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mcnu118's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
wendybookishthoughts's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
joshuabeardsley's review against another edition
5.0
A triumph. The languid, quiet snark of Galgut's narration rumbles beneath each page like a burning mineshaft, its misanthropic flames flicking towards the surface. A masterful examination of collective conscience, racial reckoning, and family tensions; practically impossible to put down.
shimmery's review against another edition
3.0
The Promise charts several decades in the life of the Swart family, initially wealthy white South Africans with a large farm in Pretoria. The novel opens with the death of the children’s mother, who has her husband promise that he will give Salome, their maid, the house in which she lives.
From before the end of apartheid to years later when wider reparations are being sought across the country, this promise is a tension in the Swart family that surfaces every time there is a death in the family and wealth to be redistributed.
Galgut masterfully shifts the perspective from one character to another, so that the result is a fluid, sweeping novel with the capacity to feel detail oriented even as it plots over many years. While I admired the writing style, perhaps my expectations going into this book were too high and affected my appreciation of it — it won the Booker the same year that A Passage North was shortlisted, a novel which I found transcendent and think about often after I’ve read it. I don’t know that I’ll say the same for The Promise.
From before the end of apartheid to years later when wider reparations are being sought across the country, this promise is a tension in the Swart family that surfaces every time there is a death in the family and wealth to be redistributed.
Galgut masterfully shifts the perspective from one character to another, so that the result is a fluid, sweeping novel with the capacity to feel detail oriented even as it plots over many years. While I admired the writing style, perhaps my expectations going into this book were too high and affected my appreciation of it — it won the Booker the same year that A Passage North was shortlisted, a novel which I found transcendent and think about often after I’ve read it. I don’t know that I’ll say the same for The Promise.
mrswift's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
cherrythepie's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
mcgrathprj's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
dc14's review
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
chiel's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I mean, I get it, how the story of this family is used as the story of South Africa in general, including the dismissiveness of black characters, the changing of time, the jumps between deaths and the jumps in its political landscape. It's all really clever and beautifully written.
And I'll be honest, that's possibly my main gripe with this novel. It seems to have been written to be a Booker Prize winner, not the other way around. Multi Generational Drama: check. Stylistic choice of not using quotation marks: check. Backdrop of important event in history: check. All events being metaphors: check.
And because of that layer it sometimes feels the characters in this novel are almost caricatures of humans, without any real growth.
I didn't dislike the book, but it also didn't grip me in the slightest.
And I'll be honest, that's possibly my main gripe with this novel. It seems to have been written to be a Booker Prize winner, not the other way around. Multi Generational Drama: check. Stylistic choice of not using quotation marks: check. Backdrop of important event in history: check. All events being metaphors: check.
And because of that layer it sometimes feels the characters in this novel are almost caricatures of humans, without any real growth.
I didn't dislike the book, but it also didn't grip me in the slightest.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide and Death
dfculver's review against another edition
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0