For his debut novel, Dundonian Jason Donald has drawn on his summers as a child in South Africa to produce something, shocking, meditative and affecting. Claire Sawers meets him
‘4 THE LIST '5' Ct"? '.'.:' .
‘ l'ound it dillicult torturing an eiglit-_\ear- old bo_\. btit I knew I had to.' The couple
at the table ne\t to Jason Donald shoot
him a side\\a_\s glance o\er the top ol' their
col‘l‘ee cups. He delinitel} doesn't seem like the torturing kind. He carries on. speaking in a gentle. slo\\ mi\ ol‘ (ilasuegian and Sotith .>\l'rican \o\\els.
"l‘he trick is creating a character that _\ou're t'eall} rooting lot: You gross to loxe him; )oll start linding him lunn}. or thinking he's cute. Then I had to do horrible things to him. That \\as prett} hard.’
Donald is not a sadistic gu}. In tact \shen ue meet in (ilasgou‘s Rio (are. a ten underground stops l‘rom \shere he li\es \sith his one. he's more ol a smiling. intelligent. insist-on-pa5ing- the-bill t}pe ol gu}. But l‘or his debut no\el. an tincoinl‘ortable. moxing look at one bitll}iiig dad's el‘l‘ect on his t\\o _\oung sons. he had to get inside the head ol someone cruel and unusual.
Bruce 'l'horne is the man ol the house. and he doesn't \sant his sons groxs ing up to be sissies. In his \xorld. being strong and streetxsise means knouing hoxs to scam _\our \\a_\ into a tree hamburger. \\ inning the light b} almns throu ing
the first punch. and generall} show ing the rest ol‘
the “mild \\ ht).\ Dtlss.
‘Ht‘ttce is the sort ol gtl} that‘s ill\\;t}s blamelessf e\p|ains Donald. 'lle's not beholden to the rules: hes special. .'\nd it something goes \\ long. it‘s the other gu} 's laultf Raised on a diet ol'(‘huck \orris mo\ ies and bare knuckle lights. l3-}eat‘ old .\|e\ and his )ounger brother Kexin spend their tl;i_\s hoxering somewhere betueen aue and terror. With a ticking time bomb at the centre ol' the l'amil}. it‘s not long belore Bruce's mood s\\ings and lies cause the l’amil) to implode.
The action takes place in l‘LSlls South .‘\l'rica. \\ here Donald spent his childhood. Born in Dundee. \\ ith a South .-\lrican mum and Scottish dad. he mox ed to Pretoria aged tuo and returned to Scotland \\ hen he \s as It). 'Sotith .’\l'rica delinitel} has a sense ol danger about it: a l'eeling ol pressure building. You al\sa_\s lime to watch _\our back.'
He remembers uatching riots on TV. or being bullied b) .-\l't‘ikaans DH}S at school. but insists the book is not autobitigraphical. '.\l_\ childhood \sas l'abtilotis. reall}. These aren't in} memoirs. or some son ol~ revenge no\e|.' he laughs.
Although he admits his mm lather is "a dil’licult man‘ u ho he hasn't seen for six )ears