Alexandra Fuller was the daughter of white settlers in 1970s war-torn Rhodesia. "Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight" is a memoir of that time, ... read full description
reviews
Jun 05, 2008
Juliefrick
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This is one of my top-ten favorite books of all time. An extremely compelling memoir, well-written, poignant but not maudlin or precious. I've read it twice and feel another reread coming on.
The brutal honesty in this story is startling, and Fuller does not set out to insert political or social critique into her story. This is probably unsettling for readers who come face-to-face with her family's colonialist attitudes and expect to hear her criticize and critique them. However, More...
The brutal honesty in this story is startling, and Fuller does not set out to insert political or social critique into her story. This is probably unsettling for readers who come face-to-face with her family's colonialist attitudes and expect to hear her criticize and critique them. However, More...
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Jul 31, 2011
Jeanette
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Whenever I read an autobiography, I compare my childhood experiences with those of the author. What was happening in my life at that age? How would I have behaved under those circumstances?
With this book, the comparisons were difficult to make. I can't imagine growing up amid so much tumult and violence and uncertainty. Not to mention numerous inconveniences and an abundance of creepy and dangerous vermin.
I'm glad I didn't grow up in a place where terrorists were More...
With this book, the comparisons were difficult to make. I can't imagine growing up amid so much tumult and violence and uncertainty. Not to mention numerous inconveniences and an abundance of creepy and dangerous vermin.
I'm glad I didn't grow up in a place where terrorists were More...
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Dec 18, 2007
Allie
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I almost gave this book four stars because it was very well-written and evocative. But I just never felt much of a connection to the book or to any of the characters. The author's writing skill made it a pleasant enough read - at least, pleasant enough to finish. But it definitely wasn't a can't-put-it-down kind of book.
If I had to give concrete criticisms of the book, the main one would be that she doesn't develop any characters outside of her immediately family (in fact, it seemed More...
If I had to give concrete criticisms of the book, the main one would be that she doesn't develop any characters outside of her immediately family (in fact, it seemed More...
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Jul 09, 2007
Anna
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An autobiography about growing up in colonial Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe). Two things made me curious about this book: it's from the perspective of the child of colonialists, and the events are fairly recent as it takes place in the 1970's-1990's.
The voice is that of a relatively innocent young girl (as innocent as you can be in midst of war and dire economic circumstances) and she's allowed to tell her childhood as she saw it, good and bad.
I've had fairly mixed feelings ab More...
The voice is that of a relatively innocent young girl (as innocent as you can be in midst of war and dire economic circumstances) and she's allowed to tell her childhood as she saw it, good and bad.
I've had fairly mixed feelings ab More...
Aug 10, 2008
Sally
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There are many reviews that summarize this book, so I won’t repeat them. I found this book slightly anti-African. It left me feeling like; couldn't the British have left Africa alone and let them have their own country? It does not seem right for there to be a British Africa. Seems unnatural. I suppose American Indians may have felt the same way about the early colonists, as well. This was no Out of Africa. Now that was a great book and memoir. Different time period and location, of course.
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(3 people liked it)
Apr 28, 2008
Megan
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Apr 07, 2008
Amanda B.
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My initial thoughts about this book were that it would be a story of a young girl growing up with so much racism that she struggled to find herself and what to believe in. In some ways I was satisfied with my thoughts in comparison to the book but also dissatisfied. It was a memoir told my Alexandra Fuller herself looking back on her life in Africa during the war between Rhodesia and Zimbabwe. The stories she tells about her family revealed a lot about who she was and what kind of family she had
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(2 people liked it)
Dec 17, 2007
Sara Diane
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I read this book (well, most of it, I admit, I didn't finish and didn't want to) while in training as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Namibia, Africa. I found the writing to be disjointed and the colonial attitudes to be far to accurate. I might have liked it better before going to Africa, before seeing first-hand what various colonizing governments did to people, but maybe not. I might have liked it better if she told her memories in order, rather than jumping around so I had some clue as to wher
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(3 people liked it)
Jan 29, 2012
Barksdale
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The tale of a girl growing up in a family gradually sliding down the economic rungs in a variety of Southeastern African countries. They endure war and drought and snakes and scorpions and bad water and venomous plants and flies and rats and mosquitos and fleas. And they hve lots of dogs. Virtually no characters outside of the family are developed, although there are lots brightly painted minor players who flit through their nomadic lives. The parents will never leave Africa, and while the
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(1 person liked it)
May 29, 2011
Lisa
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A well-written memoir that was fascinating if only because the author is exactly my age, born the year I was born, and lived a life so very different from my own. As she described each stage of her upbringing, I found myself thinking about what I had been doing at that same age and marveling that the two of us could possibly have occupied the same world at the same time. I envy her when I should probably not -- her life has clearly not been easy, but it has been rich with experiences. The other
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(3 people liked it)
Aug 13, 2008
pamelochka
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A wonderfully written, inspiring tale of an unconventional childhood and life in Africa. I was particularly struck by the author's notes at the end of the book where she writes that she started out with 8 or 9 failed attempts to write a fictional novel based on her family and youth. I'm very glad she chose to tell her life story as it happened. It is heartbreaking and unforgettable. If nothing else, I have taken away from Alexandra Fuller's book a sense that one can do anything in this world as
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(1 person liked it)
May 13, 2008
John
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This is a memoir about growing up in an English family in Africa during tumultuous times.
