What do you think?
Rate this book
Triangulum
Triangulum is an ambitious, often philosophical and genre-bending novel that covers a period of over 40 years in South Africa's recent past and near future ― starting from the collapse of the apartheid homeland system in the early 1990s, to the economic corrosion of the 2010s, and on to the looming, large-scale ecological disasters of the 2040s.
In 2040, the South African National Space Agency receives a mysterious package containing a memoir and a set of digital recordings from an unnamed woman who claims the world will end in ten years. Assigned to the case, Dr Naomi Buthelezi, a retired professor and science fiction writer, is hired to investigate the veracity of the materials, and whether or not the woman's claim to have heard from a "force more powerful than humankind" is genuine.
Thus begins TRIANGULUM, a found manuscript composed of the mysterious woman's memoir and her recordings. Haunted by visions of a mysterious machine, the narrator is a seemingly adrift 17-year-old girl, whose sick father never recovered from the shock of losing his wife. She struggles to navigate school, sexual experimentation, and friendship across racial barriers in post-apartheid South Africa.
When three girls go missing from their town, on her mother's birthday, the narrator is convinced that it has something to do with "the machine" and how her mother also went missing in the '90s. Along with her friends, Litha and Part, she discovers a puzzling book on UFOs at the library, the references and similarities in which lead the friends to believe that the text holds clues to the narrators's mother's abduction. Drawing upon suggestions in the text, she and her friends set out on an epic journey that takes them from their small town to an underground lab, a criminal network, and finally, a mysterious, dense forest, in search of clues as to what happened to the narrator's mother.
With extraordinary aplomb and breathtaking prose, Ntshanga has crafted an inventive and marvelous artistic accomplishment.s crafted an inventive and marvelous artistic accomplishment.
In 2040, the South African National Space Agency receives a mysterious package containing a memoir and a set of digital recordings from an unnamed woman who claims the world will end in ten years. Assigned to the case, Dr Naomi Buthelezi, a retired professor and science fiction writer, is hired to investigate the veracity of the materials, and whether or not the woman's claim to have heard from a "force more powerful than humankind" is genuine.
Thus begins TRIANGULUM, a found manuscript composed of the mysterious woman's memoir and her recordings. Haunted by visions of a mysterious machine, the narrator is a seemingly adrift 17-year-old girl, whose sick father never recovered from the shock of losing his wife. She struggles to navigate school, sexual experimentation, and friendship across racial barriers in post-apartheid South Africa.
When three girls go missing from their town, on her mother's birthday, the narrator is convinced that it has something to do with "the machine" and how her mother also went missing in the '90s. Along with her friends, Litha and Part, she discovers a puzzling book on UFOs at the library, the references and similarities in which lead the friends to believe that the text holds clues to the narrators's mother's abduction. Drawing upon suggestions in the text, she and her friends set out on an epic journey that takes them from their small town to an underground lab, a criminal network, and finally, a mysterious, dense forest, in search of clues as to what happened to the narrator's mother.
With extraordinary aplomb and breathtaking prose, Ntshanga has crafted an inventive and marvelous artistic accomplishment.s crafted an inventive and marvelous artistic accomplishment.
384 pages, Paperback
First published May 14, 2019
40 people are currently reading
2000 people want to read
About the author
Masande Ntshanga
7 books75 followersMasande Ntshanga is the winner of the Betty Trask Award in 2018, winner of the inaugural PEN International New Voices Award in 2013, and a finalist for the Caine Prize in 2015. He was born in East London, South Africa, and graduated with a degree in Film and Media and an Honours degree in English Studies from the University of Cape Town, where he became a creative writing fellow, completing his Masters in Creative Writing under the Mellon Mays Foundation. He received a Fulbright Award, an NRF Freestanding Masters scholarship, a Civitella Ranieri Fellowship and a Bundanon Trust Award. His work has appeared in The White Review, chimurenga, VICE, The Los Angeles Review of Books, n + 1 and MIT Technology Review. He has also written for Rolling Stone magazine.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 86 reviews
August 28, 2021
This book is both an incredible work of historic fiction in its first half, about a young girl prodigy living in the time of the Ciskei, and a sobering future dystopia in its second half, where the same unnamed protagonist becomes involved with an ‘end of the world’ cult known as The Returners. The homeland system, of which the Ciskei was a notable example, not to mention a total failure, is given chilling relevance in the dystopia when a US multinational invests in developmental ‘zones’ in South Africa, effectively creating captive pools of labourers and consumers.
The book reminded me quite a lot of Kim Stanley Robinson, in that author Masande Ntshanga engages in a similarly sustained dialectic about capitalism and technology. Are economic forces agnostic in that they are totally market-determined, or are they manipulated by the super elite to keep the underclass forever poor and lacking any kind of socioeconomic mobility, except deeper into the mire of poverty and misery? It is a fascinating debate coloured by Ntshanga’s own childhood experiences of growing up in the Ciskei.
I am constantly amazed at the world-class SF that emerges from South Africa. I am unsure if our particular history and setting automatically lends itself to the ‘imagined scenarios’ typical of so much SF, but a book like ‘Triangulum’ is definitely a unique contribution both regionally and on the larger global platform of the genre, which is becoming increasingly internationalised.
‘Triangulum’ is ultimately a fascinating example of how South African SF perceives the future through the lens of the past. Of course, SF has to have a context in order to give it meaning and relevance. This is probably why it is the ‘genre of the zeitgeist’ in that it is sufficiently resilient to respond to global trends and issues as they unfold around us.
