One of the posts I blogged a week ago mentioning Deon Meyer made me want to read another one of his novels, which I started last week. It is Cobra, which features recovering alcoholic cop Benny Griessel. It also features a newcomer in Meyer's world, young professional pickpocket Tyrone Kleinbooi. I don't know for sure yet, but I have a feeling he might be a recurring character. I hope so anyway. I am not very far in the novel and I like him already, especially the very lucid observations he makes. There is this passage that really caught my attention:
"Tyrone Kleinbooi eyed up the tourists on the pavement. Europeans, he recognized them by their pale legs, their get-up. he had given up wondering why European and American visitors were the only people in Africa who bought and wore safari outfits - the hunting jackets (with pockets with ammunition), the Livingstone helmets or wide-brimmed hats, the boots."
This is pure wisdom and I can really relate to that. Obviously, the tourists I know never wore safari outfits, but I have seen plenty of French tourists in Québec wearing those stupid Daniel Boon hats, the ones made with raccoon fur, with the tail still on. Not only does it look anachronistic, it also looks utterly stupid when the French guy is wearing it in the middle of summer, with Bermuda shorts, t-shirt and sandals to make it even more odd. There are more pieces of Kleinbooi's wisdom, but this one really got me on his side. I'm really rooting for him.
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2 comments:
"Daniel Boone, c'est son nom, on le chan-te! L'histoire regorge des exploits de ce coureur des bois. Jamais plus on ne connaîtra l'épopée d'un bonhomme comme lui..."
I've never in my life seen anyone wear a coonskin cap in real life. But French tourists do in Quebec? OMG
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