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Editorial Review:
Don’t Let’s go to the Dogs Tonight is a wonderfully evocative memoir of Alexandra Fuller’s African childhood. Fuller regards herself "as a daughter of Africa", who spent her early life on farms in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia throughout the turbulent 1970s and 80s, as her parents "fought to keep one country in Africa white-run", but "lost twice" in Kenya and Zimbabwe. This is a profoundly personal story about growing up with a pair of funny, tough, white African settlers, and living with their "sometimes breathlessly illogical decisions", as they move from war-torn Zimbabwe to disease and malnutrition in Malawi, and finally the "beautiful and fertile" land of Zambia.
Central to Fuller’s book is the intense relations between herself and her parents, a chain-smoking father able to turn round any farm in Africa, her glamorous older sister Vanessa, and the character who sits at the heart of the book, Fuller’s "fiercely intelligent, deeply compassionate, surprisingly witty and terrifyingly mad" mother.
Fuller weaves together painful family tragedy with a wider understanding of the ambivalence of being part of a separatist white farming community in the midst of Black African independence. The majority of the book focuses on Fuller’s early years in war-torn Zimbabwe, with "more history stuffed into its make-believe, colonial-dream borders than one country the size of a very large teapot should be able to amass." This is the most successful dimension of the book, as Fuller describes growing up on farm where her father is away most nights fighting "terrorists", and stripping a rifle takes precedence over school lessons. The sections on Malawi and Zambia are more prosaic, but this is a lyrical and accomplished memoir about Africa, which is "about adjusting to a new world view" and the author’s "passionate love for a continent that has come to define, shape, scar and heal me and my family." --Jerry Brotton
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Evocative but unpalatable This was Englishmum.com's book club book for June. First off, I would say that this is not my usual reading material, which tends to be either cookery books or nasty, grisly Mark Billingham-esque murder mysteries. Having said that, the whole point of a book club is to challenge oneself to read books outside one's `comfort zone' shall we say. I suppose I enjoyed this book; I liked Fuller's honest, nostalgia-free style of writing and found her descriptions of her childhood Africa highly evocative. I found the... more info
A real scratch and sniff book! The narrative is so engaging and descriptive that your senses are brought alive and you are almost transported to Africa.
The child's eye view on events is refreshing, and adds another dimension to the unfurling events.
She has a lovely comic timing which sits comfortably, although often excruciatingly, with the harrowing tales of war, sadness and poverty.
Fascinating and funny The true story of an eccentric white family living in Southern Africa through the wars of the 70s.Told from a child's point of view it's very honest & funny and is a brilliant insight into a fascinating time and place.
Once you have smelled the African bush Intensely evocative. There is an African saying that once you have recognised the smell of the bush it will never be forgotten...and that your heart will never leave Africa. The terrs (terrorists) might have won the battle but have lost everything else. Remember, Old Rhodies never die and this book explains why, but perhaps without the author really realising - but she certainly conveys the smell of the bush. John Bell
