The Bonus Deal

Elizabeth St. Jacques is a writer and poet living in Sault Ste. Marie,
Ontario.

In Crail’s first collection of short stories, the reader is
transported into the core of the South African apartheid experience
through the lives of those who endure it on a day-to-day basis. We learn
of the cruelties inflicted on blacks and whites by blacks and whites, as
bosses, religious authorities, families, fellow workers, and neighbors
are caught in a twisted web of power, control, and fight for survival.
While these stories provide profound insights into the ugliness of
apartheid, they reveal the strengths, humor, and even brief happy
periods of the oppressed as well.

In this collection, the reader meets a 10-year-old boy who is whipped
into unconsciousness for running away from unbearable circumstances at
his home on a grapevine farm; an agricultural foreman who, after working
for 40 years at a mission, loses his pension when his workplace and
residence are forcibly sold to the Pretoria government; a successful
black businesswoman who (in a public place) stands up against racist
remarks. No matter the character’s age or sex, Crail writes with
vitality and conviction, holding the reader spellbound.

Befittingly, the last story, “An Election,” turns the reader to
Canada, where, now as a Canadian citizen, a South African is able to
vote for the first time in his life. To celebrate that privilege, he
devotes his energies to canvassing for a political candidate, only to
discover that the demons of isolation and loneliness are still with him.


For an intimate, focused look at the South African situation, and at
what lies ahead for the oppressed in South Africa, The Bonus Deal should
be at the top of your list.