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By Katherine Thorne
BOOK REVIEW
In a Strange Room
By Damon Galgut
Published by Atlantic Books
Price €13.99
THERE ARE THREE STORIES in this novel. The first, called The Follower, is about two men who set out on a journey together, a walking tour from South Africa into Lesotho. One of the men, a German, is more dominant and leads the way. The other, the narrator, is the follower.
Throughout the journey there are tensions between them which culminate in an unhappy ending. We become clear in our knowledge of the narrator's perceptions, but the other remains something of an enigma – until the end, when events indicate that failures in communication can lead to unexpected conclusions.
In the second story, The Lover, the narrator travels to Victoria Falls. He falls into the company of a group of people who have only recently met each other. They travel together for a while but it doesn't work out.
Then he drifts again into the company of three other Europeans – Swiss twins and a Frenchman called Jerome. He develops an unsatisfactory relationship with the latter. It ends in disaster.
In the third story, The Guardian, the narrator becomes guardian to a psychotic woman whom he takes on a journey to India. Predictably, her madness takes hold and he finds himself in situations that require extraordinary endurance. His loyalty and courage are severely tested.
An English woman comes to his assistance. She is helpful but ends up telling him her own tragic tale – the details of which are not divulged to the reader. However, it becomes the catalyst for a kind of catharsis which allows him to feel awful but ‘emptied out’.
This is an unusual novel, but most rewarding in the manner of its exploration of the psychological growth of a young man from his inept handling of relationships to his becoming a responsible, active carer.
In A Strange Room is a rewarding book with three stories......
