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Risk
‘LET’S KEEP SHIT SIMPLE. WHAT ARE WE DOING? WE’RE GOING TO GO ON MISSIONS THAT WE DRAW FROM A HAT. RISKY MISSIONS. RISK, THAT’S ALL IT IS.’
Nelson Jekwa: young, black, privileged. Named after Mandela, his future blinks promisingly. Bored and high, he and his friends play a game of risk. But what starts off as some edgy fun, evolves, spawning an entire social movement. The goal: to help Africa get out from the bottom of the world’s toilet. While missions are being executed all over the continent, Nelson’s group plans ten heists to help pay back Africa’s debts to the West. But their game has spun out of control.
Jason Staggie studied Psychology at the University of Cape Town, as well as Directing and Screenwriting at the Prague Film School in the Czech Republic. He is a filmmaker currently working on a full-length portrait documentary on his twin uncles, Rashied and Rashaad Staggie, and the mayhem that took place in Cape Town between the gangs and PAGAD in 1996. He has lived in Ireland, South Korea and the Czech Republic. He currently resides in Cape Town.
Nelson Jekwa: young, black, privileged. Named after Mandela, his future blinks promisingly. Bored and high, he and his friends play a game of risk. But what starts off as some edgy fun, evolves, spawning an entire social movement. The goal: to help Africa get out from the bottom of the world’s toilet. While missions are being executed all over the continent, Nelson’s group plans ten heists to help pay back Africa’s debts to the West. But their game has spun out of control.
Jason Staggie studied Psychology at the University of Cape Town, as well as Directing and Screenwriting at the Prague Film School in the Czech Republic. He is a filmmaker currently working on a full-length portrait documentary on his twin uncles, Rashied and Rashaad Staggie, and the mayhem that took place in Cape Town between the gangs and PAGAD in 1996. He has lived in Ireland, South Korea and the Czech Republic. He currently resides in Cape Town.
189 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
3 people are currently reading
17 people want to read
About the author
Jason Staggie
1 book3 followersJason Staggie studied Psychology at the University of Cape Town, and Directing and Screenwriting at Prague Film School in the Czech Republic.
In his relatively short life he has fundraised for charities in Ireland, taught English in South Korea, and made films in the Czech Republic and South Africa.
He has 4 main obsessions in his life - socially conscious transgressive fiction; the art movement fluxus;edgy dialogue driven films; and African renaissance.
He is currently writing his second novel, Epic. He is also busy with a documentary called Hard Livings.
In his relatively short life he has fundraised for charities in Ireland, taught English in South Korea, and made films in the Czech Republic and South Africa.
He has 4 main obsessions in his life - socially conscious transgressive fiction; the art movement fluxus;edgy dialogue driven films; and African renaissance.
He is currently writing his second novel, Epic. He is also busy with a documentary called Hard Livings.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 15, 2013
This novel made me feel uneasy from the first two opening sentences. It continued to do so for the whole 192 pages. I’m a fan of Palahniuk and Staggie shows a lot of promise. I don’t think that I have come across an African writer trying the same tricks!
I didn’t like this novel, as much as I loved it as much as I don’t know! The writing is rhythmic and takes you to those places. It’s like he’s constantly taunting you to turn the page to see how more extreme he will go. And boy does he go extreme! Risk is one of those books that you tend to re-read simply because it fascinates you so much.
Nelson is a drug addicted University of Cape Town student. Throughout the novel he's trying to get clean. But you get the feeling that he doesn't really want to get clean. Instead he and his friends do a lot of drugs and have lots of random sex. Then he starts the Risk game and the novel goes full throttle, with Staggie pulling no punches.
There's a lot here to be shocked about in this novel - brutal rapings, a blase almost sexist view of women, a series of crazy "missions" and a casual feeling towards hard drugs. On the other end, he tells the tale well and I throughout the text there are clever observations of South African life, a lot of it quite funny if you're into dark humour.
I was going to give this 3 stars. But it deserves the extra star simply because it's something fresh. I look forward to seeing what he will bring in future novels.
