The Promise by Damon Galgut

The Promise 

By Damon Galgut 

Rating : 5/5 

Genres : Hilarity, Fiction, Africa 

A White family and a black servant. The matron before death promises land to the servant which takes over three decades to attain fulfillment. Times have changed, people have changed but one thing remains the same. The promise made. 

I dont know what i like the most in this book..the humor? - yes, it is damm witty and spilling with sarcasm at every turn. Or the seriousness and death, loss that is sprinkled under the light weight detached humor? - there is a natural death,a  murder, an accident and a suicide..he has covered all means of death possible and heaped them onto the heads of members of one family. One ungrateful family .. that clung to its property instead of honoring a promise its dame made to her servant on her death bed. Until the very end..when the only survivor of the family, an unusual woman/girl sacrifices all her ownings to appease a long serving and long waiting soul. :)

The story starts thus. Mother of a family has died due to a long standing disease. Before death, she takes a promise from her husband to donate a piece of their land to her servant to which, he agrees. Their youngest daughter becomes privy to this conversation and holds him accountable later. After her death, the promise is very much forgotten and later on, the husband also dies from an accidental bite by a snake. Now the property falls into the hands of their three children - Astrid, Anton and Amor. Astrid is a superfluous, adulterous,married woman with twin kids, Anton has pretty much ruined of his life living in forests of Africa to escape the guilt of killing a woman while in army before he returns home after his father's death, Amor is a reclusive child that has severed all ties with her family and ran off to be a nurse in some remote country. Eventually, Astrid gets killed for her car by a thug, Anton commits suicide finding no hinge/reason for life amidst a mounting pressure of debts and all that's left of the family is Amor..who fortunately had a conscience:) 

The story is of a white family living in a black man's land. How times and rules, laws, rulers change and how those that had been clinging to their properties can no longer claim that which belonged to them as theirs.. servants have their rights enriched etc etc. But in this story, the focus is not the demand a servant makes but the conscience of an owner which drives her to give what rightfully belongs to another..a much inferior being. It is more hilarious and engaging than I anticipated.. :) Absolutely loved it! 💘