Book Review: Dust on His Soul by Jason Blacker

As you might have seen on my About Me page I'm particularly keen on real life or fictional stories about historical events in other countries. Dust on His Soul ticked the boxes for me, being about a fictional character but inspired by Stephen Biko and based on what was happening in 1970s and '80s South Africa. While I'm a bit young to clearly remember coverage at the time I thought I was pretty aware of what happened under apartheid.

Stephen Bankulu's parents Paul and Cynthia are involved in the ANC, trying to improve the situation of families in Soweto under a racist regime that sees their people virtually enslaved. They try and keep their activites, and the tensions of living in South Africa at the time, away from their son so that he can enjoy his childhood. However they are unable to do so and Paul's activism has serious consequences for his family. Fast forward fifteen or so years and Stephen is imprisoned at the notorious Robben Island, on a charge of treason. This is Stephen's story, one of hope and despair, life and death.

The book moves between Stephen's youth and his time at the prison, and as the book progresses the reader is able to see how the course of his life is influenced by the ANC, at times for the better, and at others for the worse. It gives a graphic portrait of the stark divisions between people divided only by their skin colour, and paints a dreadful but no doubt realistic picture of the abuses inflicted by one race on another. It doesn't make for comfortable reading but nor should it.

I have to admit I'm having a hard time knowing how to rate this book. It started well and I was keen to read on to find out how Stephen ended up in prison. The author uses some amazing imagery and there is a lot of descriptive writing. However towards the middle of the book I felt I didn't really have an emotional connection with the characters. Perhaps the level of descriptive writing was getting in the way of progressing the story and it was taking away from the emotion of the unfolding events. Around the half way point I might have given it just 2* but...I carried on reading and although there was no  change in style the pace seemed to pick up and I found myself feeling more involved in the story. By the end of the book I was welling up as events reached their climax. Putting it down I felt like I had really had my eyes opened and that it is the sort of book that I will still be thinking about in the future.

As I also had issues with some of spelling and punctuation I think I would have to give this 3 stars in the final analysis. This is the sort of story that needs to be told and read, and I was pleased that ultimately I came away from it feeling moved and with a greater understanding of what ANC members faced.

Format: Kindle, review copy
My Rating: 3*

Book Review: Blue Shoes and Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith

This book is the first I have read of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. Typically I managed to pick up the 7th book in the series, but this was a Borrowed Book Challenge book and our library is only small and just had 2 books from the series. (This is the same library that has the second book in The Hunger Games series but not the first - go figure) I had been recommended the series by a couple of colleagues who were amazed I had never read any of them before.

Mma Ramotswe is the principal of the No.1 Ladies' Detective agency, operating out of her husband's garage premises. Mma Makutsi is her assistant and a big fan of what Mma Ramotswe considers unsuitable shoes. In this book the ladies deal with a number of cases including identifying a blackmailer and a fraudulent Doctor. They also ponder the role of women and feminism and drink a lot of tea. The chapters almost read like a series of independent stories, with none of the mysteries visited in great depth but with plenty of charming anecdotes.

The term "cozy mystery" is a relatively new one to me but I have seen it applied to this series and having read the book I now think I understand that term. It is an undemanding read, which raised a few smiles and the odd chuckle. It depicts aspects of Botswana beautifully and I enjoyed reading about the country and various characters and the problems they are facing. My favourite thing about the book is the concept of a "traditionally built" woman, it sounds so much better than big boned!

I'm not sure cozy mysteries are going on my list of preferred genres, but I did like this book and can definitely see the appeal. In fact I can think of a couple of family members who would really like the series.

Format: Hard cover, from the library
My Rating: 3*

Book Review: The Reluctant Traveller by Bill Lumley

Author Bill is afraid of all sorts of things, and it seems usually has ready-prepared excuses to keep himself out of harm's way. So a climbing trip to find a lost mountain in Ethiopia was never going to be his perfect holiday. Shame he managed to agree to the trip while under the influence and amazing he didn't manage to wheedle his way out of it.

I found this account of his travels in Ethiopia and the hazards he encounters along the way laugh out loud funny, there are some great one liners, but also very interesting. His descriptions of the places may not win him any friends at the tourist board but have painted a picture for me (who definitely doesn't have Ethiopia on her list of places to see) and I now feel like I have a better feel for the geography and climate of the place, as well as what might face the intrepid travellers who do go there. I also picked up a few facts which might come in handy for the pub quiz.

This was a funny, easy read and well worth every penny.

Book Review: The Up-Country Man by Kenneth Ryeland

My interest in the war in Nigeria in the 1960s was piqued some time ago when I read Half of a Yellow Sun, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche, a fictional account of various characters' experiences of the foundation of Biafra. Being a child of the 70s it was something I knew virtually nothing about. Therefore when I came across this book I thought it would be really interesting to read a first-hand account. The author Kenneth Ryeland moved to Nigeria as a young man in 1967, working as an engineer. His company had played down reports of previous unrest and Ryeland planned to move his young family to the country to join him after the completion of his probation period.

The book intially details the culture shock experienced by the author and another young colleague upon their arrival, having to adjust to a new geography and culture. Ryeland is moved to a posting in Enugu amid rumours that secession will occur, and when it does he finds himself living in the new state of Biafra. The "police action" seriously disrupts life for the Europeans as well as for the rest of it's new citizens.

I found the book fascinating. I really liked the use of Pidgin English in the book as I felt it illustrated one of the most obvious difficulties the author must have faced on arriving in Nigeria and lent real flavour to the book. The story of Adam and Eve in Pidgin at the start really helped my understanding, so while I couldn't translate it I certainly got the gist. The story was so descriptive of the places and people, but without being unnecessarily wordy.

I can imagine some people might be uncomfortable with some of the portrayals of the white man as master and the locals as servants but it is illustrating how things really were at the time, is basically a historical account of events and it would be wrong to sanitise the book to appease people.

This book contained enough description of Nigeria and it's people to satisfy me as a travel book, enough about factual historical events to make me feel like I was learning something by reading it, and enough emotion and anecdotes for it to be a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Book Review: In Praise of Savagery by Warwick Cairns

This is a book I read just before I started my blog, and it's about time I got round to adding it!

The author met and befriended explorer Wilfred Thesiger in his later years. Thesiger extended Cairns an invitation to visit his home in Africa and he decided to take up the offer, and do some exploring of his own with a couple of friends while he was there.

As a young man Thesiger led an expedition along the Awash River in Ethiopia, a trip which previous foreigners had failed to survive. He obviously did and the book switches between the two journeys.
The parallel journeys are interesting and provided glimpses into the culture of the tribes the two men encountered but I felt that the author tried to fit too much material in, glossing over what could have been more interesting and provided more colour to the picture of their trips, yet spent time musing on things that didn't really add to the book.

There were also some drastic changes in pace, drawing some things out that I felt didn't deserve that much attention then coming to breakneck conclusions. It wasn't my sort of humour and for me there wasn't enough for it to be an interesting commentary on tribal life and relative values, nor was there a strong enough plot for it to be a great novel, and not enough about the country and people to be a good travelogue. While there were some interesting thoughts on whether we in the developed world are the poorer for it again it wasn't considered in enough depth. Perhaps this book is trying to be too many things. It was good  enough to keep me interested but I doubt I'll read it again and I wouldn't recommend it.