South Africa Books

I kept asking myself for the first hundred pages, "is this a good book?" It is, but I needed to explain it to myself. The novel is set in a South African equivalent of, say, a renegade Mormon enclave in some lost canyon of remotest Utah (I apologize for the imperfect comparison). What sets the story in motion is pure detective story boilerplate: a young man who has fled the community for a life on the outside dies under mysterious circumstances after blabbing to a stranger about it ? who also happens to be crime reporter ("is this a good book?"). The reporter (predictably washed up and foul-mouthed) treks into the valley to get the scoop and finds a holler teaming with gothic characters, falling in love with one of the youngest and most beautiful of them ("is this a good book?"). Even the ending concludes on a predictable note of Judgment. And yet, I found this skeleton able to support a very rich and dialogical fabric of storytelling that drew me on and on. In particular, the predictable genre aspects of this structure allow Brink's moments of magical realism (there are many) to really take flight. Clearly the novel also functions as a parable about Afrikaners' collective soul-searching (or lack thereof) in the wake of "Truth and Reconciliation." But to this Southern American reader, this novel put me in mind of progressive, if not exactly liberal writers like Robert Penn Warren and Walker Percy: novelists who were also torn between celebrating and mourning the difficult passage of their people from feudal social relations to modernity. Anyway, when a novel starts engaging my own experience in this way, for my money, it is a good one.

This is a very strange book. The narrator is a true anti-hero, a loser who seems determined for some reason to visit a lost and utterly remote enclave of inbred people. He does make it and right away sees a vision of a beautiful woman whom he later learns is Emma. Most of the book relates the interviews he has with all the strange characters tho why they would all tell him all their intimate secrets when they fear and distrust strangers is hard to accept. Another strong annoyance with me at least is the constant use of expletives in totally gratuitous ways. In quoting a conversation, OK, but not so unnecessarily in the narrative. I will say that the climax was well done and kept me turning the final pages but it was only stubbornness on my part that kept me going that far. Maybe only the people in South Africa would appreciate this one.

I wasn't even sure at what parts I was supposed to supend my disbelief. Brink weaves a South African Boer mythology that makes the Greek version seem mundane. Like all mythologies, it explained a culture. His story of a village of secluded and inbred hyper-calvinist helped me to understand the Boer. And I don't mean that in a bad way. They were obviously a rugged God-fearing jihad going people, tougher than nails, living shrapnel. He brings you into their world view through the stories they use to explain it. This book is mighty.

I very much enjoyed Brink's novel "Devils Valley." A strange story that keeps you on the edge, wondering what is going to happen next. Magic, ghosts (looking and acting much like real people), and a gritty realistic texture to the location and people are combined with significant social insights and total unpredictability to make Devils Valley as _novel_ a book as any I've read. Brink's examination of local history and journalistic writing also delves into some interesting domains: for example, where and how much is it proper to delve into people's personal affairs.

I'm a bit surprised that other readers didn't look at this book as more of an attempt by the author to describe a place that is more literally an aspect of the title itself.

SPOILERS: Brink does not answer the question of whether we are reading about one person's hell (or purgatory) or not, but there is much in the book that hints that the main character, Flip Lochner, is in his own personal hell. We are told very little about Flip's previous life, as one example, other than that his wife kicked him out of the house, and that he has a grown son and daughter that no longer have much to do with him. Is Flip meeting other people that are involved in independent familial beatings and rapes, or are these people simply projections of his own past? There is much in Devils Valley that is hard to read, but it is done in a smart, engaging, questioning way. A great book, with much to think and ponder on.

This book captures the essence of being South African in a brutally funny way. Being a white, Afrikaans-speaking woman, I could identify in an almost frightening manner with the fallen hero of the book, Flip Lochner. 'Devil's Valley', with it's wonderfully twisted plot and surreal characters, took me on a shocking, surprising journey into a part of my heritage.

It is a pity that this fabulous book will be less accessible to non-South Africans. It is such an intensely personal portrait of everything South African that the details are less likely to make sense to someone who has not grown up on that sunny southern tip of the dark continent.

No doubt so much of the Afrikaans language (not to mention the extremely effective swear words!) were lost in the translation. I can liken it to good poetry; truely stirring in its original language, but less spell-binding when translated. I encourage people of all nationalities to give this book a try. If it's not your cup of tea, rest assured that a clan of white Africans will treasure it as a wonderful part of their culture.

