Blessings on the Sheep Dog: StoriesFrom the violent world of apartheid South Africa to the supposed immigrant haven of the United States, the people in Saunders’s debut story collection brave life’s big questions about connection, displacement, death, love, race, and justice. Grappling with feelings too disturbing to articulate, they turn to anthropology or math, music or cosmology, to make sense of the dissonance around them. More often than not, the only truth they find is that life is a complicated dance, and doing the right thing a moment by moment decision. In "We’ll Get to Now Later,” a guilt-stricken white South African immigrant confronts his apartheid past when he meets a Zulu dancer traveling with a circus in the United States. In "Pig Day,” an American teenager accidentally kills his best friend Nick, the son of a Romanian immigrant, and is co-opted by the bereaved father to build Nick’s coffin. In "A Sudden New City,” Heila, a frail and mentally faltering white South African grandmother, drives a tractor into a black crowd as revenge for her husband’s infidelity across the color line. In the tradition of Nadine Gordimer and Norman Rush, but with its own sense of comedy and metaphor, Blessings on the Sheep Dog is a first work by a master storyteller. |
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Afrikaans Alexandra Andrew asked baby backgammon Beauty Becker Billy bottle brother called Carl Sagan Cecilia chair Christine Christine's circle of fifths Delia doctor door dress eyes face feels finger front fucking girl going Halftime hand head Heila humpback whales inside Jabberwocky Jacobus Jared's mother John Lennon Kate Kate's kitchen knew laughed legs living looked Ma'am Magriet Mandela Meredith Mickey Mouse Mihalik says morning mouth Nick Nick's night O'Neill O'Neill's Ouma picked pool pulled Ray Charles remembers Rian Rose Rose's Salt Palace Sam's sangoma Schrödinger's cat shouts side sits sleep smell Snyman boy someone sound South Africa Speedy Speedy's Stan Stan's story Sylvie says Sylvie's talk tell things thought told took tractor Trudy's father Tshabalala says Tswana turned Uncle Broer voice walked watch Wendy woman Xhosa Zulu