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Summary: ...but then what?
Review: I would agree with one other reviewer that the writing in Alexandra Fuller's book is unfortunately not the best. At one point she tries to make a comparison between Zimbabwe and a teapot and it makes no sense. There are many more of these, enough, to kind of put you off and it's a shame. Some people might like the fact that the author's family is so very eccentric and so refreshingly upfront in their white supremacist sense of priviledge. In this sense Fuller spins a yarn that some might find new to them and entertaining. In the end it was a dud for me because it was just that-- entertainment and really not about much else. I like jungle Safaris too and I like to take in carnival scenes; I also like books to have some transcendental point and to be about something other than itself. Perhaps it would be more worthwhile to in fact visit Southern African writers such as Zimbabwean, Tsitsi Dangeremba whose "Nervous Conditions" made a deep imact on me. So all in all "Don't Let's..." is interesting in its quest to delight you with a strange tale about dysfunctionals but a perspective, whatever that perspective may be, would have helped tremendously.
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Summary: Better than a trip back home
Review: I grew up in Kenya and reading Alexandra Fuller's book took me right back home to my wonderful and unusual childhood. Her writing is searingly clear and unapologetic. She has brilliantly captured the child's perspective of growing up white in Africa - our accepting & adaptive way of dealing with extreme and unusual situations, being tough and strong, and sometimes bewildered and stunned, taking on great responsibilities, and never being coddled but just getting on with it! Everyone in her book was so familiar and perfectly described. I'm recommending it to all my friends! Her book reminded me why I'll never get Africa out of my blood, the intense seeping heat, the bright colors, the terrible and beautiful things we saw, the sounds, smells and feelings and that wonderful sky - I'll never get over it!
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Summary: The Dogs Tonight
Review: The problem with this book is its laden, self-pitying tone. I got no sense of the beautiful country of Zimbabwe, the beautiful natives of that great country or of the incredible, formidable liberation struggle fought in that country for close to a generation. This... book and in many instances dangerously incomplete and infactual. Fuller has atleast an obligation to the historical facts, I would think, if nothing else. Her prose also made reading this book torturous. Unless you're Toni Morrison or Thomas Pynchon then you shouldn't attempt complex metaphors else they fall flat and come of as foolish, confusing and unintentionally funny. For the more literate readers out there looking for a good book, don't believe the hype on this sensationalist mess. There are many other writers, black Zimbabwean women writers, who are writing about the same period, about the same things with more intelligence, depth, feeling, compassion and humor. I would try them first.
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Summary: Finally! We have a different perspective
Review: Any time you hear about southern Africa's history in the U.S., you usually only hear about the repression of the native Africans and the evil colonials that supressed them. As the American-born daughter of a white Rhodesian, I am ecstactic to finally have found a novel that reveals how life was for the Europeans in Southern Africa during the years of turmoil.Alexandra Fuller's attention to detail (especially to the region's dialect and the sights and smells) and sense of humor create an intensly engaging story of one white family's survival in a chaotic and intense evironment. Fuller creates a very authentic, no-apology narrative that America should appreciate as an honest glimpse of life in Africa. Her frankness about her family's feelings toward the native Africans only gives her story credibility. While most Americans will consider this racism, they need to look beyond that stereotype and see that the family was simply reacting to the environment and times they were in. Overall, this novel is about the challenges the family faced and how they managed to overcome them and stay together as a family. Truly a portrait of courage. If you are looking for "the other side of the story" when it comes to Southern Africa, you could not have found a better book. The sincerity and honesty of Fuller's novel are valuable assets in a world filled with stereotypes and ignorance.
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Summary: DOES ANYONE HAVE A "TYPICAL" CHILDHOOD?
Review: You will be carried away to a childhood in a foreign land..foreign to Westerners at least..and be the better for it. I surely appreciate the U.S.A., but find it somewhat difficult to understand the preference of living in Africa and foregoing all the amenities offered in "more civilized" territories. There is a charm in the telling of this tale and also a sharp edge of living conditions that I would not wish to put up with. The author does well indeed to keep things interesting. I read this book out loud to my wife and it is a winner (my wife also agrees)!
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Summary: Remarkable memoir
Review: This gifted author has the ability to recreate Africa with all its scents, sounds, and sensations. Alexandra Fuller has written a truly original and brilliant memoir of growing up in a white racist household in Rhodesia. Although her parents are blatant racists, as well as alcoholics, Fuller is able to make them sympathetic and even, at times, charming. Indeed, both her mother and father will suffer so in Africa that it's a mystery why they didn't pack up and return to England. You'll read each page marvelling at the language and emotions. Absolutely the best new book of 2002.
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Summary: Couldn't Be Better ...
