Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood

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Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood

3.94 of 5 stars 3.94 · rating details · 22,460 ratings · 1,952 reviews

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, when a schoolgirl was as likely to carry a shotgun as a satchel. Fuller tells a story of civil war; of a quixotic battle against nature and loss; and of her family's unbreakable bond with a continent which came to define, shape, scar...more

Paperback, 310 pages

Published 2003 by Pan MacMillan (first published 2001)

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Mar 01, 2010 Jeanette rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Jeanette by: Elisabeth

Shelves: africa, biography-memoir, nonfiction, four-star-nonfiction

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 so common that they were refer...more 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 so common that they were referred to as "terrs." And scorpions were so common that they called them "scorps." And I'm quite grateful that my first day of school photo does not feature me clutching an Uzi for protection.

Alexandra "Bobo" Fuller writes about her experiences in a strangely unsentimental, matter-of-fact way. Be it fear, fun, or heartbreaking loss, all is recorded with equal detachment. Maybe it's just her writing style, but I wondered if a young life filled with danger and uncertainty and pain taught her not to feel anything too deeply.

If Fuller's family and friends are any indication, it would appear that white people can only cope with African life through heavy boozing. Full-grown adults with families drink like college boys on a bender! I guess it helps them handle the stress and loneliness and tolerate the intense heat. But it made me a little queasy thinking about the hangovers they must have suffered.
I did like the story about the exploding Christmas cake, though. Nothing like a little flambe to brighten your holiday. HA!

For me the book was both informative and entertaining. Also quite sad at times, but never melodramatically so. It opened my eyes to still more of the complexities that are the very definition of Africa. The residual colonial attitudes were also quite a revelation to me.
The writing is excellent, if a little disjointed at times. It's written mostly in present tense, the curse of my existence. If not for that, I might have gone with five stars.
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Jun 05, 2008 Juliefrick rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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, I prefer that Fu...more

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Dec 18, 2007 Allie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Childhood memoir fans

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 her family...more

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Catherine I think to truly understand the book you have to have had an African childhood. Her family were originally from Africa (they moved to the UK for a whi...more
Feb 02, 2010 08:03am

Deb I just finished this book and perused the reviews--I am going to be discussing with my book group in a couple of nights and usually gain more insight...more
Oct 30, 2010 05:38am

Jul 09, 2007 Anna rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: all interested in childhood recounts and recent history

Shelves: a-good-read, autobios-bios-memoirs

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 about this book: I w...more

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Mar 27, 2012 Melki rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: memoir

The first few lines are gripping, to say the least.
Mom 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."

Just a taste of what life was like for young Alexandra "Bobo" Fuller.

Living in a house with no electricity, Fuller recounted how she and her sister employed the "buddy system" to use the bathroom at night. One girl used the toilet while the other he...more

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Aug 10, 2008 Sally rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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.
No o...more

