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Dark Windows
Dark Windows is set in an alternative-present Johannesburg. A wave of New-Age belief has radically altered the country’s political landscape, but not everyone buys into the miracle. Gaia Peace, the party which swept to power ten years ago on the back of a miracle cure for crime and a revolutionary social welfare programme, is still firmly ensconced, but the cracks are showing.
Jay Rowan does his job and doesn’t ask questions. He’s already in probationary therapy for a drunk driving accident, and he’s not looking for trouble. Now Kenneth Lang, a veteran political aide, has hired Jay to paint in the windows of apparently random vacant rooms.
Lang has survived a long career of political change, and is not about to start questioning orders, even when they are as misguided as senior minister Meg Hewitt’s latest obsession, project Dark Windows. A mystical charlatan has convinced her that she can attract a world-changing supernatural visitation, the Arrival.
Beth Talbot, the married woman Jay is seeing, is compelled by the supposed suicides of two students in a residence building. Her growing interest in the case leads her to a seditious student group and back into the past she’s been trying to avoid.
Jay Rowan does his job and doesn’t ask questions. He’s already in probationary therapy for a drunk driving accident, and he’s not looking for trouble. Now Kenneth Lang, a veteran political aide, has hired Jay to paint in the windows of apparently random vacant rooms.
Lang has survived a long career of political change, and is not about to start questioning orders, even when they are as misguided as senior minister Meg Hewitt’s latest obsession, project Dark Windows. A mystical charlatan has convinced her that she can attract a world-changing supernatural visitation, the Arrival.
Beth Talbot, the married woman Jay is seeing, is compelled by the supposed suicides of two students in a residence building. Her growing interest in the case leads her to a seditious student group and back into the past she’s been trying to avoid.
- GenresAfrica
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
44 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 1, 2015
Greenberg populates his alternative-reality South Africa with familiar characters in strange circumstances: the underachieving slogger, the adventurous woman, the dedicated career builder, the rebellious student intent on creating a wonderful new world, the unworldly and idealistic politician, the highly pragmatic politician, the new age-y charlatan. This heady mix lures the reader through an underworld of covert operations and personal entanglements that is thoroughly worthwhile. The descriptive language and the insight into the characters enrich this novel further. I know of someone who missed a flight because he was reading this novel at the airport. I can readily believe that he would have lost track of reality!
In Greenberg se roman word 'n alternatiewe werklikheid in Suid-Afrika voorgestel: 'n party van vrede en sosiale genesing regeer. Tog is daar steeds vreemde koverte operasies aan die gang. Greenberg se boeiende karakters, wat hy met groot deernis en insig uitbeeld, en sy byna poëtiese taalgebruik lei tot 'n meesleurende en oortuigende teks. Laat die slot die leser met té min? Dalk; en tog ook nie. 'n Fassinerende en oorspronklike roman.
In Greenberg se roman word 'n alternatiewe werklikheid in Suid-Afrika voorgestel: 'n party van vrede en sosiale genesing regeer. Tog is daar steeds vreemde koverte operasies aan die gang. Greenberg se boeiende karakters, wat hy met groot deernis en insig uitbeeld, en sy byna poëtiese taalgebruik lei tot 'n meesleurende en oortuigende teks. Laat die slot die leser met té min? Dalk; en tog ook nie. 'n Fassinerende en oorspronklike roman.
August 31, 2015
Dark Windows is set in a re-imagined South Africa where the Gaia Peace movement (previously the Green Party) defeated Mbeki and have been in power for ten years. People who lived through the early nineties and the “first transition” are still alive. It is a political thriller set in Johannesburg that uses great ingenuity to comment on South Africa as well as the propensity within human nature to rebel against restrictions. Simultaneously it is a thriller where mysterious and sinister events are investigated and uncovered. The different interconnected threads that comprise the narrative may sound complex but due to the skill of the writer, they are easy to follow.
