Suburban satirist critiques Dainfern

Liebenberg’s latest novel Cry Baby is a feminist work which challenges the views and daily routines of suburban life, and with Dainfern giving her a wealth of material, she has crafted a multi-faceted novel which clearly depicts the area – and its troubles – with humour and warmth.

Liebenberg began her writing career after abandoning a life as an investment banker to become a stay-at-home mom, but soon realised that writing novels would create the perfect balance between being a mother and a working woman.

“I was trying to straddle the line between being a stay-at-home mom and a working mom. I was trying to find a way to earn some kind of income and have an independent life outside of the home,” she said.

The publication of her debut The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam was short-listed for the Orange Prize for best debut in 2008, and long-listed for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Her second novel The West Rand Jive Cats Boxing Club was met with commercial and critical success.

Cry Baby is a rich and beautifully textured satire of suburban life, following the story of a mother and son and the relationship they share as they go through the many difficulties and incoherencies of suburban lives.

With a variety of themes such as the struggles of daily life and boyhood, the Fourways area acts as a ‘character’ influencing the lives of everyone in the novel. “I wanted to write a portrait of suburbia; an ‘overdose on Ritalin’ suburbia,” she said.

And while there are passages which hint at humorous cynicism and social commentary, Liebenberg said, “I’m not trying to point fingers at people, but rather I’m trying to say that things around us will be different and things will be better. And the novel is filled with a great deal of sentimentality and hope.”