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joesb's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
informative
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
eleganthedgehogs's review against another edition
Most of us not aware of what this book was about for the title. Found it quite hard work subject matter and the way it was written. Interesting history not previously aware of.
piratecat's review against another edition
Lost the book while traveling. Was not that engaging anyway.
saxamaholly's review against another edition
3.0
I liked this book. The setting was unusual and it swung from funny to tragic.
neom's review against another edition
3.0
Easy read, found I raced through it and didn’t dislike it but wasn’t engaged with any of the characters. It captured the boredom and horrors of war quite well but that made it a bit frustrating at times.
smartipants8's review against another edition
4.0
The first William Boyd book I read and the start of a love affair!
actc96's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism
ruthiella's review against another edition
4.0
William Boyd is a great historical fiction writer, but nothing quite measured up to the first book of his that I read: Any Human Heart, however this novel is the closest runner up so far.
Showcasing the absurdity of war, most of the novel is set in what was then German and British East Africa where colonial forces also fought out World War I . In Africa, there are farmers, the expatriate American, Walter Smith, and the half German/half English Erich von Bishop and his unhappy wife, Liesl, each who live just on the other side of the borderline between the two colonies; neighbors until war is declared. In England, the main characters are brothers Felix and Gabriel Cobb. They come from a military family and Gabriel is a newly engaged career soldier but Felix, the youngest, is a petulant teenager who despises the values held by his father and wants to go to Oxford to study.
While not a comedy exactly, the book does have more than a few funny moments and absurd characters (who are probably all completely based on real people – the truth is stranger than fiction). But it also is quite tragic at times – the loss of life in East Africa wasn’t as dramatic as on the battlefields of Europe, but this is about a war and the terrible things that happen to soldiers and civilians caught up in such violent events.
Showcasing the absurdity of war, most of the novel is set in what was then German and British East Africa where colonial forces also fought out World War I . In Africa, there are farmers, the expatriate American, Walter Smith, and the half German/half English Erich von Bishop and his unhappy wife, Liesl, each who live just on the other side of the borderline between the two colonies; neighbors until war is declared. In England, the main characters are brothers Felix and Gabriel Cobb. They come from a military family and Gabriel is a newly engaged career soldier but Felix, the youngest, is a petulant teenager who despises the values held by his father and wants to go to Oxford to study.
While not a comedy exactly, the book does have more than a few funny moments and absurd characters (who are probably all completely based on real people – the truth is stranger than fiction). But it also is quite tragic at times – the loss of life in East Africa wasn’t as dramatic as on the battlefields of Europe, but this is about a war and the terrible things that happen to soldiers and civilians caught up in such violent events.