Thursday, February 12, 2009

The Impostor by Damon Galgut


Adam Napier is at a dead end. He's lost his job, he's lost his house. And has ended up staying in his brother's rundown country house. One day, he meets an old schoolmate, Canning, who has inherited a large family estate and fortune. Although Napier hasn't an inkling of a memory of ever being schoolmates with him, he goes along with the reunion and gets absorbed into Canning's world and its dishonest dealings.

This book isn't for everyone. It's rather bleak and the plot isn't all that exciting. I wasn't quite sure if I wanted to keep going myself. But there was something about Adam Napier, who isn't an easy character to like, but does grow on you, and about this landscape of post-apartheid South Africa, that kept the pages turning. And then there was the question that one can't help asking: who is The Impostor that the title tells of?

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