Karabo Kgoleng sums up Ntshanga’s achievement quite succinctly in his Litnet review of 30 September 2019:
“Thematically, Triangulum is a compelling work that explores ideologies that are often at odds with one another, but which Ntshanga brings to an uneasy kind of integration while not leaving the reader with a clear, comfortable sense of resolution. While our society continues to wrestle with science, religion, politics, gender, sexuality and identity, artists like Ntshanga do the important work of finding creative ways to reflect these issues to us, describing real and imagined entanglements that can ensue as well as our agency in the face of these challenges.”
I realise I have not said that much about the specific SF aspects of the book. ‘Triangulum’ is a typically modern genre novel revelling in Derrida’s notion of ‘slippage’. It combines SF, mystery and coming-of-age elements into a compellingly cohesive whole. Is Naomi Buthelezi’s visions of the Machine a sign of mental illness, or a genuine irruption of the future?
Is the dystopia that unfolds in the second half a lived reality like the failed experiment of the Ciskei? Or is it a warning that there is always a danger of the past repeating itself. No matter how dire events were, they can happen again, given the correct triggers. This is what the best SF does so brilliantly, and what makes ‘Triangulum’ both a fever dream and a chilling signpost to how things can still go so very wrong in our country.
The book reminded me quite a lot of Kim Stanley Robinson, in that author Masande Ntshanga engages in a similarly sustained dialectic about capitalism and technology. Are economic forces agnostic in that they are totally market-determined, or are they manipulated by the super elite to keep the underclass forever poor and lacking any kind of socioeconomic mobility, except deeper into the mire of poverty and misery? It is a fascinating debate coloured by Ntshanga’s own childhood experiences of growing up in the Ciskei.
I am constantly amazed at the world-class SF that emerges from South Africa. I am unsure if our particular history and setting automatically lends itself to the ‘imagined scenarios’ typical of so much SF, but a book like ‘Triangulum’ is definitely a unique contribution both regionally and on the larger global platform of the genre, which is becoming increasingly internationalised.
‘Triangulum’ is ultimately a fascinating example of how South African SF perceives the future through the lens of the past. Of course, SF has to have a context in order to give it meaning and relevance. This is probably why it is the ‘genre of the zeitgeist’ in that it is sufficiently resilient to respond to global trends and issues as they unfold around us.
Karabo Kgoleng sums up Ntshanga’s achievement quite succinctly in his Litnet review of 30 September 2019:
“Thematically, Triangulum is a compelling work that explores ideologies that are often at odds with one another, but which Ntshanga brings to an uneasy kind of integration while not leaving the reader with a clear, comfortable sense of resolution. While our society continues to wrestle with science, religion, politics, gender, sexuality and identity, artists like Ntshanga do the important work of finding creative ways to reflect these issues to us, describing real and imagined entanglements that can ensue as well as our agency in the face of these challenges.”
I realise I have not said that much about the specific SF aspects of the book. ‘Triangulum’ is a typically modern genre novel revelling in Derrida’s notion of ‘slippage’. It combines SF, mystery and coming-of-age elements into a compellingly cohesive whole. Is Naomi Buthelezi’s visions of the Machine a sign of mental illness, or a genuine irruption of the future?
Is the dystopia that unfolds in the second half a lived reality like the failed experiment of the Ciskei? Or is it a warning that there is always a danger of the past repeating itself. No matter how dire events were, they can happen again, given the correct triggers. This is what the best SF does so brilliantly, and what makes ‘Triangulum’ both a fever dream and a chilling signpost to how things can still go so very wrong in our country.
May 28, 2019
Triangulum
is such a unique puzzle box of a book it is hard to know what – or how much – to say about it. Blending a coming of age story and a futuristic espionage noir, with a dash of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, this is an ambitious and inventive novel.
It begins in 2043, with a package of two anonymous manuscripts and some recordings being sent to the South African National Space Agency. These documents comprise the remainder of Triangulum. As a framing device I found this a little clumsy, even unnecessary, but the story swiftly moves on.
The two novella-length ‘manuscripts’ follow. Part I – The Machine – is a gritty coming of age story set in late 1990s / early 2000s South Africa. The unnamed narrator is a teenage girl experiencing visions: are they hallucinations or extra-terrestrial messages? She’s fascinated by UFOs, and when three local girls vanish, she investigates, also hoping to find a connection to her mother’s disappearance years before. The political history of the Ciskei area and lingering effects of apartheid add further layers to the mystery.
Part II – Five Weeks in the Plague – imagines a near future where corporate power, big data and economic inequality are increasingly tools of oppression. Multinationals seek to dominate and control the economic rise of the African continent, with ever more invasive technology accessing personal data to manipulate the populace. Private thoughts and memories are the territory to be plundered in this new, digital, colonialism. Meanwhile an urban renewal initiative is creating ‘zones’, ‘locking the residents in sites of indentured labour and consumption’. All of this portends a dystopia in the making, one that’s on its way but hasn’t yet fully arrived. In this way Part I and Part II both take place in a period of socio-political transition.
Murky intrigues ensue, involving resistance and eco-terrorist groups plotting and infiltrating one another. The story is complex but largely opaque, leaving the reader in a similar state of bafflement as our (by now grown-up) narrator, not quite grasping the machinations she is caught up in. Although the connections between Part I and Part II are eventually revealed, and some resolutions provided, the novel remains ambiguous and disorienting, with a paranoiac, noir feel.
