Debut novel delves into fears of youth
PEN~UMBRA, by Songeziwe Mahlangu. Published by Kwela; recommended price R210. Reviewed by Azola Dayile. SONGEZIWE MAHLANGU’S debut novel
which earned him the 2014 Etisalat Prize for Literature, reads like notebook insertions.
This can be attributed to the compact and direct sentences the author uses consistently throughout the book even though it is divided into three parts.
The opening sentence in part one, “This is not how things are meant to be”, comes as a revelation by the protagonist, Mangaliso Zolo, that all is not well.
He shares how he and his friends abused alcohol as well as banned substances.
Zolo, who is from the Eastern Cape, recently graduated from UCT with a Diploma in Accounting, but failed his post-graduate studies because his passion was writing rather than numbers.
Wanting to follow his passion, he buys and reads a lot of books and ultimately joins a writing club. He is constantly moving from one thing to the other trying to find solace even in religion among born-again Christians and the Hare Krishnas. At one stage he lands up in a psychiatric ward and is miraculously discharged the day after. He then goes back home to the Eastern Cape to live with his mother to recuperate.
eloquently depicts the life of young adults leaving university and trying to find their place in the world. It provides a glimpse into the psyche of these people and the causes as well as implications of their actions.
Jenny is battling with empty nest syndrome and a husband who watches every calorie they eat.
Claire is a single mom who works at Eadens. She would love to bake full time, win the competition and escape her boring life. For Mike, baking helped ease his pain after his wife died.
Slowly the reader realises all is not what it seems with each of them, including Mrs Eaden herself.
Situations arise in each of their lives and soon the secrets they tried so to hide are exposed. OVE is a very grumpy old man. He does not like people, he does not like animals, he does not like change and he especially does not like Volvos.
After losing his wife six months before and then being retrenched, Ove decides to end his life. He lives in an estate filled with what he perceives as incompetent fools, with dogs that do their business on his paving, “suits” that drive their cars in the no-driving zones and a crazy, pregnant woman and her family who move in opposite his home.
The story follows Ove’s experiences in dealing with the loss of a loved one, a job and friends.
In the process, he learns how to be more open towards people; break out of his old-fashioned mindset and his comfort zone; deal with thoughts of suicide (although handled in a light-hearted manner in the book); and how to find his own happiness instead of basing it on his wife’s.
The book emphasises the beauty of making new friends and allowing people to break down the very high walls that one builds up around one’s heart.
It also portrays Ove’s new take on love: of friends, children and Cat Annoyance – the stray cat on the estate.
is a humorous and witty take on life and its problems. This easy read, aimed at all age groups, has been translated from the original Swedish into English.
I found it to be a very motivating book that allows you to look at life in a slightly different way while also absorbing some important life lessons.