Sunday, 17 January 2021

Review of 'The House Gun' by Nadine Gordimer

 

Grey speckled background with black writing that reads: "What is shameful cannot be shared. What is shameful, separates" - 'The House Gun' by Nadine Gordimer

I really struggled with this book. It's something that I can see fans of literary fiction, or books like Apple Tree Yard (Louise Docherty) and The Good Father (Noah Hawley) enjoying, but it was something I couldn't get into at all. 

The House Gun is a psychological narrative about parents Harold and Claudia struggling to understand how their son is being accused of murder. The charges against Duncan are that he murdered his housemate with a shared gun kept in their home after he found him having sex with Duncan's girlfriend on their sofa. The book delves into the legalities around a case such as this, sexuality, race and gender tensions.

The writing style of this kept you so distanced from the main characters that I felt I couldn't really connect with them. Duncan was a bit of a mystery in the novel - there were occasional moments where his voice broke through where I felt I might enjoy the book again, but they were very few and far between. It just felt like the book dragged on with little plot: Harold and Claudia were learning that their son wasn't who they thought he was at all and struggling to come to terms with this.

I gave this one star.

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