Sprigs – Brannavan Gnanalingam

Read for NZ Book Awards

A brutal story of rugby, rape and toxic masculinity.

⫸ “After a Wellington School’s revered rugby final, a 15-year-old year is gang raped at the after party.

“However there is much more to Sprigs than that. Gnanalingam then goes on to make us privvy to the thoughts, actions and emotions of all involved. From the victims, to the perpetrators, the families, friends and even the school leaders, unsure how to deal with the aftermath. And that is the real point of the novel, understanding how far the damage of such a crime extends. Obviously the victim is deeply harmed but such a display of hurt and hate damages all of the community.

“The book opens with a trigger warning, and though the defilement is not detailed as it happens, we are fed disturbing snippets of memory and large chunks of reaction and emotion in the remainder of the pages – a reminder of the flashbacks and stabs of emotion which are with victims forever.

“It is a grim book, with a heavy storyline, but there is life too, and a little bit of hope.”

⫸ “There were two things that put me off Sprigs before I even started reading: a ‘content will disturb’ warning, and a three-page character list. Then there was a 70-page rugby game …

“However, in the end I did enjoy the book more than I thought I would. It was horrible, revolting and downright sad, but I appreciated how the author took us into the minds of everyone involved. Not only the victim but the rapists, who all reacted in very different ways after the event, from remorse to indifference.

“I hadn’t thought (hadn’t want to think) about what goes through a rapist’s mind afterwards, but I imagine this is a realistic portrayal. That ability to produce a study of their minds was ultimately what impressed me. But I can’t think of many people I would recommend this to.” – Rachel

⫸ “I kind of scoffed at the content warning at the start of Sprigs – I have read so many books where so many horrible things happen and therefore thought I was kind of immune to whatever storyline might be presented to me.

“I think Sprigs is one of the very few books I have not been able to finish due to the upsetting content. Over the years I’ve become very adept at skim reading or skipping sections that linger on violence. It was impossible to do this with Sprigs as assault isn’t just part of a storyline, it is the storyline.

“The scene in the hospital with the victim and her mother made me feel physically ill – the sadness, the deflection, the shame, the guilt, the how-do-I-make-this-go-away-forever. It indicated the beginning of a horrendous journey that as a reader I did not want to be a part of. 

“I felt at that stage I couldn’t accept any storyline outcome that didn’t involve justice at the least and extreme vengeance at most and I did not get the sense from Sprigs that this was going to happen – it was this accurate reflection of reality by the author that was perhaps hardest to bear.” – Suzy

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Published 2020
VUP
438 pages