Customer Reviews

House Gun

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I'm baffled by the negative reviews this book has garnered here; I suppose it's more of a reaction to Gordimer's subject matter than to her style or content. People are more comfortable with a revolutionary spouting rhetoric that they agree with: if you, as a reader, are still wrapping your brain around the reality of South Africa as it was, Gordimer's earlier works will ring more true with you. If, however, you are interested in the legacy of Apartheid as it is, The House Gun will resonate more. The House Gun, so to speak, will only fire in the direction in which you point it.

As with all Gordimer works, the pace is slow and deliberately so, the words carefully chosen not to describe action but to allow the reader into the minds and souls of people who have lived in circumstances of which the majority of us can hardly conceive. The plot, intriguing though it is, is really secondary to the introspection taken on by each of the accused murderer's parents; the most pressing question, that of choosing to support your child with whatever means you have at your disposal (financial, spiritual, intellectual, emotional)in the face of your indecision as to whether or not you believe his version of events (or if any version of events would be acceptable). If your child murdered someone else, how would you feel? What would you do? Is the social legacy of apartheid going to color your beliefs; what happens when you are "open-minded" (no one ever really is), and your child commits a race crime? Do you use the race card to exonerate him, even when you are repulsed by his choice and behavior? And while the stress of saving your child from what he or she deserves in the course of law taps all of your inner resources, what happens to your marriage, your career, your friendships, your faith? Do you question all of your motives, all of your beliefs, all of your emotions?

I believe that you do. Every crisis, by nature, requires self-examination. It is not always pretty, or easy to accept, what you find at the end of your questioning. Gordimer, here, takes this family's condition, in microcosm, to expose South Africa's current quandary, many years after the abolition of Apartheid. Where do they stand as a society? What do they believe? What is excusable, what is justifiable? Who pays for what has been done, and how? Where will they go? What will be possible? No one knows, and maybe that's too unsettling for most.

Gordimer is an excellent writer, but The House Gun finds her far from the top of her game. The plot of the story is certainly intriguing: in post-apartheid South Africa, a man is accused of murdering his lover; his affluent, supposedly liberal parents hire a black attorney to represent him, despite the fact that the parents have never interacted with a black person in their lives. Gordimer has a great deal to say here about the legacy of apartheid, its violence, and about liberal culture, but getting to these messages is arduous. Even by literary standards, the text is dry, devoid of humor and even emotion to the point of being painful, and Gordimer does little to help her cause by adopting such a difficult style, weighting down the text with unpunctuated dialogue and terse prose. Unlike other "challenging" works (read: Faulkner, Joyce, early Gordimer, etc.) that ultimately reward readers for their efforts, The House Gun has a promising start that languishes up to an unsatisfying ending. The reviewer who stated that this is not a work for "best seller" readers is certainly on the mark, but I would go as far as to say that this isn't really much of a book for those of us with high brow tastes. Gordimer has written a number of outstanding books (My Son's Story, Burger's Daughter, and Jump come to mind), but The House Gun falls short of Gordimer's standards. If you love Gordimer, you'll probably read this book anyway, but her new readers (and I highly recommend reading her) should start elsewhere.

If you are a "best seller" reader, this book is not for you, and definitely not for the casual reading one does at the gym. The book has a style that captures the art of a good literary piece, perhaps similar to Faulkner. It makes the reader work a little bit. Gordimer's style also lends itself to the incredible understanding of the human psyche of the characters, which is, in my opinion, the strength of the book.

I read about this in Publisher's Weekly, so I thought I'd check it out. I took it to the gym, so it was the only thing I had to read while on my stationary cycle. I still couldn't read it. The dispassionate writing style made it seem like I was looking at the characters through dirty water.

This book came as a big disappointment especially as I was so looking forward to reading it. The plot is incredibly weak, the characters shallow and their reactions and emotions unbelievable. The pace is slow and half the time one isn't sure exactly what is going on. She uses a unique style of writing dialogue so that one isn't always sure who is speaking. The saving grace is that in some parts the style is good and there are some paragraphs which are quite well written and readable. For the rest, a boring and definitley not recommended read. Pity ...

As a South African acquaintance said to me... "I've never been able to finish a Gordimer book". I decided I would finish this book, and it is well written if in an archingly intellectual manner. But its tough going...too detached, and ultimately not enough to keep you wanting to go back. I chose it at random since I had heard so much about Nadine Gordimer, but had never read any of her work. Suggest finding another one.

I'm an avid reader and I found this book to be far too much work to read. The writing style is punishing - some combination of observation/conversation/emotion that is all strung together inside of paragraphs that require the reader to re-read them in order to follow the meaning. Yes, there is an interesting plot here but it is largely overshadowed by the author's writing style. As the parents try to cope with the knowledge that their son has committed a murder they stumble along wrapped in cotton wool. I found myself wanting to shake some sense of reality into them - force them into some reaction - which further increased my frustration with this book.

If you're still interested in reading The House Gun - I'd suggest a visit to the library.

Fans of thriller-a-minute, page-turners will find this book a drag!

But readers who enjoy good prose and appreciate a talented wordsmiths intricate tapestry will find 'The House Gun' a jewel of a book.

The story involves an upper-middle class family who must suddenly confront the fact that their son could be a murderer. There are enough twists and turns in the plot to hold the readers' interest but it is not so much the story as Nadine Gordimer's prose that makes this novel such a compelling read. Nadine manages to convey the complex human emotions associated with murder and it's defense with a rare, almost stunning clarity. The deliberately-slow narrative and the delineation of the main characters gradually creates, for the reader, what is almost a first-person familiarity with the characters.

The novel is a page-turner alright but not of the who-dun-it variety. Rather one turns the pages of 'The House Gun' spell-bound by the author's artistry.

Being the first novel by Nadine Gordimer I have read, I was immensely impressed with her writing style, her characterization and the number of ideas she can bring to one subject. I was a little disapointed that the book didn't deal with more of the day-to-day life of the city where the main characters lived, and I felt that the focus on the inner lives on the parents and their pain, became redundant after a while. The characterization of the former exiled black lawyer was brilliant. This would be a stellar performance for a film. He's a complicated, changing character and even at the end of the novel it is difficult to be certain what to exactly make of him. All in all I found the ending kind of bland. The utopian promise was wishful thinking and the inclusion of the son (the agressor) thoughts seemed out of place when we know so little of through most of the novel. It's a great introduction to Gordimer's work, but I'm going to investigate her earlier, aparthaid period novels to get a better sense of what she actually writes.

This is the first Gordimer book I've read. I bought it because I thought the subject was interesting. Gordimer's impressive literary standing didn't hurt my interest either. But, I was ultimately left unmoved by the story. For me, a writer succeeds when they either transport you to another place or provide enough insight into a character to make you feel something for that person. But, this book did neither for me. I would imagine that having a family member who committed a murder would have a profound effect on my family's interactions with each other and the community. However, Gordimer only hints at that effect in her characters. As a result, I never got the sense of shame and introspection that such an event must cause.

After disregarding the thoughts of the murderer for most of the story, she turns toward him for the last part of the book. While some might see this as an integral part of the story, I read it as an act of desperation on her part. It was as though she had run out of things to say about the parents, but still had fifty pages to fill. And I still never figured out his motives for his actions (unless I were to believe his lawyer).

In all, the book didn't transport me to South Africa and didn't shed any insight into how people behave in those circumstances. I will give her credit for being able to write solid dialogue. However, the shallow narrative ultimately betrays the story.