The House Gun by Nadine Gordimer

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The House Gun by Nadine Gordimer 

Rating: enjoyed very much and would recommend. 

 I would call this Literary Fiction with a capital "L" and capital "F". It took me about 5 months to finish reading. This wasn't because it wasn't interesting or wasn't well written. On the contrary, I can see why Gordimer got a Nobel prize for literature. Rather, it is because the story requires you to read every word and I would get reader fatigue and have to switch to something else for a while. Gordimer was an amazing writer and I frequently found myself pausing to marvel at the way she could put words together. The story is pretty simple. Duncan Lindgard, a young architect, has shot and killed Carl, a former gay lover, who he found having sex with his live-in companion. Duncan confesses to committing the murder but can't claim heat of passion since a day passed between observing the tryst and the shooting. His father, Harald, a successful businessman, and mother Claudia, a physician, hire a high powered black barrister, Hamilton Motsamai to represent him. I really liked the character of Motsamai and could see him featuring in courtroom dramas. 

This could be the plot for a John Grisham type of courtroom drama. but Gordimer looks at the action through the lens of post-apartheid South Africa. The Lindgards, father, mother, and son, white and successful in their professions, have to put themselves in the hands of a black man to save Duncan: the death penalty is still on the books. 

 Gordimer does a deep look at every aspect of the events: the changes in the social order, South Africa in the grips of the transition following apartheid; what it means to take a human life; a family that had existed without really inderstanding each other; what in Duncan's upbringing positioned him to commit such a crime; and violence in South Africa and the — perceived necessary— presence of a house gun in the first place. Honestly, for me, the book calls for a second reading; I'm sure I missed a lot of the nuances in the observations of Gordimer's omniscient narrator. I also want to savor Gordimer's use of language. 

 I would be very interested in hearing from South Africans about this book: am I close to being on the mark in my reaction and perceptions? This probably wasn't the best book to start with for someone new to Gordimer and an outsider too boot but it where I started and I don't regret it. I'll probably read July's People or The Pickup next or maybe her short stories since those I can dip in and out as the mood arises.

Keywords: South Africa, South African fiction, crime fiction, post-apartheid fiction