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Summary: The Globetrotting Bushman Returns
Review: Dark Star Safari is classic Theroux travel writing, I think what separates this book from say Riding the Iron Rooster, Great Railway Bazzar or any of his other travel books is the sense of pathos that's hidden in this one. The sense of "connectedness" to places he used to live in generates feelings that are absent in his prior books. This does not detract from the whole book at all but rather puts it into a kind of before/after perspective that only Theroux can summon up. It's similar to The Great Patagonia Express in the sense that it's a vertical journey going south but that does not matter. Theroux is doing what he does best, whomping through "terra incognita" and reporting about it, I cann't think of anyone else who can write travel books this way....now that Bruce Chatwin is dead....
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Summary: DARK STAR SAFARI review
Review: With a seemingly unlimited supply of money, time and patience, Paul Theroux shows us how to travel. Your bus has a broken spring in the middle of hostile bush country? No problem. Chat with the locals. You may have to stay overnight? Just bail out and hop the next vehicle that comes by. Wait three days for a visa? Who cares? Go have a beer! Ferry boat delayed two days? Go find a cargo boat!
Setting off from Cairo on an overland route to the tip of Africa, Theroux shares his joys and pains as he meets the poor and the rich, the known and unknown, the honest and the corrupt. DARK STAR SAFARI, sad commentary as it is on modern Africa, has an uplifting beat. The languages are repeated enough so the reader begins to recognize Swahili, "muzungu", "white man" or Chichewa, "mlendo" "traveler", and his renderings of African English is touching, "We are bruzzers." I especially liked his frequent quotes from other writers about Africa from Herodotus to Rimbaud to James Joyce.
Theroux is openly disdainful of narrow minded missionaries, relief workers, the Zimbabwe land invasions, tourists, touristy safaris, and even the American icon, Ernest Hemingway. But in spite of his often critical outlook, the book rises above the corruption and poverty of modern Africa and shines with the author's sense of humor and his ability to bring to the reader the good and interesting people of the now not-so-dark continent.
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Summary: Cruise lovers unite...
Review: Paul Theroux doesn't think much of you. He thinks that all you go through to take a cruise--packing your suitcases, struggling to get through security lines, flying at odd hours, going through more security to get aboard the ship--that all that means is that you are too lazy to read a book. And your goal in taking that cruise is to one-up listeners in boasting bouts when you go home. And if you take a Nile cruise you're on your way to becoming a licensed bore. Don't believe me? Check out page 35. If you are reading this book because 1) you are not lazy and 2) you thought you would learn about traveling from Cairo to Capetown, forget it. You will learn about how difficult it is to get a visa to Sudan. About Theroux's prejudices (which are many) and those of lots of others--nobody comes off looking good in this book. This book is not up to Theroux's standards. It is, to use one of his favorite words, crepuscular. Besides which there is no index which will tell you something about how well organized it is.
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Summary: Theroux blows it in the final chapters
Review: Dark Star Safari is a perfect example of an author writing a very interesting and thought-provoking book for 400 pages and then totally blowing it in the final chapters. Theroux vividly describes the poverty, corruption, and hopelessness of present-day Africa and convincingly argues that these problems are the result of Christian charities which, over a period of three decades, have caused Africans to become entirely dependent upon charitable donations (as opposed to their own labor). But in one of the final chapters, Theroux describes meeting a young female missionary who he insultingly refers to as a "Christ-bitten nag." Theroux proceeds to berate the young woman about her Christian beliefs, pointing out various contradictions in the Bible, and even comparing her faith to that of the Taliban. Thus, we see that it isn't simply the Christian charities which Theroux finds objectionable but rather Christianity itself. (In this, Theroux follows the dictates of political correctness precisely -- i.e. it is perfectly acceptable to criticize Christianity but it is not acceptable to criticize other religions. For example, Theroux describes his visit with South African author, Nadine Gordimer. It certainly never dawns on him to question or criticize Ms. Gordimer's faith even though she, like the "Christ-bitten nag", has also attempted to bring about change in Africa based upon her beliefs). After reading the final chapters, I came away disappointed with this book and less sure of Theroux's credibility on the issues of Africa.
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Summary: Darkness foreshadowed. A good rant.
