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A review by gerhard
Apocalypse Now Now by Charlie Human
2.0
When I started this I thought it was a much more imaginative book than Zoo City by Lauren Beukes, but it is let down by a thoroughly pedestrian superhero-movie ending that takes all the sting out of the satire and the wonder out of the set-up. The ending reminded me of The Avengers, The Puppet Masters and Transformers all rolled into one.
What a pity that Human did not make more of the break in the story when he gets both his protagonist and the reader to question their respective sanity. Yes, such po-mo techniques do tend to raise eyebrows in this age of literary realism, but I think a much darker edge would have suited the book far better than the comic book theatrics it eventually succumbs to.
I loved the bits about the Sieners and the San mythology. However, I also felt that Human does not do nearly enough with his Cape Town setting. You could simply switch the story to Egoli and it would make no difference whatsoever. Still, there are some wonderful setpieces here: the Flesh Palace alone would make both Clive Barker and Quentin Tarantino proud.
What a pity that Human did not make more of the break in the story when he gets both his protagonist and the reader to question their respective sanity. Yes, such po-mo techniques do tend to raise eyebrows in this age of literary realism, but I think a much darker edge would have suited the book far better than the comic book theatrics it eventually succumbs to.
I loved the bits about the Sieners and the San mythology. However, I also felt that Human does not do nearly enough with his Cape Town setting. You could simply switch the story to Egoli and it would make no difference whatsoever. Still, there are some wonderful setpieces here: the Flesh Palace alone would make both Clive Barker and Quentin Tarantino proud.