In the small African republic of Kinjanja, British diplomat Morgan Leafy bumbles heavily through his job. His love of women, his fondness for drink...
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reviews
Nov 25, 2011
Laurie
rated it: 
Anyone with a name like Morgan Leafy is bound to have troubles. His career has wandered onto a jungle path and got lost. He's freckled, balding, going to fat. Within the Foreign Office, he's a second-stringer if ever there was one: not Oxbridge, not connected to the right people (or any people, for that matter) and stuck in a provincial backwater in west Africa as second-in-command to an about-to-retire has-been diplomat who spent his entire career in the Orient until, presumably because of his
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Jul 09, 2011
Tony
rated it:
Boyd, William. A GOOD MAN IN AFRICA. (1981). *****.
This was Boyd’s first novel, and was the winner of the Whitbread Prize and the Somerset Maugham Award. So far, I’ve only read one other of his novels, but, with luck, I’ll be able to get at the rest of them. He is one terrific writer. This novel, as you might guess, is set in Africa in the fictiional republic of Kinjanja. The protagonist is Morgan Leafy, a young man on his first assignment with the British diplomatic service. He t More...
This was Boyd’s first novel, and was the winner of the Whitbread Prize and the Somerset Maugham Award. So far, I’ve only read one other of his novels, but, with luck, I’ll be able to get at the rest of them. He is one terrific writer. This novel, as you might guess, is set in Africa in the fictiional republic of Kinjanja. The protagonist is Morgan Leafy, a young man on his first assignment with the British diplomatic service. He t More...
Dec 12, 2011
Ensiform
rated it: 
Overweight, beleaguered Morgan Leafy, a minor official in the fictional African country of Kinjaja, muddles his way through a series of misadventures. He faces scandal, blackmail, and venereal disease, as well as a righteous Scottish doctor, whom he must attempt to bribe. A very funny novel, with solid, human characters and wonderfully bizarre situations that are nevertheless more believable than, say, Tom Sharpe’s. The plot unfolds compellingly, in three parts, with the middle part a flashba
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Aug 28, 2011
Emma
rated it: 
I am going to preface this review by acknowledging that there are probably lots of people who will disagree with my assessment of this book and admitting that my feelings about it are a study in misinformed, and so disappointed, expectations. Basically, I didn't like it but then I was expecting something completely different which is down to me and has nothing to do with the author or the book! I have never read any William Boyd before but - for whatever reason - was expecting an empathetic ex
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Jan 03, 2009
Brooke
rated it:
I found this book absolutely hilarious. I was literally in hysterics for an entire 20 page chapter - my husband was looking at me in awe as I have not laughed that long or hard in ages, and as he says, "I am a hard audience." That being said, it's not a riot throughout, but Boyd develops the characters so well that he can pull this off artfully. Having lived in Africa and England, I really appreciated Boyd's characters in all their Africanness and their Britishness. Morgan Leafy is
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Feb 17, 2009
Eliszard
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Boyd's first novel; brilliant mastery of plot and flash-back narrative; memorable turns of phrase ("the opaque, cloudy void of his ignorance seemed to stretch away in front of him"; "As he turned into his driveway and parked his car in the garage the options that were available to him presented themselves and were discarded. One: be honest, tell her the truth, or as much of it as was necessary... Two: forget it, simply go ahead as if nothing were wrong... Three: lie. His old frien
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Mar 16, 2010
Arthur
rated it: 
Morgan Leafy is the second-ranked British diplomat in a provincial capital in post-independence 1960s West Africa. He hates his job and all the people around him, constantly hiding his rages. He's ignorant and pretends sagacity, all the while those around him manipulate him for their own ends.
This is a comic novel -- Boyd's first published novel -- with a fairly unlikeable character. It took a while for the penny to drop and I found myself laughing out loud. For any other writer, I' More...
This is a comic novel -- Boyd's first published novel -- with a fairly unlikeable character. It took a while for the penny to drop and I found myself laughing out loud. For any other writer, I' More...
Jun 30, 2010
James
rated it: 
The blurb on the back cover made this sound like a fun book to read. After reading the first 7 pages I was bored with the writing style - the author keeps mentioning things that have happened to the protagonist, but then doesn't fully expand on them. Unfortunately, we already know these titbits of information as they are on the back cover - they need to be expanded!! Flicking through the rest of the book I realised I hadn't seemed to miss much by heading to the end - all in all, a dissappointmen
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Aug 29, 2011
Emily
rated it:
Set in Colonial Kinjanja, Africa, Morgan Leafy is an over-weight, middle-aged man who is easily manipulated by others and is insufferably jealous of the man who woes and marries the girl he adores, Priscilla Fanshawe, who also happens to be his boss's daughter.
You can't help but feel sorry for Morgan but he does put himself into awkward situations, like the time he finds himself hiding in a bath with the shower curtain drawn while he listens to a large well-to-do lady going to the to More...
You can't help but feel sorry for Morgan but he does put himself into awkward situations, like the time he finds himself hiding in a bath with the shower curtain drawn while he listens to a large well-to-do lady going to the to More...
Aug 01, 2011
Good...oh good book. The first book I read and loved by William Boyd was Armadillo and this novel was written in a similar vein. The humourous escapades of a young man going about his career. Morgan's internal monologue's were bang on! I felt like I was reading about myself at points. I love how at one point Morgan admits that no matter what he did to extricate himself from his predicament he could only make things worse. Fun book!
