The beautiful screaming of pigs by Damon Galgut
07 Apr 2010 Leave a Comment
in african fiction, booker, South Africa Tags: african fiction, around the world 52, SOUTH AFRICA
DAMON GALGUT
Notes -
Damon Galgut is one of South Africa’s leading writers with a number of books after being published at 17 in 1980 with a sinless season ,this is his third novel and won the C.N.A South Africa’s leading literary prize ,He has also been shortlisted for the booker in 2003 with the good doctor ,he has also written several plays .
The book -
The book revolves around Patrick Winter and his two visits to South West Africa the first as a solider ,and secondly with his mother who has recently got divorced ,the second visit his mother is visiting Godfrey her new lover a black swapo activist ,still a taboo at the time in South africa ,we also discover that Patrick had a great love on his first posting to South West Africa ,we are lead to belive this may have been a male love ,there is a funeral of a white activist from swapo that was killed ,the themes are love discovery ,change and new beginnings in this book .
My view -
This is an amazing book for its short length ,and tackles the changing face of Southern Africa in the early nineties ,the breaking of long-held taboos and love between couples and a mother and son ,I read this book after some one on twitter recommend his new book but at the library it wasn’t there but this wonderful book was ,this book made me think as i work with a colleague from Nambia which is what south-west africa is now called ,and was also a great counter point to the purple violets of Oshaantu ,which i read after this book .
Links -
An interview with damon galgut
Questions -
Have you read any South African writers ?
Have you read Damon Galgut ?
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Summertime by J m Coetzee
15 Sep 2009 Leave a Comment
in african fiction, booker, books from, CURRENT READS, South Africa Tags: booker prize, BOOKS, prize winners
This is one of the six books to make the booker shortlist .This is by two timer winner and nobel prize winner J M coetzee going for a hatrick of bookers . The premise of the book is a journalist going round interview former friends of coetzee in the seventies , and that coetzee himself is now dead .This could quite easily turn in to a piece ego massage luckily it dosen t as the person that comes through as coetzee through the interviews isn t always a likeable person ,it’s hard to learn anything new about the famous shy coetzee a man who tends not to talk about his fiction .this is the third of a trilogy of which the first two i ve not read ,so could only judge on this book which i found a little frustarting as the line between fact and fiction is blurred and can make the reader confused .maybe coetzee should have written a book about a fictional writer and a autobiography about himself
