Book dossier

Wolf, Wolf

by Eben Venter

How should a man be? Mattie Duiker is trying very hard to live up to his dying father's wishes. HE is putting aside childish things, starting his first business serving healty take-away food to the workers of Cape Town. His Pa is proud. At the same time, Mattie is pulled toward an altogether different version of masculinity, in which oiled and toned bodies cavort for him at the click of a mouse. His porn addiction both threatens his relationship with his boyfriend, Jack, and imperils his inheritance. Pa's peacocking days as a swaggering businessman are done, but even as the cancer shrivels and crisps him, the old man's ancient authority intensifies as it shrinks, like Mattie's own signature sauce. Pa haltingly prepares his son for life without him, and himself for life without a male heir. And, while the family wrestles with matters of entitlement and inheritance, around them a new South Africa is quietly but persistently nudging its way forwards.