With apologies to the above reviewer for twisting her review title, I agree with portions of the review. I found the book seemed to be an attempted psychoanalysis of Mugabe. Perhaps this would be a good idea by a professional psychiatrist or social worker but not from a journalist. For example at one point the author condemns Mugabe's immaturity for ordering his cabinet members to wear suits and ties to their meetings rather than t-shirts and other casual wear. The author states that due to Mugabe's immaturity and insecurity that he cannot be innovative and allow "traditional African wear" (combat fatigues and t-shirts!) I would assume that Mugabe only wanted to emphasize the serious nature of a cabinet meeting. When the author interviews Mugabe she does ask good questions relevant to the changes that have taken place over Mugabe's reign in Zimbabawe but again, in addition to quoting his remarks she then psychoanalyzes nearly every utterance. There are many other examples like this in the book.

Other than that repeating annoyance the book was quite good. Heidi Holland has constructed a biography of Mugabe that provides insight into his seemingly nonsensical change from a visionary, pro-democratic leader into his current destructive tyranny. The book was filled with information on what caused Mugabe's change over the years and contains many interviews with relatives, co-workers, mentors, political friends and enemies and I felt it was a very worthwhile read for that reason despite the psychoanalytical shortcomings.

A great account of Rhodesian politics and Robert Mugabe's era. Fascinating to read the events of the past and know that he's still in power - the story is still being told.

The author's approach of analyzing Mugabe's behavior, uncovering & discussing the 'motivators' that are the root cause of his acts, is very well done.

This is a very interesting book and a poignant reminder of how Zimbabwe could have been a success story. The author is familiar with the history through her life as a radical and supporter of black rule in Rhodesia when she, and her husband a surgeon, lived in Ian Smith's outlaw colony. She interviews people who knew Mugabe well and then corrects their misrepresentations from her own knowledge. This is a very valuable technique and, with a man as private as Mugabe has always been, is as close as we will get to the inside story.

Robert Mugabe was a studious child, educated by Jesuits and abandoned by his father at an early age. His mother, something of a mystic, was always convinced that he had a special destiny. The author describes Mugabe's mother, Bona, as "a cold, stern nun of a mother."(page 7) He has been emotionally crippled all his life although, with his first wife Sally, a flamboyant and colorful Ghanaian teacher, he had a loving and loyal marriage. She is described by some of the interviewees as warm but by others as imperious and corrupt.

There is a very interesting interview with Mary Churchill Soames, Winston Churchill's younger daughter and wife of the last colonial governor of Rhodesia. Lord Soames became very close to Mugabe who, in a moment of truth just before the election of 1980, which put him in power, asked Soames to stay on for a lengthy transition period to help rule the country. "And Mugabe then said, 'I want you to stay because I need to be able to talk to somebody. I don't know anything about governing a country and none of my people do either.'" Soames told him that it would be impossible and Mugabe was on his own. When Lord Soames died, Mugabe and his wife arrived at Lady Soames' home uninvited to attend his funeral. This was an example of the rare personal empathy that Mugabe could establish with certain people.

There is also a chapter on Denis Norman, a wealthy white farmer who had no interest in politics but who was prevailed upon by Mugabe to take several ministries to solve problems created by incompetent members of his cabinet. Here was another white man trusted by Mugabe, who insisted on European dress by all his ministers and who emulated English manners and education. In fact, the author comments that his education policies (similar to those in India, in my opinion) left the country with too many white collar workers clamoring for government jobs and not enough auto mechanics and other technical trades.

Unfortunately, in another of the disastrous mistakes made by almost everyone in Zimbabwe, the white voters supported former dictator Ian Smith's party in the legislature, enraging Mugabe who had actually treated them quite fairly, even allowing Smith, who had imprisoned him, to live freely in the country and to seek office and serve in parliament. This was a serious mistake, compounded by Mugabe who then dismissed Denis Norman from his post as Agriculture Minister. He told Norman that the whites had chosen to treat him as a black and he would reciprocate, although he later called on Norman again and again to solve problems.

The story continues to 2000, when Mugabe was losing his power to a new generation and was besieged by "war veterans" while he watched white farmers donate checks to his political opponent on television. The result was the disastrous occupation of the commercial farms and the descent of Zimbabwe to ruin. It seems to me, after reading this book, that Mugabe is no more in control of his country than is Assad of Syria. Both are basically run by warlords and secret police.

The book is excellent and the lesson to me is that there were many opportunities for a happy, or at least happier, ending. Mugabe is an educated man, if emotionally stunted, and he did reach out to some of his white opponents for help early on. Some helped him and became friends. Many of the white residents foolishly voted for his enemies and fed his paranoia. I don't know what the chances for success in Zimbabwe were originally, but it seems that everything that could go wrong, did so. This is a very well written account of what happened. He is a monster now, but he wasn't always.

