Fiction – Kindle edition; Atlantic Books; 224 pages; 2012.
First published in 2005, Small Circle of Beings, by Damon Galgut, comprises a novella and four short stories.
All five narratives in the book venture into very dark territory and all are set within the confines of the family unit, what Galgut terms a “small circle of beings”.
Childhood illness
It is the titular novella which is perhaps the most disturbing story of them all. In it we meet a cowardly mother who fails to take her nine-year-old child to hospital when he is seriously ill because she puts her needs before her son’s: she is scared of the city and does not want to leave their secluded home on a dusty road in the mountains. Her husband, a farmer, is no better. He is emotionally detached, “keeps his distance and speaks of silly things”. He does not love his son.
When a doctor pronounces that there is nothing wrong with their child they accept his proclamation, but things get worse and David is later found to have a strange growth in his throat, which puts his life at risk.
In this account of two parents struggling to come to terms with their son’s illness in vastly different ways, Galgut throws a light on the tensions and strains between husbands and wives forced to confront their greatest fears: the loss of a child. He shows how different priorities — a mother’s over a father’s, for instance — can have devastating consequences for all involved, and how incidents from our childhood can have far-reaching repercussions long into our adult lives.
Written in delicate prose from the mother’s point of view, Small Circle of Beings wavers between claustrophobia and anxiety, love and anger. It is emotionally complex and the reader will find themselves torn between empathising with the mother and hating her for her passivity. I came away from it feeling a mix of heart ache and oppression. It is one of the most memorable novellas I have ever read.
Four stories
The four short stories that follow — Lovers, Shadows, The Clay Ox and Rick — tread similar territory, focusing on dysfunctional families, abusive parents, domestic violence and exploitation of black South Africans, all with an uncanny eye for detail and an emphasis on observational nuance.
There’s not much light relief, but it’s not Galgut’s style to shy away from humanity’s deepest flaws and failings. What he presents is ordinary white people thrust into extraordinary situations. He lets them manage for awhile, then has them flounder and it’s while they’re floundering, struggling to make sense of a new situation, that he looks at what happens to them under stress or when they think their power or sense of entitlement is under threat. The result is not always pretty.
Small Circle of Beings is a book filled with hatred, violence and antagonism. But for all the angry emotion portrayed here, Galgut is a superb stylist, making every word count and creating light-as-a-cloud prose that feels as if it might float off the page. I loved it.
Reading Matters 
Nice review! The novella “Small Circle of Beings” is a harrowing piece—even more impressive when you consider that Galgut had cancer as a child. He was on chemotherapy for five years or so. In interviews he recalls that he wanted to become a writer because, when he was sick, others would read to him and he came to associate reading with love. Writing from the mother’s perspective and dedicating it to his mother adds all the more resonance.
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Oh, I hadn’t realised he’d been ill as a child. This makes this particular book all the more powerful. I don’t think the mother comes off very well in this tale. Perhaps this was Galgut’s way of empathising with her: trying to comprehend her decisions and actions. Colm Toibin does the same in his novel Nora Webster… Colm and his brother were “abandoned” by his mother for a short time and the book, written from his mother’s point of view, appears to be a way of exploring why she did the things she did.
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I think you still have The Impostor (which I loved) and Arctic Summer (which is quite different, my least favourite of his books) to read. But I don’t know if you saw this in the journal JRB: https://johannesburgreviewofbooks.com/2017/12/06/fiction-issue-i-am-here-amor-swart-1986-may-tomorrow-never-come-exclusive-excerpt-from-a-work-in-progress-by-damon-galgut/ He’s working on a new novel!
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Yes, I have those two plus The Beautiful Screaming of Pigs still to go. Thanks for the link to the new WIP: I shall look forward to reading that (both the excerpt and the novel when it comes out)
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Another Galgut I hadn’t heard of!
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I tell ya, he’s got loads! Which makes me very happy cos that means I have lots of excellent reading ahead of me!
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This sounds immensely powerful. I’ve not read anything by this author, I’ll look out for him in future.
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This is my fourth Galgut and I have several more lying in wait. I’ve added him to my favourite authors page now https://readingmattersblog.com/my-favourite-authors/
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Another author I must read! sounds like an excellent collection.
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I really love his work, as you might be able to tell given I’ve reviewed two in the past two months!
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I feel for the mother. I had a friend who called this “Housewife’s disease”, the inability to get out of the house, which her own mother suffered from.
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Interestingly in this story, the mother has a mother who lives with them and is similarly “trapped”.
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Another positive review of one of Galgut’s books! Since your last review, I did notice a couple of his books at the library. One of these days…
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Do give him a try, Naomi, I think you will like his stuff.
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In the novella, the narrator’s husband is a headmaster, not a farmer.
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Thanks Heidi … been a long time since I read this, but goodness knows how I made that error. Lol.
PS. If you are a first time commenter your comment gets held in moderation until I approve it, so that’s why your comment didn’t appear. Apologies you tried to post three times.
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