Combine the everyman of Eric Ambler and the existentialism of Albert Camus and you get Howard Ingham, the protagonist of Patricia Highsmith's The TremCombine the everyman of Eric Ambler and the existentialism of Albert Camus and you get Howard Ingham, the protagonist of Patricia Highsmith's The Tremor of Forgery. Ingham's world is turned topsy-turvy when he is sent to Tunisia to write a screenplay for a director and then learns the director committed suicide, his girlfriend made questionable choice, and that the Arab world that he now inhabits lives by a distinctly different moral code. It all comes to a head one momentous night that forces Ingham to examine his own morality. Set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War and a war in which Israel bombs its Arab neighbors, Highsmith renders all versions of "morality" fair game: what good are Western virtues when they try to bomb others into democracy? The longer Ingham stays in Tunisia, the more he wonders who he is: "Who am I, anyway? Does one exist, or to what extent does one exist as an individual without friends, family, anybody to whom one can relate, to whom one's existence is of the least importance?" (154-155). This is a slow-burn of a novel that does not provide easy or satisfactory answers....more
In March 2022, I took a trip to Egypt, touring with a group of four other travelers and our guide. We saw both Coptic and Muslim sites in Cairo, the EIn March 2022, I took a trip to Egypt, touring with a group of four other travelers and our guide. We saw both Coptic and Muslim sites in Cairo, the Egyptian Museum with its thousands of year old mummies, the Pyramids at Giza, the Valley of the Kings, Kom Ombo, Luxor, Karnak, Memphis, and Saqqara. The highlight of that already remarkable trip was our trip to Aswan, a city 600 miles to the south of Cairo. Everything from our overnight train where we drank peppermint tea from paper cups in the dining car full of men and cigarette smoke, feeling like we were in an Agatha Christie novel, to our boat ride to Philae and the Nubian village on Elephantine Island where we had dinner with a local family, to our early morning departure deep into the golden desert, almost to the Sudanese border, to be swept up in awe by Abu Simbel, to our day on a felucca leisurely criss-crossing the Nile and watching a full moon rise brightly above the mountains. This whole adventure was made possible for us and millions of others by a five-foot tall French woman and leading Egyptologist, Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt (CDN).
Historian Lynne Olson, who brings to the fore-front those who are often overlooked by history, turns her eye to this force-of-nature in her new book, "Empress of the Nile: Who Saved Egypt's Ancient Temples from Destruction". It is quite a read for quite a person. It always strikes me how some people are born to meet the moment. CDN is no exception. Born into a life a privilege in Paris, her forward thinking parents encouraged her to pursue an education and live her own life. Fascinated by Egypt as a young child, she embarked on a sky-rocketing educational career crowded with men, most not happy to have her around. A trait that served her well throughout her life is that she did not care very much about what they thought. Her career spanned over fifty years-- encompassing everything from working for the French Resistance, acting as a leading Egyptologist at the Louvre, teaching, wiring, working in the field, and inspiring the love of Egyptology in others. Her biggest achievement was rallying world leaders in the midst of a Cold War to save the monuments, temples, and tombs from the flooding that would result from Nasser's building of the Aswan High Dam. This meant convincing people to care about culture, art, and history in a place where most of them would never visit, and convincing world leaders to work together for a purely cultural endeavor. It is, to say the least, mind-blowing what she accomplished.
Olson's accomplishment with this book is also a feat. She not only details CDN's life, but distills so much information from various parts of history to bring this story and the geopolitical issues to life. It's a fine balance between providing too little or too much, and she gets it perfectly. She also sheds light on the other women, one being Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, who strongly advocated behind the scenes for these treasures to be saved. I really enjoyed reading this book, not just because I have been to the locations in it, but because it highlights how one person can make a difference. CDN had a big, bolder than bold, audacious idea that very few people believed could be done, but through education, relationships, and communication, she inspired a world-wide community to work together to make it happen. In today's world where there is so much division and where we have our fill of fractious leaders, this is a reminder of what can be accomplished. Olson repeatedly points out that CDN's success as an Egyptologist in the field also stems from how she treated everyone she worked with; she was inclusive, friendly, collaborative, and cared about everyone. Everyone was her peer. She also had not problem calling out people for bad behavior. Her accomplishments created a ripple-effect into our everyday lives and changed how the world viewed art, culture, history, and historical preservation. Her story is not a relic of the past, but one that remains forthrightly present.
