White Lightning

by Justin Cartwright

A motorcycle messenger goes into a small park in London to paint the words 'White Lightning' on the tank of his bike. This is the beginning of an extraordinary novel. It is told over the space of a few months, and in these few months one man's whole life - his failures, his successes, his longing for peace and fulfilment, his loves and his tragedies - are recounted. These memories include his film "Suzi Crispin, Night Nurse", and - the darkest moment - the death of his son, which has haunted him. He inherits a small amount of money and buys a rundown farm in South Africa, where he dreams of creating an Arcadia. On the farm is a captive baboon, Piet, who becomes startlingly involved in his new life. He also has a love affair with a local woman, and becomes hauntingly involved with an African family of squatters. All the while the narrator contemplates his own life back in England and so the novel is also a sharp commentary on what Englishness means. This is a novel about the human enterprise. It is surprising, tender, funny and utterly original.

Genres: Fiction, Novels

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Justin Cartwright (born 1945) is a British novelist.

He was born in South Africa, where his father was the editor of the Rand Daily Mail newspaper, and was educated there, in the United States and at Trinity College, Oxford. Cartwright has worked in advertising and has directed documentaries, films and television commercials. He managed election broadcasts, first for the Liberal Party and then the SDP-Liberal Alliance during the 1979, 1983 and 1987 British general elections. For his work on election broadcasts, Cartwright was appointed an MBE.

Cartwright had a wife, Penny, and two sons.

Reviews

[Lisa (NY) · Rating 2 out of 5]

My father recently discovered Justin Cartwright and has been working his way through all of his novels. He told me I had to read him. I hesitated. "You like good writing don't you," he asked? Cartwright's books weren't on my radar, but since my father is 89, I decided to obey him. And sometimes we have similar tastes.

I see my father's point - the sentences are well crafted. But they crash into the wall of an unlikeable, annoying narrator. James has returned to South Africa to see his dying mother and flashes back to his failed marriage (where he is a boor) and his pedestrian career as a filmmaker. The novel stalls - no actually it doesn't stall because it never got started. It is so bland and boring that I can't reconcile my father's love for this book or the critics' raves: "dazzling, sizzling, a treasure" on the back cover.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent book. It looks at a character that is flawed and broken by life. We then get a glimpse into his hope for the future which is ruthlessly dashed. Brilliant! But what comes out of this is a De Martinian slash phoenix realisation that life has the ability to deal us crashing blows to take us on courses wildy unplanned, unimagined and unhoped for, yet in that course one can come to terms with paths that are undesired. Kronk aiming to be the big movie director find himself ultimately settling into the mundane routines and happenings of a delivery guy. This is all played out against the backdrop of Sartre and existentialism - humasn are small and meaninigless, what does it matter if we don't fulfil our petty little dreams? But also intriguingly against the metaphysical insight that we are all interconnected in someway with humanity. In some ways we as humans can't see that we are a small part of a living organism called humanity. Just as bees have the fanners, and the workers and the soldiers so we too have our small part to play in the larger living organism of life. Hence, individually we die but we carry on living through the larger organism we have carried forward.

This book has all the elements I love. Contemplations on death, our existence, sex, hope and banality. The character also expounds views on South Africa from time to time. Many of them are so unpolitically correct that I almsot shuddered after reading them and said hey you can't say that! But in truth in my lowest moments when I really have no hope in my country these are some of thoughts that I have. And then there is the guilt mixed with exhiliration and the fact that maybe we should be saying this, but are we then just another of the colonialists turned afro-pessimists?

This book deserves a 95% but I wandered ever so slightly for about 50 pages in the middle bits, which I found became a bit boring.

[Lois · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strange book with an unusual story line and protagonist, but Cartwright's prose is perfection. Read everyone of his books - he is a genius.

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this author. He explores what happens to us when we try to change the path we start.

[Bachyboy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slow to start but it settled into James Kronk's story of going back to South Africa to see his dying mother. He buys a run down farm house complete with baboon and sets about trying to set up his life again. Very good writing.

[Geraldine O'Donnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very clever multi- layered story that was a joy to read although you just knew there could be no happy ending.

