BY BRUCE DENNILL, MARION HOFMEYR
Talking To Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell
The Pact by Amy Heydenrych
Amazing Fantastic Incredible – A Marvelous Memoir by Stan Lee, Peter David and Colleen Doran
Harry Potter And The Cursed Child: Parts One And Two by JK Rowling, John Tiffany & Jack Thorne
Too Many Tsunamis by Vincent Pienaar
Malcolm Gladwell has become a household name for his positioning of social science and trends in associated areas in the middle of the literary mainstream. He does that by identifying a moment or event and analysing it in terms of the possible drivers behind whatever behaviours played out in that moment. Talking To Strangers begins with a description of the needless interrogation and arrest of a young black woman by a white American traffic officer. The roles trust – of other people, of roles, of authority – played in that incident and how they might apply to readers of this text set the foundation for a much wider-ranging examination of human interactions at all levels of familiarity. Gladwell considers the counter-intuitive necessity of being gullible – to generally expect the best of people – in order to make it through the bulk of what it takes to be in relationship with others at any level. And he looks at the unavoidable dangers of doing so, highlighting some of the sad results of such decisions. It’s a fascinating, thoroughly readable narrative that provides insight into everyday psychology. And just as interestingly, it probably won’t change the way you choose to react to many people, as social mores are so deeply ingrained and going against them requires so much more than choosing to pay attention to newly-gained knowledge. But that’s probably a topic for another Gladwell book… – BD
The Pact is a story of a prank that turned into a murder. It takes place in the office of an IT company that employs a number of bright young IT specialists. Freya, newly out of college, accepts a position with the company. She is immediately targeted by a woman, Nicole, who has been there for a number of years. What starts with being a natural bitchiness gets worse when one of the other employees starts to take an interest in Freya. Unbeknown to her, Nicole had been dating the man in question, but they had broken up before he started showing an interest in Freya. Gradually things go from bad to worse, with Freya’s colleague taking the credit for work that Freya had done. Her now boyfriend Jay starts to be caught up in the unhappy situation they work in. Coupled with this, Freya’s boss starts making suggestive moves on her. After an office party, Jay decides, with Freya, to put a suggestive note on Nicole’s Facebook page. The next morning Nicole is found murdered. There are several possibilities and the police are getting nowhere. Then a young journalist who has also suffered from sexual abuse starts taking an interest in the case and doing some private investigation. The book is written in the first person by Freya and the journalist, Isla. It is full of tension to the end with hidden sides to all the characters being slowly revealed. I found it an intriguing read but am not sure if l would choose to read something like it again. – MH
For a man who can genuinely be counted as having helped change the face of popular entertainment – Stan Lee is the writer or co-creator behind the Avengers, the Fantastic Four and a host of other superhero household names, many of which were directly responsible for the rise of Marvel Comics – it makes sense to publish his autobiography, Amazing Fantastic Incredible, as a graphic novel. For comic book buffs or serious fans of the characters Lee created who have no become the focus of mega-earning films, the anecdotal style of the storytelling (it may be factual, but it’s still punchy and fast-paced) and the artistic techniques used to depict various scenes in Lee’s life make this book an enjoyable read regardless of its subject. The tone is always upbeat and impudent, in keeping with the animated (pun unavoidable) personality and creative style of the man in question. A fitting testament to the influential writer, who died in late 2018.
A hardback version of the script for the play that has had enormous success in the West End and Broadway since it opened in 2016, Harry Potter And The Cursed Child is as easy to read as the seven books in the mega-selling Harry Potter series, really only differing in the density of words on the page and the length of the story involved. It’s remarkably easy – even as a non-fan – to settle into the world created by JK Rowling over 20 years ago and now as familiar to many readers as their own neighbourhoods. The action takes place many years later, with the relationships between the original characters updated and slightly changed and new personalities added to help give impetus to the general thrust of the plot. At the heart of all of this is a crisis created by discontent between Harry and his son Albus and the use of a forbidden object to indulge in some time travelling, with all its associated knock-on effects. If there is a feeling from fans of the books that a script might not be as satisfying, fear not – the story is just as good here. And if you have the means, go one better: get to New York and see the play. – BD
Thinking that you’re bad at everything could be depressing. Depression could make you want to kill yourself. But if you’re bad at everything, you may mess that up as well. Such is the existence of thirty-something Bert, the non-too-inspiring protagonist of Too Many Tsunamis, Vincent Pienaar’s tale of … ordinary people. Set in Johannesburg, this tale allows South African listeners the opportunity to engage with the sort of personalities and settings that they’re intimately familiar with, rather than the Hollywood-ised version, which work well enough but are always an extra remove away. The reward in such a tale is accessed slowly. To begin with, it’s difficult to care much about a main character who is undistinguished in every way. Even if you can relate, it’s not the sort of escapism most will be hoping for to read about a man who works in a print shop run by petty, annoying employers, or suffering romantic embarrassment at the whim of his overbearing mother, with whom he still lives. The triumph of the book is that, as the narrative unfolds and you begin to gain a more intimate understanding of Bert and his various cohorts, the genuine value of his story – his existence; what he offers to or seeks from others; his unique perspectives – become evident. Pienaar has a delightfully dry sense of humour that runs in caustic streaks through his creations, as well as a great eye for seeing parallels to Bert’s scenario in the lives of various superstars who – tragically – were more successful at ending it all than the hero of this book. Too Many Tsunamis can be read as an entertaining fictional slice of life tale or as that plus a moving philosophical thread. Either way, it’s a strong effort. – BD
