Journalist Aidan Hartley's epic narrative combines the literary reportage of Ryszard Kapuscinski with a historical love story reminiscent of Michae...
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Dec 16, 2009
Sharon
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To be completely honest, Aiden Hartley, although I envy his travels, is a pompous prick. he wanders around Africa pretending that it is his, and yet knows nothing of the people he lives "with." He hangs out with white people in white bars, and is essentially a whiny ex-pat child even though he was born in Kenya.
And then Ex-pats (of every culture) wonder why everyone hates them; It's because of people like Aiden Hartley.
And then Ex-pats (of every culture) wonder why everyone hates them; It's because of people like Aiden Hartley.
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Jan 28, 2012
Michael
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The author delivers a book that will stay with me long after the last page is turned. One quarter travelogue, another family history and the other half memoirs the author shows us Africa in all it's brutality and sadness. Not what I was expecting but an essential read to remind us what we should not forget.
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Jul 06, 2011
Kiwiflora
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If you just took a moment to think about the devastation wrought on Africa since the white man landed on its vast coastlines, you would weep. Britain, Italy, Germany, France, Portugal, Russia, America, Spain, Turkey: they have all left their indelible and catastrophic mark on the continent. Once these countries have wrought their havoc, bled the place dry of its resources, its people and its essence they leave. And really in our little Western worlds we think very little and very infrequently of
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Jul 27, 2010
Mary
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I picked this up at NBO airport on my way to Zanzibar, having heard a few good things about it. The first disappointment was that it was not about Zanzibar, which could have been avoided if I'd found out a little more about the book before sitting down with it on the beach. I didn't love it.
This is really two books in one, which is what I've averaged together for three stars (I think I'd like to give it 2.5 but won't). I didn't think the two halves really meshed well together. The most More...
This is really two books in one, which is what I've averaged together for three stars (I think I'd like to give it 2.5 but won't). I didn't think the two halves really meshed well together. The most More...
Jun 17, 2010
Mattie
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In many ways, this is a 5-star book. Horrifying, inspiring, bloody, real. Once I got sucked in, I wanted to read this book every. single. minute. and at the same time toss aside my peaceful, happy life and do what I already knew that I wanted to do. For me, reading this book was both utterly absorbing and incredibly painful: how could I bear to sit and read when there is SO MUCH going on out there? (Out there, you know, the greater world, adventure, war, sex-drugs-and-rock-and-roll: that familia
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Jan 18, 2010
Deborah
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Please read this book. I read it when I was in Kenya because I knew very little about African history or politics. While I've barely made a dent in understanding the complexities of that vast continent, this non-fiction book provided tremendous insight and information. It was horrifying in some parts, particularly the sections about Somalia and Rwanda. I'm embarrassed that I didn't know more about those country's histories.
The book is written by Aidan Hartley whose father served in More...
The book is written by Aidan Hartley whose father served in More...
Dec 07, 2009
Robert
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This was an amazing book -- many many unforgettable moments. Perhaps not the best first introduction to the wars and genocide in Africa, but the most compulsively readable. I felt that I was getting a view into a different life, a different kind of person. Spanning modern Africa and the Africa of an earlier generation, I felt like I got a sense of the personal devestation that even observing such things gives. I feel that I could sit down with anyone and share story after story -- reporters tryi
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Jan 28, 2011
Tom
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In the first 20 or so pages I was grumbling as I found myself drowning in adjectives. Though, as Hartley hits his stride, the prose loses the overwritten feel and develops into a very fine book.
I'm not sure he needed the device of 'the Zanzibar chest' as a framing tool. It's almost insecurity. Almost like he didn't think the true stories of an intrepid reporter in the middle of the worst of the worst atrocities in Mogadishu and Rwanda would hold the reader's interest so he needed to More...
I'm not sure he needed the device of 'the Zanzibar chest' as a framing tool. It's almost insecurity. Almost like he didn't think the true stories of an intrepid reporter in the middle of the worst of the worst atrocities in Mogadishu and Rwanda would hold the reader's interest so he needed to More...
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Jul 28, 2009
Foster
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While the first 100 pages or so were hard to get through due to the boasting tone Hartley took as he listed off all of his adventurous British ancestors, this changed as he began writing about his own experiences as a reporter in Africa. His account of this time was amplified due to him being witness to (or involved in) every major conflict to grip Africa in the late 80s and 90s. Ethiopa, Rwanda, Somalia - they are all here and in a vivid detail I had not encountered before.
