As the dysfunctional relationships explored in Ameera Patel’s debut novel play out‚ so the book’s title takes on its full meaning – just as a child colouring in outside the lines is not following the rules‚ so are the characters not doing what society requires of them.
Nearly all the characters in Patel’s book are breaking rules in some or other deeply human way.
Her storytelling is so vivid that the five principal characters‚ whose names head chapters‚ live on long after you have put down the novel.
Patel is an award-winning playwright‚ actress‚ poet‚ and TV scriptwriter. Turning to fiction‚ she has courageously chosen a broad canvas for Outside The Lines.
Set in glitzy‚ gritty Johannesburg‚ a city about which Patel is passionate‚ the book examines the lives of five complex characters from three racial groups. It is both a thriller and family drama‚ although most of the action centres on two women.
Cathleen Josephs is a troubled‚ drug-taking young woman living in Parkview‚ one of Johannesburg’s rich northern suburbs. Flora‚ warm and principled‚ is the household domestic worker‚ who‚ by default‚ has taken on a mother-like role for Cathleen‚ whose mother is dead.
The father‚ Frank Josephs‚ is verging on alcoholism‚ struggling to pay his rates and taxes‚ and blames his dead wife for both his and his family’s disintegration.
The book opens with Cathleen snorting cocaine in a nightclub where she’s soon plying sex for drugs. Not long after‚ she is kidnapped. It is two days before anybody notices that she is missing‚ and it is Flora‚ not Cathleen’s father‚ who does the noticing.
Flora‚ however‚ has problems of her own‚ for her son‚ in his 20s, who lives with her in the tiny room at the back of the large property‚ is a drug dealer. Cathleen is just one of his clients.
Not that Flora knows.
Farhana‚ a 20-something-year-old Muslim‚ lives with her widowed mother, who is strictly wedded to her culture and religion. We meet Farhana in the month of Ramsaan (Ramadaan)‚ as she’s helping her mother prepare a feast of masala steak‚ rotis‚ dhal‚ atchar‚ and pies. The young woman is secretly dating Flora’s son.
Then there’s Runyararo‚ a Zimbabwean house painter‚ working on the Josephs’ family home.
We meet him in a gloriously sensual scene as his hand flicks up‚ then slides down the walls with the boring beige paint chosen by Frank.
The colour depresses Runyararo‚ who has experienced only delight from past customers as he’s boldly transformed their homes. “Colour speaks of character‚ colour is imperative‚” he thinks as he works with his long‚ solid strokes.
An enraptured Flora watches the handsome but disabled Runyararo – he has from childhood been unable to utter a word. This does not help when Frank brutally fires him from his painting job. Desperate‚ in a vast and terrifying city‚ Runyararo is easy prey for criminals.
The author tells me that her characters have all failed in some aspect of their lives. “But if you fight with‚ or judge them‚ you will limit them. I can put myself in people’s shoes and go different places with the characters.”
Parenting‚ or a lack of it‚ plays a dominant role in her novel. “Frank is the kind of father who is around‚ but might as well not be for all the good he does. Flora is one of the better parents.”
Later Flora goes back to her rural upbringing‚ to the village where her mother lives‚ in the hope that she will aid her in grounding her son.
“I wanted to span generations too with the grandmother‚ to reflect on how different those relationships are and how Flora‚ even at her age‚ is still being scolded by her mother.”
The multitalented Patel‚ barely into her 30s‚ has achieved a great deal in her young life. She graduated from the University of Cape Town in 2005 with a BA in theatre and performance. That is where she began writing poetry‚ and became a performance poet. She is founding member of the poetry collective Rite2Speak.
Patel’s debut as a playwright‚ Whistle Stop‚ won a Standard Bank Silver Ovation Award at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown. Other theatre performances include Athol Fugard’s Victory‚ Romeo and Juliet‚ Macbeth‚ and Cincinnati. But the acting role for which she is best known is Dr Chetty in Generations.
Patel had her first child a year ago and says that being at home with Iyla has enabled her to write.
She had always planned to do so but her demanding acting career took up all her time.
She broke that rhythm by doing a Masters in Creative Writing at the University of the Witwatersrand in 2013‚ graduating with distinction.
Her supervisor‚ Craig Higginson‚ whose book‚ The Dream House‚ was shortlisted for the 2016 Barry Ronge Fiction Award‚ describes Patel as an important new voice in the emerging movement of new South African fiction.
Patel made Johannesburg the sixth “character” in the book because the city means so much to her.