Read this book to be inspired and learn a lot! Highly, highly recommend....more
During a recent visit to San Francisco's City Lights Bookstore, I asked my husband to pick out a book for me, and this is how I became in possession wDuring a recent visit to San Francisco's City Lights Bookstore, I asked my husband to pick out a book for me, and this is how I became in possession with Uwem Akpan's "New York, My Village". Lately I have been on a spate of reading books unlike any I have read before, and this fits right in. In it Ekong Udousoro, a Nigerian editor, gets the opportunity to come to New York and work with a publishing house as he edits a book about the Biafran War. His experience in America exposes him to all shades of racism and the relentless torture of bed bugs. Akpan weaves together the satirical absurdity of people's prejudices against the tragical background of trauma and war, but sometimes it was hard to know where the satire ended and the tragedy began. Sometimes I felt like I lost the plot, feeling like I missed something but not being sure what it was, even after rereading. Ultimately, I think Akpan was trying to prove too many points-- the insular and dysfunctional world of publishing, white people hosting diversity trainings for themselves, white people in general, the global racism and tribalism, the complexities of colonization and war and the generational trauma it engenders, subletting in NY, and the endless bed bugs-- so much about bed bugs. It did make me want to research the Biafran War, an event I know little about.
I think this book definitely has its readers, but it is not one I would recommend to everyone....more
My husband deserves the "gift-giving" award for always finding me things that I didn't know I needed, and in this case, gave me Candice Millard's, "RiMy husband deserves the "gift-giving" award for always finding me things that I didn't know I needed, and in this case, gave me Candice Millard's, "River of the Gods: Genius, Courage and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile," a book I didn't already have. This is standard Millard: a well-researched and well-written account of remarkable men's (and a woman) derring-d0. Here she recounts Sir Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke's harrowing search for the the source of the Nile. It is hard to imagine two men more diametrically opposite to go into the jungles of East Africa together: Burton-- brave, talented, well-versed in a multitude of cultures and languages, the first white man to enter Mecca, but also impatient, brash, and uncaring of society's rules-- with Speke-- inexperienced, uninterested, arrogant, disdainful of all things not British, but has an easily wounded ego and who seeks glory on distant shores. Together with their guide Sidi Mubarak Bombay, who had been captured as a child and enslaved in India, and their hired men, go on a poorly planned, disastrous and life-altering journey facing enemies and the elements. It is remarkable they made it out alive. This book has a lot in common with "River of Doubt," but "River of Doubt" it is not.
Millard does a great job in giving credit where credit it due; no European explorer "discovered" Africa (or anywhere) on their own. They always had native guides whose extensive expertise they relied on and whose help they later dismissed, taking all of the credit as their own. European explorers, likewise, were often loathe to listen to natives about their own geography, needing to "discover" it for themselves. A lot of time, lives, money, and effort could have been saved if they just got over themselves and listened. But no... their white supremacy had to win out. This attitude, which is cumulated in Speke, made this book a frustrating read. Finding the source of the Nile is like going to the South Pole or climbing to the top of Everest, no real reason to do it besides that "it's there". Burton went because he needed a new challenge, and Speke went because it sounded cool and maybe he could shoot some big game. Burton, at least, learned the language and culture of the men around him, and he took copious and meticulous notes of all that he saw; his experience was not for him alone, but so others can learn, too. Speke just wanted all of the glory without putting in any of the work. Anyone who supported him that he could throw under the bus in order to get what he wanted, he did. His ineptitude was everyone else's fault, not his own. Reading about him was tiresome-- mostly because his type are not relegated to the past, but are very much with us in the present and we have to deal with our own Spekes.
