The Dubious Salvation of Jack V.: A Novel

by Jacques Strauss

Jack Viljee’s hometown of Johannesburg is still divided by apart­heid, though the old order is starting to crumble. According to eleven-year-old Jack, the world is a rational and simple place. But if life doesn’t conform to Jack’s expectations, there is always the sympa­thy and approval of the family’s maid to console him. Not that Susie is a pushover. She believes violence, of the nondisfiguring variety, is a healthy form of affection—hence her not infrequent expression “Jack, I love you so much. I will hit you.” Jack himself is not above socking his best friend in the eye or scamming his little sister into picking up the dog mess. The Viljee household, in its small way, mirrors the politics of the country.

This noisy domesticity is upset by the arrival of Susie’s fifteen-year-old son. Percy is bored, idle, and full of rage. When Percy catches Jack in an indelibly shameful moment, Jack learns that the smallest act of revenge has consequences beyond his imagining. The world, it turns out, is not so simple.

Subversively smart and unapologetically funny, clever and a little dangerous, The Dubious Salvation of Jack V. explores the cost of forgive­ness. It is a powerful debut from a fearlessly original voice.

Genres: Fiction, Africa, Coming Of Age, South Africa, Gay, Historical

256 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2011

About the author

I was born and raised in South Africa and lived in New Zealand for a few years. I moved to London in 2005. In my twenties, I was a failed playwright but when I turned thirty, I decided this was undignified and decided to become a failed author instead. This seemed more glamorous. But then hey - I got published: UK May 19 2011 (Cape); US August 30 2011 (FSG).

During the day I'm a freelance digital producer. This ensures that I enjoy life's little pleasures like food and shelter.

Reviews

[Blair · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this after being wowed by Strauss's second novel, The Curator. His debut is an altogether less sophisticated book, though it tackles many of the same themes: South African boyhood; the gradual realisation that one's sexuality is 'different'; the tensions between different communities of white South Africans (English and Afrikaans), as well as the relationships between white families and their black staff. It's the last that really shapes this particular story, as 11-year-old Jack Viljee agonises about 'betraying' his parents' beloved maid Susie. Said betrayal is telegraphed heavily in the blurb as well as the first few chapters, so the plot suffers when it turns out to be nothing much at all, certainly not the life-altering accusation Jack imagines it to be. The most interesting things about Dubious Salvation are its vignettes of childhood and family life in rural South Africa circa the late 1980s. Strauss based the character of Jack on his own experiences, and that shows in the strength of the novel's atmosphere versus the weakness of its plot.

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[Literary Review The · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jacques Strauss
The Dubious Salvation of Jack V.

(New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 2011)

It’s hard not to love the very existence of a funny South African novel, especially one that includes Apartheid. But the brilliance of the novel is not that you laugh out loud in the face of darkness. Rather this book succeeds because it manages to exist both as a compelling novel about eleven-year-old Jack and his betrayal of his housekeeper Susie—his “second mother”—and as a not-overbearing philosophical musing about life’s meaning and the question of goodness. Strauss’s honest portrayal of a privileged white child coming of age shows how the society’s obsession with origins extends not only to divide blacks from whites, but the English from the Afrikaners, the straight from the gay, the cool from the uncool. Strauss shows us that when growing up on the right side of privilege, issues of manhood, cartoons, friendship, and masturbation concern children just as much as politics do.

--Jena Salon
The Dubious Salvation of Jack V was reviewed in The Literary Review. "The Lives of Saints" Fall 2011

[❄️BooksofRadiance❄️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I honestly don’t know how I feel about this one...

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sort of short coming of age novel that I think wants to be a South African version of Huck Finn; we get a young man born to privilege in SA who has to sort of grow beyond the racism and classicism of his experience, through, as it turns out, his love for his nanny, Susie.

I don't think it totally works, honestly-- Jack is never as interesting as Huck, for starters, as likeable. I think for the critique to work, it's important that Jack comes from privilege, but it also makes him a bit unlikeable, unlike Huck. Also, he doesn't really have adventures, instead just has episodes.