It's actually about real estate, and the moral is: Don't buy a farm in a region where war is likely to break out.
The family lives during much of the author's growing-years in Rhodesia, which becomes Zimbabwe after the war. They are living there on April 18, 1980, when Robert Mugabe becomes Zimbabwe's prime minister. It's interesting because Mugabe finally has finished runner-up in an election th More...
It's actually about real estate, and the moral is: Don't buy a farm in a region where war is likely to break out.
The family lives during much of the author's growing-years in Rhodesia, which becomes Zimbabwe after the war. They are living there on April 18, 1980, when Robert Mugabe becomes Zimbabwe's prime minister. It's interesting because Mugabe finally has finished runner-up in an election th More...
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(1 person liked it)
Jan 04, 2008
Michelle
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As i was reading this book, i got bored very easily. The authors writing style was definitely interesting, but it just wasnt one of those 'can't put it down' kind of books. i've had it for almost two weeks, any other time, i'd be done with it. but i'm only on page 103. i've realized that its not something to sit down and read all in one day. i have take it bit by bit to stay entertained, but that could just be me. the story line isn't really one that i can relate to very well, but the detail and
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Mar 07, 2010
Anna
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jan 09, 2012
Alice
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This book is even more wonderful second time around. I especially loved the evocation of place. The reader feels as though he/she is there in the heat, with the bugs, and the smells - both good and bad. Fuller beautifully captures how 'African' her family feels despite the violence and hatred directed towards them. One's first impulse is to say these are people I shouldn't like. And then miraculously. one does. Above all this is a book about love - of family and place.
Mar 15, 2008
Brendan
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I read an article by a book reviewer a little while ago in which they talked about how sick they were of "growing up in fill-in-the-blank" books and wished people would be more original. I think that's incredibly misguided. Growing up isn't a cliche, it's just something that happens a lot that's important. So people are going to write about it, and good for them.
They don't usually write about it this well though. This is one of those books that tops out on many different le More...
They don't usually write about it this well though. This is one of those books that tops out on many different le More...
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Jan 15, 2012
Kim
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Wonderful, unique read. An exotic setting, fun, dysfunctional family and lots of great story telling with a birds eye view of one angle of Rhodesian history. The narrative is a bit disjunct at times but always poetic and entertaining. I did hunger for more depth and detail often and had to do some outside time lining research to fill in some blanks but overall, the peek I got into a very unique childhood has me recommending this book.
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Oct 08, 2007
Julie
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Fuller was raised during the Rhodesian civil war, a time when white children over the age of five "learned how to load an FN rifle magazine, strip and clean all the guns in the house, and ultimately, shoot-to-kill." Fuller regales her readers with tales of how, as a small child, she would respond to African servants' attempts to discipline her with warnings that she could have them fired. Fuller artfully describes her parents' racism, the war and relationships between blacks and whites
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(2 people liked it)
Apr 11, 2009
Inder
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Wow, this is one of the best memoirs I've read in a while! Funny, dark, and searingly honest.
Alexandra Fuller (known as "Bobo") grew up in Rhodesia, Malawi, and Zambia, the child of gregarious, charming, heavy-drinking, and deeply racist parents of British descent. What I loved about this book was how richly Ms. Fuller paints the picture of her family and the segregated life of her childhood. There is little political commentary here, and no indictment of colonialism - yet More...
Alexandra Fuller (known as "Bobo") grew up in Rhodesia, Malawi, and Zambia, the child of gregarious, charming, heavy-drinking, and deeply racist parents of British descent. What I loved about this book was how richly Ms. Fuller paints the picture of her family and the segregated life of her childhood. There is little political commentary here, and no indictment of colonialism - yet More...
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(2 people liked it)
Jan 25, 2009
Bonnie Jeanne
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There is a great deal about the war for independence fought in what was Rhodesia and is now Zimbabwe, the read seems more about what is a normal childhood and what isn't. Living with extreme heat, "terrorists," war and racial exclusion is normal for Fuller. I like that she doesn't dwell on the difference her "normal" childhood is from anyone else's "normal" childhood. [return][return]There are instances when her colonialist heritage sneaks into the narrative, like w
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Jan 02, 2009
Katherine
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Fuller’s book, Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, describes with brutal honesty Fuller’s childhood in Zimbabwe and Malawe. In Fuller’s story, she describes her life with her family through the eyes of a growing child. The story is a remarkable one largely due to Fuller’s ability to capture and translate the relationships between herself and the rest of her family, while at the same time to create individual portraits of each family member, Tim, Tub, Van, and herself (Bobo).
