Marlene van Niekerk
Autor(a) de The Way of the Women
About the Author
Image credit: http://www.StellenboschWriters.com
Obras por Marlene van Niekerk
Het oog van de meester 1 exemplar
Groenstaar 1 exemplar
Etiquetado
Conhecimento Comum
- Nome canónico
- Niekerk, Marlene van
- Data de nascimento
- 1954-11-10
- Sexo
- female
- Nacionalidade
- South Africa
- País (no mapa)
- South Africa
- Local de nascimento
- Caledon, South Africa
- Locais de residência
- Tygerhoek, South Africa
Riviersonderend, South Africa
Stellenbosch, South Africa
Stuttgart, Germany
Mainz, Germany
Amsterdam, Netherlands (mostrar todos 8)
KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Johannesburg, South Africa - Educação
- Stellenbosch University (MA|Languages and Philosophy)
University of Amsterdam (PhD|Philosophy) - Ocupações
- Professor (Afrikaans and Dutch ∙ Stellenbosch University)
author - Agente
- Isobel Dixon (Blake Friedmann Ltd)
Membros
Críticas
Listas
Prémios
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Estatísticas
- Obras
- 12
- Membros
- 707
- Popularidade
- #35,840
- Avaliação
- 4.0
- Críticas
- 30
- ISBN
- 68
- Línguas
- 8
- Marcado como favorito
- 3
So why would anyone choose to tackle such a monumental project?
Perhaps it’s because van Niekerk is a master at laying out the breadcrumbs that lure the reader into the tale: who is Agaat, and how did this native African woman become such an integral part of the white de Wet family in an era of strict national apartheid? Is she nurse or servant, slave or “adopted” daughter, victim or master manipulator? Is it the reader’s imagination, or is there a definite “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?” vibe going here? (All these questions eventually get answered – more or less – but none ever really deals with the soul of an abused, nearly feral child reluctantly spirited away to a fairyland she couldn’t understand, only to be expelled after a few short years for by circumstances she could neither control nor comprehend.)
Or perhaps it’s because the clash between the book’s main characters, told mostly in jumbled retrospect through diary excerpts, is as mesmerizing as a slo-mo train wreck. You know how this is going to end, but can’t look away.
Make no mistake about it – virtually all the characters in this book are monsters. From the brutal husband to the castrating wife to her domineering mother and perhaps even to Agaat herself – they slash and claw and manipulate one another without regard for the consequences. This is a tale of blood and fire, of a twisted marriage that spawns emotional cripples, of thoughtless cruelty based on race and social position, all coming to a head in the mind of the dying Milla.
The description of Milla’s descent into ALS is not for the faint of heart. This horrible disease slowly takes away muscle control – usually the ability to walk first, then use of the arms and hands, then the ability to sit upright. Bowel and bladder control are lost. Swallowing become difficult to impossible. Speech functions are lost. The patient’s world closes in tighter and tighter and tighter – but all the while, the brain is functioning. The patient *knows* what is happening but is helpless against it.
Amidst all this high drama, the often-lyrical writing shows up in sharp contrast. Van Niekerk’s roots as a poet are never far below the surface. Whether the reader welcomes the atmospheric cascades of words and images or merely considers them unnecessary verbiage in an already over-inflated tale will have a great deal to do with their enjoyment of (or impatience with) this work.
Readers who opt to take up the challenge should read the Glossary first, and then dig in for a difficult few hours as the rhythms and enticements of this compelling novel take hold.… (mais)