Anton Krueger

Anton used to edumicate me back in 1st year, which is, admittedly, the only reason I bought this book. It is not terribly bad, but then again, it is not terribly good. The book concentrates on the eponymous Sunnyside Sal, a friend of the protagonist (a thickly-veiled version of Anton?). It relates the beginning, growth and end of their friendship in the Pretoria of the 1990s. Sort of a bildungsroman, once-removed.

The writing is competent, but that's all. Anton tends to digress at times, throwing in philosophical asides that don't seem to go anywhere very exciting. The fin de siecle milieu of the story was an interesting time in South African history, but Anton doesn't seem to exploit the possibilities here. Of course, as Anton says at the end of the book, everything in it really happened. Maybe he felt he had to stick to the events as they happened. Sex and drugs play a large part in the book, though the message on drugs seems to be inserted somewhat roughshod into the story.

The typography of the book is consistently awful. As it wasbrought out by a very small publishing house, this is understandable.

All in all, not the worst day I've spent reading, and I can see that this work was very close to Anton's heart, but maybe he should try to be a bit more ambitious in the future.… (meer)