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Apr 28, 2008 Megan Compaine rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Alexandra “Bobo” Fuller's Don't Let's Go To The Dogs Tonight depicts her childhood experiences growing up white in Africa during the Rhodesian civil war. Her life is an amalgamation of what most people would consider unusual circumstances. Bobo, as Alexandra is called growing up, has one sister, her three other siblings die, two at childbirth, and another drowned in a pool. I found the book engaging and enjoyed reading it. While it was not a page turner that I couldn't put down, each time I did...more Alexandra “Bobo” Fuller's Don't Let's Go To The Dogs Tonight depicts her childhood experiences growing up white in Africa during the Rhodesian civil war. Her life is an amalgamation of what most people would consider unusual circumstances. Bobo, as Alexandra is called growing up, has one sister, her three other siblings die, two at childbirth, and another drowned in a pool. I found the book engaging and enjoyed reading it. While it was not a page turner that I couldn't put down, each time I did pick it up I enjoyed discovering more about her unusual childhood. Many of her stories intrigue me because they are unlike anything that I have ever experienced. For example, she blames herself for the drowning of her sister Olivia which made her mom start to go crazy. She also described the attack of their African maid. “Violet has been sliced, like rashers of bacon, all the way up her thighs, across her belly, her arms, her face” (121). There seemed to never be a dull moment in the Fuller house which made the book interesting.
I found this memoir particularly intriguing because of Fuller's location and sense of self. As a white girl living in Rhodesia, “I say, 'I'm African.' But not black” (Fuller, 10).
One theme in the book is how she sometimes describes things as the black way or white way. Her parents were racists who were fighting “to keep one country in Africa white-run” (19). Although she lived in Africa it was not until she was over ten years old that she got to meet and eat lunch with, Africans who were not her nannies, cooks, or maids. Therefore, she inherited her parents' way of looking at Africans. Bobo describes her sister “Vanessa gets her cat-hooded, African deadpan, not-listening eyes” (74).
I think that Fuller's objectives were to share her personal experiences growing up. Even through Africa ruffed her up and provided her with a childhood lifestyle that many grownups could never imagine, she still writes this book as a love story about Africa and her mother. For me, she was successful with her objectives in writing the book. Her use of anecdotes and descriptive language gave me a taste for her unusual life in Africa.
I loved Alexandra Fuller's use of descriptive language. This technique lends itself well to memoirs because it helped connect the reader to her Africa. Always using descriptive language, Fuller describes Africa in a matriarchal way: “...is her smell; hot, sweet, smoky, salty, sharp-soft. It is like black tea, cut tobacco, fresh fire, old sweat, young grass” (130).
I enjoyed how she was able to intersperse some humor. “I wanted to say, 'Dad was only joking about shooting him. And don't be touchy about being called a baboon. I'm their kid and they call me Bobo. Same thing'” (158). When describing this book to others I realized how depressing many aspects were and it was little bits of humor that made it still enjoyable to read.
The evidence that she used to support her claims was persuasive. However, it is impossible for it to be unbiased because it is her memoir and based on her biases and experiences. This is not a bad thing. While she does intersperse a few historical paragraphs throughout the book like the excerpt of Kenyan history and Jomo Kenyatta the, rest is reflecting on her life in Africa. If you want to read an unbiased book, then I suggest that you look outside of the memoir section. (less)

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Apr 07, 2008 Amanda B. rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: people who like to read books about African society

Shelves: advisorybooks-2007-08

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...more

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Dec 17, 2007 Sara Diane rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: no one

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 where a...more

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Jan 24, 2012 Barksdale Penick rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 girls...more

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May 29, 2011 Lisa rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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...more

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Nov 05, 2012 Carol rated it 3 of 5 stars

For some time I've heard many good things about DON'T LET'S GO TO THE DOGS TONIGHT, Alexandra Fuller's memoir of growing up in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) circa 1970's in the midst of civil war and political instability. I was enthralled by Fuller's ability to make the wild African landscape come alive with its varied smells, touches and sights. There were many passages in which I felt transported to the Rhodesian rugged and often-inhabitable landscape. But I became increasingly saddened how Fuller's na...more For some time I've heard many good things about DON'T LET'S GO TO THE DOGS TONIGHT, Alexandra Fuller's memoir of growing up in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) circa 1970's in the midst of civil war and political instability. I was enthralled by Fuller's ability to make the wild African landscape come alive with its varied smells, touches and sights. There were many passages in which I felt transported to the Rhodesian rugged and often-inhabitable landscape. But I became increasingly saddened how Fuller's narrative revealed her family's poor treatment and racist attitudes towards Africans.

The structure of this memoir enabled Fuller to include retrospective thoughts about her childhood and how her family, especially her mother, continued to possess racist attitudes towards Africans. Her failure to address these concerns bothered me immensely. The history of Rhodesia is rifted with decades of minority white rule and violence towards Africans who stood up for their rights. Only recently have Africans been granted land rights as they are entitled and whites have been asked to leave. It is indeed sad that Fuller never made friends with native Rhodesians (except her family's servants, of course) and that her vision of Africa includes only non-human qualities. What a world she missed out on. The racism and bigotry left me with a sour taste in my mouth.

