The Woman Next Door by Yewande Omotoso: book review

The Woman Next Door (2016) is set in Cape Town, South Africa.

Two women live next to each other in an affluent suburb of Cape Town, but they could not be more opposite: ‘Hortensia, black and small-boned, Marion, white, large. Marion’s husband dead, Hortensia’s not yet. Marion and her brood of four, Hortensia with no children.’ ‘We are not on the same side,’ says Hortensia to Marion. ‘Whatever you say, I disagree. However you feel, I feel the opposite. At no point in anything are you and I on the same side.’

Hortensia James, a black woman, married Peter, a white man, almost dead. Marion Agostino, a white woman, married Max, a rich Italian, now dead. Both women have had successful careers, now retired. They are in their 80s with too much time on their hands – except to grow their gardens and their hosility towards each other. Bitter enemies.

When Peter dies he leaves a ‘cryptic’ will, which he had recently changed. How will Hortensia react to that? And then, during the first days of mourning for her dearly departed, Hortensia has an accident and unexpected events conspire to bring the two women in one place at one time. How will they both cope with their twenty-year loathing for each other when they are in close proximity? Being neighbours was bad enough; being together is unbearable.

The writing is an easy, comical style, with vibrant visual references: ‘Hortensia sat in a chair, she leaned forward to pull on her skirt, lifting one buttock and then the other, feeling tired even though it was morning.’ And, ‘They drank bad tea as if it were gin, their teeth barred, the muscles in their necks tensed.’

Set in post-apartheid South Africa, the political tensions juxtapose the tension between the two women, giving it a certain dark side. Yet it is a light-hearted, witty, universal story, that could be the same for two different women in any other city, any other country. The themes of difference and tolerance, long-held hatred, and old-age grumpiness, are all entwined in this nice neighbourly novel.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

Comments

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass...

Sister cities discussed: Canberra and Islamabad

Two months ago, in March 2015, Australia and Pakistan agreed to explore ways to deepen ties. The relationship between Australia and Pakistan has been strong for decades, and the two countries continue to keep dialogues open. The annual bilateral discussions were held in Australia in March to continue engagements on a wide range of matters of mutual interest. The Pakistan delegation discussed points of interest will include sports, agriculture, economic growth, trade, border protection, business, and education. The possible twinning of the cities of Canberra, the capital of Australia, and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, were also on the agenda (i.e. called twin towns or sister cities). Sister City relationships are twinning arrangements that build friendships as well as government, business, culture, and community linkages. Canberra currently has international Sister City relationships with Beijing in China and Nara in Japan. One example of existing...

FEAST OR FAMINE

Search This Blog