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Choke Chain
Set in a dirt-poor, white neighbourhood in 1980s South Africa, Choke Chain exposes the rotten, insidious patterns of fathering that most societies still ignore. In this extraordinary first novel, two boys struggle to find steady ground in a disintegrating household, learning that not all adults are right and true.
256 pages, Paperback
First published February 19, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
April 23, 2017
Although set in South Africa in the nineteen eighties, I did not really feel at any stage that this story of a father whose parenting skills threaten to derail his sons, was a particularly South African one. Obviously the theme can be associated with any country in that it is a worldwide social problem -- although it must be conceded that the occasional flashes of racial intolerance make it perhaps more suited to a South Africa still in the grip of apartheid at that stage. The story concerns a family consisting of ill-matched parents Bruce and Grace Thorne (involved in an uneasy marriage about to implode) and their two sons, twelve-year-old Alex and the younger Kevin. They live in a suburb of Pretoria, and although the blurb notes on the inside cover would have you believe that the setting is a "dirt-poor white neighborhood," I can vouch for the fact that this family's circumstances do not remotely resemble anything that I would classify as such -- and I have known people living in such unfortunate areas in various parts of South Africa. Please note that none of this is to be construed as a negative reflection on author Jason Donald -- unless he wrote the blurb himself! He cannot be faulted in any way as he effortlessly employs his not-inconsiderable ability to present a story that cries out to be told: the multi-faceted ways in which fathers and sons interact and the brutal manner in which a careless father's attitude can be instrumental in scarring his boys when they are at their most vulnerable and desperately in need of the guidance that will stand them in good stead as well-adjusted adult males.
Bruce is a complex, if repulsive, creation. Here is a man who thinks nothing of introducing his sons to the insider tricks of petty little cons performed on managers of grocery stores and restaurants -- always with both his sons in tow, and for paltry sums of money. (The purpose of these pathetic cons, after all, is not to acquire any financial gain, but rather to illustrate how best to succeed in bedeviling the next man by relying solely on your wits.) After a ferocious hail storm -- which provides the spectacular opening scene as the brothers are caught out in the open on their way from school -- the father's car is severely dented by hail stones. Realizing that his insurance does not cover hail damage, he comes up with a plan to fake the theft of his car in order to falsify a claim. Without blinking an eye, he involves Alex in the scheme -- which necessitates the confused boy to lie to the police officers sent out to investigate the theft. Through it all, Bruce is only concerned with Alex's confirmation of his lies. The fact that Alex goes through a serious crisis of divided loyalties (does he lie for his father, or does he tell the truth in pursuance of what is morally right?) is of no significance to Bruce. He is too busy playing his little game of putting one over on the bureaucrats standing in the way to the successful conclusion of his plan.
Bruce's racial prejudices come to the fore when he berates his sons for being friends with an Afrikaans-speaking boy and "jabbering away in Afrikaans like you have forgotten how to speak properly." When Alex points out that they have to learn Afrikaans as part of the syllabus, his father tells him, "Guess there's nothing I can do about the school system in this country. But that doesn't mean you have to act like some inbred Afrikaner straight off the farm, walking around barefoot all day like an animal."
In a telling sequence which speaks volumes in commenting on Bruce's skewed mindset and the latent violence that is always bubbling away in his psyche, he sets out to teach Alex and Kevin the techniques of self defense after the latter gets involved in a fight at school where Alex failed to go to his brother's assistance. In illustrating his theory of decimating your enemy at all costs, he stresses the fact that there are no rules in a fight. "The best form of defense is attack," he tells them. When demonstrating a headlock on Alex, he comes close to choking the boy. "You can't really kill someone with this move but if you get the headlock on one of those dicks in the playground, then hold on for all you're worth. He'll start kicking and screaming but you just keep that lock on tight. When he passes out, you can kick the s**t out of him," he instructs the boys. His advice to his sons about never turning your back on your adversary, will later resonate with Alex when he finally realizes the time has come to face his dad head-on instead of backing down as usual to his own detriment.
