Brazzaville Beach

Rating:
Summary: a modern masterpiece that you can't put down
Review: Boyd really came into his own with this book - a multi-layered exploration of the nature of relationships, mental health and higher maths, mixed with African scenery and painful memories. We follow the life of Hope Clearwater, a biologist/botanist who falls in love with a tortured mathematician - an all too believable character whose limited glimpses into the deeper truth of maths sends him into despair when the glimpses become more fleeting and incomplete. Written as an interconnected series of memories and events, you are effortlessly transported to a different country and a civil war that encompasses the ludicrous nature of some African conflicts. The characterisation and dialogue is effortless and complete, leaving you with the events and personal histories of Hope swirling around your mind for a long time after you put the book down Mixed into the pot is the enormous ego of the head of the chimpanzee research project for which she works,(often mirrored by the behaviour of the researchers themselves) a thought-provoking insight into animal group behaviour, and poignant explorations of the nature of despair and ultimately redemption. Finding a degree of hapiness with Osman, a fighter pilot for hire who creates insect and paper flying machines, and who ultimately disappears, leaves Hope on Brazzaville Beach, pondering the nature of her strange and often beautiful life. I defy anyone to read this book and not be carried along by the wonderful and elegant prose style, the content and the wonderful story. A page turner that conceals a lot of deeper meanings, and my most borrowed (and recommended) book. Buy it.

Rating:
Summary: Another Excellent Work From Boyd
Review: Once again Boyd brings together unrelated topics, interesting settings, and full characters to create a story that's utterly absorbing and hard to pigeonhole. Narrated by Hope Clearwater (an unfortunately clunky name for a protagonist), the story looks back at two traumatic times in her life, as she attempts to make sense of them. One of these storylines begins with the completion of her dissertation and her subsequent marriage to a brilliant but troubled mathematician. The other storyline concerns her work some years later at a chimpanzee research center in an unnamed African country (presumably Congo). Both of these threads revolve around the quest for knowledge and the mania that quest can result in, and both are compelling. The latter is especially gripping, containing elements of a thriller within its arc, and the backdrop of civil war. Boyd consulted extensively with Jane Goodall in his research for the book, and the result is a vividly realistic portrait of a tiny international scientific community, complete with petty jealousies and massive egos.

It's difficult to write about this book and do it proper justice. So much of it is about Hope's internal struggles about her life, and the difficulties of being married to someone who is greatly flawed. She makes a good feminist character, strong but not pushy, intelligent but not snobby, often conflicted about what the best course of action is, and sometimes mistaken. Her struggle for respect in both the personal and professional realms is at the heart of the book, and is a theme with wide resonance. It's one of the best cases of a man writing in a woman's voice I can recollect. All the characters that surround Hope, even the most insignificant, are carefully crafted and rich in texture. From her Egyptian mercenary lover, to her charismatic project leader and his frigid wife, to her powerful academic advisor, and the volleyball coach turned rebel-each rings true. The novel is not perfect, there are a few minor flaws, such as a contrivance whereby Hope is never able to take photos proving her observations. On the whole though, it's another very solid, and eminently readable work from Boyd.

Rating:
Summary: Not just another African book
Review: Truly brilliant, and I rarely use that term.
It's a novel of ideas - philosophy, mathematics as metaphor for the apparently unsolvable paradoxes of life, and more obviously, the primate world of good and evil. But the author never forgets to entertain with cosmonauts, a volleyball team army, miniature flea-powered planes, etc, as well as the mystery of sex, love and relationships.
I read this book concurrently with David Lambkin's The Hanging Tree (due to a vacation trip), which is another novel of ideas set in Africa - four stars.