I hope I can blame being in survival mode in 2021 for missing this Booker winner entirely. I got to see the play based on the book last night and it was absolutely amazing. A brilliant commentary on South Africa's complicated history.
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The Promise | 
I hope I can blame being in survival mode in 2021 for missing this Booker winner entirely. I got to see the play based on the book last night and it was absolutely amazing. A brilliant commentary on South Africa's complicated history.
so-soThe premise of The Promise😉 had me anticipating this read. But, it fell short of my expectations. It‘s primarily focused on the separate adult lives of the characters (but not the central figure I wanted) so it lacked that intense family drama I thought would play out. Still, I read it in an afternoon so it was entertaining enough. It will go back to the bookstore and not on my shelves.
Driven out of the house and even off the deck by flooring work. 🔨🔨🔨 Periodically the breeze rains sawdust all over me from above. Other than that, a perfect summer afternoon for a bit of reading.
Another fruitful visit to my Indie.😊
pickGosh, what an unexpected narration and twisting tale.
Overall I couldn't put it down. There were parts which confused me, especially as to who was 'I' as most of it was third person.
But I liked these parts...
The descriptions of the earth and nature were wonderful. I kept re reading sentences and thinking about it.
A bloomin good read 😊😊☺
pickI‘m hit or miss with Booker winners, but I found this story of a family in South Africa thought provoking. The story is both intimate and vast, encompassing major historical moments and revealing the depth of racism while focusing down on just a few characters that we get to know well. I feel like my reading time was well spent with this one.
#audiodecorating outside for halloween and this 8 legged dude was lurking behind some of my outdoor wood decor. I'm not that close to the water so I don't normally get wharf spiders in my backyard, but clearly this one wanted to help decorate...
This books is good but it requires a bit of big brain energy to keep the characters straight (especially on audio book) and i'm not sure I'm in the mood for that right now.
pickThe story of a white South African family , and Salome, the black woman who works for them, who has been promised her own house.
.
A reread for me , the writing blew me away , powerful book. I‘m so grateful to the author.
‘ In this very room both birth and death have taken place. Long ago , maybe, but the blood is still visible on certain days , when time wears thin. ‘
pickAmor has only felt the full love of her family when she was struck by lightning — her father held her in his arms, her mother, brother, and sister ran to her aid. Since that childhood moment, Amor has been left aside, called only for funerals. And the youngest sibling always dutifully returns. Because if you don‘t have family, what do you have? As Amor sits on the roof of an old home, watching from a distance, you can guess her answer: Freedom.
pickWow, this is masterful storytelling. Galgut follows a family on their South African farm, through several decades. Each decade is told from a different family members pov. The characters are so lifelike you can almost hear them breathing. Alongside the immediate family are a collection of friends, extended family, all adding to the story in their unique ways.
pickI really enjoyed this bk, last yrs booker winner which is for July rdg grp. Told in 10yr intervals from 86 to 2016 a family in South Africa has to live with a promise made on the mother's death bed to gift a farmhouse to the black housekeeper. The style shifts within paragraphs from different protaganists but I was completely absorbed by the changes over those 30 years in such a fractured country.Great writing combined with excellent storytelling
'The moment the metal box speaks her name, Amor knows it's happened.'
Ooooooh, curiosity sparked.
Book 1 for my #bigjunereadathon challenge @Clwojick
#firstlinefridays @ShyBookOwl
pickProbably not a book I would normally read but it popped up at the op shop. Must say I enjoyed the read. Such wonderful use of language. A bit of a family saga based around a promise that spans the generations. Gave me a bit of an understanding of life in South Africa. Well deserved winner.
pickA beautifully written novel about three siblings set in South Africa. Begins in the mid 80‘s and covers several decades. Amor, the youngest sibling believes she heard a promise made between her dying mother and father, that will reverberate throughout her life. I‘m excited to discuss this one with my IRL bookclub next week.
While my IPad charges (it‘s been losing battery SO QUICKLY 😤) I‘m starting my IRL May bookclub pick. I believe it won the International Booker last year! So far it‘s good.
pickI loved this. I picked it for book club before it won the Booker. And I know most of you who are interested already read it, but for those of you who didn't, this gets my recommendation for sure. My book club probably officially hates me. Esp after I totally panned the last book (The Lincoln Highway).
#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks
pickLoved this book, South African family drama that takes place during 4 funerals.
The Promise by Damon Galgut is a story about a woman, Rachel Swart who makes a promise to her Black maid, Salome. This promise will divide Rachel‘s family. This book is based in South Africa and spans 30 years. Will The Promise be kept or not? That‘s what I‘m about to find out…
Have you read this book yet? It won the 2021 Booker Prize.
