Scan barcode
kiwiflora's review against another edition
4.0
You know there will be no happy ending when the opening line is 'The first time I saw him I thought, he won't last.' The first two pages are full of words like - tall, thin, dusty, empty, frail, wilting, burden of leaves, ragged trees, basic standard issue, ugly, austere - and the best one of all which sums up the whole mood of the book - bleak. What a writer this man is. From beginning to end the reader is taken on slowly unwinding spool of inevitable tragedy. Danger and a sense of foreboding is all around, as is the disintegration of the physical surroundings and the people themselves.
In the confusion of post-Apartheid South Africa, Dr Frank Eloff is a white doctor who has been working for seven years in a hospital in a remote rural outpost. The town was once the 'capital' of one of the many homelands set up by the apartheid government for self rule by the local tribal groups. There was a president, a flag, a parliament, statues of venerable leaders, in this case the Dictator, in the town square - all the trappings but none of the clout. Now there are no longer the trappings, with empty buildings and bits of statues strewn around the desolate country side. What rules now is violence, suspicion and despondency.
The hospital has gradually been allowed to become more rundown and neglected, staff who leave not being replaced, equipment and fittings slowly disappearing and not being replaced. The black doctor in charge does not want to be there but is powerless to move. Frank no longer really cares, and has come to see the hospital as his refuge from a messed up personal life. Into all this one day walks young recently graduated doctor Laurence Waters, who is on a one year's compulsory community medical practice stint. Being young, idealistic and energetic he wants to make a difference and so has chosen this particular derelict rundown operation to leave his mark.
His arrival, quite simply, upsets the proverbial apple cart. He has ideas, plans, wants to explore, asks too many questions, wants to put things right and in the process upsets the delicate balance between the various groups within the local community. The opposing personalities of Frank and Laurence are at the core of the novel, much like the new South Africa - the old being supplanted by the new. Being the only white men on site, (there is also a doctor husband and wife team from Cuba), Frank is forced to share his room with him. As a result, both unintentionally and deliberately, they constantly irritate each other and this becomes the undoing of both of them.
Damon Galgut is South African and grew up during the turbulent and dark times of the 1960s and 1970s, coming to adult hood in the early 1980s. This was his first novel and made such an immediate impression it was short listed for the Man Booker Prize in 2003. He pulls no punches with what he thinks of the current state of his country of birth, and what it has become. He also appears to have little hope for the future of the country.
But the book does end on a hopeful note, with Frank finally having achieved his goal of being head of the hospital and the many challenges that brings. There is a sense of hope and contentment in Frank's world, although maybe after seven years he has become so part of the local community he works in that he can't actually see a way out.
In the confusion of post-Apartheid South Africa, Dr Frank Eloff is a white doctor who has been working for seven years in a hospital in a remote rural outpost. The town was once the 'capital' of one of the many homelands set up by the apartheid government for self rule by the local tribal groups. There was a president, a flag, a parliament, statues of venerable leaders, in this case the Dictator, in the town square - all the trappings but none of the clout. Now there are no longer the trappings, with empty buildings and bits of statues strewn around the desolate country side. What rules now is violence, suspicion and despondency.
The hospital has gradually been allowed to become more rundown and neglected, staff who leave not being replaced, equipment and fittings slowly disappearing and not being replaced. The black doctor in charge does not want to be there but is powerless to move. Frank no longer really cares, and has come to see the hospital as his refuge from a messed up personal life. Into all this one day walks young recently graduated doctor Laurence Waters, who is on a one year's compulsory community medical practice stint. Being young, idealistic and energetic he wants to make a difference and so has chosen this particular derelict rundown operation to leave his mark.
His arrival, quite simply, upsets the proverbial apple cart. He has ideas, plans, wants to explore, asks too many questions, wants to put things right and in the process upsets the delicate balance between the various groups within the local community. The opposing personalities of Frank and Laurence are at the core of the novel, much like the new South Africa - the old being supplanted by the new. Being the only white men on site, (there is also a doctor husband and wife team from Cuba), Frank is forced to share his room with him. As a result, both unintentionally and deliberately, they constantly irritate each other and this becomes the undoing of both of them.
Damon Galgut is South African and grew up during the turbulent and dark times of the 1960s and 1970s, coming to adult hood in the early 1980s. This was his first novel and made such an immediate impression it was short listed for the Man Booker Prize in 2003. He pulls no punches with what he thinks of the current state of his country of birth, and what it has become. He also appears to have little hope for the future of the country.
But the book does end on a hopeful note, with Frank finally having achieved his goal of being head of the hospital and the many challenges that brings. There is a sense of hope and contentment in Frank's world, although maybe after seven years he has become so part of the local community he works in that he can't actually see a way out.
kimbofo's review
5.0
The end of the year might be four months off, but Damon Galgut’s The Good Doctor is certainly going to be on my list of favourite reads for 2015. I read it over the course of a couple of days, but every time I put the book down, I kept thinking about it, and now, a fortnight later, the characters and the story still remain with me — the sign of an exceptionally good novel.
First published in 2003, The Good Doctor is set in the “new” post-apartheid South Africa. It tells the story of Frank Eloff, a staff doctor working in a deserted rural hospital, who is forced to share his room with a blow-in: a younger doctor, Laurence Waters, who is newly qualified, green behind the years and brimming with energy and new ideas.