When the marital tension between Bruce and Grace stretches to breaking point, she removes herself and her sons to Durban to stay with an old college friend of hers. On their return to Pretoria, they make an unpleasant discovery that confirms all the boys' fears regarding the incisive changes about to be wrought on the family dynamic. Shortly after this Alex is left reeling when he discovers the humiliating truth about the woman that Bruce has chosen to be his new companion and lover.
As the situation builds to a climax where Alex must take a stand to preserve himself from his father's destructive influence, the choke chain used to control the vicious dog that is Bruce Thorne's gift to his eldest son takes on a moving symbolic significance.
Bruce is a complex, if repulsive, creation. Here is a man who thinks nothing of introducing his sons to the insider tricks of petty little cons performed on managers of grocery stores and restaurants -- always with both his sons in tow, and for paltry sums of money. (The purpose of these pathetic cons, after all, is not to acquire any financial gain, but rather to illustrate how best to succeed in bedeviling the next man by relying solely on your wits.) After a ferocious hail storm -- which provides the spectacular opening scene as the brothers are caught out in the open on their way from school -- the father's car is severely dented by hail stones. Realizing that his insurance does not cover hail damage, he comes up with a plan to fake the theft of his car in order to falsify a claim. Without blinking an eye, he involves Alex in the scheme -- which necessitates the confused boy to lie to the police officers sent out to investigate the theft. Through it all, Bruce is only concerned with Alex's confirmation of his lies. The fact that Alex goes through a serious crisis of divided loyalties (does he lie for his father, or does he tell the truth in pursuance of what is morally right?) is of no significance to Bruce. He is too busy playing his little game of putting one over on the bureaucrats standing in the way to the successful conclusion of his plan.
Bruce's racial prejudices come to the fore when he berates his sons for being friends with an Afrikaans-speaking boy and "jabbering away in Afrikaans like you have forgotten how to speak properly." When Alex points out that they have to learn Afrikaans as part of the syllabus, his father tells him, "Guess there's nothing I can do about the school system in this country. But that doesn't mean you have to act like some inbred Afrikaner straight off the farm, walking around barefoot all day like an animal."
In a telling sequence which speaks volumes in commenting on Bruce's skewed mindset and the latent violence that is always bubbling away in his psyche, he sets out to teach Alex and Kevin the techniques of self defense after the latter gets involved in a fight at school where Alex failed to go to his brother's assistance. In illustrating his theory of decimating your enemy at all costs, he stresses the fact that there are no rules in a fight. "The best form of defense is attack," he tells them. When demonstrating a headlock on Alex, he comes close to choking the boy. "You can't really kill someone with this move but if you get the headlock on one of those dicks in the playground, then hold on for all you're worth. He'll start kicking and screaming but you just keep that lock on tight. When he passes out, you can kick the s**t out of him," he instructs the boys. His advice to his sons about never turning your back on your adversary, will later resonate with Alex when he finally realizes the time has come to face his dad head-on instead of backing down as usual to his own detriment.
When the marital tension between Bruce and Grace stretches to breaking point, she removes herself and her sons to Durban to stay with an old college friend of hers. On their return to Pretoria, they make an unpleasant discovery that confirms all the boys' fears regarding the incisive changes about to be wrought on the family dynamic. Shortly after this Alex is left reeling when he discovers the humiliating truth about the woman that Bruce has chosen to be his new companion and lover.
As the situation builds to a climax where Alex must take a stand to preserve himself from his father's destructive influence, the choke chain used to control the vicious dog that is Bruce Thorne's gift to his eldest son takes on a moving symbolic significance.
Read
April 25, 2017Against a background of apartheid South Africa, Alex's family are poor and helpless. But white. That means their father Bruce gets to be a brute through no other qualification than his skin colour and sense of entitlement.
For a teenage boy attempting to comprehend power and social structure, his father is a role model, if Alex wants the role of liar, cheat and bully. He can play the strongman and protect his brother, fighting in the playground to prove how force can win. Or he can try to understand via a wider lens and break the mould.
