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Inside the pages of The Stone Chameleon are studies of the subtle manifestations of power, the herd mind, and true community. True Power, manipulation, compensatory power. It shows how depending on social, personal and other factors, people use different tactics for control and how power can be used to threaten, compensate for, or challenge authority and insecurity.
Reviewed by Carole McDonnell
The Stone Chameleon
By Nick Woods
Young Africa Series
Maskew Miller Longman
Publisher’s address
www.mml.co.za
ISBN 0-636-06255-4, 2004, 92 pages
Nick Wood’s young adult novel The Stone Chameleon is primarily about self-consciousness, primarily the kind of self-consciousness that comes when one is new to the neighborhood and when one is a child of mixed race in a world where metaphors of race and power are important.
In 2030, Eric, better known as Kerem, has arrived at a new state school in South Africa. As in all schools, there are gangs. But this is the near future. And this is a world where race and power matters to young adolescents, even if no one comes out and actually says so. Some students belong to the Augs gang, a group of kids who have biogenetically engineered themselves to have the appearance and power of certain animals. (Other gangs include the Biko boys, the Bicep boys, etc) Eric is khaki-colored. Whether he were darker or lighter, he would still be troubled. He is highly self-conscious. Even worse, without a group of his own with which to identify, he feels powerless. However, as luck would have it – or is it some power deep within Kerem?– he finds a chameleon. The chameleon turns out to be magical and enables Kerem to blend into the background so that he is unseen. At first, this works. But blending in in order to hide away is not an option. Besides, the chameleon is tired of being caged up and is pining away. Kerem sets it free.
Later he meets Mr Sizwe Nceba and his daughter Lindiwe. They tell him that he is destined to bring community to the land. Kerem doesn’t like the idea of being called to brave actions. He considers himself a wimp. But he will find courage and accomplish the quest before the Augs, with their false unity, find the stone of power.
The book’s detriment is that it is short. At only 92 pages, the story zips by quickly. Perhaps too quickly. Often, one has to re-read because some plot point has been so subtly made that one has missed it. In addition, many of the words are South African slang and an American reader who is unacquainted with South African slang or South African culture might be a bit confused.
Inside the pages of The Stone Chameleon are studies of the subtle manifestations of power, the herd mind, and true community. True Power, manipulation, compensatory power. It shows how depending on social, personal and other factors, people use different tactics for control and how power can be used to threaten, compensate for, or challenge authority and insecurity. The story hints that true power arrives when an individual emerges from childhood insecurity and accepts himself as part of a group which accepts him as himself.
Woods shows the many counterfeits of community and power that get in the way of achieving true power. His work is both race-specific and yet a book for all teenagers. On the one hand, he shows that recognition of one’s worth and self-acceptance is a basic teenage rite of passage. But he also shows the importance of this issue to boys and to black people. The need to be recognized by others, to have our skills and worth validated by others is common in all people. When one adds race and puberty in the mix, community is hard to find. Not only community but our very own truest selves. The reader waits for Kerem to overcome his inner conflicts and emotional make-up, and win a victory against his powerful inner critic.
I highly recommend this. Young adolescent readers of all races will find themselves in its pages.
About the reviewer: Carole McDonnell's essay, Oreo Blues is included in the W.W. Norton Anthology, LIFENOTES: Personal Writings By Black Women. She has won several writing awards and is the author of "Lingua Franca" - So Long Been Dreaming: Post-Colonialism in Science Fiction and Fantasy, Arsenal Pulp Press www.arsenalpulp.com published in canada in April 2004. UK, USA, AUS in October 2004, and Black is the Color of my true love's hair." Fantastic Visions III -- Fantasist Enterprises, www.fantasist.com, published in US in Sept 2004.
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