I loved it, from start to finish. (Review
by Margaret von Klemperer, courtesy of The Witness)
Michiel Heyns starts his latest novel, A Poor Season for Whales, with a
preamble which will have a familiar echo for lovers of Jane Austen:
“Margaret Crowley, handsome, clever and
rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of
the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly fifty-six years in the
world with very little to distress or vex her. It was therefore hardly to be
foreseen that in her fifty-sixth year she would kill a man with a kitchen
knife.”
It’s an irresistible start. But this is no
19th Century comedy of English manners. It is a profoundly South African novel
that captures the tensions of this country when it comes to matters of sex,
race, haves and have-nots and the fears that come in the wake of all of the
above. And most importantly, it is brilliantly, blackly funny. If you ever want
to read about the Christmas from hell, try this book.
Successful architect Margaret Crowley,
newly divorced after her husband decides he prefers men, moves, along with her
dog Benjy, to a house she has designed in Hermanus. While walking along the
cliff path, Benjy chases a dassie over the edge and is rescued by a young man,
Jimmy Prinsloo-Mazibuko. He insinuates himself into Margaret’s life, in a
charming but slightly disturbing way, to the alarm of her friends and family.
Heyns creates a lively and comic tale, but
always with a sense of menace which keeps the reader turning the pages with a
delicious frisson of nervousness that things are going to turn out badly. The
unease ramps up as we find out a bit more about Jimmy, and watch Margaret
struggling to make decisions about what is the best thing to do as she comes to
terms with a new stage in her life and battles to deal with family dynamics at
the same time.
We know from the preamble that something
nasty is going to happen, but perhaps it is not quite what we expect. Heyns
tosses a few red herrings in our path as his edgy, exceptional novel works
towards to its conclusion. I loved it, from start to finish. - Margaret von
Klemperer
A Poor Season for Whales is published by Jonathan
Ball. ISBN 978-1-77619-022-5.
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