I didn’t like this novel, as much as I loved it as much as I don’t know! The writing is rhythmic and takes you to those places. It’s like he’s constantly taunting you to turn the page to see how more extreme he will go. And boy does he go extreme! Risk is one of those books that you tend to re-read simply because it fascinates you so much.
Nelson is a drug addicted University of Cape Town student. Throughout the novel he's trying to get clean. But you get the feeling that he doesn't really want to get clean. Instead he and his friends do a lot of drugs and have lots of random sex. Then he starts the Risk game and the novel goes full throttle, with Staggie pulling no punches.
There's a lot here to be shocked about in this novel - brutal rapings, a blase almost sexist view of women, a series of crazy "missions" and a casual feeling towards hard drugs. On the other end, he tells the tale well and I throughout the text there are clever observations of South African life, a lot of it quite funny if you're into dark humour.
I was going to give this 3 stars. But it deserves the extra star simply because it's something fresh. I look forward to seeing what he will bring in future novels.
July 8, 2016
Few people outside of South Africa, or indeed the Western Cape, or indeed under 30, will know much about Rashied and Rashaad Staggie, the author's uncles. At a time when the country was undergoing massive social upheaval and the transition to democracy was constantly on the verge of imploding, all eyes were focussed on the black townships where the situation was at its most volatile.
Scant heed was paid to the coloured* townships because it was traditionally accepted would not get involved because they occupied a murky socio-political-racial no-man's land.
So few people noticed when the Cape Flats descended into a drug and gangsterism inferno, in no small part fuelled by the power struggles between the Hard Livings and Americans gangs. Rashaad and Rashied Staggie formed the head of the powerful Hard Livings gang, and they operated with impunity under the eyes of the security forces.
Rashaad was eventually the victim of mob justice - beaten, shot and burned to death by members of PAGAD (People Against Gangsterism And Drugs). PAGAD started out as a community policing forum by members of the community who were sick and tired of the gangsters acting with impunity and peddling drugs to their children. Initially their tactics involved picketing drug houses and houses of known gangsters, but they became more radical, to the point where they would set a gangsters house alight and shoot them as they fled the burning building.
Rashied Staggie was later convicted of (a successful) burglary of a police station armoury and is due for release later this year.
PAGAD's activities were eventually stopped by the security forces but they still operate in a very diluted and (supposedly) legal fashion.
Why tell you this?
Well, Jason Staggie cannot escape this shadow looming large over his family and himself and it is apparent in this novel which is a barely disguised memoir, despite the fact that it is fictionalised and that he takes pains to not project too much of himself onto the central character. It is also telling that (very short) Chapter 2 is dedicated to describing how and why his character has been named after the messianic figure of Nelson Mandela
The story revolves around the cycle of catharsis, redemption and The Fall. These themes manifest themselves, and represent, several things that, one feels, the author regards as being pre-destined and inescapable. Coloured identity, drug-use, love, friendship, all these things fall under his microscope, although whether intentional I don't know. I might be doing him a grave disservice but it feels like this novel forms part of his own personal catharsis and everything else is incidental.
His central character seems tainted by his circumstances, as though none of it is his fault, and falls prone to cycles of depression and lucidity. The best way it seems, to get out of this hole, is to go on drug-fuelled bender and commit any number of salacious, hedonistic acts with his equally fucked-up tjommies.**
Eventually, he realises that the real kick he gets is from the risk-taking. And so he devises this game which is essentially the ultimate game of dare, and convinces his friends to participate. The higher the stakes, the more enjoyable the rush.
The game goes well until he falls off the wagon when his girlfriend admits to having a one-night stand and he proceeds to go on the mother of all benders lasting several weeks. When the money for the drugs runs out he is forced to return to sobriety.
In search of reality he seeks out his tjommies and the game, only to find that
his friends have developed social consciences and gone all militant, upping the stakes of the game to extremely dangerous levels all in the name of revolution. Things escalate to a point where it has to inevitably go all Pete Tong and the PAGAD analogue is complete, although, whether intentional or not, again I don't know.
