Achmat Dangor

South Africa. One day Silas encounters by chance the man who had raped his wife Lydia back in the dark days of apartheid. This encounters leads to severe consequences for the whole family with Lydia cutting herself and their son Michael going on a quest to learn more about his past and explore the numerous influences that had shaped the life of his ancestors...
For some reason, this novel was not my cup of tea. It is well-written and yet I did not always like the choice of words the author made. On the one hand, I like very much the delicate way Dangor treated the subject of rape and the consequences for the victims. On the other hand, he describes a world where the mind is controlled by the body and many of the protagonists just selfishly follow their desires without thinking about the consequences this may have on people they love, are responsible for or simply are friends with. This so close to the rape topic felt very uncomfortable for me.
And, unfortunately, I did not manage to understand the way Michael is acting, why he chose this rather radical way that seems completely pointless to me.