Kafka's curse
By: Achmat Dangor
Edition: 1st American ed
Publisher: Pantheon Books
Published: 1999
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 225
Subjects: East Indians -- South Africa -- Fiction; Muslims -- South Africa -- Fiction; Jews -- South Africa -- Fiction; Husband and wife -- South Africa -- Fiction; South Africa -- Fiction
Genres: Fiction
Description: Kafka's Curse is a modern reinterpretation of the Arabic legend of the gardener who loves a princess and, for his transgression, is transformed into a tree. Reset in South Africa as apartheid was coming undone, this is the story of the Khan family, who are both "colored" and Muslim. When Oscar Khan, a budding architectect, dares to pursue a woman ouside his race and to change his religious identity, he commits a sin and must be punished.

His unforgiving brother, a post-apartheid politician, tries to come to terms with Oscar's apostasy but will himself betray both his principles and his family when he falls in love with Amina, a beautiful and spirited psychotherapist.