Review: I enjoyed Theroux's latest, for exactly what it is. He states his mantra early on, that he determined to regain his traveling attitude: "I was heading south in my usual traveling mood: hoping for the picturesque, expecting misery, braced for the appalling. Happiness was unthinkable, for although happiness is desirable, it is a banal subject for travel." Right. I loved HOTEL HONOLULU, but for his traveling stuff, the ranter's attitude is what we find amusing in Theroux. (As long as he is not ranting about where we happen to live.) It is a good rant, but only a rant, a standup sendup. He evokes Conrad's HEART OF DARKNESS in the first chapter, and the book finds the reflected darkness he foreshadows. But then, what did we expect from him?
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Summary: Bilious product of bad bowels
Review: This is written to spare Theroux's fans the disappointment I experienced in "getting through" the book. There has been an increasing quantity of negative and unpleasant elements in Theroux's recent books. He has now completely given into his "dark side" .The possible explanation, I wish I had known prior to purchase, doesn't appear until the last page. He "...ate something poisonous." just before leaving Africa, and "Throughout the writing of this book..." was plagued by "...the "gassy gurgle of parasites." Africa was "...stirring inside..." , the whole time he was writing this book. He shares his unhappiness about that, on almost every page. The "Dark" is everywhere but the "Star"that used to regularly appear in his writing is seen here, only in brief glimpses. Let me save you the trouble of reading it: Africa is muddy, dusty, windy, hot, buggy and dirty, men are lazy, unemployed, AIDS ridden and threatening, children obnoxious, women prostitutes, neighborhoods dangerous, governments corrupt, restrooms filthy, food terrible, stores empty, hotels mildewed decrepit and overpriced, US embassy staff overpaid, buildings vandalized, beer warm ,poverty endemic and on and on, over and over "ad nauseam" . His repetitive "trashing" of the entire Foreign Aid, Missionary, Charitable Agency ,UN and NGO effort in Africa was, inaccurate, generalized, unfair and offensive. That will teach them to refuse to give him a ride. He tells us three separate times ,that all the donated apparel is diverted to the markets by local "profiteers" and sold to the poor people(a very effective way to achieve a low cost ,wide distribution, that uses the locals), yet he disparages "handouts" if they are given away and slams any program that does not "involve" the Africans. He claims all the aid money spent in Africa is stolen by the government yet criticizes the agencies that buy goods at home so they can be delivered directly. His solution seems to be to close all the, medical clinics and nutrition programs and just let the people starve and die. Only a misanthropic , rabid Libertarian could appreciate this view. I found it a prejudiced "rant",annoying and a bore to read. We were recently in Egypt for a month. We found something he said, on almost every page, not to be true. There haven't been any problems for tourists for years. We walked ,rode the subway and found it safe and the people helpful everywhere. The level of facilities and service is high and relatively inexpensive. The people are warm and welcoming. There was some defacement by Christians but most was done by the ancient Egyptians themselves, as regimes changed. His story about being constantly pestered to see "the big banana" and seeing lots of visiting women on boats seeking the "Nubian banana" is rubbish. We were up and down the Nile and regularity walked the Corso in the main towns on the river and never heard or saw anything like that. He missed most of the important sights and misunderstands, dismisses or puts down, those he does mention. I didn't think anyone could fail to appreciate the tremendous scope, scale and utter magnificence of Luxor. Most of the people I met there were in respectful awe. All Theroux saw was "fidgety tourists" and he mostly remembers the "vandalism and graffiti". The negative ,of the uniquely Egyptian "Baksheesh", requires some explanation and understanding but you won't find it in this book. The part on Egypt ,which I knew something about, was so unrepresentative, that it was hard to put much credence in the rest of the less familiar places he describes. The book is full of self indulgent, egotistical, elitist, grumpy ,unhappy, sexually repressed and depressed complaints. From a man who: spends a lot of time, hanging out with and buying things for, teen age prostitutes, parades his "virtue" by going to his room alone and then goes on about the lonely nights he spends working on an "erotic" novella(?); slams an overworked embassy staffer for not dropping everything to set up some lectures for him(how could she not properly appreciate this magnificent gift?). and "couldn't bring himself" to share some fruit with an emaciated 8 year old girl and got a well deserved rock from her in return(made me want to throw a rock at him myself) I could give fifty other examples. If you enjoyed some of his earlier books ,no not spoil it by reading this one. Vince Biondo
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Summary: If you read one book on Africa, this should be it!
Review: I am not a huge Africa fan and was a little apprehensive about reading this book. However, it came highly recommended from a good friend and I have always been interested in reading a novel by Paul Theroux. I was very pleasantly surprised by the book. Theroux writes very unassumingly and is easy to read. He is definitely well-versed and well-researched in what he writes about. Including a wide range of additional information, simply added as tid-bits or anecdotes - without sounding condescending or like a know-it-all. That I found very impressive. Obviously his knowledge of Africa is vast, having spent a lot of time there in the past. I very much enjoyed this book, although it is quite daunting at first, since it is so long, but in the end it is a journey through Africa, so taking that into consideration, it's not that long. For anyone that wants to get a glimpse of Africa and knows very little of Africa, this is probably a good primer to get started on. And for those who love Africa, I think the book is a wonderulf journey.
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Summary: An honest portrayal
Review: Lets face it. Africa without exception is a disaster. Whose to blame? Most rests with the indigenous. (Blame the Brits/settlers etc for the past..but thats history! The present is their mess!)
Zimbabwe is typical of the rapid decline from riches to rags and worse. South Africa is slowly but surely going downhill and the pace will increase). The solution? Who knows but leave it to the Africans to sort out.
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Summary: Back to the height of his powers
Review: Paul Theroux has written a lot of travel books. Most of them are reasonably entertaining and involve caustic observations of the people he meets with some background into the countries he visits. His books are darker than a writer such as Bill Bryson. To some extent his formula seemed to be running a bit dry with his last book. This however is a return to his vintage form. The reasons are partially because the narrative of events is in itself more interesting than the normal travel story. Theroux for instance is shot at by bandits at one point. The main attraction of the book is the description of Africa itself. When he was in his twenties Theroux worked in the Peace Corps and taught in Uganda and Mawali. He seems to have spent a couple of years there and has retained a distinct memory of a number of countries recently given independence with their future before them. Forty or so years later, everything is immeasurably worse. Theroux finds all the African cities me meets charmless, decaying places filled with diseased and suffering poor. Crime ridden with decaying buildings and facilities. Whilst the peasant society of these countries keeps going every other aspect of civilised life has decayed. One poignant section of the book describes the search for a couple who set up a school and for years tried to educate the local community. No one has heard of them or even remembers their years of effort. Theroux discusses the role of Western Aid in the African context. One suspects that part of the reason why he dislikes aid organisations so much is the priggish nature of aid workers. They continually refuse to give him lifts. However he discusses in some detail instances of aid putting countries backwards. In one country a major road in a mountainous area was maintained by large numbers of local labourers. This not only ensured the road was kept open but also provided a trickle down effect of giving some money to these villagers who were able to have some income as a hedge against drought or bad times. An aid agency purchased some bulldozers to do the work. This meant that only five or so workers were employed. In addition the bulldozers simply pushed accumulated gravel and rocks to the side of the road. When the road flooded the piled rocks led to the damming of rain water which damaged the road far more than had occurred because of rock slides. When the bulldozers eventually broke down no maintenance occurred on the road at all. Thus an aid project has thrown local workers of the job, making it difficult for them to survive in times of famine. It has led to worse damage to the road and in the end when it has not been possible to service the capital equipment a valuable road has been lost to a community. The book is a revelation about the failure of sub Saharan Africa and it is clear that Theroux has a clear idea of why that failure has occurred. All in all not only an interesting and engrossing narrative but a challenging work about the second largest continent in the world.
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Summary: I was hooked from the beginning
Review: Reading this book was at once wonderful and sad for me. I lived in Ghana, West Africa in the late 1950's. My parent's were missionaries in a boarding school just outside of Kumasi. Theroux's book spoke of an Africa I remember as a child and an Africa I sadly suspected existed today. I loved every page of this book because it is honest and personal. Part of this journey and the perceptions of the author were difficult for me to digest at first but as I continued reading I found the evidence all too compelling to doubt. I could hardly bear to read about the poverty and lack of personal involvement for their own survival on the part of Africans. At times I became so engrossed in the telling that I craved someone to discuss this book with and to debate with regarding foreign aid, personal accountability....well, I found myself stirred up on so many levels. I gave this book 5 stars because it spoke to me, painted a picture and satiated my thirst for news of Africa and the cast of characters that made Africa come alive for me again.
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