"The Book of David" is a short read, but certainly one that packs a punch, and it is a wonderful exploration of the messiest but more addictive side of falling in love.

Leon, our main character, is fascinating but not entirely a likeable person. When he meets David on a beach, David is naked. It is only six months later that they meet again and start a relationship that will end only with David's death. Now, Leon has moved to South Africa to try and fall out of love with a man who's not beside him anymore.

Through interweaving timelines, excerpts of a novel within a novel, poems and journal entries, we construct David and Leon's love, their messy up and downs, and the tender fragility that was their love. Their souls do not meet and join seamlessly, they're very different and David is far younger than Leon is, but they try to make it work anyway.
The atmosphere of the book is chaotic, and slightly messy: there's a lot of turns and twists you don't expect, much like David and Leon's relationship was. It feels fleeting, also due to its length and the alternating ways of telling the story.

Oh My God the dialog! what a fantastic yet raw exploration of a tragic relationship that evokes the gut-wrenching emotions of writers like Hanya Yanagihara. This was a beautiful book and a true testament to real gay relationships and the complexity of modern connection.

Thank you to the author and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my review.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book.

The book of Davis is told in retrospect by Leon, who has left the USA and returned to South Africa, living in a small abode, as he says, adjacent to Mrs. C's home, an old lady in her final days. She somehow brings him memories of his troubled relationship with his parents, mostly his mother.

David and Leon. They meet by chance at a beach near San Francisco, but after a quick chat, Leon's sarcasm seems too much for David. Almost half a year later, another chance meeting happens, but this time they attempt to get to know each other, and a relationship starts. David is a 19-year-old troubled, horny, and somewhat idealistic young man. Leon is around 35 years old and has been living in California for quite a while after his parents moved there, having come from South Africa. He is trying to write his first book. The thing is that these guys are two souls that are not meant for each other. Still, they do their best to make a goal out of their relationship, if they can ever suppress Leon's sarcasm and David's troubles.

There's something about some novels I've read recently that makes me unsure about what their authors intend to achieve. But then I remember that a work of fiction is like a walk through a forest that invites us to discover its inner paths, to marvel at nature, to surprise ourselves with its charms, and sometimes to be frightened by what we might find. That's the beauty of literature, and I'm glad I kept walking through these forests and marveling at what they accomplished. Books don't have to be grandiloquent. What they need is to captivate the reader. This is the case of “The Book of David”. I do usually remember Ursula K. Le Guin when I find such books, that are written with a sense of freedom, authorship, and respect for the reader. I praise books like this, which invite the reader to take a walk in this beautiful forest called literature!

“Apologizing can’t erase what was said or done, and I don’t know why everyone always insists on it.”

“Stories are all we become in the end.”

I was very happy to be selected for an ARC of Jean-Luke Swanepoel’s #TheBookOfDavid based on the online description of this forthcoming novel. Similar to Aciman’s “Call Me By Your Name” and Philippe Besson’s “Lie With Me,” Swanepoel’s touching and reflective view on a too-short relationship is a small read with a big impact.

After returning home to South Africa after the death of his mother, Leon Jonker begins to write down the story of his time with partner David Hale. Told through a series of Leon’s flashbacks and David’s journal entries, as well as conversations with the two young men living on the same property as Leon in the present, their relationship and its ups and downs are told with raw and unadorned prose.

What set this novel apart from some of the ones I mentioned is the inclusion of David’s journal entries which add an additional layer to the storytelling as we get two sides of certain memories, seeing how one person’s actions are interpreted by another’s. Their relationship is rocky at times, and the age difference is an interesting and key part of the story, but the connection between the two reads very honest and organic. The inclusion of the present day characters as sort of foils to David and Leon are a welcome change of pace between this history, with Benny being of particular interest, a sort of bridge between Leon’s past and present self.

I powered through this one, but not for lack of story; rather, I was interested to learn more about this couple and what came of them ultimately. For any reader who finds themselves reflecting on past relationships, loss, or regret, this is a sure winner.

DNF - This book just didn't work for me, it was different than what I was hoping for, in all manner of the word.

'Stories are all we become in the end.'

After the genteel ‘The Thing About Alice’, Swanepoel’s follow-up is like a bolt of lightning to the senses. I really enjoyed it; though I must say I read it at a gallop to see what happens next in the tumultuous and self-destructive relationship between Leon and David.

Though a slim novel, there is a lot packed in. I am sure I missed numerous allusions on the first read; this is one of those books where you need to implicitly trust the author on the journey he is taking you on, and just go with the narrative flow.

So, we have intersecting timelines, places, characters, poems, journal and novel-within-a-novel extracts, and an unreliable narrator (not a very nice guy, but fascinating nonetheless). I really felt sorry for David; the ending is heartrending.

All the elements blend seamlessly into a really thrilling read that wrongfooted me on several occasions, as it took some rather unexpected turns. Or authorial sleights of hand, I suppose is the correct term.

I didn’t realise David was so young when he and Leon meet on the beach for the first time. We get no indication of Leon’s age, but he is considerably older. That reminded me of how Christopher Isherwood (48) and Don Bachardy (18) met for the first time in 1953, on Valentine’s Day, can you believe it.

The relationship lasted until Isherwood’s death in 1986 (I remember reading that Bachardy, an artist, painted portraits of Christopher in his final days, including one after he had passed). Leon also has artistic tendencies, and Swanepoel designed his book cover himself. Life and art, truth and memory, fiction and wish fulfilment all intertwine in a dark ouroboros.

Isherwood is indeed mentioned, and David’s recipe for a successful relationship has ‘A Single Man’ inevitability to it: “I believe in finding someone you can stand to be around for long periods of time.”

this was a very solid novel, if a bit too intense for my own liking (that’s on me, though). the writing is very solid and the character work is very well handled, although i wish it had not felt as over-the-top at times.

