The Great Karoo begins in southern Alberta, where young men are excitedly enlisting for the war. Frank Adams is the main character, a man whose motives for heading to war remain uncertain. The men go through training camps in eastern Canada and then survive seasickness on the voyage across to Africa. There, they begin wandering through The Great Karoo Desert in Africa, following general’s orders, and trying to keep their horses alive through the desert marches.
Why the Canadians Fought the Boers
Frank and his fellow soldiers haven’t been in Africa for long before Frank begins wondering why he and those he knows from Alberta joined the army. Fred Morden is a cocky, confident leader, one who seeks to become a hero in the war. Jefferson Davis is a halfbreed who wants to kill Boers to earn the approval of his future father-in-law. Ovide Smith is a quiet man from Quebec who talks little and grows enraged at the army’s treatment of the horses.
Frank is caught up in the excitement of the battles, grows weary by the extended marches, and then becomes angry as his comrades begin to die.
Meet the Boers
Frank's motives for being in Africa change again when he falls in love with a Boer girl. Alma barely speaks any English, yet she is hungry for a man’s love. Frank is convinced that he loves her, and when he must leave her, he tells himself that she’ll wait for him, that when the war is over, they can be together.
Frank no longer wishes to fight or kill Boers and tries to avoid any duties that would make him do that. And when Alma and her mother are put into a concentration camp, he goes across Africa to find her—only to find that, like the war itself, Alma isn’t what he thought she was.
Friendship Amid the Fighting
Throughout The Great Karoo, Frank seeks friendship, first from Ovide, then from Jeff. He wants to feel that they are buddies and will look out for each other. However, when he fails to do this for Ovide, he sinks into depression. As he and Jeff begin working together, Frank slowly realizes that he cannot be responsible for Jeff because Jeff will make his own choices. When Frank’s beloved dun mare is stolen by the Boers, he’ll do anything to get her back—even risk a court martial for desertion to go look for her.
Canadians in The Second Boer War
Fred Stenson makes the Second Boer War come alive through the characters. He shows the generals and commanders, their goals and motivations. He shows the gore of war, as well as the stubbornness and greed that drove men to slaughter each other for fame and wealth. And he shows the average soldier who joined the army to find adventure and then realizes that adventure of that sort isn’t what he wanted. The Great Karoo (Doubleday Canada, 2008, ISBN 978-0385664059) is a fascinating story of a little-known bit of Canadian history.
 |