The writer starts with a mysterious dinner that she was not invited to in her own home. The mystery guest is Mugabe prior to his leap to power. Holland also states how she nearly lost her job by putting Mugabe's photo on the front page of a magazine that she was writing for. She ends with a recount of her last interview with Mugabe with only several questions that she asked him (including "Did you ever love someone?" His response was, "I must have. I have married twice.")

Facts are missing in "Dinner with Mugabe." "Mugabe" by Martin Meredith outlines the facts behind the corruption of Mugabe's administration, including within his family. Holland talks (repeatedly and over many, many pages) about her accusation that Mugabe began to lose his moral compass when his first wife died-even though he had already had two children by his current wife when his first wife died.

It's a poorly written book with very hard hitting few facts that you couldn't get from various websites.

Save your money and buy "Mugabe" by Martin Meredith

Although Heidi Holland met Mugabe only a couple of times, she still provides some good interviews and insights into Mugabe. He has unfortunately proved to be one of the worst leaders of the past couple of decades. Look at the results of his presidency--100,000% inflation, massive food shortages and an 80% unemployment rate. Zimbabwe is an embarrassment to Africa and it didn't have to be that way. Here's a detailed critique of what went wrong, where it went wrong and who is responsible. Mugabe is an intriguing figure because he began his career largely heralded by everyone as a freedom fighter like Nelson Mandela. To see how tragically it turned out, leaves many questions; it's a void Holland is clearly trying to fill.

Holland writes well--the words are fluid and vivid and so it's easy to see how her years of reporting for the BBC, the Guardian and many other reputable news organizations has helped. The book is broken into 15 chapters with an index and bibliography for further reading. I do have one complaint, that I wish this were written by someone who had spent more time with Mugabe instead of relying mostly on interviews and a couple of brief encounters with him.

However, I am glad this book was written and even more glad that it was published in America! I heard Heidi interviewed on the BBC and was dismayed that the book was available for sale only in South Africa. (Note: The book was rushed into production here so the British grammar remains. IE: magnetised instead of magnetized.) Yes, we are interested in the subject here too and are horrified by the still unfolding tragedy of Zimbabwe. If only there was something more we could do to help, but what?

This brilliant attempt to unite the disparate elements of a life should be read by anyone whose adult and childhood selves are split across continents as well as time.

Though well written, this is NOT a history of the ostrich, but rather an autobiography of a man who grew up within view of the ostrich industry in his native South Africa, and then was able to run across them and write about them later in life.

There is really nothing new in this book with regards to the history of the ostrich, and the author indeed had nothing to do with the industry at all - at any point in his life.

If you are buying this book for insights into the history of this magnificent bird in food, fashion and fortune, then you will be disappointed to be sure.

Nice story of Nixon's life, well written, and only occasionally pedantic; however a history of the ostrich this is not.

You don't need to know much more than the biological name of the common ostrich to know that this is a weird bird. Sparrow camel!, what is that? Obviously the ornithologists who discovered the bird were confused about it; as confused, perhaps as the ostrich sometimes looks with it's blank, non-blinking stare. Have you ever seen one up close? The term 'bird brain' is appropriate.

This is all rather unkind, and in fact, unfair to the ostrich. A bird rumored to be so dumb that it supposedly sticks it's head into the sand when threatened; actually we are the dummies if we believe this bit of folklore - it's a myth. The ostrich is in fact remarkably well adapted to it's environment - the savannas of Eastern and Southern Africa, and has had a close association with man for the better part of a century, providing us with food and making fortunes for us.

It is this relationship between man and ostrich that Mr Nixon explores in DREAMBIRDS, specifically his remembrances of the bird from his childhood in South Africa. A town called Oudtshoorn, near where he grew up, was, before WWI, the capital of the worldwide ostrich feather industry. In its heyday it supplied 100,000 tons of plumes to the fashion centers of Europe. The town was then known as the Jerusalem of Africa - a consequence of the large resident community of jewish feather merchants.

That's about all the history there is though. The book is a more a biography, and the ostrich is the common theme, the link between Nixons early youth in South Africa and his adult life in his adopted home - the US. We run into the bird at the ostrich races in Chandler, Arizona and again at various ranches throughout the Southwest. It's not only places, but people that are mentioned. There are some interesting characters involved in the ostrich business. One of the central people in the book is Mr Nixons father, and we are treated to a bit of reminiscing about the relationship between father and son. DREAMBIRDS is a well written and humorous look at this "gawky, boneheaded creature"; gladly it's light on the father and son dynamic, but sadly it's also light on the development and history of the industry. For lovers of birds and biographies.

