The Distance, Ivan Vladislavic
The Distance, Ivan Vladislavic
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The Distance

Author: Ivan Vladislavic

Narrator: Dennis Kleinman

Unabridged: 7 hr 20 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 09/15/2020


Synopsis

A boxing bildungsroman—a collage of memories, love, resistance, and the spectacle of Muhammad Ali in Apartheid South Africa.

In the spring of 1970, a Pretoria schoolboy, Joe, becomes obsessed with Muhammad Ali. He begins collecting daily newspaper clippings about him, a passion that grows into an archive of scrapbooks. Forty years later, when Joe has become a writer, these scrapbooks become the foundation for a memoir of his childhood. When he calls upon his brother, Branko, for help uncovering their shared past, meaning comes into view in the spaces between then and now, growing up and growing old, speaking out and keeping silent.

About Ivan Vladislavic

Ivan Vladislavic is a novelist, essayist, and editor. He lives in Johannesburg where he is a Distinguished Professor in Creative Writing at the University of the Witwatersrand. His books include The Folly, The Restless Supermarket, Portrait with Keys, and Double Negative. Among his recent publications are Flashback Hotel, a compendium of early stories, and The Loss Library. His work has won several prizes, including the University of Johannesburg Prize, the Sunday Times Fiction Prize, and the Alon Paton Award for non-fiction. In 2015, He was awarded Yale University's Windham-Campbell Prize for Fiction.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Judy on June 18, 2022

This was the July 2020 selection from my Archipelago Books subscription. The author is South African and writes in English, so it does not count as translated literature but does count as a "reading the world" book. Ivan Vladislavic was born in Pretoria in 1957. His father was of Croatian heritage; h......more

Goodreads review by Mandy on November 15, 2020

Set largely in 1970s apartheid South Africa, this is the story of Joe, a 12-year-old boy, who becomes obsessed with Muhammad Ali and compulsively fills scrapbooks with every news clipping he can find. These scrapbooks later allow Joe and his brother to look back and re-examine their own pasts and th......more

Goodreads review by stampatominuscolo on July 07, 2024

Casa, appartenenza, fratellanza sono i temi che emergono da La distanza, romanzo del sudafricano Ivan Vladislavić, nato a Pretoria nel 1957, di origini croate, i cui libri sono in corso di pubblicazione nel catalogo di Utopia Editore che ancora una volta vi segnalo come meritevole di attenzione. Pre......more

Goodreads review by Joanna on April 20, 2022

The Distance by a wonderful South African novelist, Ivan Vladislavic is a magnificent and stunning literary achievement. This is a remarkable, thoughtful read and a real feast for all the bibliophiles. This book is both, global and local; universal and South African – Praetorian; ordinary and surrea......more

Goodreads review by Giulio on May 07, 2024

La distanza che separa due fratelli corre sullo spazio fisico e temporale, attraverso un doppio dialogo lungo tutto il romanzo. Un romanzo che parla appunto della volontà di ridurre quella distanza, venutasi a creare nel tempo, attraverso uno studio delle passioni di uno dei fratelli. Alla fine forse......more