How long is it?
269 pages in the Europa Editions 2021 hardcover edition.
Reading facts
✓ Checked- Reading effort
- 62 / 100High
- Length
- 269 pagesEuropa Editions · 2021
- Reading time
- 5 h 30 minat 50 pages an hour ·
- Pace
- Measured
- Emotional intensity
- 4 / 5
About 5 h 30 min · at 30 minutes a day, about 11 days
Estimated from the page count of this edition. Dense books can take longer than the estimate.
About the book
On a farm outside Pretoria in the 1980s, thirteen-year-old Amor hears her dying mother ask that Salome, the family's Black domestic worker, be given ownership of her home. Her father agrees, then denies the promise, while her siblings Anton and Astrid show little interest in enforcing it. Over the next three decades, funerals reunite the scattered Swarts as South Africa passes from apartheid into democracy, and Salome's claim remains unresolved.
Reader notes
Darkly comic and often uncomfortable, the literary family saga slips between characters' thoughts, sometimes within a sentence. Its restless narration can take some adjustment, puncturing solemn occasions with sharp jokes; grief, racism, substance abuse and suicide enter the family portrait.
How it reads
- Writing style
- Experimental · Lyrical
- Tone
- Dark · Satirical
- Structure
- Episodic · Linear
- Driven by
- Character · Ideas · Relationships
- Point of view
- Mixed viewpoints
- Setting
- Farm outside Pretoria, South Africa
Reading complexity
- Writing
- 4 / 5
- Ideas
- 4 / 5
- Structure
- 4 / 5
- Background knowledge
- 2 / 5
About this profile
Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).
- Writing
- How much attention the sentences and language require.
- Ideas
- How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
- Structure
- How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
- Background knowledge
- Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
- Emotional intensity
- Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.
Themes
- Family
- Guilt
- Inequality
- Justice
- Legacy
- Race and racism
Content notes
- Violence
- Mild
- Sexual content
- Mild
- Swearing
- Mild
- Substance use
- Strong
- Abuse
- Mild
- Self-harm or suicide
- Strong
Standing and awards
Highly regarded
- Booker Prize, 2021
- Rathbones Folio Prize shortlist, 2022
- Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction longlist, 2022
Questions readers ask
Which edition is shown here?
Europa Editions · 2021 · hardcover. ISBN 9781609456580.
How long does it take to read The Promise?
About 5 hours 30 minutes at 50 pages an hour, based on the 269-page Europa Editions edition. Dense books can take longer.
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Edition and details
- Publisher
- Europa Editions
- Publication year
- 2021
- Format
- hardcover
- Pages
- 269
- ISBN
- 9781609456580
- Edition language
- English
- Original language
- English
- First published
- 2021
- Genres and form
- Fiction · Novel · Literary Fiction · Historical Fiction · Political Fiction · Literary fiction · Experimental fiction · Family saga · Social novel · Satire · Tragicomedy
- Editions
- 2
- Languages
- 2 (English, Unspecified)
The catalog does not yet include a matching edition. Details may differ between editions.