Name: Bart Veldhuijsen 's review of The Murderer by Roy Heath
Item: The Murderer
Rating: 3.5
Author: Bart Veldhuijsen

Roy Heath

The portrait of a dangerous and unknowable lost soul, by “a chronicler nonpareil of 20th-century Guyanese life.” (Margaret Busby, The Guardian) Quiet, reserved, painfully shy, Galton Flood arrives in the Guyanese township of Linden haunted by the death of his domineering mother. There he meets Gemma Burrowes, a vibrant young woman eager to escape the confines of her father’s boarding house. They marry and make a home in the anonymous sprawl of Georgetown, Galton’s native city, where Gemma starts to realize that there is something very wrong with this match, and with Galton himself. On its first publication in 1978, The Murderer was greeted as a landmark in Caribbean literature, acclaimed both for its subtle portrayal of a disturbed anti-hero and for revealing with “uncanny precision . . . the discrepancy between the personal power of a woman within the family and her lack of influence outside it” (Homi Bhabha, Times Literary Supplement).

The Murderer

Genesis (@whisperingchapters)

'A masterpiece ... complex and fascinating and memorable' Colm Tóibín 'A beautiful writer and an unforgettable book' Salman Rushdie 'Guyanese authors are a radiant constellation, and Roy Heath stands rightfully among them. His unique style stands out from others of his time, and ours' Lemn Sissay 'For me life hasn't got dreams, success and all that damn nonsense. Life is full of shadows: some of them soft and others conceal a hammer.' Galton Flood is a lonely man, restless and ill at ease with his family. He leaves his home in Guyana's capital, Georgetown, for a remote township, and the first of a string of precarious jobs. Meeting Gemma, his landlord's daughter, appears to offer a first chance of meaningful connection - maybe even happiness. But there is a darkness inside Galton, and soon jealousy and paranoia lead him to fatally, violently unravel. With this haunting portrait of a mind undone, celebrated Guyanese writer Roy Heath evocatively recreates the country of his youth: its rivers, townships and tenement yards, and the tensions shimmering below the surface of a community. 'Enthralling ... a nuanced portrait of the disintegrating individual psyche' Fred D'Aguiar

Het is moeilijk te zeggen wat ik van het boek vond. Het was best moeilijk om te lezen door het dialect in de taal soms, en soms had ik niet helemaal door wat er gebeurde. Het was een verhaal wat vooral gebeurde en passief was. Daardoor ben ik vrij neutraal over de hoofdpersoon, maar ik heb geen medelijden. Het is vreemd dat er niet echt consequenties zijn voor hem, maar dat laat meer setting goed zien. Ik stagneerde best met dit boek maar het einde van het eerste deel en het einde maken het het lezen waard.

Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &
The Murderer by Roy Heath

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Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &The Murderer by Roy Heath

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Join the club

Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &
The Murderer by Roy Heath