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| Manufacturer | - |
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| Brand | Paul Theroux |
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| Product Id | 1647310 |
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| User Reviews and Ratings | 3 (1 ratings) 3 out of 5 stars |
| UPC | 046442446877 |
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Dark star safari : overland from cairo to capetown: 9780618446872
Reviews: 34
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Towards the end of this book Theroux ponders on how it is that some of the places he'd visited on his trip already seemed familiar: he recognises that Nadine Gordimer's writing had made Johannesburg seem like a city he was returning to as had Mahfouz's work done for him in Egypt. I think Paul Theroux succeeds in this book, like the writers he praises, in conveying the 'texture and emotions of a real place, making the reading of the work like a travel experience'. Theroux is not a sightseeing tourist in Africa, nor is he one for safaris, but one who gets down and dirty, making use of public transport whenever he can - mostly run-down trains and buses - and the occasional taxis and lifts. Through Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, Mozambique he goes and finally South Africa - and it's only in the latter, staying for once in a big hotel, that having locked his bag and every expensive thing he owned in the safekeeping of the hotel's padlocked strongroom does he find after four days absence that the bag had been stolen, losing his watch, wallet, cash, air tickets as well as artefacts. In his youth Theroux had spent two years in the Peace Corps in Malawi and after being thrown out from that country took up a post in Uganda, at Kampala University. He occasionally meets up with old African contacts who confirm what he notices, that everything has got worse. In Tanzania, for example, 'forty years of independent rule and foreign investment....and this vast fertile country of twenty million people had achieved a condition of near bankruptcy and had one factory'. He points out time and again the futility of charity, the 'aid industry' in Africa. He writes that it is non-inspirational, aliens having been helping for so long and were so deeply entrenched that 'Africans lost interest - if indeed they had ever had it - in doing the same sort of work themselves'. Tyrants, he writes, love aid. Aid helps keep them stay in power: aid helps maintain the status quo. I had a chuckle near the end when towards the end of his trip he sees a man reading that day's Johannesburg Star when some words catch his eye: flagged on the front top of the paper was the headline 'PESSIMISTIC GLOBETROTTER WINS NOBEL PRIZE'. 'Looks like I've got the big one' he murmured. He leaves it to the reader to figure out it was his old friend V S Naipaul.
Usual Paul Theroux fare: drama on the road (riding a cattle car from Ethiopia to Kenya, hassled by 'urchins' etc.!), chatting with locals, and denouncing "tourists" who like the game animals more than the people of Africa. This book is also a trip back in time to when he served in the Peace Corps. The nostalgia adds a new flavor. But things are not good in Africa --by any measure. Theroux suggests empowering Africans directly and then letting them be which may include allowing them to live at a bare subsistence level -- i.e., poor but happy.
[Dark Star Safari] has generated widely differing reviews. Some people find Theroux's insights into contemporary Africa well-informed and valuable. Others deride him as a constant complainer, arrogant know-it-all and secret hater of all things African. I think both sides have valid points. This is a fast-paced narrative that quickly takes the reader off the beaten African track. The author's self-designed 'safari' takes him from Cairo to Capetown on everything from careening minibuses and broken down steamers to luxury trains and dugout canoes. Along the way Theroux can't help but keep reminding us that he is seeing the Africa most people never experience because he is willing to travel without an itinerary and passively outwait the delays. At times he comes across as smug. Other times his comments (particularly about tourists visiting Egyptian ruins and East African game parks) degenerate into nastiness and serve only to underscore that he is losing his battle with time and becoming an old crank. The two things I enjoyed most about Theroux's recounting of his journey were the way he wove history (both ancient and contemporary) into the narrative and the pains he took to continue asking difficult questions (why Africans are so violent, why international aid fails in Africa, what missionaries think they are actually bringing to Africa) well past the point of politeness. These conversations don't make the author likeable in the least, but they do make for an interesting read. The thing I liked least about the book was Theroux's unending fascination with prostitution, female circumcision and how often Africans have sex. Only mentioned with a sly wink or nudge, these topics were not broached in any meaningful way and would have, for the most part, been better either left out or explored further. As handled, these topics only reinforce my perception of Theroux as an aging alpha (at least in his own mind) male. Also irritatingly, Theroux spends numerous hours in the book working on an erotic story which is not included in the text either. Nevertheless, the story wouldn't be the story without Theroux and in my opinion he is a lot like someone you meet at a dinner party -- full of bold swashbuckling stories and opinions on everything, a conversation partner you feel lucky to get to pass the time with, but not someone you'd want to spend every waking hour with. For me, Dark Star Safari lived up to its name. It gave me a better understanding of how different Africa truly is (like a dark star), how severe its problems are, and how difficult they will be to solve. I also left with a keen appreciation of the varied cultures and geography that make up the continent and some insights into why one-size solutions will probably fail. Faced with several harrowing situations and many nights in uncomfortable conditions, I found Theroux's complaints valid as presented. His criticisms were harsh at times, but seemingly voiced out of true concern for Africa and its people.
Interesting travelogue as we goes over land, with all the difficulties and insights that kind of travel brings, from Cairo to Cape Town. At times there was a little too much Paul Theroux in his musings, but overall the book does a great job of bringing the real Africa to life. The perspective he brings in comparing Africa today to what it was like 40 years ago is very helpful. The cynicism seems earned in what he sees. A few areas he wears his own set of blinkers, but with the length of the book and the intimacy we gain with him through his travels, these are put out there honestly like everything else. Recommended, as a source of life in Africa and a great reading list for further experience.
I love Theroux's writing for its impiety, and this book is no exception. His account of the effect of decades of foreign assistance in Africa is unsparing, particularly as regards Malawi, where he was a Peace Corps volunteer in the sixties. HOW he gets from Cairo to Johannesburg is also pretty interesting, since the intrepid Theroux does not fear dubious boats or the open beds of dilapidated trucks. It's a long book, but I was never bored.
Africa seems almost hopeless to me. I read this book before I traveled there to see for myself. It wasn't as bad as I thought, but nearly. Theroux, though, remains fairly optimistic. Always one to travel the way less traveled, Theroux is my kind of traveler and guide. For understanding a place from the inside out, Theroux is the best.
After a pause of some years when I devoured his books, I thought it was time to give this one a chance. It certainly is the most political of his travel books. As always he brings people and places to life and gives the reader a deeper insight of the situation in Africa. Nevertheless I found it less gripping than his former books, because I noticed a bit more of self-righteous and a bit less of self- mockery.
I've not read Theroux before. He makes an interesting contrast to Simon Winchester or William Dalrymple. He doesn't seem to be nearly as cultured as those two Englishmen, and so we get very much less of the historical and geographical insights that pepper their books. On the other hand, he seems to be quite a bit more gregarious, and so we get rather more of what everyday people are thinking. His overall attitude to Africa seems to be one of benign despair, a feeling that whatever the motivations, outsider interference only makes things worse, and that the best foreigners can do is leave Africa stuck in the 18th century operating at a subsistence level. A cruel conclusion, but, realistically, are there better alternatives?
I enjoyed this book even though it was an irritatingly prejudiced view of Africa, a snapshot in time reflecting Theroux's experience 40 years ago and again recently. He'd already made up his mind about Africa and its peoples before his safari, and the limited view his travels offered confirmed his preconceived ideas. His superficial and uninformed take on South Africa gave me similar regard (or disregard) for his opinions on the rest of the continent. I listened to the audiobook (shouldn't have). The reader's voice was dreary and pessimistic, his pronunciations of place names were inaccurate, he used the same obscure, unrecognizable accent for all black people whether Somalians or Zimbabweans, and all white people sounded Scottish, except the boere whom he portrayed as cretins (presumably reflecting his opinion). He clearly took the stance of the author. Ah well......
True account of the authors adventures through Africa by any means except airplane if possible. Riding on top of trucks, in buses, with scheming taxi drivers, awful trains in disrepair and trains with exceptional service. Explains the realities of Africa - foreign aid is actually a hindrance for the countries ever standing on their own, and things seem to be getting worse not better.