Non-Fiction Book Review “117 Days” By Ruth First
Synopsis: In 1963, journalist Ruth First was arrested by South African authorities and detained in solitary confinement under the government’s infamous ninety-day detention law. First’s active resistance ot apartheid had put her in the sights of South Africa’s dreaded Special Branch of interrogators. Written in a spare, haunting voice, 117 days recounts First’s grueling war of nerves with her captors – a record of suffering published, in the words of her husband, Joe Slovo, to “help focus world attention on the plight of the growing number of victims of the regime’s physical and mental torture chamber.”
Pages: 160 Pages
Writer: Ruth First
Let me start off by saying I read this book in two days. Granted it is only 160 pages but still this was a quick read for me. It follows the 117 days that Ruth First served in solitary confinement. She was not held on charges but was held under a 90 day detention rule that allowed anyone suspect of standing against the government to be held 90 days without an explanation. Many of the people held on the 90 day detention rule were tortured into telling the government what they wanted to hear. Ruth was resolved to stand strong even though the conditions were brutal. I picked this book up after I read a quote out of the book in a paper I was reading. I was hooked quickly into the story of Ruth First. She also weaves in events that took place while she was in solitary that she found about after she was released. All of these stories she weaves into her own has some connection to her story. Overall I enjoyed this story. It is haunting and scary how the justice system in some countries work. Where a charge can never be handed down yet a person could have been detained for as long as they wanted. All they had to do was renew the 90 day detention law. They used all kinds of tools to break her down such as her kids, lies, threats, and the promise of release. Through all of this she did her best to survive the circumstances and to endure the experience. It is hard to say the story captures a reader but it does flow in a way that you want to see where it goes. It is not quite a day by day telling of the events because it was hard to keep days straight but it does for the most part follow her 117 days of detention. It essentially is the internal story of a person in solitary confinement and the tools she used to survive the ordeal. I enjoyed the book and it is well worth the time spent reading it.