Ntshanga mostly succeeds in creating the voice of his female narrator, with only the occasional slip-up (for instance, I do not think it likely that a 49-year-old would, in her own private thoughts, refer to herself as ‘an old biddy’!). Her reduced affect (emotional blunting, caused, we are told, by psychiatric medications) suits the novel’s hardboiled style. Without giving too much away, Part III – Triangulum – is a sort of coda that returns once more to her teenage years, effectively closing the loop.
Juxtaposing recent past and near future, the dismantling of apartheid and the emergence of a highly plausible dystopic corpocracy, Triangulum is a grim, compelling vision of the mechanics of power. 3.5 stars
It begins in 2043, with a package of two anonymous manuscripts and some recordings being sent to the South African National Space Agency. These documents comprise the remainder of Triangulum. As a framing device I found this a little clumsy, even unnecessary, but the story swiftly moves on.
The two novella-length ‘manuscripts’ follow. Part I – The Machine – is a gritty coming of age story set in late 1990s / early 2000s South Africa. The unnamed narrator is a teenage girl experiencing visions: are they hallucinations or extra-terrestrial messages? She’s fascinated by UFOs, and when three local girls vanish, she investigates, also hoping to find a connection to her mother’s disappearance years before. The political history of the Ciskei area and lingering effects of apartheid add further layers to the mystery.
Part II – Five Weeks in the Plague – imagines a near future where corporate power, big data and economic inequality are increasingly tools of oppression. Multinationals seek to dominate and control the economic rise of the African continent, with ever more invasive technology accessing personal data to manipulate the populace. Private thoughts and memories are the territory to be plundered in this new, digital, colonialism. Meanwhile an urban renewal initiative is creating ‘zones’, ‘locking the residents in sites of indentured labour and consumption’. All of this portends a dystopia in the making, one that’s on its way but hasn’t yet fully arrived. In this way Part I and Part II both take place in a period of socio-political transition.
Murky intrigues ensue, involving resistance and eco-terrorist groups plotting and infiltrating one another. The story is complex but largely opaque, leaving the reader in a similar state of bafflement as our (by now grown-up) narrator, not quite grasping the machinations she is caught up in. Although the connections between Part I and Part II are eventually revealed, and some resolutions provided, the novel remains ambiguous and disorienting, with a paranoiac, noir feel.
Ntshanga mostly succeeds in creating the voice of his female narrator, with only the occasional slip-up (for instance, I do not think it likely that a 49-year-old would, in her own private thoughts, refer to herself as ‘an old biddy’!). Her reduced affect (emotional blunting, caused, we are told, by psychiatric medications) suits the novel’s hardboiled style. Without giving too much away, Part III – Triangulum – is a sort of coda that returns once more to her teenage years, effectively closing the loop.
Juxtaposing recent past and near future, the dismantling of apartheid and the emergence of a highly plausible dystopic corpocracy, Triangulum is a grim, compelling vision of the mechanics of power. 3.5 stars
May 3, 2020
Honestly don't think I'm smart enough for this book
September 14, 2019
Originally published on The Nerd Daily | Review by Beth Mowbray
Described by publisher Two Dollar Radio as a “genre-bending novel,” Triangulum by Masande Ntshanga is a twisting, turning journey of speculative fiction. An unprecedented fusion of science-fiction, mystery, and literary fiction, this book blurs the line between reality and imagination.
The story opens in the year 2043 with reference to a set of documents which make the initially unbelievable claim that the world will end in ten years. Sent from an anonymous source to an astronomer with the South African National Space Agency, these documents have reportedly been examined, their claims verified, and prepared for publication. Using an epistolary framework, Triangulum takes the reader on a journey through this series of memoir-style journal entries alternating with transcribed recordings of regression therapy sessions, all from an unnamed female narrator.
What unfolds, at the core, is the narrator’s search for her missing mother. A search that is prompted by her ongoing and inexplicable visions of a great machine and a series of triangles. Visions of which she is desperately seeking the source and the meaning. Visions which may, in fact, be connected with extraterrestrial life and which she comes to believe hold the key to her mother’s disappearance.
Beginning in the narrator’s childhood and then jumping forward decades to adulthood, the storyline also includes a number of universal life experiences and hardships – her father’s illness and interminable grief over the loss of his wife, friendships that are closer than family, exploration of sexuality and true love. As she grows up, the narrator becomes enmeshed with a series of powerful and important groups. There is the government agency where she is employed and assigned to a special project, an activist group of which she is a secret member, and a terrorist cell that she is initially meant to infiltrate. Each source provides her, and the reader, with different bits of information. But what is the truth? How do her visions and her mother’s disappearance fit? And is the world really coming to an end?
This sounds bizarre, I know. That is understandable. It is bizarre! But in the most delicious way. Ntshanga masterfully weaves genres together, constructing a complex plot while simultaneously tackling a lengthy list of profound themes. Triangulum is set in post-apartheid South Africa and overtly incorporates the country’s history – particularly the impact of years of discrimination, oppression, and ultimately freedom – into the storyline. It is also a tale of coming of age and into oneself. Identity is explored throughout this novel via the varying lenses of family, culture, race, sexuality, and mental health. Then, on a broader level, Ntshanga incorporates a commentary on the influence and detrimental impact of technology on society.