Whilst writing this review, I found myself both not disliking and disliking the novel a bit more. There is nothing to like about this book.
It will not give you a warm feeling inside. Certain images will get stuck in your head and you will lose your appetite. It might even give you bad dreams.
It is also not terribly written.
But it is not Last Exit to Brooklyn or Junkie. Not that these are masterpieces, but to pull this shit off you've got to be able to write and I'm afraid Mr. Staggie doesn't have the ability, yet.
*in the South African vernacular "coloured" means mixed race although it is more accurate to describe it as a culture as you can get white and black coloureds too.
**buddies
Scant heed was paid to the coloured* townships because it was traditionally accepted would not get involved because they occupied a murky socio-political-racial no-man's land.
So few people noticed when the Cape Flats descended into a drug and gangsterism inferno, in no small part fuelled by the power struggles between the Hard Livings and Americans gangs. Rashaad and Rashied Staggie formed the head of the powerful Hard Livings gang, and they operated with impunity under the eyes of the security forces.
Rashaad was eventually the victim of mob justice - beaten, shot and burned to death by members of PAGAD (People Against Gangsterism And Drugs). PAGAD started out as a community policing forum by members of the community who were sick and tired of the gangsters acting with impunity and peddling drugs to their children. Initially their tactics involved picketing drug houses and houses of known gangsters, but they became more radical, to the point where they would set a gangsters house alight and shoot them as they fled the burning building.
Rashied Staggie was later convicted of (a successful) burglary of a police station armoury and is due for release later this year.
PAGAD's activities were eventually stopped by the security forces but they still operate in a very diluted and (supposedly) legal fashion.
Why tell you this?
Well, Jason Staggie cannot escape this shadow looming large over his family and himself and it is apparent in this novel which is a barely disguised memoir, despite the fact that it is fictionalised and that he takes pains to not project too much of himself onto the central character. It is also telling that (very short) Chapter 2 is dedicated to describing how and why his character has been named after the messianic figure of Nelson Mandela
The story revolves around the cycle of catharsis, redemption and The Fall. These themes manifest themselves, and represent, several things that, one feels, the author regards as being pre-destined and inescapable. Coloured identity, drug-use, love, friendship, all these things fall under his microscope, although whether intentional I don't know. I might be doing him a grave disservice but it feels like this novel forms part of his own personal catharsis and everything else is incidental.
His central character seems tainted by his circumstances, as though none of it is his fault, and falls prone to cycles of depression and lucidity. The best way it seems, to get out of this hole, is to go on drug-fuelled bender and commit any number of salacious, hedonistic acts with his equally fucked-up tjommies.**
Eventually, he realises that the real kick he gets is from the risk-taking. And so he devises this game which is essentially the ultimate game of dare, and convinces his friends to participate. The higher the stakes, the more enjoyable the rush.
The game goes well until he falls off the wagon when his girlfriend admits to having a one-night stand and he proceeds to go on the mother of all benders lasting several weeks. When the money for the drugs runs out he is forced to return to sobriety.
In search of reality he seeks out his tjommies and the game, only to find that
his friends have developed social consciences and gone all militant, upping the stakes of the game to extremely dangerous levels all in the name of revolution. Things escalate to a point where it has to inevitably go all Pete Tong and the PAGAD analogue is complete, although, whether intentional or not, again I don't know.
Whilst writing this review, I found myself both not disliking and disliking the novel a bit more. There is nothing to like about this book.
It will not give you a warm feeling inside. Certain images will get stuck in your head and you will lose your appetite. It might even give you bad dreams.
It is also not terribly written.
But it is not Last Exit to Brooklyn or Junkie. Not that these are masterpieces, but to pull this shit off you've got to be able to write and I'm afraid Mr. Staggie doesn't have the ability, yet.
*in the South African vernacular "coloured" means mixed race although it is more accurate to describe it as a culture as you can get white and black coloureds too.
**buddies
June 14, 2013
Been carrying this book around with me for the past days and just finished reading it again. Wanted to shout it out to someone and Facebook aint cutting it, so I’m here. This is cool site by the way.
