Before I Forget

February 5, 2007
Chris Minnaar is a South African novelist who recounts his many loves in this long, melancholy second-person confession to his dead friend and would-be lover, Rachel. Born to privilege in a wealthy Afrikaner family, Chris is seduced when he is eight by an older cousin, beginning the string of encounters—about 20—that stretch over 70 years and make up the bulk of the book. Chris begins his adult life as a lawyer, but abandons that career when his first novel becomes a sensation. His recounted amorous adventures are interrupted by family scenes (overbearing father dies early; mother eventually suffers from dementia) and by the good times he has with Rachel (whom he loves but doesn't bed) and her photojournalist husband, George. The trio discuss opera, fine wines, art, literature, gourmet cooking and very little politics, the one topic that hangs over the novel like an invisible cloud. Although South African novelist Brink (A Dry White Season
) is a master stylist, Chris's encounters—they meet, they bed, they part—become tedious. The sex scenes are more clinical than erotic, and after a while one senses the strain of coming up with a new attribute to distinguish each successive lover from the rest.

March 15, 2007
One of the most important and prolific voices from South Africa over several decades, Brink (A Dry White Season ) here offers a lyrical story with presumably autobiographical undertones. The protagonist, writer Chris Minaar, is a highly intellectual Afrikaner who has made some sense of the world primarily through his intimate relationships. Having had a father who embodied a lethal mix of religious dogma and hidden infidelity, Chris has found in women a great deal of comfort, nurturing, and beauty of both the physical and the spiritual varieties. After a lifetime of passion, he wants to record all of the lessons he has learned. Although primarily based on his sexual appetite, his experiences also have great emotional depth. The pleasure depicted here provides an important counterpoint to the political turmoil in South Africa: Chris's intimate connections serve as an antidote to war, running parallel to the sweeping cultural changes within the country. Self-indulgent if erotically charged and beautifully written, this rambling novel describes one man's anguish as he nears the end of his life, realizing that love will eventually end as well. Recommended for literary fiction collections and for those interested in South African literature.Susanne Wells, P.L. of Cincinnati and Hamilton Cty.

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2007
Highly erotic, erudite, intricate, and dense, Brinks latest U.S. publication presents the life of South African author Chris Minaar. Brink weaves three strands through the story: the record of his last love, twentieth-entury South African history as experienced through his sexual relationships, and the onset of the Iraqi war as viewed on Minaars television. For Minaar, these ruminations end a writers block and allow him to look back on a life filled with sexual exploits and political activism. Brink masterfully relates Minaars decisions and actions to Mozarts Don Giovanni, Dostoyevskys Idiot, and Sophocles Antigone. Minaar, his love Rachel, and Minaars parents are delicately, exquisitely drawn characters. Alas, his many female loves fare less wellafter awhile its hard to recall which of the extensive group may be a topic of conversation. Through Minaar, Brink explores the losses of agingwith all the regrets and the few comforts. An engrossing read, Brinks tour de force will delight readers of literary writing and European political fiction alike. Purchase accordingly.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)