What ma More...
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May 28, 2009
Emily
rated it:
This is a story for someone who may need to experience stress vicariously through someone else. Don't laugh -- we all need to do this once in a while. Especially if you are someone like me who needs a certain degree of ground beneath my feet (routine, apartment with things in place, a general sense of security, etc.) but who also craves a healthy amount of chaos and edginess in life. I need this fix at least once a year and Hartley gave me a fair share. Not to mention that I read this while livi
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Nov 01, 2007
Molly
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This is probably one of the best books I've ever read. It is one of the few books that has made me cry (in an airport bar! I had to abadon my draft Flat Tire :-(
I was in a bookstore in Tanzania and overwhelmed by the fantastic selection of African non-fiction, I asked the Tanzanian staff to point out the one book I couldn't walk away without. They chose this one.
This book takes you through the incredible recent history of East Africa/parts of the Middle East through th More...
I was in a bookstore in Tanzania and overwhelmed by the fantastic selection of African non-fiction, I asked the Tanzanian staff to point out the one book I couldn't walk away without. They chose this one.
This book takes you through the incredible recent history of East Africa/parts of the Middle East through th More...
Aug 10, 2011
The Zanzibar Chest tells a true story that is part travelogue, part family history, part autobiography of a war correspondent. What is most amazing is that these three sides of the coin are woven together in a writing style that absolutely blurs the line between journalism, memoir, and literature. There is a lot of emotion, reflection, and philosophy to contextualize all of the different stories being told, and the result is engaging and sophisticated. I will read it again.
Jun 08, 2009
Roni
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This is not well-written, the plot was thin and I almost stopped reading it. But I always finish a book I start. (It's an annoying quirk of mine.) I'm glad I did, because I got a view of the Rwandan genocide I did not have before. And I used to live in that area. It was as if someone I knew was there and writing to me about what he saw. The thing is, it takes a long time to get there. Hartely wanders around Africa for quite a while before he lands in Rwanda. Some of the parts about Somal
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Dec 13, 2011
Kay
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The horrors of the African wars and famines he describes are devastating. He is describing them to try to find out why he and his fellow journalists were there, why it was happening, whether it was his colonial ancestors who caused it all. What I didn't know was the way that whole generations are raised only knowing how to fight with each other, and with terrible weapons available to all. Quite frightening and thought-provoking, what can we do when this happens.
Dec 26, 2008
Denise
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You simply can't put it down. It's very well written, and it's an excellent way to learn more about the intense and painful story of modern Africa; through the life of an eyewitness and survivor to all that crazyness. An adventurous man, a reporter, that wanted to see it all and tell the world about what he saw and lived there, in his homeland. A man that is still trying to make some sense out of all that insanity. It's moving. A page turner no doubt!
Feb 23, 2009
Tucker
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It has been a while since I read about 'the dark continent,' and Aidan Hartley certainly loves his Africa. The author poetically interweaves his own story as an African and war correspondent and then the life of his father's friend, a British bureaucrat in Arabia. Though the story is occasionally disconnected and the prose is sometimes confusing from an inundation of exotic African descriptions, that is not the point of the book. The most important quality of this book is its ability to frank
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Apr 13, 2009
At present, I wish my mind could focus on just one book at a time because now I'm not sure if I remember all of the characters in this book and I'm going to have to go back and re-read large portions...ah! But, taking place in East Africa...this book provides a rare glimpse into a plethora of cultures not usually explored in modern literature. Having just been through the region, I enjoyed the narrative and the description of the sights, smells and languages of the area...
Aug 13, 2010
Doris
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I highly recommend this book though it's not for the faint of heart. It's amazing. Very sad and depressing at times, always fascinating. I'm not someone who often reads historical accounts, but this book is hard to put down. It taught me a lot about Africa (particulary Somalia and Rawanda, but also Yemen and Kenya and more), British colonialism, US political machinations, futile wars, famine, foreign intevention and arrogance.
Aug 09, 2010
Aaron
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This book is really a personal reflection on what it is like to be a war journalist. And that is the best part. The attempt to wind in a colonial history of Peter Davey in Aden ultimately falls flat, as it seems like a book that was started but there was not enough material to make a book out of it. Aslo, the book contains some aspects that are false -- like the etymology of the town of Eldoret... which makes me wonder.
Dec 31, 2008
Elona
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just some interesting things that my friends and I were also discussing with relation to Cambodia.
