Book: Hoerkind, Herman Lategan

Hoerkind, what a title! (Whore Child)

The book that I was reading I had frustratingly forgotten in Pretoria. When I arrived at O R Tambo and realised this, I dashed into Exclusive Books, saw that Hoerkind by Herman Lategan was number one on the rack and grabbed it. I had no idea what this book was about; that’s definitely how I prefer it and wasn’t disappointed.

It is beautifully written book. Herman Lategan is an absolute magician with words. I had trouble putting the book down and read it within a week! I quite enjoyed that the chapters are short, about a page / just over a page long each. This definitely made me read it a lot faster. Each chapter ends on a cliffhanger, and you just know that something terrible is about to happen, although you do hope for the best and some good news. 

Just love a good Afrikaans book, it’s such a beautifully expressive language, and Herman is an incredibly talented writer. For years he only wrote in English, very grateful that he is writing in Afrikaans again. 

What a sad sad upbringing, no actually, his early days sounds pretty idyllic; surrounded by interesting colourful characters and a hippie mother. It is when he gets dropped off at the orphanage that things take a turn. So many sad things that he has had to face and cope with. A very poignant reflexion on his life. With everything that he went through he manages to still have a marvellous sense of humour. 

It’s frustrating / mind boggling how a blind eye was turned to paedophilia, especially in the 1970’s / 80’s in South Africa, (actually even earlier than that if I think of Mark Behr’s book, Smell of Apples).

The only criticism that I have is that there is a lot of name dropping. But, I do also understand and appreciate that this is part of who he is and what has made him.

Highly recommendable read.
4/5