THE eminent Afrikaans author Eben Venter is just the kind of person with whom to have an enlightening, albeit intense discussion, about who cares for a dying parent.All too often the task devolves upon one sibling with the attendant anger, suspicion, and mistrust that many a time accompanies it.This lies at the core of Venter’s Wolf, Wolf, although there are other major themes in this evocatively written, disturbing, thought-provoking novel. They range from xenophobia to the doubtful privileges of inherited Afrikaner wealth in today’s SA; from internet porn addiction to the difficulty old-school fathers have with family intimacy.The axis on which the book turns is the relationship between a dying father and his son."The problem of who cares for an elderly, seriously ill or dying parent is not peculiar to SA ," says Venter, who now lives in Australia. "It’s a worldwide phenomenon." Venter spends several months each year in SA and we met in Johannesburg where was attending the Sunday ...
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