In "Dreambirds," Rob Nixon begins with a memory of a particular (omnivorous, as it happens) ostrich of his childhood, then explores the surprisingly pervasive role of ostriches in his personal history, in the settlement of his hometown and nearby "feather boomtowns," and finally in the new American West, where ranchers value ostrich hide and meat in place of plumes. His journeys lead him to provocative considerations of settlement and exile, from the nineteenth-century Lithuanian Jews who were lured to Africa as feather prospectors to an American couple who left Illinois to make rattlesnake crafts in the Arizona desert. Most compelling, however, is Nixon's candid look at the migrations in his own family history and his troubled relationship with his homeland. With a flair for anecdote and a mix of humor and compassion, he inhabits his childhood self as vividly as he inhabits the dramatic landscape of the South African desert--and in so doing, transforms both worlds from foreign to familiar. Rob Nixon's book is an inspiration to the memoirist who envisions a place for his or her story in the global currents of history and migration; it is equally an inspiration to the scholar who pursues in print that elusive, fruitful union between the political and the personal, between researched fact and fantasy.

Rob Nixon's Dreambirds is the journey reminiscent of perhaps our finest writers today--of Naipaul, Rushdie, W.B Sebald and others--, exiles who float between past and present, continent to continent, yet writing as if they have never truly left the childhood landscapes lost to them in the political, cultural and economic upheavals of the modern world. Written in a meditative and at times even dreamlike prose, Nixon introduces us to his family, like him, keen observers of the natural world of South Africa, which becomes for them a means to identify with a land and culture far removed from their Northern European roots. Nixon's memoir is held together by the story of the ostrich, the dreambird, which attracted flocks of pioneers to South Africa's Karoo desert region hoping to make their fortunes on the feathers of this mysterious remnant from prehistoric times. As Nixon tells the story of South Africa's pioneers who banked their dreams on the plumes of the ostrich, we not only learn of the fascinating natural history of the ostrich, but of Nixon's own affection for a world he could never quite feel at home in but savors nevertheless. The politics of South Africa are of course never too far away from Nixon's meditations on how his family and his life were shaped by the ostrich boon. In his restrained prose, one feels the ever present weight of South Africa's troubled double world of black and white, a world Nixon knows he can never escape. This consciousness of the racial divide of his people seeps into nearly every encounter and story, and it's Nixon's gift that he never has to directly speak about what it must feel like to carry the weight of remorse of South Africa's colonial past. He doesn't have to because it is obvious in the choices he makes to weave into his narrative the stories of ostrich ranchers and political activists which he goes to great lengths to balance with that of his own poetic self-examination. The narrative takes one more turn when Nixon moves to America, a place more like South Africa than Americans would like to believe according to Nixon. Here he hopes to put behind him the conflicted emotions surrounding his homeland and the memories of the delicate desert landscape of his youth. After living for a few years in New York, a place Nixon describes as ironically forgiving for emigrants like him, he takes a trip to Arizona to do some travel writing and discovers to his surprise the similarities of the Sonoran Desert to that of his Karoo. There too Nixon finds that the pioneer spirit of the American West is alive and well and not all that different from that of what he remembers from back home. And once again, in flies or rather runs the dreambird, the ostrich, but no longer raised for its flamboyant feathers for fashionable women, but to be fattened, fired over the grill and fed to health-conscious Americans. The get-rich schemes of his ancestors have come back in force in Arizona in the form of the ostrich cowboys. And for nothing else one should read this book for Nixon's comic observations of the surreal world of the modern American West. Dreambirds is a memoir that never quite feels like a memoir, as Nixon deftly lets his own story and that South Africa's reflect through his sensitive observations of the human spirit and how it is revealed to us again and again by the land and its innocent inhabitants that continue to survive despite our reckless dreams to live at their expense.

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Fluff or not? Fluff
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---- Comments ----
Characters are predictable in this saga of mining, gambling, corruption, blackmail, ambition, and lust - the usual supporting ingredients for swashbuckling, lascivious protagonist in middle management at an African mining company. Rod Ironsides plays the poor underdog in a high stakes game of love, life, and death. Predictably he comes out on top with both the girl and the company while the unsurprisingly, predictable villain ends up . . .

---- What I liked ----
Not really very much, once again an easy, light, read that wasn't an entire waste of time.

---- What I didn't ----
This was a harlequin romance with a little mining and stock market corruption thrown in to try to appeal to a broader audience: the story really lacked the descriptive mass and African influence that is Smith's trademark.
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There is some criticism of this book it's too short or too simple, and in a way, it's justified. This book is 37 years old! Would you compare a 37 year old movie with today's movies? Or even fashion, or a football team's playbook? Things get better, writers improve.

