The Promise - Damon Galgut
The Promise is an oddly written book. For example, it uses no speech marks or 'section breaks', meaning that at times it is hard to tell who is speaking, if they are speaking or simply thinking, and occasionally even whether something is happening in the same scene or time and the thing that happened just before it. Fortunately for the story as a whole, it is very apparent that author Galgut has done this on purpose, and that any sense of disorientation that results from his stylistic choices are ones that he intended to allow.
This is because disorientation and upheaval are two of the main themes of The Promise. Each section of the book is named for one member of the Swart family - with the named member being fated to die in their section of the story. We begin with the family gathering following the death of 'Ma' (Rachel), who had caused a rift in the family by returning to her Jewish faith despite her husband (Manie) being nominally Christian (Dutch Reformed). The titular promise is one that Rachel apparently had Manie swear before she died - that Salome (the family's long-serving black servant) would be gifted the house that she lives in on the family property - a house known almost exclusively as 'the Lombard place', after its previous owners.
The reason I say 'apparently' is because Manie doesn't recall the promise; only the youngest daughter of the family, Amor, does, and even this may have been her mishearing or misinterpreting something she only partially overheard. Amor, being young and innocent, has let Salome's family know of the promise, and when it doesn't immediately occur, this impacts on every member of both families.
The novel is set in South Africa, with the Swart family being white Afrikaners. The first section takes places in the Apartheid era, meaning that the titular promise would not even have been legal to uphold, but with each new section we enter a new era of South Africa's existence. In each section the promise is revisited, with Amor the only member of the family pushing for its fulfillment. Meanwhile, as South African society begins to shift and break apart, so too the Swart family fractures and separates, and so too does the narration.
The narrator is not passive. Although the book is told in third person voice, the narrator is also happy to step in and judge proceedings, or rework a section by suggesting that 'actually, it would be more likely if...' At one point the narrator forgets the main focus of the book and for a few pages follows a homeless man who has 'lost his name' - "but as he keeps obsessively singing the first line to Blowin' in the Wind, let's call him Bob. Who knows, it might even be the right name." (page 201). As the novel progresses the narrator's interruptions and sidetracks increase slightly, reflecting the disorder of the Swart family and the narrative.
This is also a Booker book, meaning that it is often cynical, and that occasional sordid elements emerge, including the old Booker favourite, incest - although at least this time around this is only mentioned in passing and only happens between minor background characters (if any sentence containing references to incest can ever include the idea of "at least this time..!").
Once again, I reach the end of a Booker book and know without a doubt that this is not a book I will be re-reading. However, this one is well-written and unique enough that I can at least understand how it could have won the prize for that year.
Completed 23 March 2024.
(Bookerworm)
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