THE PROMISE by DAMON GALGUT

For people the same age as bookgroupers, who remember a famous film from the 90s, it might be better called 4 funerals and no wedding. That is its structure. Each funeral is punctuated by roughly a decade. In this way it traces not only the history of the Swaart family, living on their farm on the veldt outside Pretoria, but also the history of South Africa since the 80s.

You can see why it won the Booker Prize in 2021. The omniscient narrator is predominantly narrating what is going on inside the characters heads immediately prior, during and after each funeral. Like many current great writers, such as McEwen and Kingsolver, and past great writers such as Tolstoy, Galgut does this very well. He takes the reader into the inner life off his characters, in a way the is convincing, entertaining, even engrossing.

From inside the heads of the Swaart siblings, 2 girls and a boy, we learn about the deceased family member, their associates, the circumstances of their death. and their backstory in the lead up to their demise. Some of the deaths are surprising; and some surprisingly violent and gory, thankfully the gore is not related in detail.

The version I listened to had an the interview with the author afterwards. It sounds like there are a lot of parallels between his life and the book, in the sense that the he is a similar age to the Swaart siblings, and like them an Afrikaaner. This means the book covers the same period of history as his life, from a child to the present. This means it gives us an inside view of what it was like to be an Africaaner living through the transition from high apartheid, to 2020s, several decades after Mandela’s release. 

I found the book worth reading for this aspect alone, apart from it’s literary merits. I felt I was being brought up to date on South Africa by someone with first hand experience. This may have been particularly interesting to me because around the time of Mandela’s release, and election as President, I had a lot of contact with people who had lived in South Africa immediately prior to that time. Since then I have had little or no contact with South Africans so it was good to be updated.

In the interview the author was keen to stress that the role of the third person narrator in the novel is not a traditional one. He said it’s more like the rule of a camera in a movie. I didn’t notice it at all whilst reading the book. To me it felt like a traditional omniscient, third person narrator very much in the style of other good writers like Kingsolver, McKwen, Tolstoy as mentioned. But it is true that at times the narrator addresses the reader, and questions his own version of events. The narrator even asks the reader to make up their own mind about exactly what’s happening in particular moments, admitting that it may not have happened exactly as narrated. In that way there is a relationship between the reader and narrator in addition to between the reader and all the characters. This may be uncommon, but I would say far from unique.

One criticism I expected book groupers to make is that one of the main characters seems entirely morally sound, and this seems unrealistic. In the interview, he claims he doesn’t like characters that are entirely good or entirely bad. He tries in the interview to make the case that this character, Amor, who is the youngest sibling and the central character of the novel, is not portrayed in that way. He argues there is something ambiguous about her moral stance. However, I don’t think there is. Far from it. She is not just presented as moral but as saintly, always serving others in the most difficult circumstances and seemingly not asking anything in return. I do think this is a shortcoming of the book; a central character that is impossibly saintly and selfless throughout, without mistakes or slip ups, even when she is surrounded by such an evil society and such patently obnoxious people. 

However other bookgroupers did not bring up that issue and most, although not quite all bookgroupers got through it and enjoyed it and got quite a lot out of it. They praised the writing quite a lot, saying they never felt lost or unsure, didn’t have to reread passages to get straightened out. 

So I think most readers would get a lot out of it, particularly if they’re looking for a book that updates the reader on the last 40 years or so of South African history.

At the time of this bookgroup the ChatGPT AI was in the news a lot. So I will finish of with a bit of fun. I asked it the question below and it answered as below. As you can see it didn’t get the details right but the overall impression was pretty close to the mark.  If you would like a review written by a proper reviewer, rather than by me or an AI, you can try this one at “The Guardian”.

I asked it: What do you think of the book ‘the promise’ by Damon Galgut

ChatGPT replied:

As an AI language model, I don’t have personal opinions or beliefs, but I can provide you with information and insights about the book ‘The Promise’ by Damon Galgut.

‘The Promise’ is a novel by South African author Damon Galgut, published in 2020. The book tells the story of a family in South Africa, focusing on the relationship between two brothers (ed. Wrong), their struggles, and their conflicting personalities (ed. Wrong). The novel explores themes of memory, identity, and the legacy of apartheid in South Africa.

The book has received critical acclaim, with many reviewers praising Galgut’s writing style, character development, and exploration of complex themes. It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2021, which is a prestigious literary award.

Overall, ‘The Promise’ has been well-received by readers and critics alike, and it has been praised for its powerful storytelling and thought-provoking themes. If you’re interested in exploring issues related to South African history and identity, this book may be a worthwhile read.