The structure of the book is really unconventional-- it's true that the chapters follow roughly in chronological order, but they are almost more topical-- so you'll have a chapter about the family vacation to Durban, but that will in effect touch off a whole series of digressions about vacations, reflections on the poor, since some are met there, about wanting to be part of another family because Jack sees an appealing substitute clan, etc. It's interesting, the way all the ideas sort of dovetail together, though it made it sort of hard to get into the book, too, as it lacks a really propulsive drive.

I liked it well enough, and I am kind of a sucker for learning what it's like to be other places And really, SA remains a place of great interest. I thought this book was good for what it was-- a coming of age story with some distance built in and some room for critique-- but for me, at least, it never really grabbed me by the collar and forced my attention.

[Lins · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Dubious Salvation of Jack V. is a South African Portnoy's Complaint. It examines a sexuality, ethics, race and culture, politics, guilt and discrimination within the setting of a middle-to-upper class Johannesburg family, the Viljee's, and the family of their maid, Susie.

The frank discussion of masturbation and the preoccupation of an 11 year old boy with this and other bodily functions may be a bit much for some readers. Along with this is a concentration on the violence of the society around him, and a brutal examination of the snobbery inherant in the racial discrimination; whites contrasted with blacks, English with Afrikaans, other racial groups against each other. Religion and politics are also examined. But a major point of examination is the role of family --and in particular mothers-- in this world.

Jack V. is a child (and indeed an adult narrator) wracked with guilt over what he terms a "childish but nevertheless devastating" betrayal of his 'second mother', Susie. The book recounts a series of incidents leading up to this, and shows the aftermath.

For me the book was enlightening and aggravating by turns. I enjoyed reading it, seeing a unique perspective on South Africa and inside the mind of a young boy; but I was frustrated by the progress of the story, that we were promised a betrayal that was slow to play out. But the pay off was sensational. I will be reading this book again to savour it this time.

I received this book for free as part of the Good Reads First Reads.

[Kath · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book for free through Good Reads First Read, and it wasn't something I would normally pick up in a bookstore. However, I enjoyed it immensely. Not only was it an interesting story, but also gave a lot of insight into the history, politics and culture of South Africa as seen through the eyes of an 11-year-old boy.

The main character and narrator, Jack V, was likeable although extremely flawed. Although South African culture is an important element of this book, Jack is also just a typical 11-year-old boy and the story could have been set anywhere and still been as enjoyable. The book describes a time in a child's life where they are old enough to start forming opinions about things, but still young enough that they believe everything is black and white and that everything their parents say must be right.

If someone were to ask me the plot, I couldn't really give one as it is more a series of incidents rather than one long story, but the book was well written and the stories flow from one to another in a way that makes sense to the reader.

I would recommend this book to friends. It is different to anything else I have read, very enjoyable and easy to read.

[Kirsten · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this will go down as a favorite. The writing style is effortless and engaging, and although I'm normally a slow and easily-distracted reader, I couldn't put it down. The narrator is (often uncomfortably) honest about what it's like to be 11, and although the themes are universal, we're given a glimpse into South Africa from a perspective I haven't before seen. This book is a rare find - a fast and easy read that's also thought-provoking and uncompromising in its literary integrity.

[Corey Dutson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well that was a waste of my time. Nothing happened. It was a story about a boy growing up... sort of. All I really gained from this book is learning just how screwed up South Africans were. Those were some racist, racist people. Wow.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bittersweet memory of growing up by an English-Afrikaaner boy. The author got me on the opening page, crisp and descriptive simple language captured my attention and humor. A funny, irreverent and honest narration of funny observations, awkward events, the eccentric relatives, childhood friendships with subtle hints of the political. At its core, this is a book about a love relationship between Jack and his African nanny and what his one decision ultimately leads to. A heartbreaking yet poor conclusion with you left a bit hanging and for an unusual reason, the author just became indifferent and just takes off. Easy read and a great companion on the road as Jack and I are taking our summer vacation together.

[Rick · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm sure this novel is deeper than I could possibly appreciate. Maybe my "meh" rating has to do with the fact that I know so little about South Africa.

[Mei-Lian Inglis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only just deserving of 3 stars - an average, OK, mediocre story.

[Lyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this South African “memoir” about a Johannesburg eleven year old. It captures perfectly the curious tension and confusion both of childhood and life in apartheid South Africa.

[Literary Relish · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jacques Strauss' novel sees apartheid-era South Africa through the eyes of Jack Vilijee; a mollycoddled, middle class and thoroughly muddled up eleven year old boy. With a Boer Father, English Mother, a sexually confused best friend and a black maid called Susie to whom he devotes as much love and reverence as he would his own mother, Jack, a boy who has never been completely comfortable with the idea of having black servants (unlike his Boer friends), is thoroughly confused. Confusion that, upon the arrival of Susie's troubled son Percy into his world, threatens to bubble up and reek havoc on his peaceful existence.

The beauty of running a book club full of completely diverse and intriguing people will always be the opportunity to try books you may not have picked up otherwise. I am not, unlike my other half, adverse to picking up brand new authors and approaching something without many expectations and I did initially get excited about the South African theme. Beyond the obvious facts, I have read disgustingly little account of life in apartheid-era South Africa and, although I understood from the cover alone that the story would probably be restricted by the white, child narrator, I was at least expecting something and, sadly, came away with precious little to enlighten me.

The 'coming of age' element to the book is utterly convincing and hilarious in places; with the frantic 'skommel'ling (i.e. masturbating :-)) in various different places and into various household objects punctuating childish portraits of friends and family and juvenile problems blown out of all proportion. However, despite my appreciation for Strauss' sympathetic young narrator and his universal trials and tribulations, certain elements left me mightily confused. The story is supposedly narrated by Jack as an adult yet there seems to be no hint of retrospection and the South African world ceases to be the deeply troubled place it was at the time and remains viewed through the tunnel-vision of an eleven year old boy. Let me be clear that I didn't want to read an 'apartheid' book, which would perhaps have been just a bit too obvious, however, I would have liked to learn much more about what life was like in the country at that time for everyone.

Although the clearly dramatic events occurring just out of our vision did become frustrating at times, it did help add a film of darkness over this otherwise innocent account. Racism, pedophilia and all manner of other evils lurk in the background to threaten Jack's bubble and gave the book a little more depth than it might have had otherwise. Jack's friend Petrus; who wants to be a mermaid or an air-hostess when he grows up, adds amusement and tragedy to the tale and his Boer family and their apparently wild differences from 'English' South Africans was something I had never considered and would certainly like to explore in the future.

This is Strauss' debut novel and I'm intrigued to see what he offers next; whether it will be more South African tales or whether he will branch out somewhere entirely different. This book, interestingly enough, completely divided the boys and girls at book club, with the boys seeming to gain much more from it...perhaps recognising a bit of themselves in his quite ordinary (servants aside), boyhood.

A mixed review all in all!

http://relishreads.blogspot.co.uk/201...

[Marvin · Rating 2 out of 5]

The charming voice of an 11-year-old boy, with an English mother and an Afrikaner father, introduces us to his life in a comfortable suburb in Johannesburg, South Africa in the early 1980s. The premise and the narrative voice have considerable promise. The boy's observations seem random, though, and give more weight to his experiments with masturbation than to the more interesting bits about his relationship with Susie, his black housekeeper/nanny, which are the meat of the book. The voice is also inconsistent, at times seeming, if anything, too naive for an 11-year-old and at other times way too sophisticated, as in the following: "I always thought that humanity, not taken individually, but aggregated, their sentiments, their thoughts, their actions, their systems, their judgments, was an ineffective but still functioning ballast against the arbitrary, the random, the absurd, the power lines in the way of the mast, the cancer in the spine, and all the other things which were improbable, individually, but still happened an awful lot, when aggregated. But there were men in prison serving longer sentences for burglaries and traffic violations [than Susie's son did for murdering his father], so one could only conclude that humanity, rather than a ballast against the arbitrary, was, through paperwork and forms and stamps and considered judgments and all that was officialdom, its very agent."

