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The Promise - Feb 2022 Book Group discussion thread

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westmoors Mar 2022 12:23pm, 30 Mar 2022 5,953 posts	Quote Pin westmoors Haven't read They yet, as I'm waiting for it to become available at the library. Guess there is some similarity in structure between them.
Diogenes Mar 2022 12:52pm, 30 Mar 2022 68,519 posts	Quote Pin Diogenes Not exactly. In They it is never quite clear who the narrator is, and there are different characters in each section. In The Promise, I always felt quite clear who everyone was and whose POV we were seeing things from. Also, I felt like we did get deep inside the main protagonists, though perhaps not so much in the first section. All these things are why I wasn't sure if your review was of The Promise.
westmoors Mar 2022 1:09pm, 30 Mar 2022 5,954 posts	Quote Pin westmoors I guess I just didn't 'gel' with this book and hence didn't make any connections with the characters.
Serendippily Mar 2022 9:56pm, 30 Mar 2022 25,629 posts	Quote Pin Serendippily I’m reading They next. Looking forward to not understanding any of it
Columba Mar 2022 5:49pm, 31 Mar 2022 21,678 posts	Quote Pin Columba Very happy to send my copy of They on to westmoors, or indeed anyone else if Westmoors wants to wait for the library copy.
westmoors Mar 2022 9:39pm, 31 Mar 2022 5,960 posts	Quote Pin westmoors Columba Thanks for the offer, but I'm happy to wait for the library as it should be available by the time I've read this month's book.
Columba Apr 2022 9:40pm, 1 Apr 2022 21,679 posts	Quote Pin Columba Anyone else?
Peregrinator Apr 2022 3:16pm, 2 Apr 2022 1,046 posts	Quote Pin Peregrinator The Promise One of the things Physicists study are phase transitions. They investigate how materials are altered by changes in conditions such as pressure and temperature. Common examples are changes in state such as the melting of ice into water, and the sublimation of solid carbon dioxide into gas. But some phase changes might just involve a change to the shape of a crystal lattice, or modifications to the way electrons move between the atoms, producing a change to the conductivity of the material, or its colour. From all this, people can describe systems such as the interiors of planets, fridges, magnetism, alloys and why you can't make a decent cup of tea on Mount Everest. One key thing is that these phase changes are physical, and not chemical re-arrangements of the material. The water molecule is still a water molecule whether locked in ice, flowing as a liquid or bouncing about as a gas. In the 1990's South Africa underwent a rather major change of state. Which resulted in the same constituent elements being re-arranged in a completely different structure. Not a perfect new state, but much better than the previous one, and much better than the transition some had predicted. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was an (inevitably imperfect) attempt to anneal the new state and remove the historic stresses. What "The Promise" does so well is to flow effortlessly over all the phase changes that occurred in South Africa, showing how people's lives are affected by the new environment, without fundamentally their natures being altered. Which is a brave choice for a writer: it seems easier to show characters coming to appreciate their role in the historic injustice of apartheid or being changed by the violence in society. But sticking with their characteristics, the novel shows how these play out against the changes in environment, as tragedy or triumph. Which seems quite true-to-life: it often does take a lot of external force to change a personality by a little, and even then, the result is often to exaggerate it. Really rather good. Even the narrative asides from the author didn't annoy me.
Serendippily Apr 2022 4:01pm, 2 Apr 2022 25,651 posts	Quote Pin Serendippily Cracking review even where I don’t necessarily agree
LindsD Apr 2022 4:05pm, 2 Apr 2022 53,893 posts	Quote Pin LindsD And I learnt the word 'anneal'. Thank you.