Each char More...
Each char More...
Feb 01, 2012
Mary
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This is one of those books--like Chris Cleaves' The Little Bee--that wakens the reader to lives unimaginably different from one's own, experiences that would have me in leather straps for the rest of my life, through which Alexandra ("Bobo") Fuller sails intact, compassionate, full of piss. Brothers and sisters and dogs die and stray, beloved farms are traded for worse farms as the family spirals down the fortunes of sub-Saharan Africa. People are always trying to kill them with
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Jan 24, 2012
Harmonybites
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The tone of this memoir of "an African childhood" is set in the very first lines:
Mum says, "Don't come creeping into our room at night."
They sleep with loaded guns beside them on the bedside rugs. She says, "Don't startle us when we're sleeping."
"Why not?"
"We might shoot you."
"Oh."
"By mistake."
"Okay." As it is, there seems a good enough chance of g More...
Mum says, "Don't come creeping into our room at night."
They sleep with loaded guns beside them on the bedside rugs. She says, "Don't startle us when we're sleeping."
"Why not?"
"We might shoot you."
"Oh."
"By mistake."
"Okay." As it is, there seems a good enough chance of g More...
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Dec 16, 2011
Dan
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Dec 02, 2011
Tifnie
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This book starts off with: "Don't come creeping into our room at night...we might shoot you."
I immediately knew I would enjoy reading this book. A profound read it is not, however. And I add this becuase this book was liken to Beryl Markham which having read a Beryl Markham I would have to say the only similarities are that they are white women in Africa in a time when they probably shouldn't be.
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight is about Alexandra Fullers's More...
I immediately knew I would enjoy reading this book. A profound read it is not, however. And I add this becuase this book was liken to Beryl Markham which having read a Beryl Markham I would have to say the only similarities are that they are white women in Africa in a time when they probably shouldn't be.
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight is about Alexandra Fullers's More...
Nov 12, 2011
Lucy
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Having been to Africa twice, mostly near where this memoir takes place, I could really relate to Ms. Fuller's recollections of the land, smells, sounds, and flavors of Africa. It all came back to me. So did the sorrow experienced, most particularly by the author's mother, over the loss of a child. (I lost my son 8 years ago.)
There are so many memoirs written by African born whites, most often young girls. All of them have been excellent. It is such a different way of life. The More...
There are so many memoirs written by African born whites, most often young girls. All of them have been excellent. It is such a different way of life. The More...
Oct 14, 2011
Karen
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I've heard Alexandra Fuller interviewed several times, following the publication of this book and others (Scribbling the Cat, which I have also read), and I have long intended to read "Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight". Fuller does an excellent job of creating a landscape for me that I can actually feel, hear and smell, and it is that landscape, among other things, that makes me wonder why the family stayed in Africa for so many years, and why Fuller says she still misses it now tha
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Oct 06, 2011
Karen
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Wow. This was a terrific book. Beautifully written and wonderfully honest about growing up as a (more or less) colonial white in several African countries during revolutionary times. Most of the book is about Fuller's early childhood. She reconstructs times and places in incredible, absorbing detail--the smells, tastes, and feelings as well as the events.
And she has a story to tell. The places where she grew up (poor, remote African farms) were hard-scrabble and dangerous, but More...
And she has a story to tell. The places where she grew up (poor, remote African farms) were hard-scrabble and dangerous, but More...
Sep 23, 2011
Elizabeth
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Finally, my gosh, I've had this forever. This is a memoir written by the daughter of British ex-pats who grew up in (then) Rhodesia. I found it fascinating, plenty of details about a daily life that could not possibly be more different from my own.
I was not expecting, but ended up liking, her style of picking and choosing anecdotes that are roughly, but not exactly, linear in time and not always clearly related to one another. At first, I was thinking "but why are you telli More...
I was not expecting, but ended up liking, her style of picking and choosing anecdotes that are roughly, but not exactly, linear in time and not always clearly related to one another. At first, I was thinking "but why are you telli More...
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Sep 02, 2011
Elisha
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I heard Alexandra Fuller interviewed on NPR for her newest memoir and she sounded so charming and likable that I decided to read her first memoir. Even though I didn't love it I could hardly put it down - something I can only attribute to a severe case of nervous anticipation wondering what terrible thing was going to happen to their family next in Africa.
The Fuller family lived in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and moved around Africa when she was a child. Her parents are among the v More...
The Fuller family lived in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and moved around Africa when she was a child. Her parents are among the v More...