[Jim Elkins · Rating 2 out of 5]

Snappy writing here, and I learned a lot about South Africa, from a certain standpoint. It would be an excellent novel to read as an antidote to Coetzee et al (see also the notes on Vladislavic's novels, which have the same function). Strauss had a very different upbringing, and that shows brilliantly here: he was "half English, half Afrikans" and grew up very privileged. His sense of race, history, land, and place are wonderfully divergent from Vladislavic's.[return][return]But this isn't quite a novel: it isn't enough mulled over, the material isn't re-imagined, it isn't the result of layers of fiction and mediation. It's experience, presented in the fragments in which it came, lightly fictionalized. The book has no forward momentum: it's crystalline both in the good sense (clear, economical) and the bad sense (fragmentary, inert).

[Kaj Peters · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had the feeling that the novel kept building up to something but couldn´t deliver. It has too many characters and the ones that are most important (Susie, Percy) are not fleshed-out enough. Maybe this is also because I couldn´t understand the many political references and have little feeling with the historical context. I could appreciate the tongue-in-cheek humour that portrays the depraved psyche of an eleven year old boy. This novel may be flawed, but Jacques Strauss is still a talented new voice that begs to be heard.

[Coreen Tossona · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitely an original story, but I think the problem is the story is told from the point of view of a self-obsessed 11 year old boy. Many children are selfish at that age, so it makes the narrator kind of unlikeable. His love for Susie, the housekeeper & caretaker is identifiable and makes him redeemable, except for the way Jack plots to keep her all his and affects people along the way. The setting in South Africa makes the book interesting, but other than that the story never really gives you that moment or feeling you're hoping for.

[BiblioGeek · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was the literary equivalent of a blind date who is reasonably attractive, but like, has chronic halitosis. It has potential, but never really measures up. It builds the reader up, hinting at some horrible betrayal, and there are several sign posts throughout that suggest a messy turn of events that change all the characters' lives, but that never happens. It's just the overreaction of a spoiled brat, and the other less memorable characters are barely affected. BOO.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jack V. is an un-likeable 11-year-old who has a lot to say. In between his observations (and obsessions) about death, executions, sex, and disfigured bodies, Jack has some insightful things to say about the larger issues of race, class, politics, and God. In that way, the book succeeds--even though I still don't like him. Then again, I'm sure most 11-year-olds (or my 11-year-old self) are annoying.

[Krista · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a nice quick read after spending over 2 weeks on Augie March. I just picked it off the library shelf - no recommendations given. Maybe the yellow cover called to me?

Narrated by an 11 year old boy in South Africa, it was at times a funny insight to boys of this age. I think this was a good first novel and I hope the author plans on writing more books in the future.

[Tuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

1989 white boy growing up in south africa. funny and heartbreaking. reader can get a real feel for south african cultures (not much has changed, really) and differences in class, race, and parent-culture.
yes, funny. like huck finn is funny.
i hope this author has more books in him. this one has real sparks of brilliance.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

So I didn't actually finish this, but after talking about it at book club and having read 60%, I think I'm good...

There were some funny parts and I think there's depth to the story, but very minimal plot and I just didn't care to read all the details (since other people told me how it ended).

[N · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting to find out about South Africa in that era. I found Susie's dialogue with Jack entertaining. Beyond that, though, I thought more plot or action, not sexual content, would have been welcome.

[Carlin MacKenzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who is british/south african boy like Jack Viljee, this book was exceptional in tying together the true to life feelings of an 11 year old boy. This book isn't afraid to bare all and Jack V may be the most true to life character I've had the joy in reading.

[chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book thoroughly. So thoroughly, that I would put off skommeling for hours at a time, just to read more.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book during Jury Duty and it made time go by at a pleasant rate. I found Jack to be an entertaining character, and very serious for his age.

[Amari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Witty, honest, and as inconclusive as life. Jack's sense of self, of shame, of memory, of embarrassing fears: it confirms and comforts.

Too bad that Jack and Petrus lost track of each other --

[Peter Williamson · Rating 3 out of 5]

a fun short enough read. a great visit into daily life in south africa. another book narrated by a young boy...a great voice...but in the end,the book isnt that complicated.

[The Bibliophile · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book disgusted me...

[Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very strange book that kept leading up to something spectacular, but failed to deliver. Not one of my favourites.