scandal, revealing a country in which apartheid, even as it sought to keep the races apart, concealed interracial liaisons of every kind. Niki, the fallen Madonna, transgresses boundaries for the sake of love; her choices have profound repercussions in the lives of her black son, Viliki, and her mixed-race daughter, Popi, who come of age in the years after the end of apartheid, when freedom allows them - indeed compels them - to figure out their racial identities for themselves. As the story advances to the present, the mixed society of Excelsior comes to suggest South Africa today, a society far more complex - and more dramatic - than conventional notions of black and white will allow.
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"A true story about how we set up boundaries in society between certain groups of people, usually around racial lines (this book takes place in South Africa during apartheid) and how utterly useless it is to divide humans. We all belong to each other."
— Cassandra (4 out of 5 stars)
The Madonna of Excelsior Listener Reviews
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" I adored this book. A little bit of a hard read but it was excellent. "
— Nia, 1/11/2014 -
" Still want to read more....and it's worth a visit to Excelsior: Free State at its best! "
— David, 1/3/2014 -
" a bunch of blacks and whites have sex in a barn while a baby crawls around watching and playing with a bottle of alcohol. a mixed baby is born, farts in bed then grows up to run a library "
— Matt, 6/30/2013 -
" I did not like it aa much as I wanted to. The ending felt very rushed and there was no clear indication of how much time had passed. "
— Eva, 6/15/2013 -
" A fictionalised account of a well known scandal in South African history. I wanted to like this more than I did. "
— HKd, 11/18/2012 -
" I was suppose to read this for a class last year and never got around to it. I held onto it because it seemed interesting and finally got around to it. I enjoyed the book but the story wasn't too fascinating. It did lead me to read more about South Africa and its history so that's good. "
— Alex, 11/5/2012 -
" a tangle of art and music, politics, family drama. "
— Esther, 10/30/2012 -
" I had to read this book as part of my UNISA degree. It was interesting! "
— Tracey, 10/17/2012 -
" i loved the book, Zakes Mda never dissapoints. "
— Fela, 4/19/2012 -
" Excellent story that really captures the captures the complexities of apartheid and people's reactions to it. "
— Deborah, 1/20/2012 -
" This book grew on me. Moments of magic realism threw me at first but then the powerful storytelling took over and made it a book I'll always remember. "
— William, 1/13/2012 -
" Although eventually the story did manage to draw me in, I was definitely put off by the lengthy and only somewhat relevant-seeming descriptions of paintings in the first part of the book. Still good, but I liked "Ways of Dying" much better. "
— Ammie, 9/9/2011 -
" I wasn't huge on the art motif throughout the book, but otherwise it's absolutely fabulous. A must-read, esp. if you're interested in South Africa. "
— Chris, 8/15/2011 -
" Still want to read more....and it's worth a visit to Excelsior: Free State at its best! "
— David, 7/25/2011 -
" Excellent story that really captures the captures the complexities of apartheid and people's reactions to it. "
— Deborah, 9/3/2010 -
" I adored this book. A little bit of a hard read but it was excellent. "
— Nia, 1/14/2010 -
" I was suppose to read this for a class last year and never got around to it. I held onto it because it seemed interesting and finally got around to it. I enjoyed the book but the story wasn't too fascinating. It did lead me to read more about South Africa and its history so that's good. "
— Alex, 11/20/2009 -
" I had to read this book as part of my UNISA degree. It was interesting! "
— Tracey, 8/8/2008 -
" This book grew on me. Moments of magic realism threw me at first but then the powerful storytelling took over and made it a book I'll always remember. "
— William, 4/2/2008 -
" Although eventually the story did manage to draw me in, I was definitely put off by the lengthy and only somewhat relevant-seeming descriptions of paintings in the first part of the book. Still good, but I liked "Ways of Dying" much better. "
— Ammie, 3/14/2008
About Zakes Mda
Zakes Mda has received every major South African prize for his work. Born in 1948, he has been a visiting professor at Yale and the University of Vermont. He is now a dramaturg at the Market Theatre, Johannesburg, and a Professor in the Creative Writing Department at Ohio University.
About Robin Miles
Robin Miles, named a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine, has twice won the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration, an Audie Award for directing, and many Earphones Awards. Her film and television acting credits include The Last Days of Disco, Primary Colors, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order, New York Undercover, National Geographic’s Tales from the Wild, All My Children, and One Life to Live. She regularly gives seminars to members of SAG and AFTRA actors’ unions, and in 2005 she started Narration Arts Workshop in New York City, offering audiobook recording classes and coaching. She holds a BA degree in theater studies from Yale University, an MFA in acting from the Yale School of Drama, and a certificate from the British American Drama Academy in England.