Having said that, I still like this book. I don't know anything about gold mining, but it seems technically sound. True, the characters are simplistic, the plot is simplistic. Villians are evil and get their just due. Good guys win. There are no double or triple twists in the book. It's just simple straightfoward story about gold mining and a few characters in it.

A simple straightfoward story with a nice ending. Heck, that sounds better by the minute! In fact, that's what I wish the world would be like today, where you know who the good guys are and you know who the bad guys are and they lose! Yeah, that's what we need more of! Two thumbs up, definitely!

Transport yourself back to good old 1970 and enjoy this book! You need a break from 2007!

I've read many of Wilbur Smith's novels and enjoyed them tremendously. This book falls into the category of a short story for the author. It was entertaining but didn't have the depth of detail that his longer books have. I got the feeling that this could have been a longer novel cut short for some reason.

GOLD MINE is about a stock market manipulation scheme affecting the stocks of South African gold mining companies by sabotaging the mines. Much of the action of the novel is set in a gold mine. The extensive descriptions of the mine, mining methods, and processing methods are clear and accurate-with one possible exception. Mr. Smith's use of the term "heavy media separation" seems to conflict with standard usage. I found the characters to be shallow-which really means that I could not identify nor empathize well with them. But this is, after all, an action novel, and it is quite entertaining as such. The plot is predictable, but not plodding.

"Gold Mine" is a great adventure book. Rod Ironsides becomes manager of the Sonder Ditch and must fulfill his duty the best he can. Rod becomes involved with Terry Steyner, the wife of Rod's manager. Eventually, Rod has to make a plan for the drilling of the Big Dipper. The Big Dipper is full of water and any slight miscalculation could prove fatal.

From beginning to end, "Gold Mine" is one of the most exciting books I've ever read and I recommend anybody who likes adventure books to pick it up right away.

What bunch of [junk],(...) ive been to kalahari and it truly is not like he says,Read a map before you read this,a total waste of my time.

A PIERCING INSIGHT INTO ALL DISPOSED AND/OR INDIGINEOUS PEOPLES. A MUST READ FOR ANYONE WHO WISHES TO UNDERSTAND THE LOSS AND PAIN AND RAGE BEING EXPRESSED ON THE PLANET TODAY.

THE READER IS INVITED TO WITNESS AS IN UNEXPECTED MOMENTS RUPERT HIMSELF TOUCHES WHAT GLEAMS AT THE HEART OF THIS CULTURE - AND WITHOUT DIATRIBE OR RANCOR REVEALS WHAT HAS BURIED IT ALIVE. NOTES OF HOPE REST IN THE PROPHECIES AND ARE ECHOED IN THE PROFOUND RESPECT THAT ABIDES IN ALL HE DESCRIBES.

If you want information about the culture, politics, history, and future of the Bushmen, do not bother with this book. If you want a frequently dull personal memoir, try it. Mr.Isaacson is not Robert Kaplan, nor Paul Theroux. That is, he is neither knowledgable nor capable of bringing vivid perspective to new places. In a single word, he is sophmoric.

Rupert Isaacson took an amazing journey when he went to the Kalahari to re-discover the colonial roots of his anscestors and found what he didn't expect--that his family had unwittingly contributed to the demise of a great and important people--the Bushmen. Upon meeting this hidden and displaced culture, he began a crusade to to right his inherited Karma. This book is the beginning of his journey of discovery of a remarkable people and their fight to survive in a world, that like many others, would choose to eliminate their indiginous peoples for money and power. He now, as I understand it, runs an organization called "The Indiginous Peoples Fund", helping the Bushman to reclaim their land rights and their culture. This book was the beginning of that journey. I hope h e writes a follow up book as he fight grows more successful. The book is written with great heart and love and remarkable insight into a culture so misunderstood. I have never been to South Africa and because of the book's in depth description, I felt as if I now can taste some of what it must be like. Truly a journey worth taking.

After getting used to mystical experiences over the past 12 years in Botswana's Tsodilo Hills and in Bushmanland, in north-eastern Namibia, I can attest that this author has been there and seen a world that's magical beyond most Westerners' imaginings. Anyone who wants to know the real Southern Africa - that is, the incredibly harsh yet enigmatic environment that thrived prior to both the Bantu and Colonial influences - will find this book a most satisfying introduction.

Christina Lamb, a member of the current "elite", thinks she is ever so correct to suggest that Ian Smith's UDI government was the moral equivalent of the Pyongyang-trained butcher who now reigns in Harare.

I have nothing but contempt for that position.