I have great respect for Alexandra Fuller's writing, but must admit to having grown impatient with and irritated by the racism. As a nasty, self-obsessed child desperately in need of parental oversight, the author gladly takes part in the degradation, segregation and insulting of the Africans she is around. Ms. Fuller doesn't offer any apologies or justifications for her own and her family's intransigent defense of white rule, and recounts her parents boasting "If we could have kept one country white-ruled, it would be an oasis."

My reactions toward this book are mixed. While on the one hand there were wonderful descriptions of Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, its peoples and the all-enveloping conflict of the 1970's, I found the stream-of-consciousness style of large tracts of text and tacit acceptance of unrelenting, self-indulgent racism sometimes difficult to deal with.
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Oct 02, 2012 Veronica rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mooched, non-fiction

I've already read Fuller's second book about her family's life in Africa, Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness, so this wasn't as surprising a read as it might have been. Many of the events are the same, but this is Alexandra's view of her life in Africa, up to her marriage, so we see them from a different perspective. There's less insight into her mother's state of mind, but it's still very clear how difficult her parents' life was, and how much courage and determination they had, livi...more

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Apr 25, 2009 Harry Rutherford rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: africa, around-the-world, southern-africa

Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight is an autobiography about growing up in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe. It’s about growing up in a war — Fuller was only eleven at the time of independence — and about the last throes of white colonialism and a dying way of life.

Her parents had been living in Kenya, but after Mau Mau they moved to Rhodesia, where Ian Douglas Smith had declared that there would never be majority rule, and fought to keep at least one part of Africa under white rule. Then after Rhodesia became...more Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight is an autobiography about growing up in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe. It’s about growing up in a war — Fuller was only eleven at the time of independence — and about the last throes of white colonialism and a dying way of life.

Her parents had been living in Kenya, but after Mau Mau they moved to Rhodesia, where Ian Douglas Smith had declared that there would never be majority rule, and fought to keep at least one part of Africa under white rule. Then after Rhodesia became Zimbabwe, and their farm was taken by the new government, they moved first to Malawi and then to Zambia. It reminded me of travelling in Zimbabwe nearly twenty years ago, and meeting these white people from South Africa and Zimbabwe and Zambia who seemed to have a shared identity as white Africans that had no real connection with national borders. It’s not just whites in Africa who often have an ethnic identity which doesn’t fully coincide with their nationality, of course.

You don’t have to have any sympathy with the ideal of white rule in Africa to find something melancholy in a story of people being left stranded by the tide of history, their way of life disappearing around them, and this is rather a sad book; as well as the war and the politics, the family suffer more personal losses, with several children dying young and the mother turning more and more to alcohol. But there’s a lot of humour and colour along with the gloom.

She writes well. She has a good ear for dialogue, an eye for the absurd, and her portrayal of her parents’ attitudes to race (and indeed her own childhood attitudes) is unsparing but nuanced. She doesn’t whitewash anything but she’s not interested in demonising her family either.

Here’s a little fairly randomly chosen extract:

We stop at the SPCA in Umtali and collect a host of huge dogs, and then we collect dogs abandoned by civil-war fleeing farmers. These dogs are found tied to trees or staring hopefully down flat driveways, waiting for their nonreturning owners. their owners have gone in the middle of the night to South Africa, Australia, Canada, England. We call it the chicken run. Or we say they gapped it. But they gapped it without their pets.

One day Dad says to Mum, ‘Either I go, or some of those bloody dogs have to go.’
‘But they don’t have anywhere to go.’

Dad is in a rage. He aims a kick at a cluster of dogs, who cheerfully return his gesture with jump-up licking let’s-playfulness.

Mum says, ‘See? How sweet.’
‘I mean it, Nicola.’

So the dogs stay with us until untimely death does them part.

