Sarah Cohen reviews All Things Bright and Broken by Carol Gibbs
This debut autobiographical novel certainly satisfied my hunger for fine-tuned South African literature.
Set in Cape Town in the 1940s, the novel opens with an author’s note and is immediately appealing as we are taken through Colleen’s journey and told her story through her eyes.
In a heartbreakingly honest account, she leads the reader through the turmoil of her childhood.
You are likely to be spellbound as you read about moving from Landsdowne to Parow and then Crawford, while being introduced to a variety of eccentric, sympathetic and meaningful characters.
I experienced immense sadness on learning of the abuse and damage this young child experienced..
With an abusive father and a dependent mother, the siblings are protected by those around them.
Friday nights are “brandy nights”, and Colleen and her brother and sister are not wrapped up in their pyjamas safely and happily, but rather sit in their daytime clothes ready to escape the horror of their drunken father and his violent behaviour.
There also are lighter moments with the author’s humour evident, however, and characters in this book come at the reader thick and fast.
While Aunty Bubbles teaches the children to jitterbug, for example, Aunty Beryl carries a chihuahua in her handbag, and there is a midwife and home-undertaker named Two-Coffee-One-Milk.
Full of popular Afrikaans words, the glossary of terminology certainly is useful if you are not a native speaker.
If you’re out to learn some true South Africanisms while engaging in what is a sometimes harsh reality, this is a book for you.
All Things Bright and Broken by Carol Gibbs is published by Jacana Media.