Reviews

Brazzaville Beach by William Boyd

tobydos's review

adventurous mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.0

risarooboo's review

informative slow-paced

1.0

Female lead written by a man with very little understanding of women. I found myself frustrated by how the main character saw the world, especially other humans. She was not human at all in my opinion, perhaps closer to the apes she studied. 

fefifofum's review

dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

elkyo's review

dark informative tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

jacki_f's review against another edition

3.0

I quite enjoyed this book about Hope Clearwater, a woman working in Africa on a chimpanzee research project, but I didn't love it. The fact that I didn't love it is not connected to my lack of interest in chimpanzees (it overcame that very successfully). It's a book that showcases not only what is terrific about William Boyd's writing, but also all the things that I don't like about it.

The positives: it feels very real. If you told me that William Boyd spent three years working in Africa, I'd probably believe you. Not just the details about chimpanzees and research projects but also the chaos that civil war brings. The tension that builds as Hope's observations conflict with the narrative of the research team is very real. And Hope is an interesting character, whose scientific training has resulted in the cold and detached way that she observes the people around her.

But it's her very cold and detached personality that ultimately means you don't like the book very much. She has many of the personality flaws of Amory Clay, in Boyd's "Sweet Caress". A pre-occupation with herself and a lack of empathy for anyone else. An obsession with penises. She doesn't feel like a real woman, but like a male writer's idea of a real woman. I also found the sub-plot about her marriage and how that fell apart significantly less interesting, and not really tied back to the main storyline.

ruthlemon08's review

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

This is such a good book! I loved the characters and the parallel stories both in the Congo and in the UK. It was way more brutal and violent than I was expecting - lots of shocking, vivid descriptions of (spoiler alert) chimp attacks. Great twists and a plot which surprised me through to the last few pages. This was my first William Boyd after my parents failed to track down their copy of Any Human Heart … which it turns out I already owned, so that’ll be read in the near future!

kimprior's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

jenmat1197's review

4.0

 This is the story of a chimp researcher, Hope,  who relocates to Africa after her husband succumbs to mental illness and they separate.  She goes to Africa and dives into her research but another crisis develops which threatens her career and her life.  She is watching chimp behavior when she discovers behaviors that conflict with her boss's research.  No one believes her when she reports her finds, and soon she finds her life and her career being threatened by the researchers around her.

While we are thrown into Hope's story as a researcher, the story also travels back in time to the beginning of Hope's relationship with her husband and his dissent into madness.  These two stories together help the reader discover why hope came to Africa in the first place, and what makes her return to London in the end.

This was a pretty good book.  I really enjoyed the sections about the chimp research and chimp behaviors.  It also helped push the story along when the author gave us the background of Hope and what lead to her work in Africa.  The transfer from past to present flows easily in this book.

I definitely would recommend this one.  It isn't a large book, and it isn't a hard read.  Check it out. 

katymvt's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

didactylos's review against another edition

5.0

Amazingly clever on many levels...