Review: If you like stories (and who doesn't?) then the reader will find this to be a fascinating story about life at its fullest. Life sometimes good, life sometimes not so good, life sometimes downright mean, but taken as it comes: life in all its richness, life in all its thinness, life however it happens to be. With a refreshingly fluid style and a wry humorous tone that underlies all but the most serious moments of the story, it could well be the best story about life ever written, the best story about life any of us will ever read. Alexandra Fuller's story takes place in Africa, her childhood home, a hash of people and places and politics and plants and animals all shaken together with surprising if not often astonishing results. First Rhodesia come Zimbabwe, then off to Malawi, onward to Zambia. It is her story, and she shares it with us as though we were right there sipping a beer under the veranda with her and her family and all the characters in the story, many who go out as quickly as they come in. There are no apologies in her story, and perhaps it's just as well. The story simply unfolds as it happens from her viewpoint as a kid. She shows us the past is quite unable to be changed as it moves from moment to moment but, as her father once said, "everything has a future." Though this book is relatively brief on word count, I definitely don't recommend whizzing through it, even though those voracious readers out there may be tempted to do so. Instead, pour yourself a nice cup of tea, and take the time to savor every word, every thought, every scene. It's worth every second to enjoy her once-in-a-lifetime experience in Africa. Alexandra herself flatly declares "I am normal", but fergodsake she is not. She is exceptional in every way, and that, my friends, is very, very good for those of us who enjoy a great story. Zikomo Bobo.
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Summary: "Incongruous, lawless, joyful, violent...illogical...Africa"
Review: Born to parents who are much loved by their children but self-centered and almost criminally irresponsible in their child-rearing, Alexandra Fuller reconstructs her remarkable childhood in Rhodesia, Malawi, and Zambia. British expatriots, her parents seem to have gravitated to Africa because it is a place which enables them to live, work, and drink on their own terms, freed from the limitations imposed by conventional society. Opposing majority rule in the countries where he lives, the father serves as part of an active, armed, white militia in Rhodesia. He teaches his two daughters how to handle guns and to shoot to kill, and tells them what to do if their parents are killed. As Mum and Dad eke out lives as farmers and ranchers during Rhodesia's civil war, they treat as mere inconveniences the landmines planted in their dirt roads, the razor wire fencing around their property, the armed escorts when they go to town, the necessary bribery of officials, and even the abuse of their daughters. Not even vicious assaults on their help and their animals can shake them from their self-involved world or make them fully connect with their children. Despite all this and her mother's several frightening breakdowns, Alexandra (Bobo) clearly loves her parents, the independence of her childhood, and her African life, which fills her senses with unique and beautifully described sights, sounds, and smells. She accepts as normal the scorpions in the algae- and mosquito-laden swimming pool, the cobra she shoots inside the house, the cat-sized rats, and the leopards, which farm managers illegally kill and skin. Without self-consciousness, she reveals her own naïve acceptance of her "superior" role, developing, as she matures, a growing sensitivity to the Africans whose world she shares. As she relates her tale, complete with the teasing, the local slang, and a point of view which feels absolutely right for her age, the reader marvels at the normalcy she reflects and the resilience of her spirit. This is a remarkable celebration of a remarkable childhood and of an irrepressible spirit, triumphant.
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Summary: interesting life tale
Review: I just finished reading this book and found I had a hard time putting it down. I was fascinated with this story of a life in Africa, growing up in a land that to me seemed so harsh, scary and uncomforatble, and yet so loved by the author and her family. I couldn't imagine living like that, the way her family lived, and I was astounded through the whole book and mesmerised by her matter-of-fact tone when she described different instances.
I did find I had to keep myself from judging the author and her family because of their views on the people in their homeland, and I kept reminding myself that their life is so far removed from my life and anything I understand. I think that is what made it so interesting, so engaging.
I can say, the only thing I wish the author had done was explain why her parents chose to live there, what made them tick, but again, that is putting my judgement on their family, which I am still struggling with. I also am interested in how the author finds living in the states, what life is like for her now. Of course, I have these questions because I became so wrapped up in the author's story, I wasn't ready for it to be over. I wanted to know more about this fascinating woman, and how growing up in this way affected the way she lives now. Exellent read.
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Summary: Do Let's Read This Book Tonight
Review: What a pleasure it is to start off the new year with a wonderful new book. I probably never would have picked this book up, except for the glowing reviews it's been getting. And, are they ever deserved. This is the story of Bobo Fuller, daughter of gone-to-the-dogs parents in 1970's Rhodesia, on the losing (depending on your point of view) side of a civil war. Covering her growing-up years of moving from one place to another in Africa always searching for a way to exist in a place where white Africans no longer had power and privilege, Ms. Fuller writes unsparingly, unsentimentally, and honestly about her family and their remarkable experiences. Don't miss this terrific book.
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