Two young white brothers grow up in 1980s' Pretoria, trying to make sense of their place in the world. Who are they? In relation to Dad, to their mother, their peers, their countrymen, each other? Alex is on the cusp of adulthood and has to make a choice of what kind a man he's going to be.
A layered novel with battened down emotions, frustrations and a strange disconnect from the political climate, which rumbles in the background like a low growl. This book encapsulates young adult experience, such as inarticulacy and frustration with his environment, but adds another level of tension via the background of imbalance as the status quo.
Donald writes with exceptional delicacy, using metaphor and understatement with precision and drawing the reader into an unfamiliar world we cannot help but understand.
For a teenage boy attempting to comprehend power and social structure, his father is a role model, if Alex wants the role of liar, cheat and bully. He can play the strongman and protect his brother, fighting in the playground to prove how force can win. Or he can try to understand via a wider lens and break the mould.
Two young white brothers grow up in 1980s' Pretoria, trying to make sense of their place in the world. Who are they? In relation to Dad, to their mother, their peers, their countrymen, each other? Alex is on the cusp of adulthood and has to make a choice of what kind a man he's going to be.
A layered novel with battened down emotions, frustrations and a strange disconnect from the political climate, which rumbles in the background like a low growl. This book encapsulates young adult experience, such as inarticulacy and frustration with his environment, but adds another level of tension via the background of imbalance as the status quo.
Donald writes with exceptional delicacy, using metaphor and understatement with precision and drawing the reader into an unfamiliar world we cannot help but understand.
March 3, 2014
This is no bundle of laughs. I did not really enjoy it but it had me hooked and it is well-written. The predominant theme is the effect of paternal brutality on a family. I have come across some pretty dreadful fathers, professionally, but as the book reached its climax this one plumbed depths of callous insensitivity that I found unconvincing. Maybe I've been sheltered.
December 1, 2023
Why do I do this to myself? Yet again, I'm heartsore. I just finished this book, but I can tell it will affect me for years to come. As an older brother I ask myself why do we express concern and care through reprimand, insults, and violence? Where does the disconnect between thought and action occur?
I picked up this book as South African literature is perhaps my favorite genre. But aside from pop culture and references, bits of Afrikaans, and the lose apartheid setting, this story can, and unfortunately does, occur anywhere.
What hurts the most is knowing that, for some, reality can be worse than this fiction.
I picked up this book as South African literature is perhaps my favorite genre. But aside from pop culture and references, bits of Afrikaans, and the lose apartheid setting, this story can, and unfortunately does, occur anywhere.
What hurts the most is knowing that, for some, reality can be worse than this fiction.
October 1, 2009
I am a great fan of giving South African and African authors a chance. I would chose to read an unknown African author before a foreign one. Occasionally a local gem lands in my lap as a result. Choke Chain is one of these gems.
I loved this book.
The narrative follows Alex and his younger brother Kevin through one December holiday in the 1980s. The book starts with a glorious sounding hail storm the boys barely manage to escape. This storm in many ways represents the journey the boys and their parents take over the December holiday. Life throws things at them they are ill-equipped to deal with and certainly did not expect. Hailstones the size of apricots seems like the worst thing possible at the start of the book but by the end the storms they have all weathered would make these seem insignificant. In addition to facing the ‘normal’ trials of life 12 and 10 year old boys face, Alex and Kevin also face the realisation that not all adults are nice people and that parents cannot necessarily and without reserve be trusted.
Alex’s struggle with straddling childhood and burgeoning adulthood is perfectly captured in his behaviour and thoughts. He moves between being a little boy and trying to be the man of the house with such discomfort and jarring movements there is no question about the authenticity of it. I wanted to mother him but knew at the same time it was both the thing he needed most and wanted least. Alex is real; he is every single boy who ever rode his bicycle down a hot African street.
