The Smell of Apples 4070559 206871280 2008-04-20T12:13:24Z JzG 760284 cleaning up after move war using [[Project:AutoWikiBrowser|AWB]] {{infobox Book | <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books --> | name = The Smell of Apples | title_orig = | translator = | image = [[Image:Smell of Apples.jpg|200px]] | image_caption = | author = [[Mark Behr]] | cover_artist = | country = [[South Africa]] | language = [[English language|English]] | series = | genre = [[Novel]] | publisher = [[Queillerie]] (RSA), Abacus (UK) | release_date = 1993 | media_type = Print ([[Hardcover|Hardback]] & [[Paperback]]) | pages = 200 pp | isbn = ISBN 0-349-10756-4 }} '''''The Smell of Apples''''' is a 1993 debut [[novel]] by [[South Africa]]n [[Mark Behr]], also published in the same year in [[Afrikans]] as ''Die Reuk van Appels''. Mark Behr describes the [[Afrikaner]] mentality and in [[History of South Africa in the apartheid era|apartheid]] South Africa as seen through the eyes of a 10-year-old boy called Marnus, the son of an [[South African National Defence Force|Army]] General. The Smell of Apples won the [[M-Net]] Award and the [[Eugene Marais]] Prize and the Betty Trask Award in the [[United Kingdom]] There is also a movie based on the book planned for a release in [[2009]], starring [[Julian McMahon]] and [[Gillian Anderson]] ==Plot summary== Marnus Erasmus is a young boy growing up in South Africa during the time of [[apartheid]]. His father is a general in the South African army and a firm believer in the [[apartheid]] system. Marnus has been taught to always tell the truth and consequently represents innocence. Marnus and his father have a very close relationship, they go [[skinny dipping]] together in the sea, go fishing and share the shower cubicle at home. Marnus' best friend is Frikkie and he has always been scared of Marnus' father. The reason why Frikkie has always been afraid of Marnus's father is not explained until the end of the novel. A guest comes to stay at Marnus' house. He is a general from Chile and there is an undertone of military secrets and deals between Marnus' father and the general. Marnus suspects the general is flirting with his sister and begins to spy on him at night and, looking through a crack in the flooring in his upstairs bedroom, believes he sees his sister's reflection in the general's mirror. The next night Marnus again spies on the general's room. He sees a man he thinks is the general sodomising Frikkie. Marnus’ world is shattered when he discovers that the man is actually his father, and not the general. Despite knowing the truth, Marnus keeps it to himself and never reveals what he knows to his mother. In the last pages of the novel, his sister tries to approach him about what is truly happening, but Marnus demands she leave his room. The book shows the hypocrisy in both the political world and in family relationships and describes how a loving father and national hero can harbour secret [[pedophile|paedophilic]] desires. In a parallel plot line Marnus is a lieutenant in the army and fights in the [[Angola]]n war. ==See also== *[[South Africa]] *[[Apartheid]] *[[Pedophilia]] *[[List of books portraying paedophilia or sexual abuse of minors]] *[[Child sexual abuse]] {{DEFAULTSORT:Smell of Apples, The}} [[Category:Debut novels]] [[Category:1993 novels]]