So while this book is interesting, it did not have the same grab as her earlier works. If you are interested in that subject, region, and time period, I recommend Petina Gappah's novel "Out of Darkness, Shining Light" about the Africans who carried Dr. Livingstone's body to the coast of Tanzania and to Zanzibar....more
Agatha Christie's "Death on the Nile" will always have a place in my heart as I got to read it with new friends while on traveling on a felucca on theAgatha Christie's "Death on the Nile" will always have a place in my heart as I got to read it with new friends while on traveling on a felucca on the Nile and then discuss it with old friends in my book club. How many can say that about a book? The mystery itself rises to the occasion when Hercule Poirot, finally taking a vacation, finds himself at the middle of yet another murder (and another one and another one) while taking a Nile cruise. When heiress Linnet Ridgeway Doyle is found slain in her bed, everyone on the boat is a suspect, and a good many have reason to kill her. Can Poirot reason out whodunit before the boat lands ashore?
This novel is Christie at her best with red herrings galore and every passenger having a dark secret, but what struck me was the class consciousness of the novel: what does it mean to be rich and privileged versus what it means to be poor? Linnet's path in life is paved by money and her beauty; there's just about nothing that those two elements cannot solve. They cannot, however, solve the problem of those trying to capitalize off her wealth and murder. Wealth or the lack of it shape each character's motivation, but their sojourn in Egypt highlights how wealth is relative. There are characters who are considered poor but still have the means to travel to Aswan and take a Nile cruise; another can slum it as a revolutionary, outwardly decrying class values while inwardly not giving them up. Each of the characters suffers from first world problems while they dismiss those who are really hard up: the Egyptians who provide services onshore. In Christie's time and today, the locals pester tourists with entreaties to buy a souvenir, take a boat ride, donkey ride, whatever. This is how they make their money and make ends meet; it is the tourists-- those who have every need attended to and fret over a strand of pearls they can afford to replace-- who provide their income. Instead the locals are considered part of the landscape and as nuisances. The real mystery here is not who killed Linnet, but how many of us cannot see how much we take for granted....more
While on a Nile cruise, writer and rower Rosemary Mahoney felt like there was a pane of glass separating her from the country she was visiting. For thWhile on a Nile cruise, writer and rower Rosemary Mahoney felt like there was a pane of glass separating her from the country she was visiting. For the next two years she envisioned rowing down the Nile in a boat of her own, and in 1999 finally made the trip. If her goal was to break down the "fourth wall" of travel to be on the "set", her adventure also took her backstage and out the back door into the homes and lives of Egyptians. The result-- "Down the Nile: Alone in a Fisherman's Skiff"-- is eye-opening and sobering. It also ranks as one of the best works of travel writing I have ever read. It is well-written and researched, thoughtful, and wry.
The title is a bit of a misnomer; the majority of the book is her trying to buy a boat, a challenge being a single woman traveling alone in Egypt where women, white or not, don't do such things. She is not truly alone until the 40 pages of the book. But don't get hung up on such things. Her experience takes her to Aswan, where she spends several days trying to find someone who would sell her a boat, creating an elaborate ruse of how it was a present for "her husband" who is perpetually asleep at the hotel. As you can imagine, it is difficult for her to find anyone who takes her seriously. That is, until she meets Amr, a quiet and reserved felucca captain who is more than willing to share his rowboat. Through Amr and other people she meets in Aswan, Rosemary learns what life is like for Egyptians and Nubians-- the poverty, the strict gender expectations, the double-edged sword of tourism. She finds that as a white woman, she is almost codified as a third gender: she is not bound to the rules for Muslim women, but lacks the freedom granted to men. Since tourism is the country's largest source of revenue, tourists are protected at all costs; if a tourist complains about an Egyptian, the said perpetrator is often arrested and beaten without recourse. She also sees the commonalities that branch all cultures: the desire to live with dignity, humanity, and autonomy and to provide for one's family.