The life expectancy of a dog on our farm is not great. The dogs are killed by baboons, wild pigs, snakes, wire snares and each other. A few eat the poison blocks left out in the barns for rats. Or they eat cow shit on which dip for killing ticks has splattered and they dissolve in frothy-mouthed fits. they get tick fever and their hearts fail from the heat. More dogs come to take the place of those whose graves are wept-upon humps in the fields below the house.

We buy a 1967 mineproofed Land Rover, complete with siren, and call her Lucy. Lucy, for Luck.

‘Why do we have the bee-ba?’
‘To scare terrorists.’

But Mum and Dad don’t use the siren except to announce their arrival at parties.

I read Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight as my book from Zimbabwe for the Read the World challenge. As it turns out, although Alexandra Fuller’s parents spent pretty much their whole lives in Africa and she was conceived in Rhodesia, she was born during about the only two year period when they were living in England… but I’m going to count it anyway.(less)

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Jan 25, 2009 Bonnie Jeanne rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 when she mentions the condition...more

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Aug 13, 2008 pamelochka rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Kadee

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...more

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May 13, 2008 John rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 this year, alt...more

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Jan 04, 2008 Michelle rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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...more

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Mar 07, 2010 Anna rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: memoir-autobiographical-or-biograph, history-current-events-non-fictio, africa

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 09, 2012 Alice rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012

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.

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Mar 15, 2008 Brendan Detzner rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: anyone

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 levels at the same time-...more

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Jan 15, 2012 Kim rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 in the so...more

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Apr 11, 2009 Inder rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: memoir, africa, 21st-century, read-2009, other-reading-2009

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, there is no softenin...more

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Feb 15, 2009 Coqueline rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

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.'

I'm not usually fond of memoirs, but when I picked up the book and read those first few lines, I couldn't put it down anymore.

Fuller wrote how she grew up in a white farmer family in what is now Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia with such love and honesty, I can't help being nostalgic...more

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May 08, 2009 Tim rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: portauthority

An enjoyable read that really captured the pointed and somewhat distorted (hyperbolized?) memories of growing up: big-picture issues are simplified, while tiny details are magnified...which raises a lot of questions about what really is important?

Probably the most refreshing thing about this memoir is its avoidance of a sense of grandiosity...while we can pull (tug, perhaps unwillingly) deep, sweeping meaning out of it, what we really get are the recollections of a child growing up amongst compl...more

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Jan 02, 2009 Katherine rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 character com...more

