We are all children of circumstance, born into a society that demands we conform to a system created by its cultural and social values. It doesn’t work for everyone. In fact it doesn’t really work for anyone since life is one big compromise; we respond to the greatest pressure at any one time. We all try to seek a balance between personal fulfilment, work, family and bank balance. Few of us truly succeed.
This dilemma, told in a unique, often humorous way, forms the framework for the story while other more dynamic and complex themes are introduced as the tale progresses.
Set during the transitional period that marked the end of the apartheid era and Mandela’s rise to power, Acid Drops & Pineapple Rock is the story of a young, British family deciding that family harmony will be achieved by quitting the fast lane in favour of change - a sea change. Set in South Africa’s Mother City, Cape Town, our family soon has to come to terms with the realisation that their values do not transport nearly so easily as they do. Expectations must be modified and adjustments made.
A colourful cast of fascinating characters steadily increases as the tale progresses. Acid Drops & Pineapple Rock records the reality of life for them all in a society coming together for the first time in a democratic and economic context. Their historic prejudices, conditioning and values must all change but change needs time and time is something they don’t have. Acid Drops & Pineapple Rock echoes its stage - on the surface stunningly beautiful and European-like but beneath, a turbulent, cruel and violent world created by years of social and economic dislocation, cultural isolation and racist politics.
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A Sneek Peak
Below we have prepared two short excerpts out of the book. Click the buttons to navigate through.
… Shortly after dawn each morning, the goose would appear and begin to honk. That goose could honk louder than any goose that you have ever heard honk. It has a range of honks that it can deploy in various patterns. Sometimes, a series of low, monotone honks would be followed by a string of honks, each a small increase in volume and one pitch higher than its predecessor, until a crescendo is reached. Then a rapid series of victorious, monotone honks would ensue, followed by a reversal of the whole process. Clearly not satisfied with its ear-piercing performance, our goose would repeat the show – again and again…
honk, honk, honk, honk…
“Agh!!! Bloody goose!” Penny retreats beneath the duvet. “What time is it?”
“Hmm… just coming up to six.”
“Doesn’t that stupid goose know it’s Sunday?” Geese should know these things.
“I’ll go and tell it, love.”
“I’ll murder that bloody goose!”
“I doubt that.”
“The only good goose…”
“…Is a cooked one? Yeh, yeh, we’ve heard that one before.”
“I just wished it’d stop bloody honkin’… or at least start at a reasonable hour. It’s the only day when I have a chance to lie-in…” Penny is clearly becoming distraught.
“Never mind, love.” I try consolation.
“It’s got the whole of Constantia to honk in and it has to pick our bloody oak tree…”
“Never mind, love.” More consolation.
“Can’t you go and shift it?” Consolation isn’t working. A new tactic is called for. I move closer.
“Well, we could try a little honkin’ of our own…”
“Hmm! What are you doing?” A playful reply. Change of tactics has worked.
… Nomthandazo did not hear the feet approaching. She was far away. She was in her new home in Mandela Park, with her first born in her arms. Nor did she hear the door open but she did feel the first blow that fell upon her. It was a savage blow from a powerful arm. It was a blow that glanced off the side of her head and came to rest with great force on her left clavicle; the bone shattered. She screamed. A sheet of white light, with a cutting edge of steel, scythed through her brain; her world spun furiously around and within her.
Nomthandazo felt her insides reel and heave and fear gripped her as she instinctively raised both of her arms above her head to shield herself from the blows that now rained down upon her. And she screamed. Oh, how she screamed. It was the scream of a mother for her unborn child. But no one heard her. Nomthandazo was beyond being heard. Another blow fell upon her - and another, and she flew forwards from the old, comfortable chair in which she sat at this time of day. She heard the voices now but could not distinguish the words. The blows continued to fall and she felt sharp pains in her sides.
She knew that she was being dragged by her feet but couldn’t quite make out what was happening around her; her world now stood motionless, as if caught in time - a snapshot, like those in her magazines.
The Book Summary
A young British family decide to change a high pressure lifestyle for another that offers something more than life in the fast lane. Acid Drops & Pineapple Rock is the tale of their first year in South Africa’s Mother City, Cape Town, and the many surprises in store for them.
Combining elements of humour and tragedy, Acid Drops & Pineapple Rock focuses on the lives of ordinary people, of varied ethnicity, who are thrown together against a back drop of beauty, violence and racism. The setting is the transitional period - shortly after Nelson Mandela’s release and the end of apartheid, and prior to the first democratic elections.
Acid Drops & Pineapple Rock echoes its stage - on the surface very beautiful and European but beneath, often a turbulent, cruel and violent world created by social and economic dislocation, cultural disparity and racist politics. Acid Drops & Pineapple Rock will prove to be a bittersweet experience - for both the reader and the players, touching all of your emotional extremes and shedding light on the enigma that is South Africa.
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About The Author
Born in rural Sussex, Rob found himself spending his formative years in the industrial city of Birmingham.
He was educated (occasionally and somewhat reluctantly) at an old grammar school and subsequently at colleges and the University of Aston.
Amongst his earliest achievements, Rob lists his expulsion from nursery school as something of a world record.
His career in the emerging computing industry in the UK spanned some twenty successful years and included several directorships.
Rob regards himself as fortunate in being associated with several technical and marketing innovations of the period. In 1990 Rob moved his substantial family to South Africa.
With this change, Rob turned to writing and is author of many articles, primarily those concerning the fine and decorative arts.
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From The Critics
Maria Grimley – Drama, Development –
Granada Television, UK
“Thank you for sending in your manuscript… Generally, we do not read unsolicited material, but I did read through the beginning and the end as you suggested, and dipped through the middle, and thought it a wonderfully revealing story. I enjoyed the detail of how you established your family in South Africa and understand what you mean by it being ‘essentially a work of two moods’. I suggest it is ‘the darker and more sinister side of life’ that holds more interest in terms of the piece’s potential as a televised drama and therefore if you wanted to take the next step of writing a film script or treatment I would recommend you concentrate on Farouk’s family story and the tragic assault on Nabewayah and her husband; Nomathandazo’s dealings with the police, her punishment killing and the different groups that that create the background for such violence.
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