Compliments!

I like the neatness in which you connected the associations and moved the narratives so briskly along.

Some very smart dramatic moments. Even movie scenes!

(My favourite: the seduction on the train!)

Best

MM
Journalist, Book Reviewer and Art critic

“And… now for a belated thanks, because I finally can say I consumed the Christmas gift you gave me, and I did it in one sitting!!! I am not sure why I put it off, but I delayed reading Mario D'Offizi's "Bless me Father" all this time. Finally, I picked it up yesterday and once I started I couldn't stop. What a page turner! I found the book to be truthful and textured, and I was drawn into all of his experiences and was in awe of people he met, was connected to, and had encountered. Wow! I also loved seeing another person's respect and acknowledgement of interconnectivity. He never took encounters for granted, and always closed and acknowledged the loop; those were the passages that made me shiver with wonder. I feel better about the world after finishing that book: people don't show their real selves often enough, and in reading "Bless Me Father" I saw someone's real self, struggles and all, and I am just inspired. And more hopeful. 

Thanks again for a MARVELLOUS gift: and to think it's a signed edition!!” LS  

‘…Just to say I'm really enjoying your book! Right now, you're lying low in Lubumbashi trying to avoid immigration. Wild stuff. Again, congrats. Your sections on Boys Town and growing up blows that fucking silver-spoon Spud right out of the water…”

M.V. (Author and Journalist)

 

“…Once again many thanks – and congratulations and best wishes to you for being big enough to expose the small damaging people who all too often conveniently hide behind the facades of their piety. All strength to you my friend!...”

O.N. (Film Producer)

 

“…Just to say that I read your book from cover to cover.

Congratulations!  What a wonderful and interesting read - just what I needed over the holidays.

I am sure everyone's asking you when the next one is due out ???” 

I.D

“…I finished your brilliant book a few days ago. It really moved me. To tears, in parts. But you can't tell anyone that. You have a wonderful style and you told your story with an honesty that is rare in this genre. I was blown away by your remarkable absence of malice towards those who "fucked you over", for want of a better phrase. I will put the word out as much as I can, because the book really deserves to sell well. Incidentally, fantastic review from John Doolan! He said it all so much better than I can.

All the best for '08 and let's see another book!

Cheers, friend.

M.V.(Author and Journalist)

“…I've just finished reading your stories... feel very numb...  big congratulations on this writing Mario, I'm so unbelievably proud of you. You're so un-bitter about life - I can't image how one gets that to work after some of these experiences... Sorry but I can't give any comment on these stories except to say thank you so much for letting me read them and I hope you sell zillions of copies of the eagerly awaited published book. Don't let any editor fuck them up.

Lots of Love

S.G.

“…I think your humility speaks volumes – you appear quite surprised at the brave tag, - I thought it was an exceptional read, albeit horrific at times.

I’d be curious to see what you could do with a novel – I imagine ‘Dof’ has quite an imagination!

All the best, and THANK YOU!”

Sherwin Bryce-Pease
Weekend Live: SABC NEWS/SABC 2

 

“Hi Mario, finally managed to get to Adams and get your book. Read it right through yesterday and woke in the middle of the night and read parts of it again.

A truly truly amazing story.  I wept for the little boy, God I wept for you returning to Boys' Town after  that awful time in Cape Town, for your concern and love for your mother, for your son leaving for NZ on that day, and all the way in between.  And for the incredible, resilient human spirit that comes out of all these difficulties with lack of bitterness, humour and the ability as Carla said to break the chain. Would that so many South Africans could do the same.  

Your experiences resonated so much with my own life, though nowhere remotely as hard as yours was in the physical and material sense, and struck me forcibly that I have so much to be grateful for. And also need to break the chain, forgive and forget, given how much you could.

Don't really know what else to say at this stage, my feelings are too near the surface, but a really awe-inspiring book”.

Cheers for now

J.G
Writer. Durban

 

“OH MY GOD!!!
I loved it.
Finished reading your book in three days. It would have been two days if I didn't have to work in between. I feel totally inspired. And this is not just ego-stroke bullshit. I really enjoyed reading it.
Whats the next offering?”

DH
Journalist, TV Reporter

Having read the book review on "Bless Me Father" in the January edition, I asked a friend of mine to obtain a copy for me... I’ve just finished reading your book… 

Your book really amazed me, and touched me in a way I never thought possible.  It’s (well you) have made me feel more relaxed, almost as if I’ve been stumbling around in a dark room all this time and have only now thought to turn the lights on. 