The first third of the book is slow as you watch Nelson wander pretty aimlessly around the City. Hes studying but he’s not really studying, he’s really just getting high, screwing girls even though he has a chick, but playing up the façade that he’s doing something. He wants to do something great on a grand scale, but kinda just realises that it’s pointless so he might as well just get high. You meet Troy and Jeff, whom are two completely crazy characters. Troy is like an Alex Clock Orange type of character, he lives in his own world but somehow forces others to believe it’s there’s. Jeff is a dreadlocked hippy but a dreadlocked hippy with a brain. First third has this and lots and lots of drugs. Lots and lots of different types of drugs.
The middle third is when Nelson creates the game Risk. And this is where things really start getting interesting. The rules of Risk are pretty standard for dare games except that in this game there is always a buy in, because being able to lose something gives you extra incentive. And also you can choose your own card which is supposed to make you only write down stuff you think you can do. Or you can take a risk and hope you don’t choose something stupid. The Risk games started to make me think. We have people being called kaffirs, others having to have sex with a prostitute with no condom, guys pooping on a policeman’s desk, and other stuff. Made me think that this guy who wrote this book was using the game to show how screwed up living in South Africa and Africa really is. Reading it again, its like he was targeting those ones. Like the fact that there is still racism through the kaffir mission, then our problem with HIV, then our corrupt police and how what we really want is to poop on them! And there are other missions too! The guy who wrote this book was onto something and it made me think about lots of things.
The last third picks up the pace even more! Nelson breaks up with his chick and obsesses about an insanely hot prostitute. He ends up going on a binge and staying with her for like a month. When he comes back Risk has started a movement. Troy is using his charm and charisma and is pushing for African revolution. Basically all the students on the continent who are want to fight for Africa are playing Risk. But all the missions have to involve doing something to help Africa.
Going to stop there. This book made me think about a lot of things and I’m still thinking about them. A lot of the stuff is kinda hidden or maybe not? Without a doubt one of the best books I’ve ever read. It’s really entertaining and there’s so much depth to. This reminds me of university, but not really. These guys are extreme but I’m thinking that was the way they were supposed to be.
The first third of the book is slow as you watch Nelson wander pretty aimlessly around the City. Hes studying but he’s not really studying, he’s really just getting high, screwing girls even though he has a chick, but playing up the façade that he’s doing something. He wants to do something great on a grand scale, but kinda just realises that it’s pointless so he might as well just get high. You meet Troy and Jeff, whom are two completely crazy characters. Troy is like an Alex Clock Orange type of character, he lives in his own world but somehow forces others to believe it’s there’s. Jeff is a dreadlocked hippy but a dreadlocked hippy with a brain. First third has this and lots and lots of drugs. Lots and lots of different types of drugs.
The middle third is when Nelson creates the game Risk. And this is where things really start getting interesting. The rules of Risk are pretty standard for dare games except that in this game there is always a buy in, because being able to lose something gives you extra incentive. And also you can choose your own card which is supposed to make you only write down stuff you think you can do. Or you can take a risk and hope you don’t choose something stupid. The Risk games started to make me think. We have people being called kaffirs, others having to have sex with a prostitute with no condom, guys pooping on a policeman’s desk, and other stuff. Made me think that this guy who wrote this book was using the game to show how screwed up living in South Africa and Africa really is. Reading it again, its like he was targeting those ones. Like the fact that there is still racism through the kaffir mission, then our problem with HIV, then our corrupt police and how what we really want is to poop on them! And there are other missions too! The guy who wrote this book was onto something and it made me think about lots of things.
The last third picks up the pace even more! Nelson breaks up with his chick and obsesses about an insanely hot prostitute. He ends up going on a binge and staying with her for like a month. When he comes back Risk has started a movement. Troy is using his charm and charisma and is pushing for African revolution. Basically all the students on the continent who are want to fight for Africa are playing Risk. But all the missions have to involve doing something to help Africa.
