Summary and Reviews of The Promise by Damon Galgut

The Promise by Damon Galgut

The Promise

by Damon Galgut
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  • Critics' Consensus (7):
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  • First Published:
  • Apr 6, 2021, 256 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Mar 2022, 272 pages
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About This Book

Book Summary

A modern family saga that could only have come from South Africa, written in gorgeous prose by twice Booker Prize-shortlisted author Damon Galgut.

Haunted by an unmet promise, the Swart family loses touch after the death of their matriarch. Adrift, the lives of the three siblings move separately through the uncharted waters of South Africa; Anton, the golden boy who bitterly resents his life's unfulfilled potential; Astrid, whose beauty is her power; and the youngest, Amor, whose life is shaped by a nebulous feeling of guilt.

Reunited by four funerals over three decades, the dwindling family reflects the atmosphere of its country—an atmosphere of resentment, renewal, and, ultimately, hope. The Promise is an epic drama that unfurls against the unrelenting march of national history, sure to please current fans and attract many new ones.

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  • award image

    Booker Prize
    2021

Reviews

BookBrowse Review

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Despite the novel's relatively weighty theme, the book doesn't read like its subject is a heavy one; it's only after pondering the subtext that it becomes apparent that its ultimate message is somewhat pessimistic. Indeed, it's actually pretty funny at times, partially due to Galgut's brilliant depiction of the incredibly dysfunctional Swart family, all of whom, apart from Amor, are unlikeable to one degree or another. They engender no sympathy in the reader, making it easier to laugh at their failings. The truly outstanding feature of this novel, though, is its narrator, who sometimes seems to be omniscient, and at other times feigns ignorance or admits to imagining whole scenes. The voice comes across as conversational — gossipy and critical of the family without explicitly calling them out as the self-centered jerks readers come to know...continued

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(Reviewed by Kim Kovacs).

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Beyond the Book



Apartheid and South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, 1999 Damon Galgut's novel The Promise is set in South Africa during the dismantling of the country's apartheid system. In this period, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was established to deal with the after-effects of apartheid, and the body is mentioned several times throughout the book.

After the National Party took power in South Africa in 1948, they installed an all-white government and began to legislate a system that codified existing racial inequities into law and built on a history of racist policies. This system became known as apartheid (meaning "apartness" in Afrikaans), a word used as a campaign slogan/promise during the election that put the National Party in control. Over time, the restrictions and abuses ...

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Read-Alikes

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If you liked The Promise, try these:

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    Out of Shadows

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    Published 2011

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    A compelling, thought-provoking novel about race, bullying and the need to belong, set in Africa.

  • Skinner's Drift jacket

    Skinner's Drift

    by Lisa Fugard

    Published 2006

    About this book

    In this beautiful first novel set in South Africa, Lisa Fugard paints a haunting portrait of a family careering toward disaster, moving with extraordinary agility between intimate and revelatory domestic scenes and the fiercely challenging land.

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