#europaeditions #thepromise #damongalgut #newbooktoread #southafricantale #readtogrow #readingisfundamental
pickThe premise of this book is so interesting - a young girl thinks she overhears her father make a promise to her dying mother. It may have been a promise or it may have been more an implication Amor believes. The writing and character development are excellent and I think they will stay with me for a long time.
pickI enjoyed this. It took me a bit to get through it, so it is a soft pick. I enjoyed the premise of the promise that floats through the story. This is a character driven book and they are not all pleasant which gives complexity to the book.
I can see why it won the Booker, the writing is extraordinary, and it is rare to see a family shown in so many different lights.
#weeklyforecast
Got to get these library books read and back. The tagged is short but a bit slow going. I am making real progress on 1619, feeling a bit overwhelmed so picked up Lincoln Highway on audio to get some pages in while I work this week.
Waiting to hear from the vet who is taking a look at my cat who has been not feeling well since Sunday. Traffic home is so bad I am hiding in a coffee shop reading instead of driving home to drive back to pick her up.
This was due back today, but I am just getting into the meat of the story, glad my library has done away with late fees!
so-soReally good writing, but a little too much family misery for me. Didn‘t love it.
Current read. Such an interesting writing style. Galgut is able to smoothly move from the mind of one narrator to another and it feels almost stream of consciousness but of a family rather than an individual.
My weekend read! Finding it much slower than I expected. Should I stick with it?
panAnother book prize winner, another disappointment.
Even though it's written in a readable language, Galgut just couldn't make me care about anything in that book. The characters are nothing more than paper and ink, therefore I didn't care about what happened to them either. Neither could this book add something new to my knowledge about South Africa.
Why did I even finish this?
#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks
so-soI can understand why others loved this book and also why it has won so many awards and accolades. Personally though, once I finished it instead of feeling like I had been absorbed into this multilayered family drama, I felt like a stranger on the outside looking in never quite getting the full effect.
The writing is exceptional and raw, the characters complex and interesting, and there's a subtle beauty to the story. I just felt disconnected.
so-soAlthough I enjoyed this book, I, at times, battled to follow the narrative due the author jumping from one character to the next.
It was, nonetheless, a good story, well worth the read.
Another fantastic South African author, with a story set in my beautiful home country.
This novel won the 2021 Booker Prize.
I'm very excited to read it.
pickAn elegant, multi-layered, gently satirical novel set in South Africa. It follows three siblings, all believable characters shaped to a greater or lesser extent by their environment - apartheid & its end. Their racist attitudes make for uncomfortable reading but I think was Galgut‘s intent. The writing is superb with an assured sense of place & complex characters. It didn‘t move me but it‘s readable, thought-provoking & beautifully realised.
pickGreat read. This is a novel that I would love to study in a literature class. Layed and nuanced story telling. 4.5 🌟
pickThe Booker Prize winner is a satirical and dark look at white owners of a large South African farm. Galgut‘s writing comes across really confident on audio, but also seems to be searching for the right balance of serious themes, human characters, satirical and simple humor. I wouldn‘t call it perfect, but I enjoyed it.
pick#BookerPrize For such a short book, this is dense and slow-going. The narrator was effective but also disorienting because Involved = All-knowing, and the reader is spoken to. We don‘t get enough of the hero, in my opinion and it is heart-breaking to pick favorite characters. The title promise is a diversion from the point of humans frittering away their potential. And I hate that phrase: “not living up to your potential” but there it is.
“And that‘s Manie, her much-younger brother, who looks to her eyes like an owl, a baby owl she‘d picked up and kept once as a child.” #owlchild
#booklink #coinky-dink When a book reminds you of another! #Chouette #TOB202LongList #TOB #TOB2022 #BookerPrize2021
pick(The housesitting gig that comes with a cat) It‘s not so much the story…it‘s how the story is told. From the way we move from one character to the next, like we‘re watching a movie that pans slowly across the horizon. It‘s the sudden moments where you‘re wondering who the observer is. Is it a spirit? Is it Time itself, dispassionately narrating a life? While I was interested in the story, I will forever remember how I felt as I moved through it.
Because City Hall has so few people actually working in the building many of us are able to flee at lunchtime to quiet areas in the building to read. Reading the tagged book in one of my favorite spots in the building.
My next audiobook, the Booker Prize winner.
And here‘s the winner of the #Booker prize. I am not really surprised, I can understand why it won. Congratulations to Galgut 🎈
I enjoyed reading this book but I rooted for either Bewilderment or No One is Talking About This!
Wow! The book I was rooting for wins the prize! I wasn‘t planning on reading the Booker nominees this year, but am so glad I did. I really enjoyed many of them, and this one in particular gave me a lot to think about. Congrats, Damon Galgut 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
The odds are on The Promise. I love the bookmaking on literature prizes! https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/nov/02/damon-galgut-favourite-to-win-2021...
so-soFinally finished this one. (Mostly) grim reading.