The crux of this book is the desire for agency, to do the things you want to do and testing for all of the things can. For Rosemary, it is rowing down the Nile alone. She reflects on how the women she meets in Egypt cannot take such a trip despite living along the river all their lives; conversely, as an American, she can row in Narragansett Bay but notes that she is often the only woman on the water and realizes that not many American woman realize that they "can". Her journey is a way to push back against stereotypes and norms that keep people ensconced their "place". It is also about the great desire to be alone, invisible to the world, off the map. This resonated with me, because like Rosemary, I enjoy solo traveling and experiencing the feeling of disappearing and having to rely solely on myself. I appreciated her honesty, compassion, and humor in the telling of her journey.
You really need to look at a map in order to even begin to understand Egypt; otherwise, you will be all turned around. For example, this north AfricanYou really need to look at a map in order to even begin to understand Egypt; otherwise, you will be all turned around. For example, this north African country is divided into three regions: Upper, Middle, and Lower Egypt. Logic would tell you that Upper Egypt should encompass Cairo and Alexandria while hugging the Mediterranean; Egypt would tell you that you are wrong. Cairo is, in fact, in Lower Egypt, and Upper Egypt is about 600 miles to the south with Aswan as its base. So if you decide to go on a journey down the Nile with Toby Wikinson: are you going up or down? Let's just say you're going north.
Wilkinson, renowned Egyptologist and our erudite and slyly funny guide, takes us down into the past while traveling up the Nile. The down into past is like falling into a rabbit hole as Arab, Islamic, European, Christian, Roman, Jewish, Nubian, Assyrian, and Pharaohnic history with temples, tombs, and Tuts whizzing by us, but Wilkinson somehow connects the events of a long time ago B.C. to the Arab Spring in 2011. He brings what could be esoteric material to life and humanizes the past, showing the realities of life in the ancient world and how the country tries to deal with that legacy today. His book is divided into chapters that each focus on a region as we travel up the river. In each he begins with the role of that area in the past and how that area has changed over time to the modern day. He provides just enough information while also going out of his way to highlight the key players who are generally overlooked or lost to history. His extensive knowledge is imbued by his obvious love of the country and its people. Throughout his focus is on the Nile as it is the life force of Egypt. Reading this book really feels like taking a tour down the river with him. If you are planning a trip to this multi-faceted country, I highly recommend it....more
I do not recommend Bonaparte Tours for visiting Egypt. I thought Edouard, my tour guide in Paris in 2018 was a dick, but this guide, Napoleon, despiteI do not recommend Bonaparte Tours for visiting Egypt. I thought Edouard, my tour guide in Paris in 2018 was a dick, but this guide, Napoleon, despite his smaller stature, is a bigger one. First off, he tells people that have to go, they have no choice. "It'll be a glorious adventure!" he says. To where? No one knows. He doesn't tell anyone the destination until halfway there: "It's Egypt! So what if sane Europeans don't go there! It'll be great! Trust me!". Once there, not only are there no reservations made, but the Egyptians weren't expecting anyone. They were taken completely by surprise and offered no hand to help. When a welcoming committee of Mamalukes came to greet us, Napoleon had them slaughtered. So did not sign up for this. It was not mentioned on the itinerary. Also not mentioned on the itinerary was the heat. Had I known, I would have never have taken the Alpine wool attire. And the bugs! And worst was the diseases-- dysentary, opthamalia, and the plague. Had I known about this, I would have chosen Lewis and Clark Tours instead. Throw my lot in with cholera and broken axles instead. At least there's trees and water and things to eat on that tour. Instead, with Napoleon in charge, many travelers got sick and died or were killed, not to mention the hosts. Then Napoleon offers an excursion to Syria, where more disasters awaited: killing Turks with bayonets, euthanizing fellow passengers. It was a terrible time. To add insult to injury, he abandoned everyone and snuck back to France! Lewis and Clark only lost one person on their tour-- to appendicitis. Napoleon lost over 15,000 to all number of horrible things. It took two more years to get home. I hear that Bonaparte Tours is offering specials to Russia and Spain. Do. Not. Do. It.
