Oscar Pistorius set to write book. We think there’s something very wrong about that
COMMENT. UNBELIEVABLE. Days after being convicted of culpable homicide, Oscar Pistorius is set cash in with a book. Does the man have no scruples at all?
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COMMENT. OSCAR Pistorius, who last week was convicted of culpable homicide but not murder, is going to write a book about the night he shot his girlfriend and the ensuing murder trial.
After six months in court successfully arguing he did not intentionally kill Reeva Steenkamp, Pistorius will now subject the world to yet more insights into his bizarrely paranoid mindset on the night he pumped four bullets into his girlfriend while she was in the bathroom.
This doesn’t seem even halfway right.
Reeva Steenkamp never got to have her say. Oscar Pistorius had his say in court and elsewhere. The world really doesn’t need to hear any more from him in any arena, whether in print, on an athletics track, or anywhere.
Many commentators are today saying that Pistorius is writing the book to cash in. We’re with them.
It is believed the Blade Runner’s finances took a massive hit in funding his legal battle, so the book would no doubt earn a little something back. MORE: Oscar Pistorius to write book about shooting his girlfriend
As for what form the book will take, Pistorius’s manager, Peet van Zyl, was tight-lipped overnight. “We’ve talked about ideas and concepts. I’m not going to go into details,” he said.
We can only speculate on what sort of book the Paralympian and Olympian will write.
Perhaps the book will take the form of a modern fairy tale. He could call it Beauty and the Beast.
Maybe the book will be about his wild propensity for fantasy. He could call it 50 Blades of Grey.
Pistorius may decide to pen a thriller. He could call it The Boy who Played with Firearms.
Then again, a man named Oscar may choose to write a comedy of manners in the style of Oscar Wilde. He could call it The Importance of Being Honest. Such a book may, however, be rather thin and lacking in real life experience.
Whatever he names his book and whatever form it takes, the book is unlikely to be well received by the Steenkamp family or much of the public.
The mocking book titles used above were not an attempt to make light of a tragic death of a talented young woman. Quite the opposite. By lampooning Pistorius’s literary ambitions, we seek to highlight the ludicrousness of a book being written so soon. Or at all.
As mentioned above, Reeva Steenkamp never got to have her say. Oscar Pistorius has had his say in court and elsewhere. Pistorius’s ongoing dignified silence would express his contrition a lot better than any number of words.
Oh, and speaking of literature, Pistorius would do well to remember the wise words of Shakespeare’s Hamlet who (more or less) said: “The gentleman doth protest too much, methinks.”
Originally published as Oscar Pistorius set to write book. We think there’s something very wrong about that