The Zanzibar Chest

Rating:
Summary: Say No to Travel Notes
Review: Every now and then a journalist cum author or is compelled to bind and mass-produce his or her notes into a treatise. A distinguishing element of these 'notes' is an author¡¯s ability to simply opt-out (leave the land about which is being written). Aidan cannot-Biblically speaking, he cannot change his spots, nor does he want to. The well of passion in this book stems from the author¡¯s pedigree -this drives Aidan and his attachment to Africa. This is the distinguishing character of The Zanzibar Chest.

If you want travel notes, take a look at another book also written last year, Dark Star Safari (by Paul Theroux). The breadth of analysis and understanding between a traveler and a naturalized African cannot be expected to be the same. However, the westerners' window to Africa is ¡®widened¡¯ -narrowed, I would argue- by such seemingly innocuous travel notes (if these ¡®notes¡¯ are one¡¯s sole or primary source). Notice that the latter book is selling more widely. In 1968 Theroux decides to leave Africa (see his essay 'Introducing Jungle Lovers' in Sunrise with Seamonsters, 1985) shocked that a white English schoolteacher in Kampala was attacked in his car during the anti-Rhodesia riots taking place there. On that day in 1968 he wanted to speak about mob violence to his students -they couldn't see the point and wanted to get on with class-he couldn't understand it- he left (after 5 years in Africa).

A cultural parallel for those more familiar with American culture: witnessed an American professor in the US stopping class to talk about injustice sometime in 1995 (compliments of LA vs. Mr. Simpson). Is "why start now, get on with class Paul" unreasonable? My point is that professor Hartley lives what he writes about -a rarity for accounts about Africa written in English- that is why The Zanzibar Chest is an uncommon account; a gem, undeniably leading to the truth (for Africa).

Rating:
Summary: One of the best ever
Review: Many (non-African) people who have traveled or lived in Africa have written a book about their experiences, a large portion of these books are written by journalists who covered Africa for major news organizations. Some of those books are quite good. "The Zanzibar Chest: A Story of Life, Love, and Death in Foreign Lands" by Aidan Hartley, at first glance, seems to be another journalist-memoir of this sort. It is that, but it is much more. Mr. Hartley weaves many threads into a tapestry of his life in Africa: There are the memoirs of a journalist who covered Africa's big stories of the 1990s (Somalia, Rwanda, AIDS, etc.). There is also the behind-the-scenes story of being a journalist, the psychic toll it takes, office politics, the dangers and disappointments of journalism, and plenty of boozing and whoring. There are the stories of Mr. Hartley's parents and ancestors (ex-pats and colonial officials) and the story of the life and death of one of his father's friends. Finally, the story of how all of this affects Mr. Hartley's private life, his career, his home, his love affairs. All of it is told with a clarity and clear purpose that makes this much more than a book. It is a window into a world. Great. Very highly recommended. Books not 1/10 as good have sold more copies. Too bad.

Rating:
Summary: Read it , to experience it!
Review: The book is an interesting read. Probably a 101 and advanced course about Africa rolled into one. Mr.Hartley has written everything he has experienced with complete honesty and anyone with a little background knowledge, or anyone who has followed the political history of Africa in the past 15 years or so can agree completely with his narrative. I would disagreee though with a few sections of analyses put forward by him, for example blaming the civil war (actually genocide/macabre) in Rwanda on the west's imposing democracy as a "one-size-fits-all" solution. I also notice that Mr.Hartley does struggle at places with his identity while explaining his journalistic endeavours in Africa. For example, at a place where he tells a fellow passenger on a train that he was born in africa (almost providing the reader an insight into his sense of pride in being African born), on the other hand in a few pages from there, he calls himself a european journalist (since he was working for reuters - An African working for Reuters would not have called himself a "european journalist"). Having said that, this book is a recommended read. Necessary for intellectuals and the common man like me who needs to understand the hard facts from another "common" man, I would like to believe, Mr.Hartley.