Behind the narrative, this book is about the blind eye society chooses to turn to poor parenting and bullying. Alex and Kevin are bullied by many characters in this book, most horrendously including their father. Bruce is a brute of a man with few redeeming qualities. And like Alex, he is believable and real. Many of us grew up with a friend with a dad just like Bruce; the kind of dad that told his young son that real men don’t cry, the kind of dad who believed that boys should be tough at all times; the kind of dad who equated fear with respect. And few if any of our parents said anything about what went on in those homes. We all knew and yet we all just pretended we didn’t. In those days, no one ever said anything!
This book is a deceptively easy read. It pulls you along quite merrily with imagery of the South African many of us grew up in. The evil beneath the surface slowing becomes more evident through the net curtains. And the climax of the book is so much more shocking because once it happens, it seems such an obvious event. As I read it, reeling, I realised I should have expected it but had somehow been so drawn in the world of Alex and Kevin and the faith of childhood that I had forgotten to watch out. It is an actual and metaphorical event no one in the book will ever get over. And I think many readers will be haunted by it too.
This is an amazing book; a first novel I hope Donald follows with another one. Read it and watch out for this man – if he keeps it up he will be an author worth following.
I loved this book.
The narrative follows Alex and his younger brother Kevin through one December holiday in the 1980s. The book starts with a glorious sounding hail storm the boys barely manage to escape. This storm in many ways represents the journey the boys and their parents take over the December holiday. Life throws things at them they are ill-equipped to deal with and certainly did not expect. Hailstones the size of apricots seems like the worst thing possible at the start of the book but by the end the storms they have all weathered would make these seem insignificant. In addition to facing the ‘normal’ trials of life 12 and 10 year old boys face, Alex and Kevin also face the realisation that not all adults are nice people and that parents cannot necessarily and without reserve be trusted.
Alex’s struggle with straddling childhood and burgeoning adulthood is perfectly captured in his behaviour and thoughts. He moves between being a little boy and trying to be the man of the house with such discomfort and jarring movements there is no question about the authenticity of it. I wanted to mother him but knew at the same time it was both the thing he needed most and wanted least. Alex is real; he is every single boy who ever rode his bicycle down a hot African street.
Behind the narrative, this book is about the blind eye society chooses to turn to poor parenting and bullying. Alex and Kevin are bullied by many characters in this book, most horrendously including their father. Bruce is a brute of a man with few redeeming qualities. And like Alex, he is believable and real. Many of us grew up with a friend with a dad just like Bruce; the kind of dad that told his young son that real men don’t cry, the kind of dad who believed that boys should be tough at all times; the kind of dad who equated fear with respect. And few if any of our parents said anything about what went on in those homes. We all knew and yet we all just pretended we didn’t. In those days, no one ever said anything!
This book is a deceptively easy read. It pulls you along quite merrily with imagery of the South African many of us grew up in. The evil beneath the surface slowing becomes more evident through the net curtains. And the climax of the book is so much more shocking because once it happens, it seems such an obvious event. As I read it, reeling, I realised I should have expected it but had somehow been so drawn in the world of Alex and Kevin and the faith of childhood that I had forgotten to watch out. It is an actual and metaphorical event no one in the book will ever get over. And I think many readers will be haunted by it too.
This is an amazing book; a first novel I hope Donald follows with another one. Read it and watch out for this man – if he keeps it up he will be an author worth following.
September 11, 2014
A very fine book about being young. But also about being kind of odd to your circumstances: always a little bit out of place and not on time (as we all are - if not constantly, at least in most of the cases).
There is this white, pretty average family in South Africa of the 1980s - a Mom and a Dad + two young boys - in which everybody does what they believe is right to do in their positions of Moms, Dads and boys. And everybody invariably makes mistakes. There are four quite different and well described personalities in this book and all the choreography of their falling apart as a family bares beautifully their (our) most touching and/or irritating human traits.
It is a dramatic novel without dramatic extremes, in which clever little details keep awake all of your senses (the narrative goes sometimes visual, sometimes tactile, etc.) while composing a puzzle with a very clear and balanced picture on it: a picture of a mildly dysfunctional family in a pretty dysfunctional society in a totally fucked-up humanity who tries and fails and tries and succeeds... although at the end of the day the failures don't seem so bad, while the succeeding doesn't bring the expected fulfillment. The good old human story.
