Set in a near-future drought-stricken South Africa, Crooked Seeds begins like a dark dystopia, following a one-legged woman as she joins the early morning queue at a water truck. This Deidre is bitter and abusive — a self-proclaimed “thing of need and desperation” — and as she makes aggressively self-pitying demands on the people around her, it begins to dawn on the reader that, yes, there’s a water shortage and wildfires and government incompetence putting pressure on these citizens, but for the most part, the dystopia that Deidre lives in is of her own making. I was very impressed by the allegorical nature of Karen Jennings’ Booker Prize nominated An Island, and this novel continues in this tradition: Seemingly the story of one person (highly unlikeable because she refuses to take responsibility for herself) being forced to make a reckoning with her family’s past, the themes of Crooked Seeds can be extrapolated to any colonised country -- the first step in moving forward is acknowledging and taking responsibility for the traumas of the past. Really well done; especially impressive in such a short work.

Karen Jennings has a remarkable gift as a writer. Each sentence packs a great punch and gives the reader a depth of meaning that propels the story forward in a well-paced momentum. In Crooked Seed, we are introduced to Deirdre van Deventer, a woman who is handicapped and left on her own in public housing with little water in a crumbling facility. She is a hard character to like as she is bitter and feels life has not been kind to her. She lives a marginalized life, but she doesn’t want to change and doesn’t want to leave. She has options but would rather wallow in her existence.

As Deirdre is the only one of her family left in South Africa, she is abruptly pulled into her past when the police contact her about her family’s old property that was reclaimed by the government. They inform her of an investigation at the site as they have found bodies on the property. She clearly doesn’t want to get involved and reluctantly goes to the old site to aid the investigation. As Deirdre is white and the officers are black there is still much tension from the past, with race and class. Smoldering resentment and expectations seep into each page and the reader gets a big dose of the despair that hangs over Deirdre’s life and the investigation.

The story is rich with meaning, and it even brushes on a pro-apartheid group and how Deirdre was affected by the actions of others. This is a great story and we the reader are privileged to be brought into the complexities of the story that are well told.

I do think this is a must read book and an interesting take on South Africa. I truly flew through this book and look forward to reading more from Karen Jennings.

Cape Town in the near future...the lack of water availability colors all transactions. Deidra is an elderly woman living in public house - placed by the government after they reclaimed her family house.

It's a testament to Karen Jennings' abilities that the first few pages draw you in. The scene is not pretty but you cannot look away. As Deidre interacts with the local denizens we see that she is living on a thread and it is only by charming locals and garnering sympathy that she can get through her day.

Deidre's daily life is interrupted by the local detectives who have found something in or around the unclaimed house. Deidre is certain that this is something she has nothing to do with and wants to know nothing about. The detectives are working a case however and persist. This slow burn creates the spark needed to potentially burn what little Deidre has left.
Jennings is amazing and this was a master class in story telling!
#Crookedseeds #karenjennings
#Randomhouse

I read Jennings’ The Island and it was my favourite off the booker prize list the year it was nominated. So naturally, I was thrilled to hear she had a new novel available on NetGalley- my special thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for a copy. I must say, stylistically speaking, Jennings's writing talent is impressive- in both her novels. Some people are just organic storytellers, and Jennings is very much one of them. Her writing especially reminds me of the work of Damon Galgut and Kazuo Ishiguro, albeit in a currently less polished state, although as Jennings is significantly younger than those two authors, she has plenty of time to keep progressing. This second novel has cemented Karen Jennings in my mind as an author I will continue to follow as she hones her craft.

The plot line of this, although quiet and slow, was intriguing as we, the readers, are hooked on digging up the secrets of Deidre's past that result in bodies being dug up from the yard of her old family home, I really enjoyed the character of Deidre. This novel is well worth your time- will Jennings do the Booker double and be nominated for the 2024 prize?!

Set in post-apartheid Cape Town, South Africa, Crooked Seeds traces the life of Deidre, a woman suffering from generational trauma having been made an amputee thanks to her brother's bomb making activities. Said brother was the gem of their mother's eye, always given the treats, always favored above Deidre. She now finds herself living in unspeakable conditions, not lifting a finger to improve her state and relying on her neighbors who are getting more and more fed up with her dependency. Jennings gives an unflinching account of Deidre's daily activity, such as it is, and brings to shuddering life what it meant living in Cape Town during the drought. As crimes are unearthed at the site of Deidre's childhood home, she spirals deeper into borderline psychosis, her story alternating with snippets of her mother, across the street in elderly housing, suffering from dementia. This is powerful, visceral stuff, not to be taken lightly.

This book was not for me, admittedly. The book seemed promising with its setting in post-apartheid South Africa and the main character, Deidre, confronting her family's past. However, this doesn't really happen, nor does the subplot with her brother truly get brought up until you're about 68% into the book. Her brother's involvement in a pro-apartheid group was superficial at best and poorly handled (even if you try to throw in the topic of generational trauma, which also was superficial in this book). Nothing felt profound, especially because Deidre and almost everyone in this story are horribly unlikeable and unbearable, and the plot goes seemingly nowhere. There are also no consequences, so at a point, even our own character asks what the point of everything was.

