Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - The Promise

Very interesting read, it hopped around a good bit. Writing style was different then my normal reads but enjoyed it. Bit crude,unfiltered examination of people.

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qqjj's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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bealmg's review

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challenging dark reflective medium-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

4.0

Apartheid has fallen, see, we die right next to each other now, in intimate proximity. It's just the living part we still have to work out.

I absolutely loved Galgut's writing, I think it is the strongest aspect of this novel. We have a sarcastic and unrealiable narrator who weaves in and out of each characters' perspectives to reveal their innermost thoughts and motivations. Although this can be disorienting, it was brilliantly done - and it reflects, I believe, the turmoil and chaos in post-Apartheid South Africa.
I also really enjoyed the complicated and messy family dynamics and how the characters interacted with one another, often leaving more things unsaid than said; it is up to us, the reader, to join the pieces of the puzzle and to interpret their silences.
However, I wished we had seen more of Salome and her son Lukas. Perhaps that was on purpose - after all, this is a story about South Africa and the post-Apartheid promises that were never really fulfilled. Still, I would have liked to know more about these two characters and I would have liked to see a deeper exploration of racial relations in post-Apartheid South Africa.

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sal17's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

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steveatwaywords's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Little point in describing Galgut as a fine and (nearly) unique stylist. <i>The Promise</> fulfills its titular expectation: behind these familial characters is a connection/disturbance always beneath--moral and spiritual, political and cultural--which informs the narrow narcissisms and lethargies they practice. On occasion it bubbles to the surface, threatening to overturn it all. Galgut, too, structures his book to support these perturbations: episodes around death, transient disaffections with religious answers, ironic narrative insinuations--all to form a teleological ennui for its main characters (I dare call none precisely a protagonist).

This is my first read of his, and now I must turn to others, though I worry that Galgut's white narrative perspective may limit his ability to broaden his political frame.

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