"The Promise"
by Damon Galgut.
This is a novel dealing with post-apartheid South Africa.
The narrative centres on one dysfunctional family over a period of decades.
It wasn’t really a promise, not a sincere one anyway, appeasing his wife who was dying.
Amor hears the ‘promise’ being made and it is referred to throughout the book (mainly at funerals) then nothing happens until the end, when it is probably too late.
Why did Amor not pursue the matter more if it was so important to her?
Four Funerals and No Wedding – would have been a better catchy title!
The book starts with Amor, and ends with Amor, but there is little of substance about her between these.
In fact there is no depth to any of the main characters, Anton, Astrid, Amor, their father. We just see facets of them.
None of them is particularly likeable either though Amor is more sympathetic.
The book- deaths, funerals, dysfunctional family(again), lack of communication, racism, sexism, greed, aimless lives, lost opportunities against the background of South Africa’s political situation and apartheid.
The book is written in a different way-4 sections and no chapters.
The writing flows from one scene to another and it took a while to adjust to this.
The prose is rich in parts but at times a bit tedious- too much of it.
The book jumps 10+years between the sections with no information what happens between times.
Not knowing the whys and hows leaves questions over the historical accuracy!
There are relatively few characters, their interactions contain a great amount of conflict and disagreement, and none of them are particularly likeable.
The prose varies in nature and by turns is beautifully poetic and earthily graphic.
This is not “an easy bedtime read” requiring concerted effort to understand what is being said, and also to digest what has been said in the context of the societal changes taking place during the period in which it is set.
Evaluating the book from a white caucasian perspective is quite difficult, and there were no “black voices” in the book which could have given a very different evaluation.
There was a consistent experience within the book club review to the effect that persistence in reading the book has its rewards, and the book sparked off a good discussion.
Various detailed comments from club members were noted including:
- This is not an uplifting book, but it does give a very interesting slant on South Africa.
- This is a book that needs a second read and thinking about over time.
- Poetic, exquisite language. E.g. “I ran as far and as fast as I could, but the past has little claws”.
- We never got “the inner voice” of Salome
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I did get into the book after the first 40-50 pages, then it waned slightly.
About 70 pages from the end I thought ‘ this is really depressing ‘ and that is my overall view of the book.
- Did I like it? No, but it has made me think about it more than some other books.
Doorly score: 4.25
PC. 8 Oct 2022
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