[Poornima Vijayan · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a heartbreakingly lovely book this was. It upsets me no end when bad things happen to good people. And worse, when bad things happen to animals. This is the story of James, who returns to South Africa to be with his dying mother. He inherits some money with which he buys a farm and all things that come with it, including a baboon by name Piet, except mineral rights. James is filled with enthusiasm to start his life anew and begins with giving Piet dignity and respect and freedom. He 'adopts' some folks who live in a shack and brings them over to his farm, especially a young boy who is HIV positive. The others in the farm and around, they don't like this and want the child out. When James tries convincing them there's really no harm, they retreat. But they cause irreparable damage. The boy is killed by Piet, as someone let him into his enclosure. What really transpires isn't stated, but Piet should have been driven to extremes to have done this as he's a very amiable creature. And they unearth some mineral under the farm. James loses the farm, all his money, the love of a child and his friend the baboon. He's forced to shoot the baboon as when he takes it to set it free, Piet is attacked by the other baboons and unable to defend himself. It totally killed me, this book did. I went to bed with a heavy heart and mind full of baboons. Oh and the writing though pompous (coz it's told in the first person and James does think highly of himself) is gorgeous.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and so wanted it to end well for him and keep alive the hope that you can take control of your destiny and make life changes that work out!

Its hard to say too much without giving things away but I loved his enthusiasm and optimistic outlook for the various projects and people he took on and how he got fitter and happier as he shed his London gloom.

Its interesting that some reviews have said that its a slow read or doesnt get going till chapter 11 but I didnt find that at all - the pace seemed to reflect his own mood and the passage of time - albeit the story only covers a few months.

Piet the baboon was beautifully portrayed too as he got to discover more about his surroundings and learn about the world outside his cage!

[NORMAN JAMES LEITE · Rating 5 out of 5]

An entertaining, enjoyable and ofttimes sad read, a flowing narrative smacking with a possible bio touch.

Linking two great cities, London and Cape Town, the latter more dominant, the storyline sometimes jumps between the two to amplify a point. A focused reader will easily get the drift.

The story is focused on James’ time in South Africa, and the painting of the society and culture in the post-Apartheid era is spot on. It becomes clear that Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s Rainbow Nation is anything but a pot of gold, but sadly a fractured society fraught with conflicts that will challenge generations to come. However, a delightful and engrossing read possible to do in one absorbing sitting.

[Clare Grové · Rating 2 out of 5]

C for Cartwright
2022 alphabet-of-african-authors reading challenge

While readable, the disjointedness of the narrative makes for a disappointing experience.

A few dis- words are now sprouting as I write this review:
disjointed
discontent
disagreeable
‘dislike-able’ (okay, I know it should be unlikeable but it spoils the dis- motif)

And these, for me, are all about the protagonist, and the first two about the book itself.

I won’t be picking up another Cartwright despite the spin doctors vouching that he is a bestselling author.
I just don’t get the hype.

[Lyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Initially I struggled to engage with this novel because the narrator seemed such an unworthy person in so many ways. After I decided that having a less-than-admirable narrator is perfectly fine as a literary device I was able to relax and engage with the story. By the end I was totally hooked. All the complications of being a white South African, then and now, unfold in this tale of a man who returns to South Africa because his mother is dying.

[Rachel Rothwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very differently written book. About a South African man who comes back to Cape Town to be with his dying mother. Looks back over his life. Buys a farm in Cape Town and tries to sort out problems with a baboon and a shanty town family. All dissolves in the end.

[Lesley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't finish it. Boring.

[David Stoker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Managed 30 pages. Enjoyed his writing style - funny and some great turns of phrase. Plot didn't grab me enough.

[Alicia Bernaldo de Quiros · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring boring boring

[Mckochan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok. Heartbreaking. But the character lacks something.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like 2.5!

[SusanT · Rating 2 out of 5]

I kept hoping this would get better. Don't bother.

[Wilde Sky · Rating 3 out of 5]

A man returns to South Africa to be with his dying mother and considers his failed life.

The first ten chapters of this book are awful, the writing is far too overblown and the story is just whiny / dull. From chapter eleven (where the man begins his friendship with the baboon) the story becomes interesting and the writing style is much sharper (although it still has flabby sections). The man’s relationship with the baboon is convincing / sad and forms a focal point for the story to evolve.

If you read this book and after a few pages want to give up I would suggest you jump to chapter eleven.

[Suze · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pet theme of mine, colonial righteousness in Africa, threw a few good punches in this story when the ex-pat narrator returns to South Africa to await the death of his elderly mother. “… playing God was the great attraction of the colonies” (p.114). I admired Cartwright’s insight into the African condition, juxtaposed against his British life, as he attempts to put down roots again. His language shines.

[Rosalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took a while to start relating to the main character, but once in, this is a worth while read, esp for South Africans with a bit of a rural bent, and interest in the changing dynamics and identities of individuals in the context of the post-apartheid SA. Disturbing but also authentic in a weird sort of way.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fast becoming one of my favourite authors.
He writes beautiful prose with such ease.
Although this was a book about many emotions (grief, regret, guilt, wonder, joy) is was never maudlin ... rather it was almost factual, leaving the emotions to the reader.
Deserving of 5 stars.