Triangulum truly refuses to be categorised in a particular genre, to fit into a neat little box. The layering of both plot and themes provides the reader with a complex world and storyline that somehow manages not to overshadow the personal, intimate feel established by the narrator. This is the type of novel that, upon arriving at the end, you will want to open back up and start over again. That would benefit from a second, even a third, read to explore hidden details that may have been missed the first time around. This read is also such an utterly unique experience that you will most certainly want to discuss it with someone else. It is difficult to do justice to such a novel with a brief review, so I highly recommend that you pick up this wonderful, winding mystery and experience it for yourself.
Described by publisher Two Dollar Radio as a “genre-bending novel,” Triangulum by Masande Ntshanga is a twisting, turning journey of speculative fiction. An unprecedented fusion of science-fiction, mystery, and literary fiction, this book blurs the line between reality and imagination.
The story opens in the year 2043 with reference to a set of documents which make the initially unbelievable claim that the world will end in ten years. Sent from an anonymous source to an astronomer with the South African National Space Agency, these documents have reportedly been examined, their claims verified, and prepared for publication. Using an epistolary framework, Triangulum takes the reader on a journey through this series of memoir-style journal entries alternating with transcribed recordings of regression therapy sessions, all from an unnamed female narrator.
What unfolds, at the core, is the narrator’s search for her missing mother. A search that is prompted by her ongoing and inexplicable visions of a great machine and a series of triangles. Visions of which she is desperately seeking the source and the meaning. Visions which may, in fact, be connected with extraterrestrial life and which she comes to believe hold the key to her mother’s disappearance.
Beginning in the narrator’s childhood and then jumping forward decades to adulthood, the storyline also includes a number of universal life experiences and hardships – her father’s illness and interminable grief over the loss of his wife, friendships that are closer than family, exploration of sexuality and true love. As she grows up, the narrator becomes enmeshed with a series of powerful and important groups. There is the government agency where she is employed and assigned to a special project, an activist group of which she is a secret member, and a terrorist cell that she is initially meant to infiltrate. Each source provides her, and the reader, with different bits of information. But what is the truth? How do her visions and her mother’s disappearance fit? And is the world really coming to an end?
This sounds bizarre, I know. That is understandable. It is bizarre! But in the most delicious way. Ntshanga masterfully weaves genres together, constructing a complex plot while simultaneously tackling a lengthy list of profound themes. Triangulum is set in post-apartheid South Africa and overtly incorporates the country’s history – particularly the impact of years of discrimination, oppression, and ultimately freedom – into the storyline. It is also a tale of coming of age and into oneself. Identity is explored throughout this novel via the varying lenses of family, culture, race, sexuality, and mental health. Then, on a broader level, Ntshanga incorporates a commentary on the influence and detrimental impact of technology on society.
Triangulum truly refuses to be categorised in a particular genre, to fit into a neat little box. The layering of both plot and themes provides the reader with a complex world and storyline that somehow manages not to overshadow the personal, intimate feel established by the narrator. This is the type of novel that, upon arriving at the end, you will want to open back up and start over again. That would benefit from a second, even a third, read to explore hidden details that may have been missed the first time around. This read is also such an utterly unique experience that you will most certainly want to discuss it with someone else. It is difficult to do justice to such a novel with a brief review, so I highly recommend that you pick up this wonderful, winding mystery and experience it for yourself.
September 10, 2019
Smart speculative fiction that grapples with themes of ecological collapse, colonialism, complicity and marginalisation. The only thing I didn’t love about it was how close it came to what I’m trying to achieve with my own novel project.
What I did love: The queer black woman protagonist, the centering of Africa in the global discussion about alternative futures and the blending of historical fiction with dystopic sci-fi, taking the reader from 1990s Ciskei to Johannesburg of the 2040s.
Ntshanga is a brilliant writer. His imagination is dark and thought-provoking, the world he creates is evocative and he blends the philosophical with enough action and astute observation to keep the pages turning. One of the best sci-fi books I’ve read, and one of the best South African writers I’ve found.
What I did love: The queer black woman protagonist, the centering of Africa in the global discussion about alternative futures and the blending of historical fiction with dystopic sci-fi, taking the reader from 1990s Ciskei to Johannesburg of the 2040s.
Ntshanga is a brilliant writer. His imagination is dark and thought-provoking, the world he creates is evocative and he blends the philosophical with enough action and astute observation to keep the pages turning. One of the best sci-fi books I’ve read, and one of the best South African writers I’ve found.
March 17, 2022
A fascinating work. Layered, thought-provoking, & recommended.
I think the Cleveland Review of Books' piece by Matt Loreti sums it up very well:
https://www.clereviewofbooks.com/home...
I think the Cleveland Review of Books' piece by Matt Loreti sums it up very well:
https://www.clereviewofbooks.com/home...
April 12, 2019
I think this was one of the best science fiction epics I've read in a while. Kind of like Full Metal Jacket the book has two storylines involving the same cast. The first takes place in South Africa in 1999-2002 and is a genuinely honest and well explored coming of age story for a girl whoes mother is missing (she believes to be abducted by aliens) and father is sick. The second is that same girl caught in a high stakes espionage thriller while trying to piece togeather the course of her life and what it all means. Triangulum covers so much, in both scope and themes. From parenting to coming of age to sexuality to the very course of human evolution. Trust me it does all come togeather in the end. everything is set up and paid off. I only offer a note on pacing the twists out a little better. While each one is an excellent example of the correct way to use "a twist" (not only surprising to the reader but recontextualizes past events and characters in a deeper way) they all sort of bunch up at the very end of the book so the last 40 pages are packed with reveals. Still very satisfying and wonderfully written. I will definitely be passing this book along to my sci-fi inclined co-workers.