Fortunately, I am an arm-chair traveler living in 2022 reading about all of this in Nina Burleigh's "Mirage: Napoleon's Scientists and the Unveiling of Egypt". Burleigh crams this little-known Napoleon escapade into 248 pages, and thank goodness, too. I don't think I could take a page more. It really was a terrible time, and Napoleon emperorally screwed everyone, except himself, over on this jaunt for glory. In addition to 50,000 soldiers and sailors, he conscripted 151 scientists and artists to record everything they see. Burleigh organizes her book based on the different roles the scientists played, and it more or less works, even if just tangentially. But it is a great insight to this time and how this rotten expedition changed our understanding of the world-- from finding the Rosetta Stone to exploring ancient cultures to laying the precursors for the theory of evolution. The scientists worked tirelessly collecting, categorizing, theorizing, speculating, dissecting, storing, and gazing, and it was their passion that sustained them through this ordeal. The soldiers did not have such passions to fall back on. The most interesting parts about this book was about the Egyptians and the Mamalukes and their way of life at the turn of the 19th century. The Mamalukes were a slave caste comprised of slaves purchased from the Balkans and Caucasus regions. They served as the warriors and protectors of Egypt and held a tremendous amount of wealth and power, and one of the most powerful Mamalukes was a woman who negotiated with the French. Later, they did, unfortunately, sign up for Bonaparte's excursion into Spain.
Overall, this was an interesting book, even if the author repeated herself a lot. It reminded me of Candice Millard's "The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey"-- a book that makes you happy that you are reading about an experience rather than living it....more
I really enjoyed Petina Gappah's historical fiction, "Out of Darkness, Shining Light," about the nine-month long journey made by Africans carrying theI really enjoyed Petina Gappah's historical fiction, "Out of Darkness, Shining Light," about the nine-month long journey made by Africans carrying the dead body of Dr. Livingstone to the coast, so he could be returned home and buried. This tale is beautifully rendered, wry, and sensitive. Gappah uses her two narrators, the cook Halima and a wannabe missionary Jacob Wainwright, to explore the complexities and ironies of religion, slavery, freedom, colonialism, and society. The uneducated but "street smart" Halima sets the stage by explaining their lives in the jungle with Dr. Livingstone searching for the source of the Nile. Livingstone is revered by his troupe and often seen as a savior for manumitting slaves and for his abolitionist leanings. But as with any person, there are contradictions in his character and his actions. He has promised to free Halima and get her a house in Zanzibar, but she knows, having been passed around from enslaver to enslaver, that her role and freedom in society is tenuous. Through Halima we learn the score of the politics in the group, and because of her, we know what Jacob Wainwright, who joins the group later, does not. Jacob, rescued from slavery and educated at the Nassick missionary school in India, is set on becoming ordained so he can convert all of Africa to Christianity. He is pompous and self-important, and his passages can be tiring to read because he is so full of himself. But that is the point. His character is used ironically as his beliefs, internalized racism, and sexism blind him to the realities around him. He is quick to point out others' hypocrisy but cannot see it in himself. He is the cautionary tale of trying to be too much like the white man.
This novel is very well-researched as Gappah relies heavily on Livingstone’s journals and other journals of the time. Some reviewers have criticized the speculative nature of Halima and Jacob’s accounts—are they true enough? Some have criticized it for not being an adventure novel and not having enough Dr. Livingstone in it. These critics miss the point of the point of the book—to give voice to those made voiceless in history. It is speculative because there are no records left by the real men and women who made the decision to carry Livingstone’s body 1,500 miles to the coast (where they were attacked, betrayed, lost ten members, faced starvation and illness-- yet it is still not “adventurous” enough). Halima and Jacob Wainwright are based on real people. Through their eyes we gain a greater understanding of the impact of the slave trade, colonialism, and missionary work beyond the Eurocentric view.
