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Review
"Extraordinarily readable. . . . A very beautiful book for one thing, strikingly conceived and hauntingly written, a writer's novel par excellence. . . ."
— The Guardian
"A powerful three-part meditation on the relationship between travel, love and an off-kilter self."
— Financial Times
"It is the honesty that consolidates this thoughtful, intelligent, cohesively human book. Galgut, ever the wanderer, always the seeker, is here at his most deliberate, as intent on finding meaning as on asking questions."
— Irish Times
"Galgut has the talent to grow into one of South Africa's great literary voices."
— The Economist
"Galgut is a worthy heir to Gordimer and Coetzee."
— The Observer
"Like Ian McEwan, [Galgut] is a master of menace."
— Vancouver Sun
"A master of psychological tension."
— Globe and Mail
— The Guardian
"A powerful three-part meditation on the relationship between travel, love and an off-kilter self."
— Financial Times
"It is the honesty that consolidates this thoughtful, intelligent, cohesively human book. Galgut, ever the wanderer, always the seeker, is here at his most deliberate, as intent on finding meaning as on asking questions."
— Irish Times
"Galgut has the talent to grow into one of South Africa's great literary voices."
— The Economist
"Galgut is a worthy heir to Gordimer and Coetzee."
— The Observer
"Like Ian McEwan, [Galgut] is a master of menace."
— Vancouver Sun
"A master of psychological tension."
— Globe and Mail
Product Description
For readers of Ian McEwan, Paul Auster, and J.M. Coetzee, In a Strange Room is the intricate, psychologically intense, and deeply personal book of fiction from the internationally acclaimed, Man Booker Prize-shortlisted author of The Good Doctor.
A young man named Damon takes three journeys, through Greece, India, and Africa. To those who travel with him and those whom he meets on the way — including a handsome enigmatic stranger, a group of careless backpackers, and a woman on the edge — he is the Follower, the Lover, and the Guardian. Yet, despite the man's best intentions, each journey ends in disaster. Together, these three journeys will change his whole life.
A book of longing and thwarted desire, rage and compassion, In a Strange Room is the hauntingly beautiful evocation of one man's search for love and a place to call home.
A young man named Damon takes three journeys, through Greece, India, and Africa. To those who travel with him and those whom he meets on the way — including a handsome enigmatic stranger, a group of careless backpackers, and a woman on the edge — he is the Follower, the Lover, and the Guardian. Yet, despite the man's best intentions, each journey ends in disaster. Together, these three journeys will change his whole life.
A book of longing and thwarted desire, rage and compassion, In a Strange Room is the hauntingly beautiful evocation of one man's search for love and a place to call home.
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Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
The road does does not always rise up to meet you,
By Ian Gordon Malcomson (Victoria, BC) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME) (TOP 10 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: In a Strange Room: Three Journeys (Paperback)
Taking to the road has always been portrayed as a metaphor for freedom and breaking out from under encumbering circumstances. Galgut, an award-winning South African short-story writer, however, begs to differ, and has written a collection of three very poignant and remarkable short stories to make his point. For him, travel in this fast-paced world is anything but liberating. The characters he deals with are always somewhere between here and there as they try to sort out relationships, repair consciences, and assure their own security in the middle of great turmoil. Galgut does a marvellous job of giving each main character a specific role to play as they wander the face of the globe in search of meaning. There is the stranger that we often fall in with but can't endure because he or she directly threatens our space; then there is the lover who makes too many unreasonable demands on our time; and, lastly, there is the friend who challenges us to be self-sacrificing beyond reasonable measure. Cast in the context of a foreign land like Greece, India or East Africa, these personal relationships take on a very surreal and scary dimension: the need to make decisions at the point of crisis. For Galgut, while the spectrum of choices are simple - fight or flight - the ultimate consequences are not. Loneliness, regret, fear, inconvenience and anguish of soul often come for those adventurers who set out to travel far from home in a quixotic search for happiness, because there is always the other person to contend with. I like his smooth narrative style where the reader is allowed to feel part of the ongoing drama and tension in the story. I recommend this book to anyone who sees themselves as restive globetrotters who need to know that they are not alone in their quest to see and understand the world around them.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Should have won the booker 2010,
By
This review is from: In a Strange Room: Three Journeys (Paperback)
Set in three parts, 'In a Strange Room' is a work of meta-fiction mixing old fashioned story telling with travelogue in a way very reminiscent of WG Sebald. The stories see the narrator (also an author named Damon) travelling first in Lesotho then throughout central Africa and finally in India. We see him interacting with an unusual rather emotionless dark German figure called Reiner with whom he goes walking, then with a group of Europeans travelling north together through Africa and then with a unstable friend hell-bent on killing herself.The book takes its title from the William Faulkner quotation "in a strange room you must empty yourself for sleep" and if there is a theme that connects the three stories it is the discomfort that quote speaks to, for the book is a disquisition on uneasiness. Whether it is the hint of unexpressed homosexual desire, the awkwardness involved in being in a group that one has no connection or history with or of facing a traumatic situation in a country that is not just foreign to you but whose social norms are so wildly different from those of the country you call your home. First published as three short stories in the magazine Paris Review you could be forgiven for worrying that the book would be disconnected but that is really not a problem as the themes that connect the stories are so strong. The character Damon doesn't just find himself in uncomfortable situations, he is a character who is ill at ease with the world forcing him to move from place to place. It is a short novel coming in at only 180 pages and Galgut plays a bit fast and loose with his punctuation but this has been one of the best books I've read in a long while. It stands, in my opinion, easily heads and shoulders above the other Booker shortlist novels I've read so far. I'm not sure how to rate its chances for success because whilst this type of novel is particularly suited to my tastes, I'm not sure how widely popular it would be. All I can say is that I thoroughly enjoyed it.
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
OK but not a must read,
This review is from: In a Strange Room: Three Journeys (Paperback)
I would say this book is OK. The three stories depicted were interesting but not what I would call exciting to read or where you couldn't put the book down. I caught myself skimming to get through versus really reading the book. There was alot of detail and the travelling locations got confusing. IF you are a traveller and could relate to his locations then maybe you would get more out it.
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