April 10, 2023
This was read for /r/fantasy's book bingo. Squares applicable include POC, lit fantasy, mundane jobs (MC is a government worker/data cruncher), and indie publisher I think.
WTF. And not in a Grey House WTF way.
After sitting on my thoughts for about a day after finishing it, I think I can identify my problems with it, of which there are two primary ones.
The first, and worst, is that we're provided a frame story in which we get an understanding about the rest of the story. The context is much like Handmaid's Tale, except that instead of presenting the frame story elements at the end, it's placed at the beginning, and the reader is told that these documents are the one thing preventing the end of the world in 2050.
And yeah, they kind of are, in a way, but it takes a long while to get there. As such, until about 85% of the way through, the frame story and the narrative don't jive with each other. I tried to keep reading and figure out how XYZ will impact the world but it never did. There is no payoff until the final few chapters, which is fine, but it was something I was prepped on and it took forever to deliver, and it never fully resolved. Which, fine, ambiguous, but meh.
The second issue I had (and this is a personal complaint) is that the MC is horny. Like, it's great you're bi, but I don't need every other chapter to be your sexual exploits with (insert character here). This is especially bad in the first section (which takes up like 50% of the book).
I feel like some elements got dropped or skimmed over (like ). Also, for my reference because I certainly did not catch this until like 30% of the way in, East London is actually in South Africa, and the MC did not study abroad in grade school in the UK (that was my bad to be fair).
There was some good in the book--the SF bits were interesting--but it really got bogged down my misplaced expectations and a really horny MC. I see greatness in the book, but it never really made it there.
WTF. And not in a Grey House WTF way.
After sitting on my thoughts for about a day after finishing it, I think I can identify my problems with it, of which there are two primary ones.
The first, and worst, is that we're provided a frame story in which we get an understanding about the rest of the story. The context is much like Handmaid's Tale, except that instead of presenting the frame story elements at the end, it's placed at the beginning, and the reader is told that these documents are the one thing preventing the end of the world in 2050.
And yeah, they kind of are, in a way, but it takes a long while to get there. As such, until about 85% of the way through, the frame story and the narrative don't jive with each other. I tried to keep reading and figure out how XYZ will impact the world but it never did. There is no payoff until the final few chapters, which is fine, but it was something I was prepped on and it took forever to deliver, and it never fully resolved. Which, fine, ambiguous, but meh.
The second issue I had (and this is a personal complaint) is that the MC is horny. Like, it's great you're bi, but I don't need every other chapter to be your sexual exploits with (insert character here). This is especially bad in the first section (which takes up like 50% of the book).
I feel like some elements got dropped or skimmed over (like ). Also, for my reference because I certainly did not catch this until like 30% of the way in, East London is actually in South Africa, and the MC did not study abroad in grade school in the UK (that was my bad to be fair).
There was some good in the book--the SF bits were interesting--but it really got bogged down my misplaced expectations and a really horny MC. I see greatness in the book, but it never really made it there.
June 25, 2019
An unnamed schoolgirl in King Williams Town, in the Eastern Cape, begins to see a machine, not unlike an alien craft, hover over her. Whenever she says it, she also sees various triangular shapes. She's convinced the machine is connected to the disappearance of her mother some years before when the Ciskei homeland was dissolved, as well as the current kidnappings of three local girls. The girl believes the machine will provide her with clues to find them. She and her two friends follow these 'leads' in order to discover what's happened, using the shape of the Triangulum, a constellation of starts.
What's unclear is whether the apparitions are real or whether they are hallucinations. The girl is described anti-depressants and other medication when she foolishly confesses to a doctor that she has visions.
Set in 2025, much of the second half of the book is concerned with the girl's adulthood. Now a data scientist, she helps the State mine information from mostly poor people in order to target them with advertising and products. But, she's approached by an underground movement to help it monitor what's happening and possibly to stop it. Through her lover, D, the woman is also drawn into the world of eco-terrorism.
The novel is beautifully written, exploring the nature of grief, love, and sexuality. The author uses the trope of the dystopian setting as a prism through which to view comments on corporate greed and the surveillance state. It's simply marvellous.
What's unclear is whether the apparitions are real or whether they are hallucinations. The girl is described anti-depressants and other medication when she foolishly confesses to a doctor that she has visions.
Set in 2025, much of the second half of the book is concerned with the girl's adulthood. Now a data scientist, she helps the State mine information from mostly poor people in order to target them with advertising and products. But, she's approached by an underground movement to help it monitor what's happening and possibly to stop it. Through her lover, D, the woman is also drawn into the world of eco-terrorism.
The novel is beautifully written, exploring the nature of grief, love, and sexuality. The author uses the trope of the dystopian setting as a prism through which to view comments on corporate greed and the surveillance state. It's simply marvellous.
April 22, 2019
I reviewed this in the June 2019 issue of Locus Magazine.
May 13, 2019
What did I just read?!?! My mind is still racing!
Described by publisher Two Dollar Radio as a “genre-bending novel,” Triangulum by Masande Ntshanga is an unprecedented blend of science-fiction, mystery, and then some. I’m honestly a little speechless about this one!
