A satisfying read

FRIEDA AND MIN by Pamela Jooste
Doubleday R109,95

A DELICATELY written yet deeply moving work from South African writer, Pamela Jooste, Frieda and Min is a readable, insightful tale about the friendship that develops between two vastly different women when fate throws them together at age 14 in the 1960s.

Jooste's characters are finely crafted and it is difficult not to believe that the character of Frieda is not autobiographical, so convincingly is she drawn.

Frieda and Min meet when the latter is dropped off at the Woolf's rather poor household in Germiston so that her materialistic mother can holiday with her lover in peace.

The introverted, troubled Min has suffered the loss of a father and a beloved brother and is at her happiest when she can spend time with Zulu speaking people with whom she has always felt comfortable.

Frieda, on the other hand, has a stable, loving relationship with her family who take Min under their wing and incorporate her into the warmth and tradition of Jewish family life.

The teenagers embark on a friendship that is to see them through the turbulent years of apartheid South Africa.

As she grows older, Frieda goes about her business finding a husband, cooking wonderful dishes for family occasions and absorbing well meant Jewish wisdom from her mother and aunt.

Min, meanwhile, becomes a doctor and ends up at a bush clinic where she illegally treats victims of the struggle.

Although Frieda never truly understands her friend and the selfless forces that drive her, she nevertheless is her safety net when Min pushes the security force's buttons too hard. Their deep affection for each other simply overrides their differences.

Much of their lives are spent apart pursuing different goals, but the bond between them never slackens.

This gentle, evocative novel deals with all manner of prejudice, not all of it racially based, yet this is no hard hitting or academic or particularly politically correct piece of work.

It is serious but never dark, funny but never flippant and positive, but never unrealistic and one is left with that fulfilled feeling after a satisfying read.

Thought provoking yet accessible, Frieda and Min should make a welcome addition to any book club.

Barbara Hollands