Sign up
Search
Advanced search settings

Search only in certain items:

Search results
All (2395)
Content
People
Apps
Books
Orbs
Movies
Music
Podcasts
Shows
Tabletop Games
Tech
TV
Video Games
YouTube Channels
Videos
    SpeedTraps Live

    SpeedTraps Live

    Navigation and Travel

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    Turn your iPhone into a Speed Trap and Traffic Warning System!
 SpeedTraps notifies drivers when...

    Farm Frenzy 3 HD

    Farm Frenzy 3 HD

    Games and Entertainment

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    So you think you've mastered farming sims? Try running five exotic farms in one game! Farm Frenzy 3...

40x40

ClareR (6062 KP) rated The Promise in Books

Oct 12, 2021  
The Promise
The Promise
Damon Galgut | 2021 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Promise is on the Booker Prize 2021 shortlist, and I can see why. I enjoyed this book immensely - I love the idea of being a fly on the wall of a white South Africans house during and after Apartheid, and this pretty much sold the book to me before I even started reading it. The fact that we only drop in to the lives of this family during times of death and the subsequent funerals was a really interesting angle to take. These were people under a great deal of stress due to the fact that someone in their close family had died - even though they weren’t a close family at all. There are four funerals, each completely different in style, religion (or not) and ways in which they died.

As time moves on, Apartheid ends, Nelson Mandela becomes President. But does life change that much for the Swarts? Do they uphold the promise made at the beginning of the book, as overheard by the youngest daughter when her mother was dying? Laws may change, but do people’s attitudes?

This is a disjointed family: there doesn’t seem to be a single close relationship between any of them. They all seem to be selfish people who resent the new South Africa, as they lose social standing, money, and are directly affected by the rise in crime.

It was a thoroughly engrossing book, and I lost myself in it every time I sat down to read. It’s a really good, character-driven novel. Now to wait and see if it wins!!