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Nov 17, 2011

Melissa rated it:

To read Fuller's books is to immerse yourself in the history of Africa, and most of it is pretty tragic and tough to fathom. It's hard to be at peace with colonialism. Fuller seems to struggle with this herself. While her mother reminisces about her Scottish ancestors, Fuller is haunted by the Tasmanian natives forced into slavery on the family's ancient estate. I can’t imagine how hard it must be to reconcile one's need to see all people as equal with an entire family history predicated on the More...

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Oct 15, 2011

Jeanette rated it:

I love the title, but if I had a Tree of Forgetfulness, why then would I need a Cocktail Hour?
This book gives some insight into the wackiness of Bobo's parents, especially her mother, "Nicola Fuller of Central Africa," whom we first encountered in Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight.

I think this passage from page 125 illustrates a bit of life for the often dissolute British colonials in Africa in the mid-20th century. A horse vet named Charlie organized hunts bringing More...

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Jan 03, 2012

Jessica rated it:

Several years ago, I read Fuller's Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, a memoir of her young life as a white girl in Southern (NOT South) Africa, and although I don't remember the specifics, I do remember that I closed the book with a sense of history and humor, so I was pleased to see that she'd published a new book. This one, Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness, does not disappoint. This time around, the author sets her sights on the experiences of her parents, especially her mother, More...

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Jan 30, 2012

Sherri rated it:

This is the story of Nicola Fuller the author's mother and her life in Africa. The author was enamored with her mother's life and thought it would make a good story. My problem is that I can't tell if the author is a bad writer or if her mother's life wasn't worth writing about.

At the outset the story seems worthwhile: a white woman in Africa raising children, trying to make a home in a land full of war and beauty.

Unfortunately, the author never quite gives the reader a More...

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Jan 19, 2012

Judith rated it:

How can you lose with a title like this? It's so poetic, romantic, and intriguing. I had the lucky accident of ordering the book and the audio book at the library at the same time. So while I enjoyed the audio portion tremendously because of the lovely British accents, the occasional singing, and the pronunciation of so many African words, I then enjoyed looking at the pictures in the book.

It seems we never tire of hearing stories of people who grew up in Africa, how they expe More...

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Jan 10, 2012

Kristey rated it:

While I did not read her prior book, Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, my book club ladies indicated it was not necessary in order to read Cocktail Hour. Cocktail Hour takes up the story again, which depicts her parents' early years and family backgrounds, and goes on to bring them forward into the present, to their fish & banana farm in Zambia. The author revisits episodes she wrote about in her 1st book: all their hardships/accomplishments of their drought-plagued, war-blighted farming ve More...

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Dec 30, 2011

Ciara rated it:

if you only read one memoir by alexandra fuller this year...make it her other one. because this one is basically a pale imitation of her other one. & her other one wasn't even that great. i can't even remember what it was called. don't let's go to the dogs tonight, i think.

basically, this is a book for anyone who read don't let's go to the dogs tonight & wondered to themselves, "wow, alexandra fuller just wrote a memoir about how her mom is basically a demented alcoholic. i wonder More...

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Nov 21, 2011

Lucy rated it:

This is the follow up to "Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight," 2001, and like it, is about Ms. Fuller's family, primarily her mother. "Cocktail Hour..," 2011, is a perfect example of a mother and adult daughter trying to come to terms with one another. No surprise, Ms. Fuller's mother was not entirely happy with the way she was portrayed in "the awful [first] book." Who could blame her? It wasn't exactly a rousing endorsement of her mothering. She was often so More...

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Oct 27, 2011

Edward rated it:

What happened to all of those whites who once lived good lives in Rhodesia and east central Africa? That is, before the civil wars of the 60's and early 70's turned the countries over to native Africans. Many left, of course, but some remained, and Fuller's book is an tribute to her parents who stayed on. It's an followup to her earlier book, DON'T LETS GO TO THE DOGS TONIGHT about her childhood growing up in this volatile environment. She married and left Africa, and returns only to visit he More...

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Oct 23, 2011

Alistair rated it:

I loved this but then I loved Alexandra's previous memoir of life growing up in Africa with her parents " Don't let's go to the dogs tonight ".
This a more a tribute to her mother Nicola Fuller of Central Africa . I suspect that the first book led to a rift between mother and daughter particularly as it unflinchingly reveals her excessive drinking and depressions and Nicola constantly refers to it as " That Awful Book " but this a more rounded portrait and a love letter More...

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Sep 24, 2011

Elisha rated it:

I so looked forward to this book. But it honestly felt like reading "Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight" again - seriously, at least half the stuff is in the other book. And yes, it gave us Nicola's point of view on events, but she doesn't add enough to make it any more interesting. It was rather tedious reading a bunch of things I had read not a month ago.

The Fuller family are nuts. They are fiercely British, but wholly African. Nicola Fuller in particular is deter More...

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Sep 05, 2011

Caren rated it:

Ten years ago Alexandra Fuller published her first book, a piece of non-fiction about her childhood in Rhodesia as it transitioned, with lots of chaos and bloodshed, into today’s Zimbabwe. If you haven’t read that book, "Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight", by all means, put everything down right now and grab a copy. Ms. Fuller’s mother refers to her daughter’s earlier publishing success as “that Awful Book”. We find, in this current offering, the ways in which her mother nourished and More...

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May 16, 2011

Evan rated it:

Other than the film version of Out of Africa and Heart of Darkness, this is the first close experience I've had with the sort of British colonials you think of from movies. You know, khaki-wearing, gin-swilling, Land Rover-driving folks from the small islands. I say that with the utmost reverence, because Fuller's parents, Tim and Nicola, are made of tougher stuff than pretty much anyone I know, and they handle their tumultuous lives with the kind of grace we all wish we could have in tight spot More...

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Feb 08, 2011

Stef rated it:

If you liked DON'T LETS GO TO THE DOGS TONIGHT, I have a feeling you'll love this one even more. In what the publisher is calling a sequel and a prequel, Fuller continues on the subject of her family's life in Africa in the same riveting, deeply personal, highly accomplished style. If DOGS was Bobo's story, her explanation for her love of Africa, then COCKTAIL HOUR is her parents' story. She thoroughly interviews both of them and tells the stories of their parents and their grandparents. From Ni More...

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Sep 14, 2011

Paul rated it:

“Cocktail Hour under the Tree of Forgetfulness” by Alexandra Fuller.

Category – Biography

Alexandra Fuller led a very extraordinary life growing up in Africa with her parents and siblings. Nicola, Alexandra’s mother, who liked to be known as Nicola Fuller of Central Africa, was a unique woman. She was a courageous individual who stood by her husband and family in some very dire circumstances.

Nicola was born in Kenya and married Tim Fuller. They both were enchanted More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 28, 2011

Lisa rated it:

Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness by Alexandra Fuller is the story of Nicola Fuller of Central Africa. We first met Alexandra Fuller's parents and family in Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight - when they lived in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) during the war and it was Alexandra's story of her childhood which was fraught with tragedies but also scenes of British family humor, bravery, stubbornness, love of land, with her parents - who are really larger than life. In Cocktail Hour, Alexandra More...

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Aug 26, 2011

Jessica rated it:

Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness is a gorgeously written memoir about Alexandra Fuller's life. I had no idea when I first picked this up that this was a continuation of her story, but I can say that reading this has sparked an interest in me to go pick up the first book! The way that Alexandra Fuller writes about her family is so wonderfully vivid that it draws your right in. If it wasn't for the fact that I knew this was a memoir, I could almost believe that Fuller's life was ficti More...

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Feb 07, 2012

Marc rated it:

Ever sat down with a friend for cocktails only to have them retell their same old stories without showing the slightest bit of interest in you? That was this book. This is the fourth book I've read from this author, which means that I've read all her books. Obviously, I've enjoyed them, or I would not have bothered reading this one. But the author rehashes many stories from her first book "Don't Let Go to the Dogs Tonight," only this time from her parents perspective and without the in More...

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Nov 14, 2011

Alisa rated it:

While listening to this book, I would find myself thinking, "How incredibly brave," then moments later, reminding myself that the hardscrabble young farming couple literally fighting their way across Africa, losing farms, pets, and children with depressing regularity,...didn't have to be brave at all. They had put themselves in harm's way BY CHOICE, when at any time they could have gone safely home to England (or Scotland). They *chose* to move to Rhodesia when it was an international More...

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Nov 19, 2011

Leilani rated it:

Alexandra Fuller has the ability to completely capture a moment or a person's character in a perfect sentence or a well-placed quote. Just as when I read her first memoir, I was completely immersed in her portrait of her family and a vanished society; her thoughts on the inevitable but long-drawn-out end of that society, its costs, and the nature of healing and survival are beautiful and gracefully written.

The book starts a little slowly, but builds powerfully. I had to put the boo More...

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Sep 22, 2011

Charles rated it:

A wonderfully well written, highly entertaining book. The author recounts the story of her parents and grandparents and their experiences as settlers in Kenya, the former Rhodesia and Zambia during the closing days of British colonialism. Ms. Fuller's mother, who styles herself "Nicola Fuller of Central Africa," grew up during the Mau Mau insurrection in Kenya. After Kenyan independence and her marriage, the family moved to Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. The white minority of government of Ia More...

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Jul 06, 2011

Laura rated it:

I loved Alexandra Fuller's first memoir, Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight. It was fresh, unique, and well-written. I also enjoyed Cocktail Hour under the Tree of Forgetfullness, though I didn't think that it was quite as polished and complete as her first work.

Cocktail Hour under the Tree of Forgetfullness is the story of Fuller's parents and how they came to live in Africa. Their choices led them to a beautiful and heartbreakingly difficult place to live. I appreciate that F More...

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Nov 30, 2011

Marty rated it:

This is a prequel to Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight. That one was about the author's childhood in Central Africa, from her point of view. This one is about her parents' childhoods and how they came to be in Africa (British colonists) and about the author's early childhood. It's interesting because it's a completely different world, and she had to deal with wars in the 1970s when the natives took over rule from the Europeans. Her mother complains about the author writing an Awful Book,but she More...

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May 08, 2011

Christie rated it:

I thoroughly enjoyed this follow-up to Fuller's memoir "Don't Let's Go To the Dogs Tonight", but my response was confused by the fact that the earlier book is genuinely one of my favorite books ever. Confused, in that I couldn't help comparing the two and finding the new book less compelling, while simultaneously feeling like I was being reunited with loved ones I hadn't seen in ten years. In other words, I can't distinguish the ways I was biased, both for and against this new book.
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Sep 29, 2011

Stephanie rated it:

Alexandra Fuller follows-up what her mother, "Nicola Fuller of Central Africa," refers to as "That Awful Book" ("Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight") with a book that focuses on the glamorous, indomitable, and eccentric Nicola. Although quick to distinguish themselves from the British East Africa Happy Valley set with whom movie-goers are most familiar, Nicola and her husband, Tim, move from the relative comfort of a farm in Kenya southward as northern African nati More...

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Sep 22, 2011

Scott rated it:

Alexander Fuller's Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, a memoir of her insanely dangerous childhood with her just-plain insane parents in white Central Africa (much of it in the then-rogue nation of Rhodesia), was one of my favorites books of whatever year that was. Highly recommended: charming, riveting, crazy, laugh-out-loud funny. In her next book, Scribbling the Cat, Fuller took us through her early-adult years, in America and back in Africa, with much of the story focused on her affair with More...

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Dec 13, 2011

Chrissy rated it:

I love Alexandra Fuller. I was assigned to read her first book, Don't Let's Go To The Dogs Tonight in college, and while I can't remember many specifics, I remember it being totally gripping, and amazing. The class was on the colonization of Africa, and Fuller's book was an excellent end to the discussion, giving us insight into the unsightly end of at least one form of African colonization. I loved how the author referred to her family's dislike of her first book in the pages of this one, becau More...

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Sep 26, 2011

Dot rated it:

I think I enjoyed this book even more than Fuller's first memoir Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood. Yes there was some repetition of events that were included in the first memoir, but I felt that they were somehow told differently and perhaps with the added perspective of the author being 10 years older than when the first book was written.

In this book, the author focuses on the lives of her parents and their family background. Her mother had a outgoing theatri More...

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Sep 09, 2011

Jessica rated it:

This book was a fantastic memoir detailing the lives of the Fuller family through the eyes of their youngest daughter, Alexandra. Of Scottish decent, the Fuller family moved to Rhodesia in the 80s just before the outbreak of the country's violent civil war.

Through their story, I learned so much about the white settlers who came to Africa and tried to enforce a white minority rule, even after Britain had banned such a concept and the world was moving past that age-old racist view. More...

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Sep 14, 2011

Michelle rated it:

Well. I enjoyed Fuller's previous book, Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, but felt a little uncomfortable with the constant drinking among almost all ages that took place in her family--kind of made me wonder if all of white Africa was thoroughly pickled. This sequel, in which she describes her mother's life in greater detail, was apparently partly a reaction to her mother's feeling she had been portrayed unflatteringly in what she calls "That Awful Book." If the intent was to cre More...

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