The novel focuses on a set of documents sent anonymously to an astronomer, claiming that the world will end in ten years. Formatted as a series of memoir/journal entries and transcribed recordings, Triangulum takes the reader on a journey through the childhood of the nameless female narrator and then jumps forward decades to her adult life. Contained within are tales of her mother’s disappearance, her father’s illness, friendships, loves, and careers. All the while she is trying to seek the source and the meaning of her unexplained visions. Visions of a great machine, a series of triangles. Visions that she believes may help her find her missing mother.
This sounds bizarre, I know. It is bizarre! But in the most delicious way. I could not put this book down! Ntshanga masterfully weaves genres together while also tackling profound themes - the history of South Africa and impact of apartheid, coming of age and into oneself, sexuality and identity, mental health and loss, families and culture, and the impact of technology on society.
Triangulum was not at all what I expected going in and I love it all the more because of this! So much of the story is about the narrator, her life and her world, which drew me in deeply. The storyline is quite complex, yet personal at the same time. This is the type of book that, upon arriving at the end, I wanted to open back up and start over again. That would benefit from another read, where I’m certain details missed the first time around would be illuminated the second.
Sincere thanks to Two Dollar Radio for this ARC. Triangulum will be available tomorrow (5/14/19) and I highly recommend that you read it. Then come back and talk with me. Please! I need someone to discuss this book with!
Described by publisher Two Dollar Radio as a “genre-bending novel,” Triangulum by Masande Ntshanga is an unprecedented blend of science-fiction, mystery, and then some. I’m honestly a little speechless about this one!
The novel focuses on a set of documents sent anonymously to an astronomer, claiming that the world will end in ten years. Formatted as a series of memoir/journal entries and transcribed recordings, Triangulum takes the reader on a journey through the childhood of the nameless female narrator and then jumps forward decades to her adult life. Contained within are tales of her mother’s disappearance, her father’s illness, friendships, loves, and careers. All the while she is trying to seek the source and the meaning of her unexplained visions. Visions of a great machine, a series of triangles. Visions that she believes may help her find her missing mother.
This sounds bizarre, I know. It is bizarre! But in the most delicious way. I could not put this book down! Ntshanga masterfully weaves genres together while also tackling profound themes - the history of South Africa and impact of apartheid, coming of age and into oneself, sexuality and identity, mental health and loss, families and culture, and the impact of technology on society.
Triangulum was not at all what I expected going in and I love it all the more because of this! So much of the story is about the narrator, her life and her world, which drew me in deeply. The storyline is quite complex, yet personal at the same time. This is the type of book that, upon arriving at the end, I wanted to open back up and start over again. That would benefit from another read, where I’m certain details missed the first time around would be illuminated the second.
Sincere thanks to Two Dollar Radio for this ARC. Triangulum will be available tomorrow (5/14/19) and I highly recommend that you read it. Then come back and talk with me. Please! I need someone to discuss this book with!
March 29, 2023
This is the kind of book that would benefit from a second reading, though I am definitely in need of a break after this first one.
The story was not at all what I expected, though, my first note on the book was: dripping with grief, the weigh continues pulling you down. This remains true the entire time: family, environment, love, society, self.
Beginning with the narrator as a child, the book almost strikes a Stand By Me tone, a somber, yet playful coming-of-age. Kids are living their lives the best they can while dealing with immeasurable complications (the end of apartheid for one) through scifi and detective work. They continue to be kids, exploring their sexuality and friendships, in the face of a great deal of loss. Much of this is quickly resolved into actual issues, like mental illness, for the reader.
However, as the book progresses and you see how the narrator continues to live her life. things become disjointed. This is not resolved until the end in a way that is profoundly moving, fusing together themes that had already been explored in a powerful message about trauma.
I loved the writing style, which was just dreamy enough while remaining grounded, but the story could be hard to follow at parts. Some of which, I imagine, is by design and makes me want to reread it. This book leaves you with an unforgettable narrator and much to think about.
The story was not at all what I expected, though, my first note on the book was: dripping with grief, the weigh continues pulling you down. This remains true the entire time: family, environment, love, society, self.
Beginning with the narrator as a child, the book almost strikes a Stand By Me tone, a somber, yet playful coming-of-age. Kids are living their lives the best they can while dealing with immeasurable complications (the end of apartheid for one) through scifi and detective work. They continue to be kids, exploring their sexuality and friendships, in the face of a great deal of loss. Much of this is quickly resolved into actual issues, like mental illness, for the reader.
However, as the book progresses and you see how the narrator continues to live her life. things become disjointed. This is not resolved until the end in a way that is profoundly moving, fusing together themes that had already been explored in a powerful message about trauma.
I loved the writing style, which was just dreamy enough while remaining grounded, but the story could be hard to follow at parts. Some of which, I imagine, is by design and makes me want to reread it. This book leaves you with an unforgettable narrator and much to think about.
December 28, 2019
Speculative South African fiction - less heavy on the speculative than I would have liked, more of a coming of age story in late 90’s South Africa than anything else. Ultimately spans decades into the future, and those sections were the ones I liked best, but that takes up a fairly small portion of the overall book.
I’m probably a bit underwhelmed by this only because my reading of it has been a very broken process with it overlapping with the holidays, and what should have been a couple day read has instead stretched to nearly 10 days, and I never really could settle in and find a rhythm with my reading.
Overall this was fine; I enjoyed it, and there are some strengths here, but I’m mostly glad to have finished and hopefully will move on to something that grabs me a bit more forcefully.
I’m probably a bit underwhelmed by this only because my reading of it has been a very broken process with it overlapping with the holidays, and what should have been a couple day read has instead stretched to nearly 10 days, and I never really could settle in and find a rhythm with my reading.
