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anusha_reads's review against another edition
5.0
The title of the book drew me towards itself. I found the title very intriguing. It made me wonder why any book would have this title. There is a scene in the book where the author describes how the pigs squeal when they are about to be killed.
The story is about a boy named Patrick, and his mother Ellen. This story takes place around the first free elections of Namibia.
Patrick is the son of a very rich man named Howard. His brother Malcolm, gets killed in an accident. Patrick is devastated by his brother’s death and he gets mentally disturbed and emotionally traumatised after some brutal killings while in the army. His parents divorce each other after Malcolm’s death and thereafter his mother has transient relationships with many men.
Patrick and his mom set out on a journey to Namibia. This journey makes Patrick revisit his past. His mom currently is in love with a much younger black guy, Godfrey, who is a political activist. Although the novel touches upon the issue of race, it is only transitory.
I liked the character Patrick. He is a guy who is sidelined for not being able to play rugby and go hunting like his brother and his father. Why should anybody feel bad about not being able to play a game or do things that others do? Being judgemental, just because someone is not good at a particular field is harsh.
People go by certain generalisations. Men shouldn’t cry! Men should be strong-hearted. Girls are sugar-and-spice-and-all-things-nice. When people are not confined to these ‘so-called’ categories, people look down upon them! WHY?
The book is packed with themes like emotional turmoils, painful memories, mental health, political transitions, revolution, and war.
The author is an expert at weaving a very engaging tale brimming with simplicity yet with an undercurrent of subtlety. It is a beautiful novel that covers a very meaningful journey.
This is the third book that the author has written and he wrote his first book at the age of seventeen. This book won the Central News Agency Literary Award.
The story is about a boy named Patrick, and his mother Ellen. This story takes place around the first free elections of Namibia.
Patrick is the son of a very rich man named Howard. His brother Malcolm, gets killed in an accident. Patrick is devastated by his brother’s death and he gets mentally disturbed and emotionally traumatised after some brutal killings while in the army. His parents divorce each other after Malcolm’s death and thereafter his mother has transient relationships with many men.
Patrick and his mom set out on a journey to Namibia. This journey makes Patrick revisit his past. His mom currently is in love with a much younger black guy, Godfrey, who is a political activist. Although the novel touches upon the issue of race, it is only transitory.
I liked the character Patrick. He is a guy who is sidelined for not being able to play rugby and go hunting like his brother and his father. Why should anybody feel bad about not being able to play a game or do things that others do? Being judgemental, just because someone is not good at a particular field is harsh.
People go by certain generalisations. Men shouldn’t cry! Men should be strong-hearted. Girls are sugar-and-spice-and-all-things-nice. When people are not confined to these ‘so-called’ categories, people look down upon them! WHY?
The book is packed with themes like emotional turmoils, painful memories, mental health, political transitions, revolution, and war.
The author is an expert at weaving a very engaging tale brimming with simplicity yet with an undercurrent of subtlety. It is a beautiful novel that covers a very meaningful journey.
This is the third book that the author has written and he wrote his first book at the age of seventeen. This book won the Central News Agency Literary Award.
alfieartheart's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
secretbookcase's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.75
The book is set in Namibia, at the time of the country's first elections, but its main focus is on the two South African protagonists: a son (a former conscripted soldier in the South African army who was deployed in Namibia), and his mother (a women who seems engaged in a perpetual quest to shake off her Afrikaner roots and her years of married life) as they go on a trip to Namibia to meet up with the mother's latest lover. The book explores these character's struggles with identity in the changing Southern African landscape, as the apartheid era is progressively coming to an end. I thought this aspect of the book was ok but maybe a bit underdeveloped. However, the writing about the mental breakdown suffered by the son as a result of his experience in the army is incredibly evocative and beautiful. Galgut really manages to convey the sense of being unmoored and the feeling of alienation, as well as the physical manifestations of the mental breakdown. For the beauty of the prose alone I bumped up the book with one star (note: I read the reissued version of this book (2005). In the author's note, Galgut mentions that he revised the book for this reissue. So I don't know if the prose was as striking in the original version of the book). I wouldn't say this is Galgut's best book, but I will happily come back to it in future just to soak up the prose.
leda's review against another edition
4.0
An unusual form of literature, bare, efficient and uncomplicated. Beautiful despite - or perhaps because of that- the lack of any sentimentality.
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