From the very start, Frank, who narrates the story in a cool yet forthright manner, is unhappy about Laurence’s arrival:
But despite Frank’s best efforts not to become too close to his new colleague, he finds himself drawn into Laurence’s orbit. Yet Frank has secrets he wishes to keep — an affair with a black woman living outside the village, for instance, and a troubled past in the army — which makes it difficult for him to truly open up to the man everyone thinks is his best friend. This creates a narrative tension, a kind of suspenseful atmosphere, that builds throughout the story.
To read the rest of my review, please visit my blog.
First published in 2003, The Good Doctor is set in the “new” post-apartheid South Africa. It tells the story of Frank Eloff, a staff doctor working in a deserted rural hospital, who is forced to share his room with a blow-in: a younger doctor, Laurence Waters, who is newly qualified, green behind the years and brimming with energy and new ideas.
From the very start, Frank, who narrates the story in a cool yet forthright manner, is unhappy about Laurence’s arrival:
When he said, ‘I would never do that to you,’ he was telling me that he was a true friend. I think he felt that way almost from the first day. Yet the feeling wasn’t mutual. He was a room-mate to me, a temporary presence who was disturbing my life.
But despite Frank’s best efforts not to become too close to his new colleague, he finds himself drawn into Laurence’s orbit. Yet Frank has secrets he wishes to keep — an affair with a black woman living outside the village, for instance, and a troubled past in the army — which makes it difficult for him to truly open up to the man everyone thinks is his best friend. This creates a narrative tension, a kind of suspenseful atmosphere, that builds throughout the story.
To read the rest of my review, please visit my blog.
macdara's review against another edition
5.0
Deservingly shortlisted for the 2003 Booker Prize, this paints a truly affecting picture of a contemporary South Africa still haunted by the ghosts of its past.
leasttorque's review against another edition
3.0
This novel read like a very long short story, and so I struggled with it. It’s the disturbing haunted surreal dreamlike incompleteness of it all. There’s something missing that prevents me from inhabiting that kind of writing and my fragile psyche is left unable to get a grip. People have strange unfathomable conversations in a setting in which day-to-day activities were hard to picture.
And yet I can see the brilliance here in how it communicates post-apartheid shifts and resentments and idealism and cynicism and inertia and energy and confusion.
And yet I can see the brilliance here in how it communicates post-apartheid shifts and resentments and idealism and cynicism and inertia and energy and confusion.
twospoons's review against another edition
2.0
Yes, there were political, racial, social themes, but I was bored.
claire_fuller_writer's review against another edition
4.0
Frank is a middle-aged doctor in an isolated, run-down rural hospital in the homelands of South Africa just after the ending of apartheid. He is solitary, set in his ways, moving through life in a dream. A young newly qualified doctor, Laurence arrives at the hospital full of enthusiasm, ideas, and ideals. Frank is forced to share his room at the hospital. Laurence believes that Frank is his friend, but with barely concealed scorn and irritation, Frank refuses to change.
There's not a lot of plot, but the writing is wonderful and the novel - from Frank's point of view - has a dreamy quality full of absence and inaction.
Frank and Laurence's relationship is a metaphor for pre-apartheid South Africa and the post-apartheid country. They don't understand each other. he older is worn down and resents change. Frank is shocked when he sees his father's black maid on her hands and knees picking up dropped flower petals while his father points out one after another, but not understanding how his one-sided relationship with a local black woman demeans her as much as the maid having to pick up petals. And the new: full of eager enthusiasm, moving too fast to change the views and habits of others, and ultimately, putting himself in danger.
I enjoyed this very much. Maybe not quite as much as The Promise, which is short-listed for the Booker.
There's not a lot of plot, but the writing is wonderful and the novel - from Frank's point of view - has a dreamy quality full of absence and inaction.
Frank and Laurence's relationship is a metaphor for pre-apartheid South Africa and the post-apartheid country. They don't understand each other. he older is worn down and resents change. Frank is shocked when he sees his father's black maid on her hands and knees picking up dropped flower petals while his father points out one after another, but not understanding how his one-sided relationship with a local black woman demeans her as much as the maid having to pick up petals. And the new: full of eager enthusiasm, moving too fast to change the views and habits of others, and ultimately, putting himself in danger.
I enjoyed this very much. Maybe not quite as much as The Promise, which is short-listed for the Booker.
amyth30's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
klshann's review against another edition
2.0
I found this to be a little bit boring and I didn't really like any of the characters
gzofian's review against another edition
4.0
Interesting - reading the other reviews the words spare and sparse are frequently used. The writing is certainly economical, but the vision is fully realised, with the characters very solid and almost recognisable. Frank is so human, Laurence so youthful! The frustrations are specific and yet universal: that sense of personal futility alternating with the hope of effecting change. After a few Doris Lessing disappointments I often avoid SA books, but I am very glad I chose this book. The landscape was fitting.
PS I have since had a snide comment pointing out that DS is Zimbabwean not SA - who bloody cares - geography has never been my strong point and making a comment like that serves very little purpose without engaging with me more - why would you just clip out a jibe in that way?
PS I have since had a snide comment pointing out that DS is Zimbabwean not SA - who bloody cares - geography has never been my strong point and making a comment like that serves very little purpose without engaging with me more - why would you just clip out a jibe in that way?
eliotsiggs's review against another edition
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25