Overall this was fine; I enjoyed it, and there are some strengths here, but I’m mostly glad to have finished and hopefully will move on to something that grabs me a bit more forcefully.
February 2, 2021
I completely love loved this book. That's all I've got to say!
December 26, 2023
È innegabile che questo romanzo mi sia piaciuto (ho lasciato un sacco di foglietti in mezzo alle pagine, segnalando il suono di certi passaggi che riuscivano a parlare di come il tempo passa e non passa, di come le storie si costruiscono intorno alle nostre identità), eppure al tempo stesso resta qualcosa che mi sfugge. L'impressione, una volta terminato, è di aver assistito a una pellicola sci-fi/thriller molto complessa, in cui la regia, il montaggio, hanno però faticato molto. Mi restano quindi immagini bellissime, e ragazzine memorabili. Tutto quello che accade in profondità, però, continuo a pensarlo come troppo criptico.
June 9, 2020
Quite possibly the only good thing to have come out from these dark times we live in is our local library majorly stepping up their digital catalog. They are doing it in such a transparently PC way it’s kind of adorable, the basic strategy seems to consist out of grabbing any title that might be international, especially though whose race/religion/sexual orientation, etc. is considered a minority in the US. So as a result there’s this intriguing ever expanding selection of foreign fiction and I’ve been reading internationally like never before. From Greenland to (now with this one) South Africa. This book actually checks several library boxes, it also has queer characters. Actually, this book checks many boxes in many ways, it’s a very expansive genre nonspecific sort of thing, it’s historical fiction covering the post Apartheid period in South Africa, it’s coming of age story covering the life of a 17 year old girl and she deals with her life, her sexuality and a string of local murders, among other things. No, ok, one must specify, other things here are the UFOs. And visions of a mysterious machine. The girl and her friends become convinced there’s an alien conspiracy afoot and it might be responsible for her mother’s disappearance. So the girl’s story takes up the bulk of the book, and then the novel skips in time, twice, to follow the girl as a grown woman. But first…first there’s a found manuscript delivered to South African National Space Agency that arrives in 2040 and claims the world will end in 10 years. A retired professor and science fiction author is hired to investigate these claims and that’s how the story starts, so ambitiously, so intriguingly. So much so, in fact, that’s it’s a difficult act to follow, and, while author certainly does his best to boggle the readers’ minds, it seems to not quite get there, not all the way. Well, for me anyway. I mean, it is a hugely ambitious project, it covers a lot, not just a time span of decades, but also a blend of genres, ideas, politics, etc. Maybe sometimes it overwhelms itself. Or maybe the novel spends too much time with a 17 year old as the protagonist for me to care about. Or maybe there’s a kind of vagueness to the entire alien thing for entirely too long. Or maybe it got sort of muddled, too busy and dragged too much through the middle. Not sure. It’s definitely well written and smart. It’s definitely original. It’s definitely great for international reading, because it does a great job of rendering the daily life in post Apartheid South Africa. It’s conceptually wild. It has a lot going for it. In fact, this is objectively a good, possibly even a great read. Yes, it didn’t quite work for m and only toward the end did it get exciting enough to live up to the promise of the introduction, but that might just be a very personal, highly subjective. reader/book chemistry. Nevertheless, it was still a very interesting read and I’m glad I found it. Not quite sure if it’s my first South African read, but if it is…nice. Check it out if you’re looking for something different in the international science fiction arena. After all…aliens.
June 28, 2019
This book is awesome in many different ways. Masande weaves a really intricate, multifaceted story. There’s a lot going on, several mysteries and lots of interesting characters and settings. He built an interesting, believable world that still has elements of SA history incorporated into it. The writing is phenomenal. What he did was bold, and I think a lesser writer would have produced something that would have been confusing and wouldn’t have worked. I do think it’s the type of book that gives you more on the second read. It did dip a bit in the second part for me, but it came back strong in the last part.
September 16, 2019
Setting up this book the way it is was a risk taken by the author and the publisher, which didn’t work for me. Although I would have been interested in the uncertainty between hallucinations and incredible realities with a bit of local history, I thought this one was dull and pointless. If the publisher hadn’t claimed that this was a science-fiction novel, I wouldn’t have thought that it was. There is no genre bending, it is plain confusion.
January 24, 2020
There were so many themes in this book to make it right up my alley.... but I found it boring. Part of it most definitely is my lack of understanding culture and normal life of teens in South Africa. The writing was good....but I had to force myself to finish it. Some scenes are notable, movie like. But the alien Triangulum thing just didn't work for me. And too many pieces seemed like red herrings... plot parts that didn't go anywhere.
July 24, 2019
One of the best books I’ve read in a long time. I tried to make it last, but I ended up speeding through in less than 2 weeks. Such a great example of South African sci-fi literature. Loved that I was able to recognise so many of the places, especially the Vredefort Crater! A definite warning for humanity today. Amazing✨
January 5, 2020
Incredible. Despite spanning more than 30 years, and tackling heavy issues of addiction, mental illness, and contemplating the great unknowns, Ntshanga's poignant writing flows effortlessly. I could not put this book down.
October 21, 2019
I find it difficult to know what take away from this coming of age sci fi mystery, but it placed me under a spell and I couldn’t get it out of my mind.
November 21, 2023
Come può un libro parlare contemporaneamente di passato, presente e futuro? Forse perché in realtà non c'è alcuna distinzione tra di essi.
