Book reviews

FAMILY FOIBLE: A CASE OF KEEPING UP WITH JONESES

The oxymoronic title The God Who Made Mistakes would offend a staunch Christian no end but leave a carefree-atheist in gleeful anticipation.

This novel takes the reader straight into the heart of one of South Africa’s notorious townships, Alexandra, in the north of Joburg where there are loitering stray dogs, smoky air oozing from chimneys and awkwardly flooded rivers flowing by the roadside.

Ekow Duker’s Gauteng backdrops and its peripheral townships in both his books, The God Who Made Mistakes and White Wahala, are colourful, refreshing and relatable.

I felt like I’ve visited the locaThe tions mentioned in both his novels.

At the core of The God Who Made Mistakes are the deep identity issues that Themba Hlatshwayo battles with and the self-loathing he exudes.

Duker explores the challenges that marriage as an institution blindly imposes on couples, the ugliness of sibling rivalry, the damaging effects of self-rejection and how unfaithfulness erodes every strand of trust.

Hlatshwayo and his family are a classic case of “keeping up with the Joneses” and it’s interesting how each member of the family lives up to the idiom.

There is not a single good character in the book.

Every one is intricate, unpredictable at times and has both light and dark sides.

And there are quite a lot of characters in this novel compared to

The God Who Made Mistakes General fiction

Author: Ekow Duker Released by: Pan Macmillian Year: 2016 Pages: 288 ISBN: 9781770104259

most, which is probably why Duker named every chapter after a character.

All in all The God Who Made Mistakes made me reflect, reminisce and engage with issues around family, love, honesty, acceptance and forgiveness.

After going on an emotional rollercoaster ride with every character in the book, I was happy to wrap it all up on a happy note towards the end.

A little cliché I truly appreciated.