The novel is set in Africa, but Africa is not its topic neither some kind of overwhelming scenery (although you get an idea of the absurdity of the apartheid times). It is narrated from the perspective of the 12-years old Alex (the big brother), but it is neither childish nor simple. There aren't experiments with the language or philosophical adventures in "Choke chain": it is the descriptive kind of story telling that would rather enumerate the reality than interpret or distort it with the imagination. Although in many other cases this could be a problem for a reader like me (crazy about Giorgio Manganelli's midnight madness or the "baroque" of António Lobo Antunes, or the piercing wit of TC Boyle for instance), in this it isn't: the way this book is told and structured seems only right and elegant, and consistent.
Last, but not least: I loved its division in slightly disconnected chapters, each one named after one leading image in the respective fragment ("Hail", "Avocado", "Ten Bucks", "Crackers"...).
An excellent debut, I'd say.
There is this white, pretty average family in South Africa of the 1980s - a Mom and a Dad + two young boys - in which everybody does what they believe is right to do in their positions of Moms, Dads and boys. And everybody invariably makes mistakes. There are four quite different and well described personalities in this book and all the choreography of their falling apart as a family bares beautifully their (our) most touching and/or irritating human traits.
It is a dramatic novel without dramatic extremes, in which clever little details keep awake all of your senses (the narrative goes sometimes visual, sometimes tactile, etc.) while composing a puzzle with a very clear and balanced picture on it: a picture of a mildly dysfunctional family in a pretty dysfunctional society in a totally fucked-up humanity who tries and fails and tries and succeeds... although at the end of the day the failures don't seem so bad, while the succeeding doesn't bring the expected fulfillment. The good old human story.
The novel is set in Africa, but Africa is not its topic neither some kind of overwhelming scenery (although you get an idea of the absurdity of the apartheid times). It is narrated from the perspective of the 12-years old Alex (the big brother), but it is neither childish nor simple. There aren't experiments with the language or philosophical adventures in "Choke chain": it is the descriptive kind of story telling that would rather enumerate the reality than interpret or distort it with the imagination. Although in many other cases this could be a problem for a reader like me (crazy about Giorgio Manganelli's midnight madness or the "baroque" of António Lobo Antunes, or the piercing wit of TC Boyle for instance), in this it isn't: the way this book is told and structured seems only right and elegant, and consistent.
Last, but not least: I loved its division in slightly disconnected chapters, each one named after one leading image in the respective fragment ("Hail", "Avocado", "Ten Bucks", "Crackers"...).
An excellent debut, I'd say.
November 30, 2014
Choke Chain by Jason Donald
12 year old Alex and his younger brother Kevin Thorne are a pair of brothers growing up in 1980s South Africa. They are poor but white and although the book is set pre the breakdown of apartheid their world is changing. Their brutal, devious and selfish but charming father Bruce teaches them how to con and bully their way through a world where his brand of violent chauvanism is beginning to be replaced by values of social justice and mutual respect. As their parents' marriage splinters under the force of Bruce's (a play on brutal?) savage narcissism the brothers and their mother Grace struggle to cope and the climax of the story is a tragedy that warns against answering violence with violence.
As first person narrator it is Alex's voice we hear most clearly, and follow his coming of age as he moves from trying to emulate his father to finding another way. The evocation of pre-apartheid South Africa, the institutional racism and bigotry, the patchwork of languages and the heat of Pretoria, cool of the Drakensburg and humidity of Durban is extremely powerful. Alex's narrative is couched as a series of anecdotes, much in the way Bruce would tell stories, but these are not witty and entertaining, they are painful recollections of brutality and humiliation, and of Alex's sense of his failure to protect his little brother.
Some people may see Bruce as a sterotypical bad guy but he isn't, Donald has written an elegant and devastating account of what it is like to grow up choked in the shadow of such a powerful personality. Full of elegant metaphor and metonymy, this is one of the hardest and best books I've read in some time.
