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kararoge's review
5.0
One of the best books about Africa. Real, honest, and true accounts of what the continent is like.
beautyistruth's review
3.0
(More of a note than a real review)
As always with Kapuscinski's books, the writing is fantastic, and the narrative gripping. But something didn't seem right about it to me, for books purporting to be factual accounts... My belief was being increasingly suspended and I was suspicious.. I increasingly felt like this must be the work of a fantasist, or a hybrid at least: a hybrid of fantasy and travelogue.
I did a little research and very quickly it turned out that other people suspect the same. A contemporary who knew Kapuscinski wrote a biography and his research could not confirm many of Kapuscinski's factual claims: for example some of the people Kapuscinski claimed to have known, to have met. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/ryszard-kapuscinski-he-was-hailed-as-the-greatest-reporter-of-his-time-but-how-much-did-he-make-up-1914287.html
If this is the case, Kapuscinski would definitely not be the only journalist to have made things up: recently there was a scandal about a German Der Spiegel journalist, Claas Relotius, who was found to have invented things 'on a grand scale' for many years. https://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/claas-relotius-reporter-forgery-scandal-a-1244755.html
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It's hard to know how to review such books and I have gone with the idea of viewing them as literature, glory-seeking, and even as... polemics alongside. Yes, because Kapuscinski is making political and cultural arguments for sure. But certainly it is disconcerting and I think that it would be good to suspend your belief about some of the things Kapuscinski claims as factual accounts.
While I already knew this, it's another good reminder that journalism is often extremely biased - at worst to the point of actually making things up to make for good journalism.
As always with Kapuscinski's books, the writing is fantastic, and the narrative gripping. But something didn't seem right about it to me, for books purporting to be factual accounts... My belief was being increasingly suspended and I was suspicious.. I increasingly felt like this must be the work of a fantasist, or a hybrid at least: a hybrid of fantasy and travelogue.
I did a little research and very quickly it turned out that other people suspect the same. A contemporary who knew Kapuscinski wrote a biography and his research could not confirm many of Kapuscinski's factual claims: for example some of the people Kapuscinski claimed to have known, to have met. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/ryszard-kapuscinski-he-was-hailed-as-the-greatest-reporter-of-his-time-but-how-much-did-he-make-up-1914287.html
If this is the case, Kapuscinski would definitely not be the only journalist to have made things up: recently there was a scandal about a German Der Spiegel journalist, Claas Relotius, who was found to have invented things 'on a grand scale' for many years. https://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/claas-relotius-reporter-forgery-scandal-a-1244755.html
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It's hard to know how to review such books and I have gone with the idea of viewing them as literature, glory-seeking, and even as... polemics alongside. Yes, because Kapuscinski is making political and cultural arguments for sure. But certainly it is disconcerting and I think that it would be good to suspend your belief about some of the things Kapuscinski claims as factual accounts.
While I already knew this, it's another good reminder that journalism is often extremely biased - at worst to the point of actually making things up to make for good journalism.
mbondlamberty's review
3.0
As a teacher (and student) of World History and a former inhabitant of Poland, I looked forward to reading this book for a number of reasons.
However early on I got annoyed with the whole Africa had no kingdoms in the interior (really - Songhai, Zimbabwe, etc.) and the other trite phrases used at times. However I liked the first hand accounts of certain points of Africa - the trip by bus where the driver doesn't play music until past the curves which the passengers know well enough to automatically lean into the hill on the driver's command.
So I appreciated the book and many anecdotes, but I won't recommend it for my students to read.
However early on I got annoyed with the whole Africa had no kingdoms in the interior (really - Songhai, Zimbabwe, etc.) and the other trite phrases used at times. However I liked the first hand accounts of certain points of Africa - the trip by bus where the driver doesn't play music until past the curves which the passengers know well enough to automatically lean into the hill on the driver's command.
So I appreciated the book and many anecdotes, but I won't recommend it for my students to read.
taschamay's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
elisala's review against another edition
4.0
Après avoir lu du même auteur Il n'y aura pas de paradis, je confirme avec ce livre: chouette écriture, petite incertitude sur les généralités. Ici en revanche tout se passe en Afrique. Ça implique des généralités encore plus... bof - "l'Afrique est comme ci", "l'Africain est comme ça" - ce qui, pour un continent de plus de 30 millions de km2 et de plus de 1 milliards d'habitants sonne limite ridicule. Heureusement, l'auteur ajoute "... en tout cas ceux que j'ai rencontrés". Mouaimpf.
Enfin, ne boudons pas notre plaisir, c'est vraiment bien écrit, l'auteur est un magnifique raconteur d'histoire et parle avec un humanisme, une bienveillance, et aussi un humour, qui font du bien au moral. Et je ne doute pas que ses récits journalistiques sont narrés avec objectivité, en faisant un intéressant témoignage de l'histoire de plusieurs pays d'Afrique.
Je me demande par contre s'il ne peut pas être vaincu par l'homme, ce qui ajoute un poids intéressant à la métaphore. :/
Enfin, ne boudons pas notre plaisir, c'est vraiment bien écrit, l'auteur est un magnifique raconteur d'histoire et parle avec un humanisme, une bienveillance, et aussi un humour, qui font du bien au moral. Et je ne doute pas que ses récits journalistiques sont narrés avec objectivité, en faisant un intéressant témoignage de l'histoire de plusieurs pays d'Afrique.
"l'esprit de l'Afrique prend toujours la forme de l'éléphant. Car l'éléphant ne peut être vaincu par aucun animal. Ni par le lion, ni par le buffle, ni par le serpent."
Je me demande par contre s'il ne peut pas être vaincu par l'homme, ce qui ajoute un poids intéressant à la métaphore. :/