Agaat

Starred review from March 8, 2010
Van Niekerk follows the widely lauded Triomf
with a dark, innovative epic that trudges through the depths of a South African farmwife's soul. In 1947, Milla Redelinghuys is determined to turn her wealthy new husband, Jak, into the latest salt-of-the-earth farmer in her family's line. But her demands and manipulative personality cause an early marital rift that only worsens with time. As Van Niekerk follows young Milla through the decades, the author parallels it with the last days of an elderly Milla in 1996—miserable, afflicted with ALS, and reliant on her black maid, Agaat, for survival. Slowly, Milla's story—her abandonment and her masochistic relationship with Agaat—is revealed in all its ugliness. Clearly an allegory for race relations in South Africa, the novel succeeds on numerous other grounds: a rich evocation of family dynamics ; a chilling portrait of bodily and mental decay; and a successful experiment in combining diaries, the second-person, and stream of consciousness. Van Niekerk marshals it all to evoke the resigned mind of a dying woman who realizes, too late, the horrible mistakes that have made her life a waste.

May 1, 2010
Sixty-seven-year-old Milla lies on her deathbed, reliving more than 40 years spent on the family farm outside of Swellendam in South Africa. Ravaged by ALS, she can communicate only by blinking her eyes. Milla's black maid, Agaat, is her sole caretaker. The two share a more significant bond than that between Milla and Jak, her brutish, self-centered husband. It even surpasses Milla's connection to her son, Jakkie. Agaat reveals their complex past, a past further complicated because Agaat becomes Jakkie's nanny and principal companion despite her displacement as Milla's "adopted" daughter once Jakkie is born. Agaat cares for Milla, yet the caretaking duties reveal her frustration and fatigue, and the disease's progression has significantly altered their relationship's balance of power. Van Niekerk skillfully leads readers through the decades of Milla's life, remarkably combining second-person reminiscences with Milla's first-person diary entries. Ultimately, their story is a powerful allegory of the story of modern South Africa. VERDICT Winner of the Sunday "Times"(South Africa) Fiction Prize in 2007, this follow-up to Van Niekerk's acclaimed first novel, "Triomf", is not comfortable or easy to digest but is essential for collections covering contemporary world fiction because of its exquisite and provocative writing and moving story.Faye A. Chadwell, Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 15, 2010
Seventy-year-old Milla de Wet is slowly dying of paralysis, unable to move or talk, helpless and in the care of Agaat. They are two womenwhite and blackliving on a farm in South Africa at a time when the nation is undergoing huge racial and social change. But they have their own personal history between them. Van Niekerk shifts back and forth from the present to the past, and from first person to third person, including long, rambling diary passages, all from Millas perspective, to tell a tangled story that takes place during the years 194796. The sweep is as grand as the racial politics in South Africa and as intimate as the longings of one lonely woman for connectedness. Smart and assertive since she came to the farm with a crippled right hand, Agaat has been far more than a servant, to the eternal irritation of Millas husband, Jak de Wet. Jak is handsome but limited, for which he compensates by beating Milla. Agaats seething anger and sadness are barely concealed beneath the veneer of the loyal and dutiful servant even as Milla loses the ability to communicate and Agaat reads the diary entries. This novel stuns with its powerful sense of the rigors of farm life, desolation of a failing marriage, and comfort of a long and complex relationship.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)