The Reluctant Passenger is a fabulous book. I discovered it a few years ago and was completely taken with it, I immediately went off to find if he had written anything else, which as we all know, he has! And thank goodness for that, else where would we, as readers be?
The book is set in Cape Town and that was one of the reasons why I enjoyed it so much. I could identify with the place, and there is something wonderful about reading a book where you know the places contained within its covers. It is also a somewhat quirky book with interesting characters and a fabulous story line. I am not one to give away the story line so will leave you with the extract from the back of the book to tempt you to read it.
‘Nicholas Morris is a fundamentally decent chap who likes order, and isn’t given to messy emotions. He and his ‘sort of’ girlfriend Leonora share a relationship that is comforting in its sameness, and he is ensconced in a well-paid career as an environmental lawyer.
Apart from his frustration with the madness of Cape Town’s traffic, he is not aware of feeling any dissatisfaction with his lot. But then, he’s not aware of feeling very much at all really. Until he realises he’s forgotten to vote in South Africa’s first democratic elections – because he was seeing to the long-overdue mowing of his lawn. With a jolt Nicholas begins to wonder if he isn’t being squeezed to the margins of his own dull life, despite all the efforts of his flamboyantly gay colleague Gerhard, who constantly tries to provoke him to let go and live a little.
But soon Nicholas has no choice. When he takes on a case to save the baboons of Cape Point from developers, he becomes drawn into intrigues involving a charismatic liberal judge, dinosaurs of the old regime and the full cast of the wealthy Tomlinson family, not to mention its golden boy heir.
When the baboons are captured for experimentation by a research institute from the Old South Africa, which has somehow become incorporated into the New, he finds himself acting with uncharacteristic passion and conviction. Sucked into a whirlpool of deceit, he finds a lot more going on below the surface than he’d ever imagined – and soon he is not only struggling with his own identity, but fighting for his life.‘
Michiel Heyns writes with great intelligence and humour, starting from page one and it doesnt stop there. This novel provides entertainment and food for thought and I would recommend anyone who has/does or will live in Cape Town to read it, as well as those who have never set foot inside our country.
And just to tempt you just a little bit more (and any one who has been stuck in the Cape Town traffic):
‘Between my orderly house in Pinelands and my orderly office in the city, I had to negotiate Settler’s Way, a three-lane highway clogged with every neurosis, addiction, psychosis, obsession, phobia, mania and perversion known to science and a few yet to be classified, amongst the latter being a form of demonic possession visited upon minibus taxis, manifesting itself as a compulsion to hop kerbs, push into lanes that are already crowded beyond capacity, reverse into the face of oncoming traffic, make u-turns in the fast lane, and shed wheels and bumpers at random, all the while hooting indignantly at everything obstructing or deemed remotely likely to obstruct their frenzied progress.’
And just to satisfy those reading tastebuds, The Book Club Blog is having a giveaway of this novel. Yes, you read that sentence correctly! All that is required is that you leave a comment with your details and one reason why you should be the person who receives this book.
The giveaway is open to all residents in South Africa and the closing date will be the 5 November 2009. We will then contact the lucky reader and get the book into the post for you.
Now, hows that for a great start to the weekend?
Happy Friday and happy reading!
The reason why I should win this book……….
My in-laws are visiting this week end!!!! Help!!!! I need some good news – like winning a prize.
Sounds fabulous i think I am going to buy the book myself.
Woo hoo – a giveaway.
So why should I win this book. I lived in Cape Town for a while as well and love reading books that are set in towns or citys that I know and love.
Also I have been reading fantasty this month and desperatly need a break!
if i won this book i would first have to go out and get horribly drunk to celebrate, because i never win anything. then i would greedily devour it from cover to cover. then in a final act of celebration and book nerdiness i would put it into my book club and force ten other unsuspecting voracious readers to dig in.
so you see you’d be affecting many lives in a possitive way. not just one. oh and you’d be boosting the economy cos i’d have to buy lots and lots of whiskey. see, it’s win win.
Sry for being offtopic … which WP theme do you use? It’s looking interesting.