I won’t discuss your entire book with you, I just want to touch on two points which really stand out to me.  Firstly, during your trip to the Congo you talk about meeting people and you refer to them as Angels.  But I think that you really missed the point completely, because in reality, you were the Angel.  I’m sure that if you go back and read through your notes again objectively you’ll see it too.  You may disagree, but deep down in my heart I know it’s true.

Secondly, you talk about being torn between the wolf and the sheep.  And Wow, that really woke me up, and helped me to understand myself a lot better.  Once again, it was like the light went on. 

Your book is like a guide, a manual which I know I’ll be referring to again and again.  And I really want to thank you, not only for writing the book but mainly for (I hope I can get this out right) being the person to live your life.  For going through what you did so you can come out smiling better able to inspire.  You’re like the star of Bethlehem, a guiding light in the dark for the rest of us to follow”

TA

Having read the book review on "Bless Me Father" in the January edition, I asked a friend of mine to obtain a copy for me. I also spent time at Boy's Town and can confirm that abuse did take place. Thank you Mario D'Offizi for having the courage to write about it. It has been kept secret for far too long, because many people knew what was going on, but nobody spoke out about it. And thank you Tabloid for doing a review on this excellent book. I can recommend it to anyone.

Name withheld, Perth, Australia

 

Hello Mario…Am just back from a sojourn at my village (don’t know if I told you I camp near a North West Province village where I attend the local junior school in order to learn Setswana).  Wanted you to know that I took your book with me and was completely AWED by your life story.  How you have kept your sense of humour and purpose through this unusually hard hurdle race is quite beyond me and I SALUTE YOU!!!!!  There are so many synchronicities, just one being: my last camp site was within 200 metres of Herman Charles’ Bosman’s school house – it’s now in ruins, sadly, because the local government puts no value to history and literature. I learnt so much, just one lesson being:  “If you keep a green bough in your heart, the singing bird will come.”  I empathized with so much, but on the physical front particularly with your 50k Big Walk.  A few years back (as you might remember from my book), 13 of my listeners and I walked from the lowest to the highest points of Zimbabwe at a rate of 50ks a day. This was to raise funds for the animals up there.  My blisters became veritable craters that by the end of the walk – to the extent I could see my heel bone on one foot.  Every night as I lay down in my tent and thought, “I don’t know how I’m going to go to the loo, let alone walk 50ks tomorrow.”  And yet, in the morning I did.  Such is the human spirit.

I have had a very lucky life, and a very privileged one in many ways.  Yours is a story of such triumph over bad odds that I’m humbled – and even ashamed at how graced I’ve been.

Congratulations and best, best wishes.

PG (Ex TV presenter, author and journalist)

…on my way to Sweden I finished reading Mario's book 'Bless me Father'.When you meet him please tell him thank you from me! Thank him forsharing his story and letting me know his journey. He gave the book to Craig last Xmas and I started reading soon it after we got back to London. I could only cope with a chapter at a time because it was so powerful and woke up things inside; emotions and thoughts. Shortly I stopped reading the book because it was too strong and I was scared of  what was to come how it would make me feel and I felt I wasn't ready. The other day Craig told me "keep it for as long as you want. I know you liked it and I think you should finish it", so at the airport I had to wait for most of the day because of flight trouble and I started reading, and read and read till I arrived in Sweden 14 hours later! It takes you on a hell of a roller coaster ride and yet leaves you feeling empowered and stunned by what life can bring and how beautiful somehowit is even in the saddest, worst moments... remarkable.

AB
Sweden

 

… This is a story of a rich, fascinating, but intermittently tragic life, told with scrupulous, graphic, and disturbing honesty. It is eminently readable and accessible, written as it is in a recognisably South African voice, which would nonetheless appeal to a much wider audience. It is part of our human nature to want to look through a window into another’s life, and here the window is crystal clear and the life well worth looking into.

There are hidden depths to the story too. There is pattern, despite the lack of chronology in the arrangement. Mario’s intermittent hedonism and obsessiveness and his two failed marriages are surely directly related to his unhappy childhood, his consignment to Nazareth House and Boys’ Town, his abuse there, and subsequent traumas. Another pattern that is discernible is his gradual social and political awakening that issues in his life-changing visit to the DRC, which so neatly frames the action. Mario was a child of apartheid South Africa, who, through his own sensibilities and experiences, ultimately transcended it.

For me the most striking aspect of the book is the lack of bitterness displayed throughout, despite the writer’s exposure to so much violence and abuse of various kinds. His nature rises above it all, so that ultimately its message is positive, optimistic, and life affirming.

Mario D’Offizi speaks in a fresh and uniquely South African voice about the harsh realities – as well as moments of great joy – of a real, authentic South African life.

MF
Educator & Historian