Sep 21, 2009
Jessica
rated it:
A very quick and enjoyable read about British colonialism in an invented African country in the 60s (? guessing, never really says). The main character is highly entertaining as a put-open, pessimistic, mid-level diplomat hoping for an assignment probably anywhere else. He is definitely not the 'good man in africa' of the title, but the book focuses on him wading through all of the bureaucracy and politics to discover that, despite his cynicism, this said good man does in fact exist. You're left
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Dec 20, 2011
Lindsey
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This book really surprised me: Boyd somehow took one of the least likable protagonists I've ever encountered, surrounded him with several other infuriatingly pathetic supporting characters, and ended up with a hilarious page-turner. I do think it's a book that is best read quickly, as I might have tired of it otherwise, but read in a couple of days it was quite the entertaining romp!
May 02, 2010
Rich
rated it:
Basically a David Lodge book set in a backwater British diplomatic post in West Africa. A little less elegant than Lodge's best, or Kingsley Amis's average, but mixed in with the slapstick there's some political intrigue and a few keen observations about the role of foreigners in such places, and that pretty much makes up the difference.
Jan 07, 2009
Ellen
rated it:
This was William Boyd's award winning first novel so I thought I would give it a try after having LOVED Restless. This is dated and terrible, not at all funny. Don't waste your time. I kept hoping it would get better and it didn't. If I had known I wouldn't have wasted my time.
Jul 07, 2009
Dan
rated it:
It's good and at times very funny. But you need to be a fan of Boyd's "fish out of water" books (Stars and Bars, Armadillo, etc.) and be able to like unlikable characters to enjoy. With these narrators, I don't actually like them but I'm interested in what happens to them. But, this was his first novel and I'd recommend later ones before this. Stars and Bars is better. Or read Restless, one of his more recent ones which is very different and very good.
Aug 06, 2011
Issi
rated it:
This book is pure laughter! It is corny, frustrating, but above all funny. If you've ever lived in Africa it's even better! I can only imagine that anyone who has ever worked in the diplomatic services abroad must see the funny side too.
Aug 16, 2010
Juanita
rated it:
Places you in what feels like Colonial Africa
along side Somerset Maugham and Graham
Greene..the sweating tropics, unfathomable
continent and lots of g & t's to keep the
malaria away. I think maybe a truly black
comedy.
along side Somerset Maugham and Graham
Greene..the sweating tropics, unfathomable
continent and lots of g & t's to keep the
malaria away. I think maybe a truly black
comedy.
Aug 18, 2009
I had an uncle who lived (and was murdered) in Africa, and my graduate school adviser was from Africa, so I might have an interest in a bumbling (are there any other kind?) British functionary in the colonies.
Jul 29, 2011
Jayne
rated it:
Some good laughs in this, and some gloriously toe-curling situations, but it took a while to get to them as the start was rather slow. Also (and rather a lame objection, I know), I found the main character's name a bit silly.
Apr 22, 2009
Tricia
rated it:
At times laugh out loud funny as the black humour turns to farce. I loved this book and even warmed to the singularly unpleasant character, Morgan Leafy, as events spun beyond his control.
Jan 12, 2011
Eliseh
rated it:
Both sad and funny. In fact, parts were downright hysterical. At one point I was laughing so hard I was crying. The protagonist gets into some of the most incredible situations.
Jan 15, 2012
Mary
rated it:
I wasn't sure I'd like this book when I first started. Happily I stuck with it and by the end I was laughing out loud in parts. William Boyd knows how to write.
Oct 04, 2010
Alia
rated it:
"'One man against nature,' he said to himself in a deep American accent. 'Nood, in the African farst.'"
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A little slow, but hey, no hurry in Africa. Quality, liquored-up colonial farce ... possibly even deserves an extra star for making me laugh out loud on BART.
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A little slow, but hey, no hurry in Africa. Quality, liquored-up colonial farce ... possibly even deserves an extra star for making me laugh out loud on BART.
Dec 25, 2008
Kate
rated it:
a bit trashy, but a book my dad loved at one point. i found it at my grandmother's house with my dad's name in it. a bit crude at points, from gonorrhea to a woman's decaying body in the line. i hope africa isn't as bad as it is described. just an unlucky sob i guess.
Aug 05, 2011
Colin N.
rated it:
Such a funny book! Thoroughly enjoyable. Like a more modern and smuttier Lucky Jim. It has the same sort of situation comedy and romantic hijinks, but with a more modern and explicit sensibility. I laughed out loud numerous times. Really fun.
Jul 28, 2011
Forget about Boyd's latest novels, he wrote his best novels 20 years agao: A good man in Africa and An icecream war.
Jul 01, 2010
Deanne
rated it:
Loved reading as Morgan Leafy's life unravelled, with every action only seeming to make things worse.
Feb 06, 2009
Raegan
rated it:
This reads like a sort of Graham Greene type book. How's that for a vaguely worded review?
Jan 04, 2012
Julianabadescu
rated it:
3 1/2 stars actually...good, funny, poignant but not his best work...worth reading as enjoyable ...you will embrace main character for his failures
Jul 26, 2011
Aleksandra
rated it:
Nice satire about lower rank diplomat posted at the forgotten town in forgotten country.
