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karol99's review
dark
emotional
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Addiction, Death of parent, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Infidelity, Abandonment, Suicide, Sexism, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Emotional abuse, Violence, Toxic relationship, Racism, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Death of parent, and Colonisation
bealmg's review against another edition
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Death of parent, Murder, Suicide, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Gaslighting and Racism
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