kagablog

buy uselessly now (in south africa) (in united kingdom)

Herr Kaganof!!
 
Just so that you know- this marketing campaign of yours via the www. works- well for me anyway- I went out and bought your wonderful novel. The marketing aside- It was a beautiful and heartfelt story about a son and his father. I shed a tear when he died, when you held his hand so tight, and he yours so tight. He reminded me so much of my father, especially with regards to the rich, the beige bourgeoisies, the uneducated, the over-educated, the pseudo intellectuals, the glum, the ambitious, the regular-  ALL PEASANTS!!! -  AS FAR AS WOMEN ARE CONCERNED- My father’s appetite and attitude about women and sex was legendary- he had ONE WIFE, (48 YEARS OF HELL, FOR ALL CONCERNED) eleven kids, many girlfriends and a dreadful way of treating them once he has got what he wanted through his intellectual and gentlemanly charm offensive- which was diametrically opposed to his absolute lack of charm and callous behaviour (schizophrenic) when drunk!
 
But not so much about me and my father, more about your great insights and novel/book- Your disguised structure and narrative flowing from your free form was totally engaging, which as you know is the point of narrative. Your anecdotes made me home sick- and simultaneously sick of being South African! The tomato sauce thing had me laughing aloud, as did your Prozac nation and your consistent naïve logic. It’s a great insight into growing up in South Africa without the usual sentiment- just hard core and charged memory (as difficult as that can be)
 
In a very weird way, it gave me the same kind of feeling about South Africa and my father as Sean Johnson’s novel, the Native Commissioner, which is diametrically opposed in form and structure to yours- He is Mr. Traditional, and very good at it too. Nee, mooi man, fokken mooi. I think that the position that you took on the writing of the novel was brilliant, as it absconds you from any criticism- you are after all, JJ Uselessy.
 
Anycases (as my auntie Dawn used to say) that’s my ten cents worth. My most sincere congratulations on your work- vot can I shay-you are an original!!!-one of the very few in South Africa.
 
Best, Garth Holmes.
 
By the way, what happened to the waitress in Alberton?