On Bare # the blesser’s game [SPOILER ALERT!]

Amazon, 2020

I decided to pick up South Africa’s most mainstream read at the moment, after hearing such a great deal about the book series Bare. I decided to opt for book one of the popular South African book series and check whether it truly satisfied its Expectations.

Bare is a fictional story fused with real life experiences of its   award-winning author Jackie Phamotse, who also happens to be a former slay queen. Bare is based in the post-apartheid South African era and follows Treasure a young woman with a cherished ambition to become a successful model, she comes from a dysfunctional family where her father was abusive towards her mother. She is propelled to leave home for the city of gold after extremely harrowing events happen to her, after she gets pursued by a rich man, she finds herself wrapped up in the world of ‘blessers’ but not the kind that are bestowed by God.

The author did a grand job with the book cover it gives away just right amount of glimpse into the book, it accurately describes what is in the book and conveys the theme of the book beautifully. Her writing style was simple therefore easy to understand. My favourite scene was the opening prologue scene, the author invites us into Treasure’s (the protagonist) lavish Tuscan townhouse and her racing thoughts, she laments and questions her past and her journey to where she  is at that present moment. Treasure asks herself what else is there to aspire from her lavish life in a fancy house and lets out that she doesn't want to continue living. The author captured the scene exceptionally well and accurately through her pen lenses, I was able to distinctly visualize the modern and gleamy buildings of Sandton.

The character that was the most intriguing was Daphne an elegant, classy woman of status who happened to be the wife of Treasure's blesser.  She is aware that her significant other is taking part in extramarital entanglements and seems passably okay with it but somewhere inside she is not, and this keeps seeping out throughout the story, so the reader gets to witness Daphne's battle trying to conceal her facade. She has this dark, mysterious demeanour about her. Despite the fact that Treasure's mom and Daphne are too entirely different women there is a bridge between these women's lives as the two ladies both stuck around through their despondent marriages. The author does a delightful job of using the third person omniscient giving the reader the advantage zooming in out of other characters thoughts and feelings.

Although, more often than not Treasure settles on wrong choices but instead of owning up to her actions she just come up with a great deal of airy excuses. I didn't enjoy how Treasure was consistently a victim. The story has little to no positive male characters which came across a bit as anti-men. The ending was disappointing and very unrealistic for my liking. There were also some very explicit scenes that I found uncomfortable to read.

I look forward to reading the next book from the series. I have a truckload of unanswered questions. I am certainly hooked by this twisted and mysterious 'Bare world' by Jackie Phamotse that I have pried myself into. I definitely encourage every young South African to get themselves a copy of this historic body of work it opens up about another side of the ‘blesser and blesse’ world that young people are oblivious to. I got my copy from a local bargain books store you can order your copy uppercasebooks.co.za or any other online book stores.

 

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.