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A State of Symmetry
A respectable Afrikaner magistrate is on trial for the murder of a young white woman and a Zulu gardener, neither of whom he has met before. He pleads guilty to the charges but will say nothing. Prosecution and defence must postulate both motive and method.
- GenresAfrica
380 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 3, 2013
If it were possible to give half a star I would, this is a very difficult book to read. The premise sounds intriguing and I have persevered mainly because it was the only book I had with me on a plane after being told to switch off my kindle. I really wanted to like this book but its just so poorly written. I agree with the previous reviewer, the lack of punctuation is not clever, it just leads to confusion and lots of scanning backwards and forwards to try to make sense of what's being said, thought or heard.
I am still curious to know the plot denouement but I'm afraid I haven't got the patience to plough through such dreadful writing to find out what it was all about.
I am still curious to know the plot denouement but I'm afraid I haven't got the patience to plough through such dreadful writing to find out what it was all about.
March 30, 2015
Abandoned. I lasted 26 pages. And let me tell you why.
- The guy uses too many commas. Now I know I am the comma queen. But I also do a lot of proofreading. And when *I* am yelling "Why is that comma there?!? It's completely unnecessary!!" You know you are in trouble.
- He refers to every character by their full name (not just Joe Blogs, but Joe Alfred Blogs) every time they are mentioned. Every. Single. Time.
- He seems to think he's the modern reincarnation of Homer. He chooses a bad epithet and repeats it ad nauseam.
- The guy also doesn't believe in quotation marks. It was all jumbled together who was speaking when and if they had paused or if they were telling you that they looked off into the distance - using their full names of course. For I while I was trying to work out if everyone in South Africa thought of themselves in the third person. And then realised my South African friends didn't, he was just trying to be all hip and stream of consciousness, without being a stream of consciousness and oh it's just rubbish.
I said last night about the book "I was ticked off at 5 pages. I'm very grumpy at 12. There may be fire at 20 if it doesn't pick up." I lasted until p26 and I'll admit there was not fire (I thought setting alight a book in my bed after midnight would not be appreciated by the other occupant) so it was thrown. Hard.
A complete garbled mess.
For more reviews visit http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/
- The guy uses too many commas. Now I know I am the comma queen. But I also do a lot of proofreading. And when *I* am yelling "Why is that comma there?!? It's completely unnecessary!!" You know you are in trouble.
- He refers to every character by their full name (not just Joe Blogs, but Joe Alfred Blogs) every time they are mentioned. Every. Single. Time.
- He seems to think he's the modern reincarnation of Homer. He chooses a bad epithet and repeats it ad nauseam.
- The guy also doesn't believe in quotation marks. It was all jumbled together who was speaking when and if they had paused or if they were telling you that they looked off into the distance - using their full names of course. For I while I was trying to work out if everyone in South Africa thought of themselves in the third person. And then realised my South African friends didn't, he was just trying to be all hip and stream of consciousness, without being a stream of consciousness and oh it's just rubbish.
I said last night about the book "I was ticked off at 5 pages. I'm very grumpy at 12. There may be fire at 20 if it doesn't pick up." I lasted until p26 and I'll admit there was not fire (I thought setting alight a book in my bed after midnight would not be appreciated by the other occupant) so it was thrown. Hard.
A complete garbled mess.
For more reviews visit http://rusalkii.blogspot.com.au/
April 1, 2018
I'm afraid that I completely disagree with the other references (though of course I don't disagree that these were their honest opinions). I really enjoyed the style. It took about 50 pages to really find the flow, but once it did, the interleaving threads were each one beautifully written, and it felt like an ever rising torrent to find out how they would come together. It didn't disappoint. Poignant, in places whimsical, regularly poetic and atmospheric. I definitely recommend this as a thoughtful, multi-layered read.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews