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The Space Between The Space Between
A unique, funny and intelligent story about a young man ricocheting through life.
“You don’t notice your nose much, but when it changes direction, it does get your attention.”
Jethro ricochets through life with little to help him along the way other than his ability to bounce.
His best friend tries to lend a hand, as does the therapist he sees after burglars break into his house and, among other things, demand he makes them coffee. Jethro’s wry story gradually reveals why he carries his girlfriend’s hat and shoe everywhere he goes.
Days seem dark for Jethro until an eleven-year-old girl unexpectedly supplies a light. It’s up to him to work out where to shine it.
Set in contemporary South Africa, John Hunt’s wise and compelling novel contemplates loss and healing, and our efforts to make sense of our lives and those who fill them.
“You don’t notice your nose much, but when it changes direction, it does get your attention.”
Jethro ricochets through life with little to help him along the way other than his ability to bounce.
His best friend tries to lend a hand, as does the therapist he sees after burglars break into his house and, among other things, demand he makes them coffee. Jethro’s wry story gradually reveals why he carries his girlfriend’s hat and shoe everywhere he goes.
Days seem dark for Jethro until an eleven-year-old girl unexpectedly supplies a light. It’s up to him to work out where to shine it.
Set in contemporary South Africa, John Hunt’s wise and compelling novel contemplates loss and healing, and our efforts to make sense of our lives and those who fill them.
266 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2015
22 people want to read
About the author
John Hunt
4 books10 followersThere is more than one author with this name
John Hunt is the author of the novel The Space Between the Space Between. His book The Art of the Idea, which celebrates the power of ideas to move the world forward, has been translated into several languages. He is currently Worldwide Creative Chair of advertising agency network TBWA, having previously co-founded TBWA\Hunt Lascaris. He grew up in Hillbrow and still lives and works in Johannesburg.
John Hunt is the author of the novel The Space Between the Space Between. His book The Art of the Idea, which celebrates the power of ideas to move the world forward, has been translated into several languages. He is currently Worldwide Creative Chair of advertising agency network TBWA, having previously co-founded TBWA\Hunt Lascaris. He grew up in Hillbrow and still lives and works in Johannesburg.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 6, 2016
Too bad this novel went off the rails at the end because until then it was wonderfully wacky & entertaining. A young white South African giraffe-costumed condom-dispensing safer sex educator has a unique way of thinking about life and his own traumas, confounding and delighting his therapist, his best, black friend, & the reader. But some unproblematized xenophobic violence and a jarring tonal shift at the end pretty much spoiled everything.
August 31, 2015
It is quite difficult to define this novel. The protagonist, Jethro, is on a search for meaning; trying to make sense of his world; trying to figure out how to live in this world. The consequences of various random events have left him feeling hopeless, vulnerable and immobilized. He has no money and very few possessions; if it were not for Sam Ngcaba, who befriends him and almost takes him over he would be worse off.
After an assault followed by a burglary in which his face was ironed, he starts to see a psychiatrist, Dr Chatwin, who is seeing him pro bono. These sessions are all quite frustrating as Jethro talks in riddles and seems deliberately obfuscatory.
Jethro likes to make sweeping, philosophical statements about mankind’s foibles and faults as if he is an authority who occupies the moral high ground. In fact, he is a drop-out without a meaningful occupation and little prospect of a successful future. Sam arranged a job for him in which he inhabits a wire giraffe and visits Soweto to hand out free condoms and spread the message of A, B, C to prevent Aids. He also serves at tables in a steakhouse.
Jethro believes that nothing in life can be undone. The reason for this emerges during therapy; essentially he blames himself for a random decision that led to unforeseen consequences. Now he will not even cross out a line in his story, because changing it does not mean he can un-think it. This leads him to believe that asking random questions might provide him with answers. He decides to make a sign and stands at a corner of the road where people seeking employment gather. The sign says ‘Poet’. At first I thought this an intriguing notion but it merely results in havoc as he does not know how to respond to the attention he receives.
On one of his forays into Soweto, he meets a young girl of 11 who “changes his life forever”. Her name is Matsotso Cecilia Dumisa and she has a still centre, a calm wisdom and she makes Jethro feel light. She is the most real, convincing character in the novel. She diagnoses his existential angst as being due to not being able to find the right space in which to live; that is “the space between the space between’ of the title. Even by the end of the novel it was never quite clear exactly how she changed his life.
Jethro becomes involved in quite a few far-fetched situations, continues to philosophize ad nauseum and communicate with his rather passive and ineffectual psychiatrist. The cleverness and pseudo-intellectualism is contrived and the over-riding point is unclear. Perhaps the cover, which I love, says it all; the silhouette of a man between square brackets. I ploughed my way through to the end but did not really enjoy it.
After an assault followed by a burglary in which his face was ironed, he starts to see a psychiatrist, Dr Chatwin, who is seeing him pro bono. These sessions are all quite frustrating as Jethro talks in riddles and seems deliberately obfuscatory.
Jethro likes to make sweeping, philosophical statements about mankind’s foibles and faults as if he is an authority who occupies the moral high ground. In fact, he is a drop-out without a meaningful occupation and little prospect of a successful future. Sam arranged a job for him in which he inhabits a wire giraffe and visits Soweto to hand out free condoms and spread the message of A, B, C to prevent Aids. He also serves at tables in a steakhouse.
Jethro believes that nothing in life can be undone. The reason for this emerges during therapy; essentially he blames himself for a random decision that led to unforeseen consequences. Now he will not even cross out a line in his story, because changing it does not mean he can un-think it. This leads him to believe that asking random questions might provide him with answers. He decides to make a sign and stands at a corner of the road where people seeking employment gather. The sign says ‘Poet’. At first I thought this an intriguing notion but it merely results in havoc as he does not know how to respond to the attention he receives.
On one of his forays into Soweto, he meets a young girl of 11 who “changes his life forever”. Her name is Matsotso Cecilia Dumisa and she has a still centre, a calm wisdom and she makes Jethro feel light. She is the most real, convincing character in the novel. She diagnoses his existential angst as being due to not being able to find the right space in which to live; that is “the space between the space between’ of the title. Even by the end of the novel it was never quite clear exactly how she changed his life.
Jethro becomes involved in quite a few far-fetched situations, continues to philosophize ad nauseum and communicate with his rather passive and ineffectual psychiatrist. The cleverness and pseudo-intellectualism is contrived and the over-riding point is unclear. Perhaps the cover, which I love, says it all; the silhouette of a man between square brackets. I ploughed my way through to the end but did not really enjoy it.
June 2, 2016
I don't know if it's that South African thing of being more critical of the films, books and music we make or if is this book was genuinely just not that strong.
That being said, I only bought this book because I was at the airport and it had an interesting title, so this is all my own fault.
It felt like a lot could have been excised and the story would've been stronger. It was weird in the chapter when the doctor writes a letter to Jethro, because it was the same voice as the narrator.
And the tone kept on jumping around, from angry funny to depressed and back again.
Hmm.
That being said, I only bought this book because I was at the airport and it had an interesting title, so this is all my own fault.
It felt like a lot could have been excised and the story would've been stronger. It was weird in the chapter when the doctor writes a letter to Jethro, because it was the same voice as the narrator.
And the tone kept on jumping around, from angry funny to depressed and back again.
Hmm.
September 27, 2015
Complex. Mostly dialogue, sometimes humorous, sometimes deep and philosophic. Some events make the story uniquely South African. I feel I missed a lot of it's message, it needs to be read while concentrating.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews