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abookishtype's review
3.0
I never read Hal Herzog’s Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat, but the title has always stuck with me as an excellent way to sum up humans’ relationship to the other species on this planet. Nineveh, by Henrietta Rose-Innes, is very much about the “some we hate” category. The critters in this category—rodents, insects, reptiles, etc.—have done nothing to earn our emnity. They just gross us out or scare us for being what they are: low level predators, occasional disease vectors, destroyers of the wooden frames of our houses. The protagonist of Nineveh, Katya Grubbs, doesn’t hate any animals. She runs Painless Pest Relocation. Instead of trapping or poisoning pests, she collects them and moves them into the remaining wild areas around Cape Town. She is the Sisyphus of pest removal...
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for review consideration.
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for review consideration.
yenirulop's review against another edition
4.0
Este libro lo terminé hace unos días y ya siento que extraño a los personajes. Me encantó el estilo descriptivo de la autora pues siempre da una sensación de mayor intimidad entre el lector y Katya, la protagonista. Varios conflictos (modernidad vs origen, posturas raciales, coloniales, la identidad, las relaciones filiales) se hilan en una historia simple: el combate de una plaga en un lujoso complejo arquitectónico. Fue una sorpresa agradable que me ha dejado un excelente sabor de boca.
celiaedf12's review
3.0
Novel set in Cape Town about a pest relocater, her complicated relationship with her father and sister, and a strange job she's given in an empty housing estate. Well-written - I really liked the style and tone.
bianca89279's review
3.0
Nineveh is an unusual novel that is quite short but feels much longer and quite dense.
I don't recall ever reading anything written by a South-African author or with a South African setting, which is quite strange. I've definitely never read anything that involved pest relocators/controllers. That was quite new and interesting. Unless you suffer from insectophobia, in which case, stay away.
The main character, Katya Grubbs, is a Painless Pest Relocator, who's attempting to get rid of what's considered vermin, by catching and releasing in other places. She's an unusual woman, a bit of a loner, partly due to her rough upbringing. She's become a pest controller, just like her father, whom she is estranged from.
This is a somewhat allegorical novel, with an environmental message, about the destruction man causes to the environment and to the many creatures, big and small.
South Africa's dysfunctional socio-economical structures and functions are apparent.
There are some beautiful descriptive passages and the writing has merit. At times, though, the novel sags and lags, nothing happens, and you wait and wait for Katya to discover those insidious bugs that she was hired to find in Nineveh, a new housing development that apparently swarms with some mysterious insects. Nineveh seems fantastical and surreal. Some strange things occur.
Nineveh is an interesting novel, with a gripping premise, setting and characters, and some excellent writing, but uneven in parts. But it was different enough that it made me curious to read something else writte Rose-Innes.
3.5 stars
I've received this novel via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the publishers, Gaalic Books, for the opportunity to read and review this novel.
Cover: 5 stars
I don't recall ever reading anything written by a South-African author or with a South African setting, which is quite strange. I've definitely never read anything that involved pest relocators/controllers. That was quite new and interesting. Unless you suffer from insectophobia, in which case, stay away.
The main character, Katya Grubbs, is a Painless Pest Relocator, who's attempting to get rid of what's considered vermin, by catching and releasing in other places. She's an unusual woman, a bit of a loner, partly due to her rough upbringing. She's become a pest controller, just like her father, whom she is estranged from.
This is a somewhat allegorical novel, with an environmental message, about the destruction man causes to the environment and to the many creatures, big and small.
South Africa's dysfunctional socio-economical structures and functions are apparent.
There are some beautiful descriptive passages and the writing has merit. At times, though, the novel sags and lags, nothing happens, and you wait and wait for Katya to discover those insidious bugs that she was hired to find in Nineveh, a new housing development that apparently swarms with some mysterious insects. Nineveh seems fantastical and surreal. Some strange things occur.
Nineveh is an interesting novel, with a gripping premise, setting and characters, and some excellent writing, but uneven in parts. But it was different enough that it made me curious to read something else writte Rose-Innes.