12 year old Alex and his younger brother Kevin Thorne are a pair of brothers growing up in 1980s South Africa. They are poor but white and although the book is set pre the breakdown of apartheid their world is changing. Their brutal, devious and selfish but charming father Bruce teaches them how to con and bully their way through a world where his brand of violent chauvanism is beginning to be replaced by values of social justice and mutual respect. As their parents' marriage splinters under the force of Bruce's (a play on brutal?) savage narcissism the brothers and their mother Grace struggle to cope and the climax of the story is a tragedy that warns against answering violence with violence.
As first person narrator it is Alex's voice we hear most clearly, and follow his coming of age as he moves from trying to emulate his father to finding another way. The evocation of pre-apartheid South Africa, the institutional racism and bigotry, the patchwork of languages and the heat of Pretoria, cool of the Drakensburg and humidity of Durban is extremely powerful. Alex's narrative is couched as a series of anecdotes, much in the way Bruce would tell stories, but these are not witty and entertaining, they are painful recollections of brutality and humiliation, and of Alex's sense of his failure to protect his little brother.
Some people may see Bruce as a sterotypical bad guy but he isn't, Donald has written an elegant and devastating account of what it is like to grow up choked in the shadow of such a powerful personality. Full of elegant metaphor and metonymy, this is one of the hardest and best books I've read in some time.
March 12, 2020
This is a powerful read, sensitively written. The author transports you into his world, and makes you care for the characters more than you can know. Ultimately the book is a coming of age novel, but it is also more than this. It is a snapshot of life in late 1980s South Africa. It is a book about morality, and might makes right, and exclusion and racism and so much more.
There is plenty of metaphor in here. Observations about a vicious dog - it is not its fault, someone made it that way - reflect right back on the central characters for instance. The pot bellied black child that is ignored by a mother of two boys again leaves so much unsaid, and yet gets its message powerfully across.
The imagery in the book is wonderful. Without wasting words, the author transports you into another country so completely that you end up thinking you could have grown up there! The beautiful mountain scenery, the aquamarine Indian ocean, the grimy poor suburb the family live in - it is all well drawn. So too are the characters.
This book is a very good, gritty read but with an ultimate message of hope.
Highly recommended.
There is plenty of metaphor in here. Observations about a vicious dog - it is not its fault, someone made it that way - reflect right back on the central characters for instance. The pot bellied black child that is ignored by a mother of two boys again leaves so much unsaid, and yet gets its message powerfully across.
The imagery in the book is wonderful. Without wasting words, the author transports you into another country so completely that you end up thinking you could have grown up there! The beautiful mountain scenery, the aquamarine Indian ocean, the grimy poor suburb the family live in - it is all well drawn. So too are the characters.
This book is a very good, gritty read but with an ultimate message of hope.
Highly recommended.
July 15, 2014
Tom Sawyer like in feel, this book is easy to read and understated. 'Choke Chain' is an evocative tale about two brothers growing up in a home that is falling apart in the distinct world of 1980s South Africa. From the opening scene, an impressive hailstorm that in many ways signifies the struggle and isolation ahead, the story unfolds with a masterly pace that immerses the readers in the world of 12-year old Alex. His world of home and school are challenged by the choices of people around him and through his keen, uncompromising eyes, we watch a series of events unfold till a shattering, unpredictable climax that makes it impossible to put the book down.
A classic and a family drama about a heart wrenching coming of age, ‘Choke Chain’ is told with compassion and clarity with beautiful, under-stated writing. The story of the two brothers will remain with the readers for a long time afterwards, as will the characters, the incidents and lessons Alex learns
A classic and a family drama about a heart wrenching coming of age, ‘Choke Chain’ is told with compassion and clarity with beautiful, under-stated writing. The story of the two brothers will remain with the readers for a long time afterwards, as will the characters, the incidents and lessons Alex learns
March 17, 2013
Best book I've read in a long time. The reader is swept along on this family tsunami until the ending that leaves you in withdrawal.
November 23, 2015
Loved it and hated it I suppose. Reminded me of many reasons I am glad I no longer live in South Africa.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews