Review of 'Summary and Analysis of the Promise by Damon Galgut' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Like everyone else, I don't have the time to read all the books I'd like to, so I try to be selective and read books that have been recommended by critics or friends I trust, of that have won awards, like [a:Damon Galgut|64459|Damon Galgut|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1246536783p2/64459.jpg]'s [b:The Promise|59704786|The Promise|Damon Galgut|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1637946442l/59704786.SY75.jpg|85240090] did—it won the 2021 Booker Prize.
As a result, most of the books I read are books I'd call good or even great. The Promise is one of the few I'd call a Wow! of a book. The writing is so good that you get mad at it, as if Galgut is stealing phrasing and ideas you could have had in the future but if you do you can't use them now because he already did. He does things in it that have been done before, like breaking the fourth wall, but he does them all so well that they …
Like everyone else, I don't have the time to read all the books I'd like to, so I try to be selective and read books that have been recommended by critics or friends I trust, of that have won awards, like [a:Damon Galgut|64459|Damon Galgut|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1246536783p2/64459.jpg]'s [b:The Promise|59704786|The Promise|Damon Galgut|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1637946442l/59704786.SY75.jpg|85240090] did—it won the 2021 Booker Prize.
As a result, most of the books I read are books I'd call good or even great. The Promise is one of the few I'd call a Wow! of a book. The writing is so good that you get mad at it, as if Galgut is stealing phrasing and ideas you could have had in the future but if you do you can't use them now because he already did. He does things in it that have been done before, like breaking the fourth wall, but he does them all so well that they are fresh and make you remember that writing can be that dynamic and new, a thing people have thought at varying times since the early part of the last century. The unique qualities The Promise has reminded me of [a:Emma Klein|1152233|Emma Klein|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]'s [b:The Girls|26893819|The Girls|Emma Cline|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1492065338l/26893819.SY75.jpg|42856015].
The story and characters are all perfect, and you learn or relearn a lot about South Africa's last three decades. In doing this, Galgut doesn't pull his punches. There are good people and bad on both sides.
The best advice on this book is the blurb from Harper's Magazine on the front cover of the edition I got: "Simply: you must read it."
The house is empty at this moment. It's been deserted for a couple of hours, apparently inert but making tiny movements, sunlight stalking through those rooms, wind rattling the doors, expanding her, contracting there, giving off little pops and creaks and burps, like any old body. It seems alive, an illusion common to many buildings, or perhaps to how people see them, filled with mood and expression, windows like eyes, but nobody is her to witness it, nothing stirs, except for the dog in the driveway, leisurely licking his testicles.
