Promised Land

Promised Land, Karel Schoeman, Summit Books, 1978

Set in the indeterminate present, this takes place in a South Africa where whites have totally lost control of the country, leading to the undefined "troubles", forcing all whites who could leave permanently to do so. Those that remain are increasingly bitter and suspicious of strangers, and still have no idea how they lost the country.

George, member of a family who did leave, returns to South Africa because his grandmother has died, and he must dispose of the abandoned family estate. He runs into some neighbors, who, when they realize he is a relative, practically force him to spend his visit with them. At the same time, they are suspicious of George for asking too many questions and resentful because his family could leave while they couldn't, and also so happy for the arrival of an outsider that his visit is treated as a major stop-the-presses Event. Several parties are planned in George's honor so that all the aunts and cousins and neighbors in the area can meet him.

I can easily understand why Schoeman didn't get into just what caused the whites to flee, in what has been called a South African "1984", otherwise the book would never have been published in his homeland of South Africa. On the other hand, I was waiting for the story to get interesting, to make me want to keep reading. Up until the last few pages, I was still waiting.