Another issue I had with this book is the overt racism. Even taking into account the setting, story, characters, and more, it still feels so mishandled and problematic. It's even worse when you find out some of the characters helping Deidre (including her child) are black. While I will refrain from including quotes, I'm disappointed in the story.

November 10, 2023
This short novel addresses dark and complicated issues regarding a family's troubling past in South Africa. We mainly follow the now grown daughter, Deidre, whose adopted daughter has left her over a decade ago and relocated to England, leaving her with just her mother, Trudy, who is in a nursing home across the street from the housing project where she now lives. Decades earlier, this family's son was involved with a pro-apartheid group, and it's unclear how much the parents about their teenaged son's involvement or their own political feelings, but not wanting to give away spoilers, Trudy seems to believe her son, Russ, is still alive and we read lengthy sections where it appears that he is bathing her at the home. I would have liked to had a glimpse into the life of Deidre's daughter, her perspective, but she was basically absent, while we follow a rather drunken Deidre who the police have contacted about an investigation about the remains of dead infants found on their property. Gripping novel.

I read Jennings’ The Island and was most impressed. Naturally, I downloaded her latest from Netgalley. I must say, stylistically speaking, the author doesn’t disappoint. Some people are just organic storytellers, and Jennings is very much one of them. In fact, her style is deceptively simple, but she succeeds marvelously in creating such vivid characters and scenes.
I don’t know if everyone will love this novel simply because its protagonist is such an unlovable one. A fifty-three-year-old woman who lives (terribly) in a near-future drought-ridden South Africa, she is so severely damaged by her past, specifically the events of her eighteenth year, that she had never found a way or a reason to properly move forward. She survives on disability payments and charity of others around her, people whose charity she does nothing to deserve or engender. She can be, in fact, unapologetically nasty in an almost refreshing sort of way.
When her past rears its ugly face, she is forced to confront the demons of her past. That is the arc of what otherwise is a rather straight-forward character study. It isn’t one of those cathartic confrontations either, in keeping with the narrative. More of a yet-another-tedious thing for a character whose life is rife with them.
All of this is to say, it is a huge credit to the author for making such a viscerally unpleasant story and protagonist so strangely compelling. It’s official, two books in, and Jennings is an immensely talented author. Recommended for those not looking for an easy read. Thanks Netgalley.

This was not the book for me. The premise was interesting - a woman in post-apartheid South Africa confronting her family’s troubled past. However, I don’t think the story really fulfilled what was promised. Deidre, the main character, does not really confront her family’s past. It is not until late in the story that there is any hint of a troubled family history other than her brother being a bomb maker for a pro-apartheid group, and even that is largely glossed over other than its role in the loss of Deidre's leg at eighteen when a homemade bomb accidentally exploded. It is not until the very end of the book that Deidre realizes what else her brother had been doing, and even then, she does not really deal with the consequences. Moreover, Deidre is such a pathetic and unsympathetic character, and much of the book is a vivid portrayal of how pathetic and ungrateful she is and her unwillingness to accept any real responsibility for how her life has turned out.

I tough review to write. Post apartheid South Africa, and a reflection back on the years of apartheid through one tragic family, and specifically one woman Deidre. Raised by a harsh unforgiving mother , and in the shadow of her golden boy brother, she must confront the terrible truths of the past when the remains of dead babies are found buried in her former home. I found it difficult to sympathize with any of the character , even Deidre, an amputee at the expense of her brother’s apartheid activities, but self- pitying, self abusive , mean and abusive even to the friends who attempt to help her.
I read Jenning’s prior work, the much touted AN ISLAND, and had a difficult time with that one also.
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This short novel addresses dark and complicated issues regarding a family's troubling past in South Africa. We mainly follow the now grown daughter, Deidre, whose adopted daughter has left her over a decade ago and relocated to England, leaving her with just her mother, Trudy, who is in a nursing home across the street from the housing project where she now lives. Decades earlier, this family's son was involved with a pro-apartheid group, and it's unclear how much the parents about their teenaged son's involvement or their own political feelings, but not wanting to give away spoilers, Trudy seems to believe her son, Russ, is still alive and we read lengthy sections where it appears that he is bathing her at the home. I would have liked to had a glimpse into the life of Deidre's daughter, her perspective, but she was basically absent, while we follow a rather drunken Deidre who the police have contacted about an investigation about the remains of dead infants found on their property. Gripping novel.

Loved this book. Diedre. I found myself rooting for her, wanting to make things right. Will not forget this story. Definitely taking a look at this author’s The Island. Thank you for the book!

This is dark and bitter stuff, a vision of damage and desperation with little alleviation. That Jennings delivers it in limpid prose and cinematic detail only makes it more impactful. Though set in a dry future, it focuses on a traumatic past as viewed by one of its victims. Yes, of course this is all highly symbolic, yet the novel wears its politics relatively lightly, using one woman’s unhappiness and hurt to convey its message. There’s nothing joyful or liberated here, yet the book is compelling, in its own grinding way.