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Apr 11, 2013 Kathryn York rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Alexandra Fuller: Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, Random House, Copyright 2001, 301 pages.
Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight illustrates the life of a child living in colonial Rhodesia, during the country's 13-year civil war. Fuller gives the reader insight on how her life, and family were affected during and after the war. She teaches the reader brief historical facts about the time without creating a history book. The book also holds strong themes of coming of age as Bobo becomes more mat...more Alexandra Fuller: Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, Random House, Copyright 2001, 301 pages.
Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight illustrates the life of a child living in colonial Rhodesia, during the country's 13-year civil war. Fuller gives the reader insight on how her life, and family were affected during and after the war. She teaches the reader brief historical facts about the time without creating a history book. The book also holds strong themes of coming of age as Bobo becomes more mature and begins to understand the world around her. Her writing style is almost poetic, and she is adept at describing her childhood memories. Sometimes the writing may seem to be too descriptive and the point of the passage a bit vague. Overall it was quite well written and understandable, thought it did contain some higher-level vocabulary. Readers that would enjoy this book would include those who enjoy history, childhood memories and stories of growing up. Those who are college age and up would also appreciate this book more than high school or younger since they would be able to compare their life to the author’s better than those who have not experienced as much in their life.
The book is narrated by a young Alexandra Fuller or Bobo, as she was called by her family and friends. She begins by describing her life on a farmhouse in the Burma River Valley, bordering the guerrilla-friendly Mozambique to the East, and continues throughout the book to recount her life in various other farms. She becomes accustomed to the way of her life is during the war and writes about the mines, strict officers, and a spy who comes to live with her family. Her story also depicts the ways her life changed when Rhodesia became Zambia. As Bobo grows older she reveals the hardships her family has gone through inside their home and out. She shows the struggles her family went through after losing three children and is brutally honest in describing her family and the lessons they gave her. Both her parents smoked and drank heavily and allowed her to do so at a young age too. A typical night with the Fullers would find them drinking beer, smoking and playing poker, in the morning Bobo’s mom would be drunk and gleefully happy. Although her mother went through manic depression she instilled in her daughters a love of reading, and taught them to how to embrace life wholeheartedly, and be strong-willed and resilient. Even in dark times Fuller is able to rejoice when there is nothing to celebrate, and make light of situations. She uses humor throughout her various accounts and shows her strong bond to the country.
For the most part, I enjoyed the book. I liked her style of writing though in some places I felt as though it was a bit too descriptive. The higher-level vocabulary helped the book stand out among others. The topic was very interesting and it was fascinating to be introduced to history I had not learned in school in this way. Some parts were entertaining, such as the scene when white missionaries come to the farm and Bobo and her mother entertain them, other parts sad, such as the retelling of how Olivia (Bobo’s youngest sister) died. It was honest and powerful. Fuller not only told the story of her life but also revealed the important lessons she learned and taught them to the reader. She accurately describes life during the civil war through the point of view of a young girl yearning to grow up. It was interesting to see how the protagonist began to understand the world around her and how her views on what was happening changed, as she grew older. Although the book was a little difficult to get in to, I highly recommend this to anyone who likes the art of storytelling.
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Feb 10, 2013 Margitte rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: africa, african-authors, biography-and-memoir, nonfiction

I read "Cocktail hour under the tree of Forgetfulness" first, and found this book too repetitive - although it was written first. I loved Cocktail hour more.

However, I enjoyed Alexandra Fuller's candor, honesty, wit and great writing style as usual.

I somehow had enough now for a while of all the hardship, tragedy, hurt, and everything else related to the wars in Africa and everywhere else. I have experienced much the same as Alexandra Fuller, being part of the revolutionary times, the same wars...more

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Dec 27, 2012 Riley rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book, about a last generation of the white African ruling class, had some beautiful scenes and a good mixture of tragedy and comedy. I was struck by the strength of the family and its ability to endure, despite repeated heartbreak.

On the demerit side, I found all but the mother's character to be one-dimensional, especially when author Alexandra Fuller wrote of the blacks she encountered.
Still, I enjoyed the writing a lot and there were some very sad and lyrical passages:

"The story changes d...more

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About Alexandra Fuller

Alexandra Fuller has written four books of non-fiction.

Her debut book, Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood (Random House, 2001), was a New York Times Notable Book for 2002, the 2002 Booksense best non-fiction book, a finalist for the Guardian’s First Book Award and the winner of the 2002 Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize.

Her 2004 Scribbling the Cat: Travels with an African Soldie...more

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Books by Alexandra Fuller

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State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America

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“How you see a country depends on whether you are driving through it, or live in it. How you see a country depends on whether or not you can leave it, if you have to.” — 10 people liked it

“Once, I discovered the skulls of two impala rams, their horns locked into an irreversible figure-of-eight; the two animals had been trapped in combat, latched to each other during the battle of the rut. The harder they had pulled to escape from each other, the more intractably stuck they were, until they had fallen exhausted, to their knees, in an embrace of hatred that had killed them both. When I picked up the skulls to add to my growing collection of what Vanessa called "Bobo's smelly pile," the hooked horns fell away from each other and the story of the impalas' death struggle was undone.” — 4 people liked it

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32222.Don_t_Let_s_Go_to_the_Dogs_Tonight?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1356129315l/32222.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32222.Don_t_Let_s_Go_to_the_Dogs_Tonight?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood by Alexandra Fuller[/url]

Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood

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