Welcome the return of The Fictional Now and join our host Adam once a month for a discussion on contemporary fiction! This club focuses on the literary and the relevant, reading novels of interest—whether due to critical praise or current context--which ask penetrating questions about the state of our world. Our selections will always include diverse voices and emphasize active discussion around contemporary society, culture, and history. Next up is Damon Galgut's The Promise!
About The Promise
The Promise charts the crash and burn of a white South African family, living on a farm outside Pretoria. The Swarts are gathering for Ma's funeral. The younger generation, Anton and Amor, detest everything the family stand for -- not least the failed promise to the Black woman who has worked for them her whole life. After years of service, Salome was promised her own house, her own land... yet somehow, as each decade passes, that promise remains unfulfilled.
The narrator's eye shifts and blinks: moving fluidly between characters, flying into their dreams; deliciously lethal in its observation. And as the country moves from old deep divisions to its new so-called fairer society, the lost promise of more than just one family hovers behind the novel's title.
In this story of a diminished family, sharp and tender emotional truths hit home. Confident, deft and quietly powerful, The Promise is literary fiction at its finest.
This book club will be hosted via ZOOM, a video conferencing app for computers and phones. Open to all -- please just RSVP with a ticket for access to the ZOOM meeting. You can also purchase a copy of the book here which will give you:
a copy of Damon Galgut's The Promise!
access to the guided ZOOM discussion with our host, Adam, from Lost City Books
*** We ask that participants be aware that you will need to download the ZOOM app to join the meeting. Within ZOOM, your camera's audio will pull your video to center-screen so it is advisable to set up in a quiet area. Additionally we ask that participants be courteous and take turns speaking/remain aware of your floor time so that everyone can get the most out of the book club experience.