Millions of Africans have starved to death. Tens of Millions are starving. And the Rhodesia that previously fed itself and its neighbors has collapsed into the ruins of Zimbabwe. Like a bad joke. But the deaths of so many innocents is not funny.

"But she showed both sides" one might argue. "Bovine Scatology," I would retort. The Rhodesian People--black, white, and brown--are paying a terrible price for the UN's treachery and de facto capitulation to Communist aggression by the craven leaders of the West.

One look at the countries of Africa now ruled by the leaders trained in the USSR, PRC, and DPRK should be enough for people of good character to shout "ENOUGH!" and do something. Instead, we see the insipid and intellectually-dishonest moral equivalence of the Lambs, the so-called "journalistic professionals".

More like Goebbels than Greeley, in my opinion. How many more will die before Mugabe is put down?

This is a controversial book where the writers' bias comes through in several places as a given authoritative view. Many readers will not pick up on this bias if they do not have a Southern African or indeed Rhodesian/Zimbabwe background. The story is a depressing one, but well written and one is drawn to the end of the book as the inevitable tragedy of Zimbabwe unfolds as seen through the 'eyes' of 2 individuals caught up in its inexorable decline and torment.

I found this book while browsing for another one and I have to say, it is fantastic!! I couldn't stop reading, I had to continue chapter after chapter. It is a shocking story about the rise of Mugabe, told from two different point of views, a black girl and on the other side a white boy, both growing up in their worlds in Zimbabwe.
This book makes great reading and is shocking at the same time. A must read for anyone concerned about racism and the african history/colonialism. I can highle recommend this book!!!!

I enjoyed reading the Rhodesian story from both the black and white african perspective. I thought this was a well written book from beginning to end. As a white ex-Rhodesian, I find the story terribly sad and look at what has happened to this beautiful country a crime to both black and white africans. Mugabe has a lot to answer for and will go down in history as one of Africa's great criminals together with Idi Amin. It's a shame someone hasn't had the courage to make him disappear.

For anyone wanting to read a clear, concise and elegantly written account of the story of Zimbabwe, this book must not be overlooked. Christina Lamb is a British jounalist who brings us this dramatic account of the country, as seen through the eyes of a typical white Rhodesian/Zimbabwean farmer, who finally loses his farm, and an equally typical, black Zimbabwean woman, who ends up working for his family. The book is a riveting page-turner with a surprising ending. I highly recommend it.

(Just after reading the book, I happened to visit this tragic country, which was once truly one of the jewels of Africa and is now a place of so much dispair. House of Stone made it all the more meaningfull for me.)

I bought "Long way Down" ages ago with great expectations but I have to say, having finally found time to read it and having gotten myself half-way through, I feel decidedly underwhelmed. I went out and paid a handsome sum for this publication in hardcover after having my appetite aroused by blurbs which promised a great read, and a little humour, in the vein of classic travel writing. But that is not what I got. "Long Way Down" sallies forth into rich landscapes but gives up only a dull stream of prosaic impressions of the worlds and people which it passes. Its understanding of the nuance, complexity and colour of the locales it encounters is utterly superficial. This, it must be said, would be forgivable if the reward for such nearsightedness was a series of amusing or charming ironies. But charm and irony is a destination the writers of this drivel are unlikely ever to reach. It will remain a lasting shame to this century that Little Brown's Sphere buffoons have attempted to shove this abomination into the same generic space occupied by classics like Eric Newby's "A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush". Like a square peg into a round hole this common little book will not make for such a fit. What was Sphere thinking? Surely there was someone working at LB who had read Waugh, Steinbeck or Sinclair; someone who could have applied the proverbial brakes before Sphere foisted this shameless potboiler on the world with promising blurbs of truly faith destroying proportions. Lies, damned lies, and a couple of fat gits. That's really all this book turned out to be. Thanks for nothing...

A travel story. Short on drama and suspense but a lot of description of lands and peoples. Little talk about motorcycles even though they had some difficulties that could have added some interest. I enjoyed it for what it is.

Being someone who loves motorcycles, travel, and thought Long Way Round was awesome, this book was already high on my list. I saw the one time showing of the Long Way Down movie and I am currently watching the full series on the Fox Reality Channel. I love this stuff!

So why didn't the book get five stars? Well, I think it suffered from being the second time around. It never felt quite as much of a seat of your pants adventure as Long Way Round did. I suppose it shouldn't since this is the second major trip and all the crew kind of know what they are doing. I also thought that having Ewan McGregor bring his wife along for part of the trip did change the dynamic of the trip, as you'll hear Charley Boorman say a few times. But it was damn funny to hear about her falling all the time.

