Some of us found the book a bit slow initially and hard to get into. Others were keen to find out whether The Promise of the title is kept, given the self- absorbed characters in the novel.
The book is written in an unusual way. The dialogue of the characters is not indicated by any punctuation and at times it is hard to tell who is talking. (If you listen on Audible you won't have this problem, but you will be hearing the South African accent in your head for days afterwards, and possibly answering Ja instead of yes.)
The narrator of the story is like a separate character who makes asides to the reader (at times addressing us as 'you') and lets us in on what many of the characters are thinking - including a pack of hyenas and a homeless man who only touch lightly on the plot. Some of this is quite funny. However, it is principally the white characters whose thoughts we read. We do not know what is happening in the black characters' minds unless they happen to speak to the white characters, which is rare in the world of the whites.
The story is about a white family, the Swarts, who have owned a farm near Pretoria for generations. Not much is known about what is produced on the farm. That seems to be the realm of the black workers, who remain off stage. However, the income from the farm and from a reptile zoo nearby enables the family members to live well.
The family is unlikeable, except perhaps for Rachel, the matriarch of the family, who has a conscience, and her youngest daughter, Amor.
The book opens with the death of Rachel in 1986 when apartheid is still in operation in South Africa. On her death bed, Rachel's husband, Manie, makes a promise to her that the family's black maid, Salome, who has cared for Rachel over the months of her sickness, and for the children when they were little, will be given ownership of the house she lives in, on the family's land.
Rachel also wants to be buried alongside her Jewish family members, rather than on the farm, which causes a rift with her husband, a Christian.
The youngest daughter, Amor, is just a school girl at this time. She has hidden quietly in the room and hears the promise. Of all the characters in the book she seems to have the strongest morals. Her siblings, however, think she is peculiar, perhaps crazy, because she was hit by lightening as a child.
After Rachel's funeral, Amor brings up the promise to her father who can't remember making it and refuses to do anything about it. This leads to an argument between the father and Amor's older brother, Anton, who decides to desert from his military training and move away, cutting himself off from the family. Amor's sister, Astrid, and Manie's sister Tannie Marina dismiss the idea of giving anything to the black maid.
Nine years pass, apartheid ends in South Africa and Mandela is President. The family gets together again after Manie dies from snake bite. Manie had been involved in a community fund raiser for his beloved minister, Alwyn Simmers, to raise money for the church being built on the farm's land. Manie locks himself in with the snakes at the zoo proclaiming that his Christian faith will save him. However, a cobra bites him and he dies.
The narrator is cynical about the minister and his weird sister, letting slip a few unsavoury facts about them.
After Manie's funeral, Amor brings up the promise again at the family wake and this time Anton agrees to do something about it, but fails to act. Manie's death leaves all the children a large inheritance but Amor leaves it untouched in a bank account.
Another nine years pass and there have been major political and social changes in South Africa which have caused a rising crime rate. However, the white family is most excited about the fact that South Africa is now able to hold the World Cup on home turf with the Final to be played at Johannesburg.
Amor is now working as a nurse in an AIDS ward in a South African hospital after having trained for years in London where she had a girlfriend, Susan.
Her sister Astrid is on her second marriage and has twins. She is close to the political social whirl and intrigue, having begun an affair with one of the politicians.
Anton has returned to Pretoria to marry his boyhood girlfriend, Desiree and live with her on the Swart farm. The finances are starting to deteriorate since Anton doesn't show a lot of talent at anything, beyond apparently secretly writing a book.
And what of the promise? Will it take more deaths in the family before the promise is finally remembered and acted on? Will it finally be kept? And what are the consequences if it is? The ending does not tie up all the loose ends but was satisfying enough for most members.
Who is Damon Galgut?
Damon Galgut is a South African novelist and playwright. He was awarded the 2021 Booker Prize for The Promise, having previously been shortlisted for the award in 2003 and 2010. He is the third South African (after Nadine Gordimer and J.M. Coetzee) to have won the prize.
Galgut was born in Pretoria, South Africa, in 1963. His father was Jewish and his mother converted to Judaism.
At the age of six he was diagnosed with lymphoma.
He wrote his first novel, A Sinless Season, when he was just 17. His next book, a collection of short stories called Small Circle of Beings published in 1988 includes a story describing a mother's struggle with her son's illness.
In addition to his novels, he has written several plays and is currently working on another collection of short stories.
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