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Choke Chain by Jason Donald (Jonathan Cape Ltd)
I loved this book.
The narrative follows Alex and his younger brother Kevin through one December holiday in the 1980s. The book starts with a glorious sounding hail storm the boys barely manage to escape. This storm in many ways represents the journey the boys and their parents take over the December holiday.
Life throws things at them they are ill-equipped to deal with and certainly did not expect. Hailstones the size of apricots seems like the worst thing possible at the start of the book but by the end the storms they have all weathered would make these seem insignificant.
Alex's struggle with straddling childhood and burgeoning adulthood is perfectly captured in his behaviour and thoughts. He moves between being a little boy and trying to be the man of the house with such discomfort and jarring movements there is no question about the authenticity of it. I wanted to mother him but knew at the same time it was both the thing he needed most and wanted least. Alex is real; he is every single boy who ever rode his bicycle down a hot African street.
Behind the narrative, this book is about the blind eye society chooses to turn to poor parenting and bullying. Alex and Kevin are bullied by many characters in this book, most horrendously by their father. Bruce is a brute of a man with few redeeming qualities. And like Alex, he is believable and real.
Many of us grew up with a friend with a dad just like Bruce; the kind of dad that told his young son that real men don't cry, the kind of dad who believed that boys should be tough at all times; the kind of dad who equated fear with respect. And few, if any, of our parents said anything about what went on in those homes. We all knew and yet we all just pretended we didn't. In those days, no one ever said anything!
This book is a deceptively easy read. It pulls you along quite merrily with imagery of the South Africa many of us grew up in. The evil beneath the surface slowly becomes more evident through the net curtains. And the climax of the book is so much more shocking because once it happens, it seems such an obvious event.
As I read it, reeling, I realised I should have expected it but had somehow been so drawn in the world of Alex and Kevin and the faith of childhood that I had forgotten to watch out. It is an actual and metaphorical event no one in the book will ever get over. And I think many readers will be haunted by it too.
This is an amazing book; a first novel I hope Donald follows with another one. Read it and watch out for this man – if he keeps it up he will be an author worth following.
Want the book? Click here to get your copy now.
Read the book before? Why don't you tell us what you thought of it by posting a comment in the comment box below.
I loved this book.
The narrative follows Alex and his younger brother Kevin through one December holiday in the 1980s. The book starts with a glorious sounding hail storm the boys barely manage to escape. This storm in many ways represents the journey the boys and their parents take over the December holiday.
Life throws things at them they are ill-equipped to deal with and certainly did not expect. Hailstones the size of apricots seems like the worst thing possible at the start of the book but by the end the storms they have all weathered would make these seem insignificant.
Alex's struggle with straddling childhood and burgeoning adulthood is perfectly captured in his behaviour and thoughts. He moves between being a little boy and trying to be the man of the house with such discomfort and jarring movements there is no question about the authenticity of it. I wanted to mother him but knew at the same time it was both the thing he needed most and wanted least. Alex is real; he is every single boy who ever rode his bicycle down a hot African street.
Behind the narrative, this book is about the blind eye society chooses to turn to poor parenting and bullying. Alex and Kevin are bullied by many characters in this book, most horrendously by their father. Bruce is a brute of a man with few redeeming qualities. And like Alex, he is believable and real.
Many of us grew up with a friend with a dad just like Bruce; the kind of dad that told his young son that real men don't cry, the kind of dad who believed that boys should be tough at all times; the kind of dad who equated fear with respect. And few, if any, of our parents said anything about what went on in those homes. We all knew and yet we all just pretended we didn't. In those days, no one ever said anything!
This book is a deceptively easy read. It pulls you along quite merrily with imagery of the South Africa many of us grew up in. The evil beneath the surface slowly becomes more evident through the net curtains. And the climax of the book is so much more shocking because once it happens, it seems such an obvious event.
As I read it, reeling, I realised I should have expected it but had somehow been so drawn in the world of Alex and Kevin and the faith of childhood that I had forgotten to watch out. It is an actual and metaphorical event no one in the book will ever get over. And I think many readers will be haunted by it too.
This is an amazing book; a first novel I hope Donald follows with another one. Read it and watch out for this man – if he keeps it up he will be an author worth following.
Want the book? Click here to get your copy now.
Read the book before? Why don't you tell us what you thought of it by posting a comment in the comment box below.