The Book of David tells the story of Leon and David, told primarily through Leon's reflections of events the pair experienced, though, at times there are glimpses of David's perspective from old diary entries. The writing flips back and forth from present to past without a lot of indication of where you currently are. This was somewhat confusing at times but I think it accurately reflected the overarching themes of the relationship between Leon and David - chaotic, confusing, in search of something that might not be accurate.

David is a messy character that reflects a messy human being. Someone with complexities and a desire to figure it all out while also trying to live authentically. Readers get to experience Leon's judgements and interpretations, as well as his regrets, as he recounts the story of their relationship. "All we look for is our own reflection in someone else's eyes" is a quote from the novel that sums up David - looking to learn about himself through Leon.

Overall this was a great read and left me thinking, along with Leon, about how things could have been different had different decisions been made in certain moments. He gains some perspective through David's journal entries, though I wish these could have been flushed out a bit more to show the readers more of David's perspective. We are shown sneak peaks of his internal processes and I think the book could have been more engaging had we been shown a bit more.

A gut-punch record of what remains when an imperfect relationship between two men comes to an abrupt and tragic end. A tender exploration of longing, memory, and regret, and ultimately of love at its messiest

Heartwrenching meditation on grief with timelines jumping back and forth. I found myself grieving past relationships while reading this, and feeling so connected to the desperation the narrator feels towards David

The entire vibe of this book felt so fitting. It was fleeting, it was chaotic, it was intense. 

I did feel like the jumping around in the timeline got me so confused. I loved, and hated, the characters. I'm annoyed by not finding out any "truth", but so is life. 

Overall, I'd recommend this book! It's very short but it's written really well and the characters are so well written too. 

Thank you to NetGalley for an e-ARC of this book!

The writing in this novel was beautiful. The book really captures feelings of a relationship ending and what that means for those left in the aftermath of it and the turmoils that come with relationship. It was a short book but very impactful with the time it has with the reader.

When I read the description for this book, alarm bells went off in my head warning me that this would break my heart. And it did, In the most beautiful way. The prose in the book is so poetic and captivating.

I requested and received an eARC of The Book of David by Jean-Luke Swanepoel via NetGalley. Leon Jonker first meets David Hale on a San Francisco beach. David is naked, confident, and younger than Leon. The two share a conversation and don’t meet again for six months. Once they reenter each other’s orbit they find themselves in a relationship that ends when David dies. Leon returns to his home country, South Africa, and attempts to write his way out of his grief and to make sense of the life they shared. The narrative darts between the past and the present, the story of their relationship preserved in Leon’s words and, occasionally, David’s.

Sexy and tense. Gut-wrenching and lovely and slightly infuriating. I’m somewhat at a loss trying to describe this work. The dialogue in this book is fantastic. Swanepoel’s crafts lines that at times cut like a dagger, showing us the cracks and gray areas in David and Leon’s relationship, but he is equally skilled at enticing the reader with moments of flirtation or endearment. When I wasn’t enthralled by the dialogue, I was enthralled by what wasn’t being said. The author is very clever with his prose and his use of repetition, demonstrating on the page both the infallibility of memory and the way we construct the stories of our lives and versions of people as we perceive them.

The Book of David contains many terrific references, and is a real testimony to gay relationships, art and literature. The novel is short but impactful, many scenes have lodged themselves in my mind. The work is character driven and in it Swanepoel manages to create a portrait of a relationship that is both captivating and uncomfortable. Leon is such an interesting narrator with a very distinct voice. He isn't terribly likeable and there are moments where he seems to lack some self-awareness which to me only enhanced what the author achieves in this story (a very frank dissection of relationships — sort of like Anatomy of a Fall but without the potential mariticide and subsequent legal proceedings.) Grief, resentment, and desire abound in this book and I found that I couldn’t tear myself away from the page. Swanepoel’s writing really excited me and the dynamic between Leon and David felt very real. There were moments where I didn’t know if I wanted to laugh or cry or curse at one of the characters. I was very impressed by this novel and I look forward to seeing how other readers respond to it.

The book, however much I wanted it to, did not meet my expectations. The promise of a tragic love and what happens after a tragedy sounded perfect: I really do enjoy such stories. However, The book of David felt rather...dull.

I could not find the love between Leon and David. It seemed to me that David - after meeting Leon for the second time - simply decided he was done sleeping around and (for whatever reasons) decided to be with Leon. The sexual attraction I saw, there was plenty, but deeper feelings? No.

The story itself was rather interesting, though, I did feel like the ending was vague. I expected the tragic end of love to come up much earlier in the book, so we could see what comes after and was rather disappointed that it only happened very near the end.

I had some trouble adjusting to the constant time-skips in the text. One chapter it's present, another it's a memory, third an antry from David's journal. Also, there was a lot of repetition that seemed unnecessary.

One thing that I really enjoyed was the writing. It was emotional, deep and beautiful. Reminded me of Ocean Vuong a bit.

The Book of David by Jean-Luke Swanepoel is a raw, poignant exploration of a tumultuous relationship. Through Leon Jonker's reflections and David Hale’s journals, Swanepoel captures the complexities of love, loss, and memory with a powerful emotional depth. The narrative’s honesty and introspection make it an unforgettable read.

"The Thing About David" by Jean-Luke Swanepoel beautifully captures the complexities of the relationship between South African author Leon Jonker and American David Hale. The novel features Leon reminiscing and navigating his memories alongside David's journals. It portrays the highs and lows of their relationship. If you enjoyed Isherwood's "A Single Man," you'll appreciate the depth of emotions and contemplation in this novel.

Thank you for sharing the ARC!