I won't say much more so as not to ruin some of the truly entertaining and interesting parts of the book. But if you love motorcycles, travel, or both, this book is for you. Heck, you've probably already read it!

The first book was great and so was the series. This one is awesome as well. Very funny and a great read.

I really enjoyed their first book, but this one's much, much better. I have to admit that I like memoirs and travel journals better when they're not ghostwritten. I like to hear the voice of the person whose story I'm reading. In other words, I like it to be genuine.

Ewan and Charley's enthusiasm for their travels comes through in every page. The ups and downs they experience are there, with no sugar-coating. The photographs are better this time around as well, and some of the captions are quite amusing. There's one humorous photo of the two that looks as if they're about to rob a liquor store. Another, in which the guys are down to their shorts, makes me think of a line from "Smokey and the Bandit": "The last time I saw a leg that looked like that, it had a message tied to it."

My only disappointment with this book is that I would have liked to see some input from Ewan's wife, Eve, on her leg of the trip. As a woman, I'd enjoy getting her perspective. After all, she held her own after only six months of riding, while these two men had been riding for years before attempting a long trip. I laughed at her response to his objections when she wanted to join them.

She really should have put together her own trip with a group of women. I know a lot of female bikers who would have been willing to join her for a good cause. Isn't kicking the guys' butts always a good cause? Oh, yeah, and it could have been good for UNICEF, too.

If you need to know Nelson Mandela, this is the book to read. This book's weaknesses are evident: It is written from a British viewpoint, and basically takes for granted a knowledge of South African history and geography most Americans do not possess (though they should). It also soft pedals the problems in Mandela's relationship with Winnie, though that is understandable. I have a feeling that not too many people could understand it. But it does a great job of making us see how the man was shaped and became what he is, and how he stands as a fearless, remarkable leader.

If you believe there are no modern heroes - that fortitude and unselfish judgement in the face of adversity are out-of-date virtues, you need to read this book. That Sampson shows the whole man so well (with admittedly a few frailities) adds depth to the tremendous courage, excellent judgement, and magnanimity Mandela demonstrated his entire life, even when the cause of the ANC he led seemed hopeless. Along the way the book gives an excellent view of South African history during Mandela's adulthood. If you are not very familiar with Mandela or South Africa you might do better to start with Mandela's own book, "Long Walk to Freedom" which doesn't cover quite so much ground and is more on a human scale. Both books are inspiring.

What an amazing life this man had. He was born on the rural plains in South Africa.. His father was absent due to forced circumstances. Mandela later received an education in law and began the practice of law. Political causes led to his imprisonment for nearly thirty years in Robbins Prison. The book tells the wrenching tale of his separation of his family during his imprisonment, yet the family (the second marriage, to Winnie) remained intact during his long imprisonment and only dissolved after the release from prison. The book is very heavy on the political activity in whch Mandela was involved. This is an interesting book of personal triumph over overwhelming odds.

I knew very little of Nelson Mandela before reading this book, but now I am confident that I have an excellent feel for what makes this man tick. This is an excellent book and one that should be read by anyone who wants to be inspired!

The author obviously knows a great deal about Mandela and South Africa. However, there is so much detail that I found the book just deadening over time. The writing style was not engaging enough to sustain me through all the blow-by-blow accounts that one has to plod through . -I was surprised and disappointed that the book was not more enjoyable.

how you can feel with a little boy's hardship in a boarding school and how you hope for his stamina and how you love his intense friendships that bring him on his way.

You really live with that life and that is best a book can do.

I have read the Power of One, the unedited version and it is brilliant, inspiring, and brutal - one of the best books I've read. However, this edition that is being sold here, is the Young Reader's edition, which isn't immediately obvious from Amazon's description or the picture. It does say so on the cover, but it's very small unless you enlarge the picture. So, my review gives it a 2 as it may be an unpleasant surprise for those who want to read the actual novel.

If Bryce Courtenay's The Power Of One sounds familiar, it's because this represents a young reader's condensed edition of a prior hard-hitter which became both an adult classic and an acclaimed movie of the same name. It's great to see such a powerful novel condensed with youth in mind: grades 8-12 will find compelling the story of 1930s South Africa and a boy who faces apartheid and prejudice in a country where his childhood is marked by loneliness and dreams of changing lives. A powerful story of courage and change evolves.

I read this book before the crap movie was ever released, and it's a good thing, too. Whoever says the novel is dead needs to take a look at this. Courtenay has written a brilliant bildungsroman that you literally can't put down. You might even end up re-reading certain passages over and over, such as the boxing match between the protagonist and a Goliath-like opponent. If you have a bright pre-teen, give him this, and I bet he'll enjoy it.

