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The Unbearable Machine
A deeply moving, intimate story of a woman’s path from loss to hope. Cape Town, South Africa: Astrid, book store owner and photographer, is mourning the sudden and unexpected death of her partner. The overwhelming sorrow unravels memories from her less than idyllic childhood that was overshadowed by a violent and ruinous patriarchy. As Astrid’s past and present overlap, she is pulled ever deeper into the far-reaching consequences of her traumatic upbringing. In the many hits and misses at finding herself again, in journeys that take her far from home, she finds refuge and affinity in the unsurpassed beauty and fragility of the natural world. Through the bareness and courage of art she explores the possibilities of compassion and dignity as a way to reconfigure her past and find hope for the future. At its core The Unbearable Machine shines a light on love and its revolutionary power.
310 pages, Paperback
Published March 25, 2018
About the author
Megan Voysey.
5 books1 followerShe is a South African writer of literary fiction based in Berlin, Germany.
Author of: Till We Can Keep an Animal (Jacana 2008) Winner the European Union Literary Award (now the Dinaane Award for Debut Fiction) Shortlisted for the Commonwealth Prize best first book Africa 2009.
Recent release: The Unbearable Machine. 2018.
She has contributed to Itch magazine, Wordsetc and Women in and Beyond The Global, Real Simple magazine, Konkret magazine.
She enjoys exploring different forms of creativity, other art forms, she likes the challenge of trying to give words a tangible, visual shape.
She is happiest writing about complex interactions between people and between environments, the visceral and fleeting conversations that go on in an interior and external world.
Other than writing and stapling bits of cardboard together she loves a long walk among mountains, among trees. The Big Screen. Music always. A dance. The whole mess and loveliness of being alive.
Author of: Till We Can Keep an Animal (Jacana 2008) Winner the European Union Literary Award (now the Dinaane Award for Debut Fiction) Shortlisted for the Commonwealth Prize best first book Africa 2009.
Recent release: The Unbearable Machine. 2018.
She has contributed to Itch magazine, Wordsetc and Women in and Beyond The Global, Real Simple magazine, Konkret magazine.
She enjoys exploring different forms of creativity, other art forms, she likes the challenge of trying to give words a tangible, visual shape.
She is happiest writing about complex interactions between people and between environments, the visceral and fleeting conversations that go on in an interior and external world.
Other than writing and stapling bits of cardboard together she loves a long walk among mountains, among trees. The Big Screen. Music always. A dance. The whole mess and loveliness of being alive.
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April 30, 2018
An intense and beautiful book, that took me on a very emotional journey, following the protagonist through her processing of grief but also of a troubled past, down to hell and back to life. The author can write very beautifully, with an articulated and rich style which is not common. She has a very fine sense for places and times and she manages to go through the dense matter always finding space for lighter moments of fine sense of humor ad for images of poetic beauty. Not a book to read en passant but to dive in.
Displaying 1 of 1 review