Bringing to life the beauty and violence of a childhood in a time of change

books:


	• Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood Alexandra Fuller Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2003 - 336 pages average customer review:based on 176 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Bringing to life the beauty and violence of a childhood in a time of change

If you have been to Africa, Alexandra Fuller's words will bring back to life all that your senses have experienced - the still, thick nights and choirs of morning movement, the enveloping smells, the stunning beauty and feel of the earth. And they will bring back the reality of poverty and inequality. If you have not been so blessed to have been to Africa, Fuller will light your imagination with her words. She will, perhaps more importantly, give you a glimpse into the life of an Anglo family in the midst of the southern countries' fight for independence and land reform.

Fuller speaks openly of the racism held tightly by the European farmers, farmers who for generations worked the land of today's Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe. This racism runs strong in her own parents, and she portrays them with honesty and with love. She gives an insight into a life I have long held my own bias against.

Fuller transports the reader on to the farm and into the bush, from her early childhood until marriage. She speaks as a child would recall leaping into bed after a trip to the bathroom in the dark of night, lest there be monsters under her bed. But her monsters were in the form of "terrorists". She reflects as an adult, aware of the kinks in her own upbringing, the stark horrors of the times, and the beauty of the place. She does this with wit, clarity, absence of sentimentality, and with love.

I began reading this book for a second time - the day I finished the first.

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Powerful

This book left me feeling much the same as I felt after reading Angela's Ashes.

To say that it is a wonderful, powerful and sometimes very funny account of growing up in Rhodesia, which it is, does not address how terribly sad and deprived this woman's childhood was.

Ms. Fullers childhood was full of dirt and disorder, alcohol, death and racial tension. That she was able to grow up to write about it so beautifully and not to have lost the humor it provided is nothing short of amazing.

Just as in Angela's ashes, you will not like the parents. Put that aside and enjoy the book.

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Great Southern African Experience

This book gives a very real idea of what life is like in southern Africa and why it steals the hearts of those who grow up there.

ok

I enjoyed the writing style of this book, but found it overall depressing. There were a few bits that were funny/ touching. I probably wouldn't reccomend it to a friend.

Vivid, engaging, challenging

An incredible story. Actually a chronological series of vignettes, the way it's constructed. Vivid descriptions captured in a narrative flow imbued with the sights, smells, and sounds of Africa. Perhaps the most striking thing is how there is so much familiar in lives so different from most. The girls still went to school, the family had their Christmas traditions, and their toilets weren't much more reliable than ours. Am so glad I found this book.

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, page 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17

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