“It’s ugly and dirty‚ but it’s got a pulse; it’s our New York‚ and yet we don’t see the beauty of it.” Her vivid portrait of it may well change that perspective. — Business Day
Patel paints vivid portrait
Nearly all the characters in Patel’s book are breaking rules in some or other deeply human way.
Her storytelling is so vivid that the five principal characters‚ whose names head chapters‚ live on long after you have put down the novel.
Patel is an award-winning playwright‚ actress‚ poet‚ and TV scriptwriter. Turning to fiction‚ she has courageously chosen a broad canvas for Outside The Lines.
Set in glitzy‚ gritty Johannesburg‚ a city about which Patel is passionate‚ the book examines the lives of five complex characters from three racial groups. It is both a thriller and family drama‚ although most of the action centres on two women.
Cathleen Josephs is a troubled‚ drug-taking young woman living in Parkview‚ one of Johannesburg’s rich northern suburbs. Flora‚ warm and principled‚ is the household domestic worker‚ who‚ by default‚ has taken on a mother-like role for Cathleen‚ whose mother is dead.
The father‚ Frank Josephs‚ is verging on alcoholism‚ struggling to pay his rates and taxes‚ and blames his dead wife for both his and his family’s disintegration.
The book opens with Cathleen snorting cocaine in a nightclub where she’s soon plying sex for drugs. Not long after‚ she is kidnapped. It is two days before anybody notices that she is missing‚ and it is Flora‚ not Cathleen’s father‚ who does the noticing.
Flora‚ however‚ has problems of her own‚ for her son‚ in his 20s, who lives with her in the tiny room at the back of the large property‚ is a drug dealer. Cathleen is just one of his clients.
Not that Flora knows.
Farhana‚ a 20-something-year-old Muslim‚ lives with her widowed mother, who is strictly wedded to her culture and religion. We meet Farhana in the month of Ramsaan (Ramadaan)‚ as she’s helping her mother prepare a feast of masala steak‚ rotis‚ dhal‚ atchar‚ and pies. The young woman is secretly dating Flora’s son.
Then there’s Runyararo‚ a Zimbabwean house painter‚ working on the Josephs’ family home.
We meet him in a gloriously sensual scene as his hand flicks up‚ then slides down the walls with the boring beige paint chosen by Frank.
The colour depresses Runyararo‚ who has experienced only delight from past customers as he’s boldly transformed their homes. “Colour speaks of character‚ colour is imperative‚” he thinks as he works with his long‚ solid strokes.
An enraptured Flora watches the handsome but disabled Runyararo – he has from childhood been unable to utter a word. This does not help when Frank brutally fires him from his painting job. Desperate‚ in a vast and terrifying city‚ Runyararo is easy prey for criminals.
The author tells me that her characters have all failed in some aspect of their lives. “But if you fight with‚ or judge them‚ you will limit them. I can put myself in people’s shoes and go different places with the characters.”
Parenting‚ or a lack of it‚ plays a dominant role in her novel. “Frank is the kind of father who is around‚ but might as well not be for all the good he does. Flora is one of the better parents.”
Later Flora goes back to her rural upbringing‚ to the village where her mother lives‚ in the hope that she will aid her in grounding her son.
“I wanted to span generations too with the grandmother‚ to reflect on how different those relationships are and how Flora‚ even at her age‚ is still being scolded by her mother.”
The multitalented Patel‚ barely into her 30s‚ has achieved a great deal in her young life. She graduated from the University of Cape Town in 2005 with a BA in theatre and performance. That is where she began writing poetry‚ and became a performance poet. She is founding member of the poetry collective Rite2Speak.
Patel’s debut as a playwright‚ Whistle Stop‚ won a Standard Bank Silver Ovation Award at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown. Other theatre performances include Athol Fugard’s Victory‚ Romeo and Juliet‚ Macbeth‚ and Cincinnati. But the acting role for which she is best known is Dr Chetty in Generations.
Patel had her first child a year ago and says that being at home with Iyla has enabled her to write.
She had always planned to do so but her demanding acting career took up all her time.
She broke that rhythm by doing a Masters in Creative Writing at the University of the Witwatersrand in 2013‚ graduating with distinction.
Her supervisor‚ Craig Higginson‚ whose book‚ The Dream House‚ was shortlisted for the 2016 Barry Ronge Fiction Award‚ describes Patel as an important new voice in the emerging movement of new South African fiction.
Patel made Johannesburg the sixth “character” in the book because the city means so much to her.
“It’s ugly and dirty‚ but it’s got a pulse; it’s our New York‚ and yet we don’t see the beauty of it.” Her vivid portrait of it may well change that perspective. — Business Day
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