The action is fast, the dialogue is real and the different story strands intersect until some of the mysteries are solved. The ending is a little up in the air but perhaps this leaves some room for the reader to conjecture. As much as this novel is a thriller and satisfies these expectations with suspense, mystery and intrigue, it is the imagined world that the writer has created that sets this novel apart. It is an ingenious creation, which at face value might seem far-fetched, that is entirely credible.
The action is fast, the dialogue is real and the different story strands intersect until some of the mysteries are solved. The ending is a little up in the air but perhaps this leaves some room for the reader to conjecture. As much as this novel is a thriller and satisfies these expectations with suspense, mystery and intrigue, it is the imagined world that the writer has created that sets this novel apart. It is an ingenious creation, which at face value might seem far-fetched, that is entirely credible.
June 13, 2014
The first stroke is the best.
Often the most exciting fiction resists genre classification.
Jay Rowan works for someone who works for the South African government, the ruling party being Gaia Peace - New Age, all rainbow colours, flowers, wellness and reduction, which has people lowering their walls and removing all but 'privacy' locks from doors. Crime has been loved away - or has it?
Jay's current assignment is to paint the windows black at five different Johannesburg sites. What do these venues have in common? For what Arrival are they being prepared, and what has jolted Johannesburg at just this time? A horrifically violent assault, rioting in the streets - start of an urban nightmare or unsettled expectation of an imminent visitation?
Dark Windows is utterly intriguing, peopled with gratifyingly complex characters finding the uncertain present as troubling as their pasts. Plus, it's beautifully written, and you know what? That's important.
Often the most exciting fiction resists genre classification.
Jay Rowan works for someone who works for the South African government, the ruling party being Gaia Peace - New Age, all rainbow colours, flowers, wellness and reduction, which has people lowering their walls and removing all but 'privacy' locks from doors. Crime has been loved away - or has it?
Jay's current assignment is to paint the windows black at five different Johannesburg sites. What do these venues have in common? For what Arrival are they being prepared, and what has jolted Johannesburg at just this time? A horrifically violent assault, rioting in the streets - start of an urban nightmare or unsettled expectation of an imminent visitation?
Dark Windows is utterly intriguing, peopled with gratifyingly complex characters finding the uncertain present as troubling as their pasts. Plus, it's beautifully written, and you know what? That's important.
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April 27, 2014- The rainbow colours, the royalty-free images of (exotic) flowers and sunlight through leaves, the ultrabold Helvetica font are all well worn, unimaginative. Why waste money on a creative campaign when you know everyone's going to vote for you? -
- Lang understands how unsettling this shift has been. He feels it himself. These protesters were once children who slept safely knowing their daddy owned a gun. They want their talismans back; they need the comforting confinement of battle lines. -
- She preferred him to drive when they went out together; otherwise, she said, she'd feel him judging her from the passenger seat, get self-conscious and drive even worse. -
- When he came out of the army, he felt too old to be a student, but now he realises just how young he was. -
- ...he's wondering what connects that contented little boy to himself. He gets out of the car and looks up at the sky. He imagines himself an ant on a map. -
- Lang understands how unsettling this shift has been. He feels it himself. These protesters were once children who slept safely knowing their daddy owned a gun. They want their talismans back; they need the comforting confinement of battle lines. -
- She preferred him to drive when they went out together; otherwise, she said, she'd feel him judging her from the passenger seat, get self-conscious and drive even worse. -
- When he came out of the army, he felt too old to be a student, but now he realises just how young he was. -
- ...he's wondering what connects that contented little boy to himself. He gets out of the car and looks up at the sky. He imagines himself an ant on a map. -
May 21, 2014
While you're waiting, check out this interview with cover artist Joey Hi-Fi (cover designer for The Shining Girls, Zoo City, the Miriam Black series, Apocalypse Now Now, and other stunning illustrated covers): http://violininavoid.wordpress.com/20...
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October 1, 2014A strange dark little story of a new-new South Africa. A cynical redemption song, edged with genre overtones.
(I enjoyed it)
(I enjoyed it)
October 10, 2014
I liked Greenberg's vision of a future South Africa : women in control, and society should be utopian - but it's not; plot didn't really gell for me.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews