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A review by tominlondon
Soul Sisters by Lesley Lokko
2.0
Problems of the privileged
An amusing romance about two sisters who - no matter what problems they ever have to face - are featherbedded financially by their rich uncle who provides money whenever they need it. Although I found this very off-putting, I persevered with the story, which is quite well written and contains some interesting insights into the corruption of politics and the exploitativeness of the "art world". I only read this because I'm an architect and so is Lesley Lokko. She's the kind of architect who's interested in power, prestige, and bling and in her novel she never misses an opportunity to mention a brand, or a kind of mineral water she thinks is more prestigious than others; every detail of everyone's clothing is carefully mentioned; the cars are all big, expensive ones; the hotels are the best; and the shanty towns of South Africa are something to hurry past and forget about as quickly as possible- because those are the people "on the other side of the compound wall" who are (emphatically) not even remotely of interest to the black politicians of the "New South Africa". If you're not repulsed by the complacency of these well-heeled bourgeois, you may enjoy this for an amusing read. The (probably unintended) moral of the story is that although one sister is black and the other is white, the constant supply of money means that there's no significant difference between them; it's the money they both have access to that makes them soul sisters.
An amusing romance about two sisters who - no matter what problems they ever have to face - are featherbedded financially by their rich uncle who provides money whenever they need it. Although I found this very off-putting, I persevered with the story, which is quite well written and contains some interesting insights into the corruption of politics and the exploitativeness of the "art world". I only read this because I'm an architect and so is Lesley Lokko. She's the kind of architect who's interested in power, prestige, and bling and in her novel she never misses an opportunity to mention a brand, or a kind of mineral water she thinks is more prestigious than others; every detail of everyone's clothing is carefully mentioned; the cars are all big, expensive ones; the hotels are the best; and the shanty towns of South Africa are something to hurry past and forget about as quickly as possible- because those are the people "on the other side of the compound wall" who are (emphatically) not even remotely of interest to the black politicians of the "New South Africa". If you're not repulsed by the complacency of these well-heeled bourgeois, you may enjoy this for an amusing read. The (probably unintended) moral of the story is that although one sister is black and the other is white, the constant supply of money means that there's no significant difference between them; it's the money they both have access to that makes them soul sisters.