Absolution
Length Of Time In Possession : 18 months
What first struck me when I started reading Absolution was the identical nature of the basics of the story to Diane Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale which I have just read. Successful elderly writer Clare Wald, summons young journalist Sam Leroux to her home with the intent of allowing him to be her biographer, and their conversations illuminate her back story. There the similarity ends because whilst The Thirteenth Tale is shrouded in a kind of Gothic old fashioned mystique, the mysteries of Absolution are of a starker, bleaker variety.
Set in modern day South Africa the events of the novel are placed against the backdrop of the fairly recent political upheavals of that nation, the findings of the Truth And Reconciliation Commission for example are referenced often. The novel is constructed in an odd way, and at times this made it difficult to read. Split into three sections it at times has sections from Clare's perspective and then Sam's interspersed with excerpts from Clare's final novel, a 'faction' named 'Absolution'.
Clare did not choose Sam for the task for no apparent reason Sam & Clare have a link, a link neither is able to discuss, and as Sam's narrative contradicts what Clare sets forth in 'Absolution' it becomes harder to know what really happened, and in some respects this is the point of 'Absolution' how, when in absence of the facts, we make up fictions in our minds of events we know to have happened but do not know the detail.
Another strand of Absolution revolves around guilt and responsibility, how responsible is a person when a remark they make sets forth a chain of events they didn't foresee culminating in disaster.
The problem with 'Absolution' as a novel and what makes it become hard work as a read is that these points about history and responsibility become laboured and the making of them ultimately occurs at the cost of the narrative : the plot becomes damaged and skewed by the authors apparent need to make them. A lengthy diatribe about censorship for example is just entirely out of step with the rest of the plot.
By far the most interesting aspect of 'Absolution' is the fate of Laura, a fate that is ultimately left hanging in mid air, with the onus on the reader to infer what they can.
All in all the novel is something of a mixed bag that does not entirely flow together very well despite containing excellent ideas.
Verdict 7/10
Destination : ebook storage
Showing posts with label South Africa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label South Africa. Show all posts
Wednesday, 13 November 2013
Saturday, 17 August 2013
Book #50 The Lion Sleeps Tonight by Rian Malan
The Lion Sleeps Tonight
Length Of Time In Possession : 1 day
My Traitor's Heart, by Rian Malan is the single best autobiography I've ever read. It's stunning. I had never seen any further work by Rian Malan for sale until I spotted The Lion Sleeps Tonight in Waterstones about a month ago. I couldn't afford to buy it at that moment, and as luck would have it, saw it in my library two days ago.
The Lion Sleeps Tonight is a collection of essays and articles that Malan has written for various publications including The Spectator since My Traitor's Heart came out 23 years ago.
These articles cover a range of topics from the titular story which is a reference to the famous song by The Tokens but was actually written by a South African Zulu who received no recompense, to articles about Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma, the Miss World Competition, the film Invictus, and Winnie Mandela.
By far the most fascinating of these are two articles written about the problem of AIDS in Africa. Malan, not a fan of Thabo Mbeki, is offered a chance to mock his AIDS denying stance by the magazine Rolling Stone, and jumps on it, but as he engages in his research he discovers that the globally accepted AIDS statistics and the actual picture do not match up.
Malan has always been an interesting character, owing to his descendancy from one of the main architects of Apartheid - Daniel Malan. At times he is a pessimist, prophesising a forthcoming ethnic cleansing in South Africa and at times he seems overtly racist referring affirmatively in one instance to Ian Smith's remarks about the future of Rhodesia. Malan's openly acknowledged and honest struggle against the racist indoctrination of his past is one of the things which makes his voice such a unique one to hear.
In spite of these issues, his perspectives from the "other side of the colour divide" are consistently fascinating as is the picture he builds of the modern post-Apartheid, struggling and confused, yet weathering it out nation.
I have always enjoyed anything about Africa and this collection is well worth a read.
Verdict : 8/10
Destination : Return To Library
Length Of Time In Possession : 1 day
My Traitor's Heart, by Rian Malan is the single best autobiography I've ever read. It's stunning. I had never seen any further work by Rian Malan for sale until I spotted The Lion Sleeps Tonight in Waterstones about a month ago. I couldn't afford to buy it at that moment, and as luck would have it, saw it in my library two days ago.
The Lion Sleeps Tonight is a collection of essays and articles that Malan has written for various publications including The Spectator since My Traitor's Heart came out 23 years ago.
These articles cover a range of topics from the titular story which is a reference to the famous song by The Tokens but was actually written by a South African Zulu who received no recompense, to articles about Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma, the Miss World Competition, the film Invictus, and Winnie Mandela.