Un romanzo alquanto particolare, con un sacco di strati, sotto e tra i quali si celano alcuni dei problemi che possono affliggere un'adolescente nel pieno della sua crescita e una donna in un futuro prossimo e distopico. Questo rende quest'opera un mix perfetto tra romanzo di formazione, mistero e fantascienza.
Una delle particolarità di Triangulum è proprio il fatto che la divisione della storia in due metà ha permesso all'autore di inserire temi molto diversi fra loro ma comunque perfettamente integrati nella trama. Nella prima metà, l'anonima protagonista racconta sprazzi della sua infanzia e parte della sua adolescenza, mostrandoci la realtà di una ragazza che cresce con un padre malato e una madre scomparsa, tra disturbi alimentari e della salute mentale, tanta queerness e le ancora tangibili conseguenze dell'apartheid. Proprio quest'ultimo aspetto mi ha affascinato più di tutti, infatti penso che cercherò più afro-futurismo prossimamente, anche per il modo in cui il passato e la cultura di queste terre influenzano le speculazioni degli autori sul futuro.
La seconda metà, invece, è molto più distopica, con delle vibes alla Black Mirror e Mr Robot, al limite del cyberpunk, con controllo sulla popolazione e manipolazione dei desideri della "massa", privacy, suddivisione in classi e ancora inquinamento, progresso tecnologico, destino dell'uomo. La protagonista è cresciuta ma ci sono ancora delle domande senza risposta che la perseguitano da quando, da ragazza, cominciò ad avere le visioni della macchina.
La struttura è davvero interessante, così come il pretesto narrativo di questi documenti arrivati all'Agenzia Spaziale sudafricana nel 2040. È stata una lettura che mi ha tenuta sul filo del rasoio nel non permettermi di capire cosa fosse reale e cosa invece frutto di "paranoie" e allucinazioni.
Uno sguardo molto critico e spero non troppo anticipatorio su quello che potrebbe essere un futuro relativamente prossimo.
Un romanzo alquanto particolare, con un sacco di strati, sotto e tra i quali si celano alcuni dei problemi che possono affliggere un'adolescente nel pieno della sua crescita e una donna in un futuro prossimo e distopico. Questo rende quest'opera un mix perfetto tra romanzo di formazione, mistero e fantascienza.
Una delle particolarità di Triangulum è proprio il fatto che la divisione della storia in due metà ha permesso all'autore di inserire temi molto diversi fra loro ma comunque perfettamente integrati nella trama. Nella prima metà, l'anonima protagonista racconta sprazzi della sua infanzia e parte della sua adolescenza, mostrandoci la realtà di una ragazza che cresce con un padre malato e una madre scomparsa, tra disturbi alimentari e della salute mentale, tanta queerness e le ancora tangibili conseguenze dell'apartheid. Proprio quest'ultimo aspetto mi ha affascinato più di tutti, infatti penso che cercherò più afro-futurismo prossimamente, anche per il modo in cui il passato e la cultura di queste terre influenzano le speculazioni degli autori sul futuro.
La seconda metà, invece, è molto più distopica, con delle vibes alla Black Mirror e Mr Robot, al limite del cyberpunk, con controllo sulla popolazione e manipolazione dei desideri della "massa", privacy, suddivisione in classi e ancora inquinamento, progresso tecnologico, destino dell'uomo. La protagonista è cresciuta ma ci sono ancora delle domande senza risposta che la perseguitano da quando, da ragazza, cominciò ad avere le visioni della macchina.
La struttura è davvero interessante, così come il pretesto narrativo di questi documenti arrivati all'Agenzia Spaziale sudafricana nel 2040. È stata una lettura che mi ha tenuta sul filo del rasoio nel non permettermi di capire cosa fosse reale e cosa invece frutto di "paranoie" e allucinazioni.
Uno sguardo molto critico e spero non troppo anticipatorio su quello che potrebbe essere un futuro relativamente prossimo.
Read
February 10, 2022Intricate literary speculative fiction, grounded in the coming of age story of a teenage girl in late 90s/early 00s South Africa: a girl so smart and struggling in the post-apartheid educational system, falling in love with her best friends of two different genders, and still reeling from her mother's mysterious disappearance. While the details often got obscured and confusing for me, I loved the emotional story of this.
March 22, 2022
Maybe I'm just not smart enough to get it?
May 1, 2022
Although pegged as science fiction, there isn’t a lot of actual sci fi to this book. The story takes place in rural South Africa for the first half and urban Johannesburg for the second half. I know very little about South Africa, and I think this was a detriment to my relating to the story. Most of the story is told out of order—I’m sure there was some literary reason for this, but it just made the story confusing to me. The second half of the book when the protagonist was an adult was better—more cohesive.
June 9, 2025
I have really taken my time reading it and it’s definitely my first sci-fi novel.
A book worth reading and just too smart.
A book worth reading and just too smart.
March 27, 2025
Maybe this is not for me. This is the kind of story that slows down your reading speed because it isn't all that compelling. The main character felt so distant despite the first-person narration. For a character who is supposed to be a prodigy, she felt very passive and lacked agency. Situations where the most realistic course of action should be to question things till you fully understand the magnitude of what you're getting into are situations she simply accepted and went along with.
The conclusions presented in this book also felt lacklustre and brought down the reading experience.
The conclusions presented in this book also felt lacklustre and brought down the reading experience.
Read
December 26, 2023Tror tyvärr att jag är för korkad för den här boken? :/
Displaying 1 - 30 of 86 reviews