Going to stop there. This book made me think about a lot of things and I’m still thinking about them. A lot of the stuff is kinda hidden or maybe not? Without a doubt one of the best books I’ve ever read. It’s really entertaining and there’s so much depth to. This reminds me of university, but not really. These guys are extreme but I’m thinking that was the way they were supposed to be.
June 22, 2013
“The inner fire is the most important thing mankind possesses.”
― Edith Södergran
I was meaning to write this review for some time now as I read this book about 2 weeks ago. I've read it twice since then. I thought it was absolutely brilliant upon the first reading - raw, pulsing and arrogant, and I've not changed my opinion since then.
The author clearly has a lot of fire in him. He's also seemingly a risk-taker and willing to try new things. This you can only really admire. As someone who is not from Africa, this book opened up my eyes to a world that I had no idea of. Yes, obviously I knew about Apartheid, I knew that South Africa had problems with racism and AIDS. I just never knew that the youth were thinking this way about those issues.
The narrator, Nelson, is not a character you will particularly like. Actually it's very easy to hate him, because of his addictions - women, drugs and complaining about his privileged background. He seems confused until he creates the game called Risk. His best friend, Troy, is a charming high functioning sociopath. Although Nelson is the catalyst for Risk, Troy is really the catalyst for the revolutionary activities that take place later in the novel. He reminds me of a younger version of Tyler Durden from Fight Club.
The Risk game is seductive and I'm not sure if people in South Africa play this game but I can see how many people would want to play it. There is a lot of anger in this book, aimed to from what I can tell world governments and even the South African government itself. There is a lot of anger and a lot of ugliness in this book but one thing of beauty stands out, and that is the Uzuri.
The Uzuri is a syllable restricted poetic form that Troy creates. He does this because he believes that it's an injustice that Africa does not have its own poetic form. The one in the book is absolutely beautiful and shows that for all the fire and anger that the author has in him, there is also a lot of flair and beauty.
Risk is clearly going to upset people but I think a lot of people will love it too.
― Edith Södergran
I was meaning to write this review for some time now as I read this book about 2 weeks ago. I've read it twice since then. I thought it was absolutely brilliant upon the first reading - raw, pulsing and arrogant, and I've not changed my opinion since then.
The author clearly has a lot of fire in him. He's also seemingly a risk-taker and willing to try new things. This you can only really admire. As someone who is not from Africa, this book opened up my eyes to a world that I had no idea of. Yes, obviously I knew about Apartheid, I knew that South Africa had problems with racism and AIDS. I just never knew that the youth were thinking this way about those issues.
The narrator, Nelson, is not a character you will particularly like. Actually it's very easy to hate him, because of his addictions - women, drugs and complaining about his privileged background. He seems confused until he creates the game called Risk. His best friend, Troy, is a charming high functioning sociopath. Although Nelson is the catalyst for Risk, Troy is really the catalyst for the revolutionary activities that take place later in the novel. He reminds me of a younger version of Tyler Durden from Fight Club.
The Risk game is seductive and I'm not sure if people in South Africa play this game but I can see how many people would want to play it. There is a lot of anger in this book, aimed to from what I can tell world governments and even the South African government itself. There is a lot of anger and a lot of ugliness in this book but one thing of beauty stands out, and that is the Uzuri.
The Uzuri is a syllable restricted poetic form that Troy creates. He does this because he believes that it's an injustice that Africa does not have its own poetic form. The one in the book is absolutely beautiful and shows that for all the fire and anger that the author has in him, there is also a lot of flair and beauty.
Risk is clearly going to upset people but I think a lot of people will love it too.
July 29, 2013
Wow! Reading risk is like being hit over the head with a bag full of drug paraphenalia! It's risque and ballsy and has a devil-may-care attitude.
It also tried to bring up a few issues. I think this kid is going to be like the enfant terrible of African fiction. We've needed one for years! I hope he keeps writing like this. Well worth the 4 stars.
-SouljaAbdul
It also tried to bring up a few issues. I think this kid is going to be like the enfant terrible of African fiction. We've needed one for years! I hope he keeps writing like this. Well worth the 4 stars.
-SouljaAbdul
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