Skindeep

In this well-written, thought-provoking novel, Dave and Rhoda meet and fall in love, generally a simple enough situation, but since they live in South Africa their love story becomes a tale of ingrained prejudice and institutionalized discrimination. Rhoda is white, blond and beautifulunconsciously racist and consciously apolitical. Dave is rather a mysteryhe shaves his head and offers no explanation, and refuses to take Rhoda to meet his parents. Then he reveals to Rhoda that he is a pass-white (a child of parents classed as ""colored'' who is light-skinned enough to live as a white person), her immediate reaction of revulsion and horror sends him away. She regrets her decision, but when she does see him again, he tells her their relationship is over. In the epilogue, three years have passed and Rhoda and Dave have not met again. But their failed romance has served to politicize them both. By not concentrating on the issue but on its repercussions in people's lives, Jones's story provides a strong statement on the destructiveness of apartheid. (12-up)