By far the most fascinating of these are two articles written about the problem of AIDS in Africa. Malan, not a fan of Thabo Mbeki, is offered a chance to mock his AIDS denying stance by the magazine Rolling Stone, and jumps on it, but as he engages in his research he discovers that the globally accepted AIDS statistics and the actual picture do not match up.
Malan has always been an interesting character, owing to his descendancy from one of the main architects of Apartheid - Daniel Malan. At times he is a pessimist, prophesising a forthcoming ethnic cleansing in South Africa and at times he seems overtly racist referring affirmatively in one instance to Ian Smith's remarks about the future of Rhodesia. Malan's openly acknowledged and honest struggle against the racist indoctrination of his past is one of the things which makes his voice such a unique one to hear.
In spite of these issues, his perspectives from the "other side of the colour divide" are consistently fascinating as is the picture he builds of the modern post-Apartheid, struggling and confused, yet weathering it out nation.
I have always enjoyed anything about Africa and this collection is well worth a read.
Verdict : 8/10
Destination : Return To Library
Monday, 13 August 2012
Book #70 Philida by Andre Brink
Philida
Philida, by Andre Brink is another nominee on the longlist for this years Booker Prize. A tale of slavery in old South Africa the novel begins with the eponymous character, a slave on a farm, journeying by foot to complain at the governing body for slave masters that she has been mistreated by Frans Brink, a son of the family who owns her by whom she has borne four children.
What makes this novel all the more remarkable and special then is that it was written by Andre Brink, a descendant of said slave owners and that despite taking dramatic licence with the actual events that occur, many of the characters in the novel were in fact once real people, the authors own ancestors. Philida was a genuine slave owned by them who genuinely did go and complain about Frans Brink. A faction then, a blend of the events that Andre Brink was able to verify alongside his imagination and the knowledge of the history of the period.
The novel pitches a variety of narratives, occasionally told in the third person, the novel is also told in first person narratives from the viewpoints of Frans, Philida, Cornelius, and Petronella, a mash up which actually works and flows well.
As always I find it important that stories such as these are told so that people continue to acknowledge the indignities and abuses suffered and continue to learn from the warnings of history.
Whilst it is undeniable that this book is very accomplished and well written, for me the plot faltered slightly when Philida moves to Worcester and becomes friends with coffin making Muslim Labyn, one section of the novel feeling like an extended RE Lesson. The relationships between Frans and Philida and Cornelius and Petronella are striking enough in their own right to warrant being the sole focus of the narrative.
As a reader, however I was left with certain ethical qualms about this novel. The Brink family once owned Philida as though she was cattle. Would Philida have enjoyed having this novel written about her? Would she have agreed with its contents and are they fair? Or has Andre Brink further exploited a women already once exploited by his family (albeit consigned to history) for creative and commercial gain?
8/10
Philida, by Andre Brink is another nominee on the longlist for this years Booker Prize. A tale of slavery in old South Africa the novel begins with the eponymous character, a slave on a farm, journeying by foot to complain at the governing body for slave masters that she has been mistreated by Frans Brink, a son of the family who owns her by whom she has borne four children.
What makes this novel all the more remarkable and special then is that it was written by Andre Brink, a descendant of said slave owners and that despite taking dramatic licence with the actual events that occur, many of the characters in the novel were in fact once real people, the authors own ancestors. Philida was a genuine slave owned by them who genuinely did go and complain about Frans Brink. A faction then, a blend of the events that Andre Brink was able to verify alongside his imagination and the knowledge of the history of the period.
The novel pitches a variety of narratives, occasionally told in the third person, the novel is also told in first person narratives from the viewpoints of Frans, Philida, Cornelius, and Petronella, a mash up which actually works and flows well.
As always I find it important that stories such as these are told so that people continue to acknowledge the indignities and abuses suffered and continue to learn from the warnings of history.
Whilst it is undeniable that this book is very accomplished and well written, for me the plot faltered slightly when Philida moves to Worcester and becomes friends with coffin making Muslim Labyn, one section of the novel feeling like an extended RE Lesson. The relationships between Frans and Philida and Cornelius and Petronella are striking enough in their own right to warrant being the sole focus of the narrative.
As a reader, however I was left with certain ethical qualms about this novel. The Brink family once owned Philida as though she was cattle. Would Philida have enjoyed having this novel written about her? Would she have agreed with its contents and are they fair? Or has Andre Brink further exploited a women already once exploited by his family (albeit consigned to history) for creative and commercial gain?
8/10
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