The book was excellent, but the movie has distorted the theme greatly. The book is more about Peekay over coming his trials. Not a political agenda for apartheid. through-out the book you can feel the injustice, but again that is not the theme. Somebody has an ax to grind and they have destroyed a great book in the process. There were many issues of human suffering and heartache, from many different sources. They came from religious fanaticism, male dominance, government interventions and and multiracial and multicultural issue from the empire building enterprises of many nations of that time period. There were many very important parts of the book eliminated from the movie altogether that make the story much more engaging and important to the character development of Peekay and his supporters. Do yourself a favor and read the book and appreciate what a great story it really is.