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mario_dimoser's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
You might not like every chapter but the voice of Naipaul is extraordinary.
whenwomenwerebirds87's review
challenging
tense
2.0
I was surprised by the tone of V.S. Naipaul as he spoke about Africa and various cultures. Very judgmental and condescending. He seems to hate Africa and think he’s better than everyone. Thumbs down.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Religious bigotry, Animal cruelty, Classism, Colonisation, and Slavery
j_dyzzle's review against another edition
1.0
Right from the get go, I had no idea what was going on in V.S. Naupaul's Masque of Africa. The narration skips around so much that in the beginning I was not sure that it was only one person speaking. People's names are mentioned out of the blue and not explained, leaving readers to wonder who people are and what their importance is.
Bits and pieces were interesting, but I continually felt, while reading it, that things were being repeated. So much so that a few times I went back through to be sure that I hadn't lost my place and was actually rereading something. Passages and cultural stories were repeated, almost verbatim. Making reading it terribly tedious.
The book could have been cut in half and would not have lost anything. It may have even improved it. Even after having read it, I don't know that I could explain what it was about, without just saying that it is made up of sections about different people and locations which the author describes with repetitive language and details. Leaving the reader with a major sense of deja vu.
The snippets of life, for lack of a better term for the short cut scenes the author gives the reader, had moments that were genuinely interesting, but the book as a whole read a lot more like a travel journal than a cohesive narrative. A travel journal of a very nervous and frugal traveler. Every time he began to complain or worry that something was going to cost too much and backed out, was when I felt that things were going to finally start getting interesting.
I wish he hadn't backed out of paying or showed up late to things because he didn't want to hike the distance to get to where the interesting things were happening. It's like going to France and talking about the Louvre, but desciding that you don't actually want to pay the admission fees or walk from your hotel. What's the point of reading it if it never gets far enough to get to the interesting part?
Bits and pieces were interesting, but I continually felt, while reading it, that things were being repeated. So much so that a few times I went back through to be sure that I hadn't lost my place and was actually rereading something. Passages and cultural stories were repeated, almost verbatim. Making reading it terribly tedious.
The book could have been cut in half and would not have lost anything. It may have even improved it. Even after having read it, I don't know that I could explain what it was about, without just saying that it is made up of sections about different people and locations which the author describes with repetitive language and details. Leaving the reader with a major sense of deja vu.
The snippets of life, for lack of a better term for the short cut scenes the author gives the reader, had moments that were genuinely interesting, but the book as a whole read a lot more like a travel journal than a cohesive narrative. A travel journal of a very nervous and frugal traveler. Every time he began to complain or worry that something was going to cost too much and backed out, was when I felt that things were going to finally start getting interesting.
I wish he hadn't backed out of paying or showed up late to things because he didn't want to hike the distance to get to where the interesting things were happening. It's like going to France and talking about the Louvre, but desciding that you don't actually want to pay the admission fees or walk from your hotel. What's the point of reading it if it never gets far enough to get to the interesting part?
kingkong's review against another edition
5.0
very beautiful book about Naipaul talking to a bunch of African people about their faith and beliefs. I don't believe in anything because I'm an atheist
peixinhodeprata's review against another edition
2.0
Interesting, but I have mixed feelings about it. It was meant to be a small portrait of the african beliefs, and how they coexist. The "new" religions, brought by the europeans and muslim traders vs the old engrained beliefs of each country/race/tribe. However, it was very difficult for the author to be impartial, and to actually make an objective evaluation. It was always as if he was contrasting the backward ways of the underdeloped with the promise of what they could be.
Africa is in no way perfect, and I am sure it faces many challenges (even though I have never been there, I watch the news and have read several other books about the continent), but I am unsure that it deserves such a harsh description.
Another thing that annoyed me somewhat was the fact that Naipaul was carried all the way by people that really took good care of him, and he always was severely unprepared to every situation (oh, I knew that when visiting the witchdoctor we should bring some offering, but I thought this was just a preliminary hearing so I did not have any money/schnapps/offer, I'm glad my chapperon took care of it - that happened in almost every country. One could assume that after the first time, one would learn...)
Not a bad book, but too judgemental for me at this point.
Africa is in no way perfect, and I am sure it faces many challenges (even though I have never been there, I watch the news and have read several other books about the continent), but I am unsure that it deserves such a harsh description.
Another thing that annoyed me somewhat was the fact that Naipaul was carried all the way by people that really took good care of him, and he always was severely unprepared to every situation (oh, I knew that when visiting the witchdoctor we should bring some offering, but I thought this was just a preliminary hearing so I did not have any money/schnapps/offer, I'm glad my chapperon took care of it - that happened in almost every country. One could assume that after the first time, one would learn...)
Not a bad book, but too judgemental for me at this point.
ninachachu's review
3.0
Essentially a travelogue - though one with a focus ostensibly on religion and belief. Naipaul is not particularly positive about any of the countries he visits, but then that is his style.
drdreuh's review
2.0
I wavered between serious offense and mild curiosity of a perspective I've never read before. From east to west to south, this Nobel Laureate seems to find nothing of value in modern Africa. 'Masque' reads like a book of short stories. Naipaul's "glimpses"-although evocatively capturing some aspects of modern African life and facets of familiar people I had not seen before-are not worth wading through the thick air of condescension.
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