"the conflicts I have witnessed tell me most men are no different from the Serbs, Hutus or Somalis who became killers. Most of us are entirely capable of torching a village, executing men, raping, daughters and beating up grandmothers. As far as the killing of Jews or Armenians or Aboriginals goes most people barely need the incitement of their leaders. They engaged in it with enthu More...
"the conflicts I have witnessed tell me most men are no different from the Serbs, Hutus or Somalis who became killers. Most of us are entirely capable of torching a village, executing men, raping, daughters and beating up grandmothers. As far as the killing of Jews or Armenians or Aboriginals goes most people barely need the incitement of their leaders. They engaged in it with enthu More...
Dec 28, 2011
Ann
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Aidan Hartley was a reporter for Reuters in Africa and reported on many of the wars during the 1990's. The book is as much about him and his fellow reporters as it is about what happened in these horrors, but you get the real "scoop" on what happened which is interesting. He's a wonderful writer and I liked the book very much, despite some of it being hard reading, especially about Rwanda.
Jan 31, 2010
Alyssa
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I loved this book. I must admit that I skipped over the parts that took place in the Middle East. I was much more interested in Aidan's time in Africa and as a war correspondent. His memories of Dan Eldon made me cry, as he just further emphasized that his death was completely unnecessary and such a sad end for an amazing young man. It also made me miss Kenya dearly.
Mar 29, 2011
Margaret
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amazing book with many layers. It addresses many of the ideas expressed in Chris Hedges' WAR IS A FORCE WHICH GIVES US MEANING..what the excitement and thrill of war does to the journalist..
Hartley tells his own story as journalist, interwoven with the tale of his father, and of his father's friend, as representatives of Britain in her distant colonies.
Hartley tells his own story as journalist, interwoven with the tale of his father, and of his father's friend, as representatives of Britain in her distant colonies.
Jan 31, 2011
Gróa
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Með stórkostlegri bókum sem ég hef lesið sem eyðir talsvert af fáfræðinni um Afríku og ástand mála í þeirri heillandi álfu. Það er sorglegt til þess að vita að það liggur við að hinn nútíma vestræni maður með alla sína þekkingu og upplýsingar sé jafn fáfróður um Afríku og á nýlendutímabilinu...
Skyldulesning!
Skyldulesning!
Aug 02, 2011
This book didn't really work for me. I found Aidan's stories of his life as a journalist in Africa really interesting but the life of Davey didn't really seem to fit in. It wasn't set in the same area and I just got bored and ended up skipping chunks of the book. Worth reading for the life of a journalist in Somalia and Rwanda though.
May 28, 2010
Kari
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This is a novel with two stories. One about the best friend of the authors father. This story is taken from the diaries of a young english man working for his government to protect the governments interests in Yemen. It is a tragic story of a man who comes to value and appreciate the culture and people that he is working with. The other story is about the authors years as a journalist covering the war in Rwanda, Somalia and Bosnia. He gives good insight into the toll that covering violent w
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May 30, 2010
Riley
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This is a saddening and heartfelt memoir by a Reuters correspondent in Africa. The subplot of the book -- the lives of his father and his father's friend -- didn't do much for me. But the last third of the book is a gem, as the writer focuses on his personal reaction to the horrors he's witnessed.
Mar 11, 2008
Lindsay
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I read this book toward the end of my trip in Tanzania and Kenya. It seemed to match up in every point in my trip. I was reading about the genocide in Rwanda while relaxing under banana trees and just imagining at any moment something like that happening to such a great place as Tanzania. I was reading about Somalia while sitting on the beach in Kenya, my camping mate talking about how he has gone to that same beach every summer and how in 1994 he could see the whole US Naval fleet on the horizo
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Mar 01, 2011
Kelly
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This memoir and family history of life as a war journalist in Africa was hilarious at times and deeply disturbing at other times. The author grew up in Africa and had some unique insight into the experiences he covered as a stringer for Reuters during the 1990s - Somalia, Rwanda, etc.
Nov 10, 2008
Jim
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Easily one of the most interesting and exciting books I have ever read. If you enjoy adventure and travel then pick this up. Aidan Hartley gives an amazing, yet sad, recount of his experience in East Africa as a Reuter's journalist during the 1990s. His job and love for breaking news take him to Rwanda, Somalia, Ethiopia and the Congo where he witnesses some of the world's worst atrocities. Hartley not only shares his own personal adventures, but he traces his family history in the region as
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