There are two versions of Bryce Courtney's "The Power of One"; the original version and this, the junior novelisation. The two are quite different so make sure that you double-check what publication you're getting before you order. I would suggest the older version for most readers, since this basically tells the same story in simplified form. However, in Australia and New Zealand, "The Power of One" has reached almost cult-status in terms of popularity, and some younger readers will leap at the chance to familiarise themselves with the story before they are ready to tackle the more complex and violent subject matter of the original. Furthermore, it is a perfect choice for school libraries and/or compulsory reading in classrooms.

Like the adult version, the junior novelisation is concerned with the life of Peekay, a young boy living in 1930's South Africa, coping with racism, tension between the various social groups of the time (the Boers, the English and the Africans) and the growing threat of World War II. This younger version begins in the same place as the adult one, with Peekay being sent to a boarding school in which he is urinated on by his fellow students - a clear sign that Courtney is not prepared to soften the harshness and cruelty of the original book for the benefit of a younger audience. In comparison this story ends after the famous concert at the prison, the moment in which the adult novel really begins.

The junior novel follows Peekay's journey from childhood into earlier adolescence and the beginnings of the adult world, told in significantly less detail and in more simplified language than the first "Power of One". On the way, he makes friends from every race and class, learning the most important truth of his life: to think with his head and then with his heart. In particular, he finds work in a jail, inventing an ingenious way to help the convicts communicate with their families on the outside, and discovers the sport of boxing along with the remarkable idea that you do not have to be the biggest in order to be the best.

Courtney's gift comes from finding the grey areas in each situation, showing us clearly that one race, one country, one ideology is never wholly righteous; goodness can only come from an individual. Near the beginning of the book Peekay is persecuted by Nazi-supporters; later a dear friend of his unfairly is jailed for being a German. Humanity's overwhelming desire to classify and then judge people based on these classifications is never more frustrating than it is here, and it is a lesson well worth learning.

Although this is a more-than-adequate introductory book for younger readers eager to tackle "The Power of One", I would recommend to anyone else over the age of twelve (or any confident reader under that age) that they simply pick up the first (and best) adult version.

Smith Hempstone tells us about his fight to encourage (if not impose) multipartism in Kenya. His book takes a brand new resonance now that, ten years later, his efforts were brought to fruition with the fall of the once unique Kanu party and the election of Mwai Kibaki as president.

This result alone deserves respect. However, about the book, a couple of things can be said. Lots of paragraphs are of doubtful utility, like the ones about "operation bullship", an operation that didn't happen anyway, so why bother indeed ? The most interesting topic in the book is how democracy made a leap forward in Kenya, and the whole book might have been better had it been organized more around this main subject.

The tone of the book lacks humility in my view, and since I was reading Leakey's Wildlife Wars at a similar time, I can tell that the latter conveys a much more humane feeling about what it takes to fight for improvment in a country. Maybe this is because Leakey is Kenyan. When Hempstone braggs about democracy being so fundamental in the USA, one can reply that achieving democracy is easier once you've wiped out the native people in a territory, and that you're left with European immigrants sharing the same lifestyle and language...

But apart from style, this book is a most valuable read, and all the more interesting since the recent political changes in Kenya.

A good book.Tells of the aspirations of a people burried in tyranny-and their struggle to overcome it.The author tried his part and Kenyan people are grateful to him.The book is a must for anybody who would like to know the temperament for Kenya in the search for evasive political reforms.

This is an important work that gives a frank perspective and historical account of Kenya, and the forces tugging at it. Mr Hempstone is a gifted writer, and this book reflects that. His reference to Mau Mau freedom fighters as terrorists leaves much to be desired. This is fact is a misrepresentation of Mau Mau. Mau Mau helped Kenya achieve independence from Britain (its means may not have been diplomatic, nevertheless, kenyans were liberated from the yoke of colonialism.) Apart from this fact, I would recommend it to anyone seeking a detailed account of the events of those years, but to caution you that this is infact written with lots of baggage that is the character of this man (he seems to relish the days of colonialism, yet he (and the US)did have an impact (positive or negative to Kenyans we do not know yet). Compelling and insightful.

This is a great book -- loads of fun to read while providing an insightful perspective of an important country.

The book offers another dimension in this brutal killing that shocked the world. It sheds light on the power play that exists in Moi's evil government machinery that is willing to do anything to perpetuate the evil empire. This unbiased account is one that every Kenyan and friends of Kenya should read as we prepare for the inevitable homecoming of all children of the Kenyan Diaspora. Though a foregone conclusion, the fact that we need a government that respects its citizens and understands its mandate remains a recurring theme. "Building the New Kenya" is and should be our motto !