3.5 stars
I've received this novel via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the publishers, Gaalic Books, for the opportunity to read and review this novel.
Cover: 5 stars
katevane's review
3.0
Katya is a humane pest controller in South Africa. She learnt her craft from her father. They have a difficult relationship and are currently estranged but when she is asked to perform a difficult assignment on a luxury development, Nineveh, she senses his influence at play.
The thread that runs through Nineveh is the search for ‘home’. Katya’s unstable father kept his family constantly on the move and she has struggled to settle. Her sister escaped his influence early and has immersed herself in suburban family life. The developer of Nineveh strives to create perfection, insulated from the poverty that surrounds his development.
The plot is slightly jagged and unresolved, but that’s okay in what is an offbeat story. My difficulty with this book is the sheer amount of description. The author writes beautifully, giving a fresh perspective on everyday experiences. But just because you can, it doesn’t mean you should. Not all the time.
When Katya visits a high-powered client at his office we accompany her through the lobby, up in the lift, along the corridor…We find out how it feels to have a bath and to walk to the mall. We’re never teleported from one place to another but always have to plod there in real time, like the unedited footage from a headcam.
Despite these reservations, this book does stay with you. The pest metaphor is a powerful one. Who decides who gets to live within the walls, and who must be kept out, distanced, even destroyed? How does the outsider, despite everything, find a niche and survive?
Nineveh is definitely worth a read, but you might want to skim a bit.
*
I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley.
The thread that runs through Nineveh is the search for ‘home’. Katya’s unstable father kept his family constantly on the move and she has struggled to settle. Her sister escaped his influence early and has immersed herself in suburban family life. The developer of Nineveh strives to create perfection, insulated from the poverty that surrounds his development.
The plot is slightly jagged and unresolved, but that’s okay in what is an offbeat story. My difficulty with this book is the sheer amount of description. The author writes beautifully, giving a fresh perspective on everyday experiences. But just because you can, it doesn’t mean you should. Not all the time.
When Katya visits a high-powered client at his office we accompany her through the lobby, up in the lift, along the corridor…We find out how it feels to have a bath and to walk to the mall. We’re never teleported from one place to another but always have to plod there in real time, like the unedited footage from a headcam.
Despite these reservations, this book does stay with you. The pest metaphor is a powerful one. Who decides who gets to live within the walls, and who must be kept out, distanced, even destroyed? How does the outsider, despite everything, find a niche and survive?
Nineveh is definitely worth a read, but you might want to skim a bit.
*
I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley.
sookieskipper's review
3.0
There is so much stuffed in this little book and it becomes so dense, so cluttered and clumsy that trudging through it all becomes a chore. Still, Innes gives us a brilliant little story about a dysfunctional family, a perpetually irritated woman and bunch of allegories.
The MC here has a pest control agency. Her deal is that she relocates her pests and at the start of the book she is called to investigate an infestation at a gated community. It is at this moment the allegory to Kafka's metamorphosis become absolutely clear but Innes goes far deeper than that. It isn't just that. We are also here for these little creatures finding their own footing in the grand scheme of things. We are here for modern South African socio-environmental impacts and development that has displaced many animals and, well, insects.
I do wish there were moments that paused a little bit more and reduce the pages where nothing much happened. For a short book, this is tedious. Also, for a short book, it took me longest to read.
The MC here has a pest control agency. Her deal is that she relocates her pests and at the start of the book she is called to investigate an infestation at a gated community. It is at this moment the allegory to Kafka's metamorphosis become absolutely clear but Innes goes far deeper than that. It isn't just that. We are also here for these little creatures finding their own footing in the grand scheme of things. We are here for modern South African socio-environmental impacts and development that has displaced many animals and, well, insects.
I do wish there were moments that paused a little bit more and reduce the pages where nothing much happened. For a short book, this is tedious. Also, for a short book, it took me longest to read.
readingtheend's review
3.0
I liked this book but I also expected the beetles to be magical or fantastical in some way. In fact they are a Metaphor. As long as you know this going in, you will not suffer from unmet expectations.
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