I learned a lot from this book. My first assumption was that they would carry Livingstone’s body to the west coast and was surprised that they took him east, through today’s Tanzania to Zanzibar. I was also surprised by the prevalence of Arabic culture and slave traders. We are taught all about the mid-Atlantic slave trade, but are never about the Indian Ocean slave trade that goes back to ancient times as Muslim traders along the east coast of Africa sent and traded enslaved Africans to the Middle East, the Indonesian archipelago, India, and even so far as China. When the Portuguese arrived, they did not have to set up a trade, but use the infrastructure already in place. They even left the ruling to people already in charge, but after a revolt in Mombasa, they stepped up their interference, and the powerful in Zanzibar, who wanted to maintain a hold on their trade and wealth, appealed to the Sultan of Oman, who ousted the Portuguese and took power on the island. After the British outlawed the slave trade, they tried to blockade slave ships from the mainland heading to Zanzibar and rescued those who had been captured. Since there was no way to take them back home—many had been marched thousands of miles—they were sent to India to Nassick schools to learn English, Christianity, and the trades. They were then selected by British explorers (plunderers) to assist them in navigating the African terrain. So, in addition to a good book, I learned a lot and probably spent the same amount of time reading the novel as I did researching on the internet and looking at Google Maps. It certainly took me out of darkness, into the shining light of knowledge....more
"Who remembers what it means to be more than what this world believes of us?"
Maaza Mengiste's sweeping novel, "The Shadow King", of the 1935 Italian i"Who remembers what it means to be more than what this world believes of us?"
Maaza Mengiste's sweeping novel, "The Shadow King", of the 1935 Italian invasion of Ethiopia brings forth the forgotten women soldiers who fought alongside men to reclaim their nation. Mengiste provides an unsentimental and unflinching narrative of the horrors that the "fascisti" erupted on the Ethiopians, lead by Haile Selassie; of the betrayals of men to women, fathers to daughters. At the center is young Hirut, an orphan who finds herself at others' mercy, but finds her strength within as she becomes both a woman and a warrior. Mengiste's powerful and lyrical writing gives Hirut's story the gravitas that raises it above being just a "feminist" novel. This is not an inspirational tale of a plucky young girl finding her voice. It is a brutal and hard-edged coming of age of survival because there is no other choice: "there is no way out but through it".
While this novel is billed as one about "women at war", it is really about being a human at war. What does it mean to save one's people? What does it mean for a father to lose a child? What does it mean to be the Emperor and to be his shadow king? What does it mean to be a Jew fighting for a country that turns against you? How does one maintain their humanity and be a soldier? How do you save those who cannot be saved?
"The Shadow King" is a tour-de-force and one of the best books I have read this year. It is not an easy read, but worth it....more
Abi Daré's "The Girl with the Louding Voice" is a stellar debut novel. Adunni is a fourteen year-old village girl who desires an education to have a "Abi Daré's "The Girl with the Louding Voice" is a stellar debut novel. Adunni is a fourteen year-old village girl who desires an education to have a "louding voice" but is instead sold into marriage as a third wife by her father and later sold into servitude. She struggles against all odds for her freedom. Daré not only shines a light on how few rights poor Nigerian girls have, but also shows how the country's misogynistic values impact all women of wealth, education, and power.
In the beginning of the book, if it weren't for the mentioning of Boko Haram's kidnapping of almost 300 female students, one would never realize that the year is 2014 in Adunni's village. Life seems little changed from the past. Young girls are given very little education and sold into marriage and expected to reproduce. They have no rights as superstition and "jungle justice" rule village life. Later when Adunni is sold into slavery in Lagos, the disconnect between city and village life is jarring. Working for the wealthy Big Madam reveals that despite their money and power, women are still made subservient to their husbands, even if they are good-for-nothing philanderers like her husband, Big Daddy. Adunni enters an unlikely friendship with educated Ms. Tia, who sees her worth. Together they both carve out their existence in a world that does not support them.
