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jazzy_daveBook 74 - Ryszard Kapuscinski "The Shadow of the Sun: My African Life" (Penguin)
A series of 'reportage' essays by a Polish reporter who spent a large part of 40 years in Africa, starting in 1958. The essays range around the centre of the continent (the North African, Mediterranean countries are not discussed, ditto South Africa), often sketches of everyday life and the experience of being in Africa and travelling from place to place, but also including his experience of political storms - of Idi Amin, Rwanda, and Liberia.
This is a brilliant book. Absolutely fascinating and informative as well as entertaining - some of the scenes are as dramatic as anything I've read in fiction or non (one decidedly terrifying encounter with a cobra in particular), others are interesting vignettes about life in lands very different from my own. His writing is great (in translation) and the whole thing is a real pleasure to read.
Only one caveat with this book - Kapuściński is clearly a controversial figure, partly for reasons that, while important, are not really relevant to this book (his supposed collaboration with the Polish communist government) and perhaps a touch unfair (many African writers seem to dislike his 'European' view of their continent...but he is European, and that's the way he sees it, right or wrong). A significant issue, however, is accusations that some of his stories might be embellished, or some outright invented. None of the stories in this book are mentioned in the accusations I've read, but it is a big proviso in a book posing as reportage. Probably not coincidentally, a lot of the charges seem to have been made since Kapuściński died, and without him here to defend himself, it's hard to give a definitive verdict.
Approached with the proviso in mind that some of the tales might be a little taller in the telling than in real life, however, I really can't recommend this enough - incredibly enjoyable.
A series of 'reportage' essays by a Polish reporter who spent a large part of 40 years in Africa, starting in 1958. The essays range around the centre of the continent (the North African, Mediterranean countries are not discussed, ditto South Africa), often sketches of everyday life and the experience of being in Africa and travelling from place to place, but also including his experience of political storms - of Idi Amin, Rwanda, and Liberia.
This is a brilliant book. Absolutely fascinating and informative as well as entertaining - some of the scenes are as dramatic as anything I've read in fiction or non (one decidedly terrifying encounter with a cobra in particular), others are interesting vignettes about life in lands very different from my own. His writing is great (in translation) and the whole thing is a real pleasure to read.
Only one caveat with this book - Kapuściński is clearly a controversial figure, partly for reasons that, while important, are not really relevant to this book (his supposed collaboration with the Polish communist government) and perhaps a touch unfair (many African writers seem to dislike his 'European' view of their continent...but he is European, and that's the way he sees it, right or wrong). A significant issue, however, is accusations that some of his stories might be embellished, or some outright invented. None of the stories in this book are mentioned in the accusations I've read, but it is a big proviso in a book posing as reportage. Probably not coincidentally, a lot of the charges seem to have been made since Kapuściński died, and without him here to defend himself, it's hard to give a definitive verdict.
Approached with the proviso in mind that some of the tales might be a little taller in the telling than in real life, however, I really can't recommend this enough - incredibly enjoyable.
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