This is a sad, tender, and hopeful novel. As much as the world tries to beat Adunni down, her spirit and desire to learn buoys her and she cannot help but use her "louding voice" to speak the truth....more
Huh. Taking on magical realism, race and intraracism, feminism, and the founding of Liberia all at once is a tall order. Wayétu Moore takes this on inHuh. Taking on magical realism, race and intraracism, feminism, and the founding of Liberia all at once is a tall order. Wayétu Moore takes this on in her novel, "She Would Be King" and doesn't quite succeed. Moore creates three disparate characters that all have powers: Gbessa, a Bai girl who cannot die; June Day, a product of an enslaved man and a ghost who cannot get hurt; and Norman Aragon, the product of a mountain woman from Jamaica and an Irish father who can disappear. While we learn about the childhoods of all three, the narrative centers around Gbessa who lives in exile and in solitude before she is rescued by Liberia's first settlers, and taught the ways of civilization and the bible. She serves as a bridge between the refined black settlers and the tribesmen. Except instead of feeling like magical realism, it felt like these characters were superheroes saving Liberia. Captain Invisible can take away the white man's guns, SuperJuneMan cannot be hurt and can protect everyone, Long-Life Girl will give everlasting life to Liberia. Characters who I think are supposed to represent something greater are rendered one-dimensional. It is also a little frustrating when we learn so much about all three, but the men are reintroduced at the end to help save the day. It made me wonder why it was so important that I know their backstories-- except if to show that people of great power can come out of slavery and rape.
Gbessa's story is a little more complex as she serves to show how the black settlers in Liberia had privilege over their black tribesmen, yet were still under the yoke of white governors. (Whenever any people of color are given any power or prestige, you can be sure there is a white person calling the shots. Read David Grann's "Killers of the Flower Moon".) The black settlers take on the role of whites amongst the tribes and have equally patronizing and closed-minded views, giving credence to that "you can't go home again". Moore portrays how Liberia, a country made up of former enslaved people, is a good idea, but a bit naive. The only thing that the settlers have in common with native Africans is their skin color. They do not share the same lifestyle, language, or beliefs. When the white governors leave, they have little power against other powerful (ie. white) countries who refuse to recognize a country run by blacks. Fortunately, there's Gbessa, who can navigate both worlds, and her friends with their superpowers to save the day. Moore's writing seemed like it was striving really hard to be lyrical and profound, but because the story doesn't quite hold together, sounds more affected.
This is a worthy effort that doesn't quite fulfill its potential....more
There are certain joys in having twenty years elapse before rereading a book as was the case with Things Fall Apart. I first read this a student at HuThere are certain joys in having twenty years elapse before rereading a book as was the case with Things Fall Apart. I first read this a student at Humboldt State for my History of West Africa class, an evening course where I worked my way through chewing an entire pack of gum each session to stay awake; where my friend Sophie and I tried to conquer the pronunciations of foreign names and places; where the only thing I remember, besides Mansa Musa, is this book. I don't think I got what I was supposed to get out of it at the time, but Chinua Achebe felt important, so I carried the book through my college years, my post-grad years, and into my teaching years. Reading it today, empowered by twenty years of experience and greater understanding of the world, is a much richer experience that allows me to reflect on my past and on my present and how much I have changed.
Achebe's novel also looks at change, but this brought on by imperialism in Nigeria through the eyes Okonkwo, a tribal leader who takes on tragic proportions as his way of life is obliterated by British missionaries and government. Except it is so much more than that. It is a study in family and how children pay for the sins of their fathers and the harsh way of tribal life and its superstitious beliefs. Their beliefs mandate ritualized killings and sacrifices to do their gods' bidding, but Achebe juxtaposes these beliefs against the seemingly mild Christian beliefs that demand that the tribes kill their own culture to do God's bidding. The Church encourages the separation and tearing apart of families as new converts both spread their beliefs and help support the corrupt Imperialist government. Side by side, neither religion obtains the moral high ground.
A 2019 reading shed light on Okonkwo, a fearless warrior who does not show tenderness and will allow his fear of being seen weak override his common sense and his true desire. He is a case study of toxic masculinity and how it ultimately renders him impotent to the changes occurring around him. His tragic flaw is in his masculinity-- he cannot see beyond his own sense of power until everything has fallen apart.
Another benefit of twenty years elapsing is having new voices emerge. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Nigerian author of Purple Hibiscus, has taken up this thread of Nigerian history and pulled it through the post-colonial Nigeria that is predominantly Christian and experiencing the paroxysms of self-rule and finding its identity. She makes a direct link to the past in the opening line, "Things began to fall apart..." She reminds the reader that even though Achebe's masterpiece might feel like a time long ago and far away, the present is still reeling from repercussions of British rule and the story has not ended....more
Loading...
