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Binstead's Safari
New Englanders Millie and Stan Binstead experience dramatic psychological changes while on an African safari, touching off a chain of events that results in infidelity and death
224 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1983
109 people are currently reading
1608 people want to read
About the author
Rachel Ingalls
21 books134 followersRachel Ingalls grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She held various jobs, from theatre dresser and librarian to publisher’s reader. She was a confirmed radio and film addict and started living in London in 1965. She authored several works of fiction—most notably Mrs. Caliban—published in both the United States and the United Kingdom.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 104 reviews
August 8, 2021
Wow. The book meanders and teases, and then it grows taut, and then it snaps like a noose. The action is strange and vague for pages on end and then suddenly a fog lifts, and everything becomes brilliantly clear for just a moment; and for just a moment a character sees, really sees, what is important to her or him; and then the clarity dissipates again into a fog. Strange repeating motifs take shape at the edges of every scene. Wild animals. Conversations. Paintings. Hot air balloons. Dead brothers. Lost loves. There is a story here, but the book is more of a mood than a story, or maybe it's a couple of moods--a book of dueling feelings--of what Stan feels; of what Stan's wife Millie feels. The dialog is full of yearning, sadness, missed opportunity, and unspoken things. It's a book about greed and death. About mortality and belief. It's far more open-ended and mysterious than Ingalls's Mrs. Caliban. The only thing I'm sure about is that Ingalls loved these characters very much: their flawed humanity shines out. It's a strange book and I loved it.
June 24, 2020
Just like she does something magical with frogs in Mrs. Caliban, Rachel Ingalls evokes magic with lions in Binstead's Safari.
A strange little book, it follows Stan and Millie Binstead, an unhappily married couple, as they travel to London and then Nairobi where they begin a safari. Stan is an academic with a wandering eye. Millie is a shell of a woman who slowly blossoms back into herself.
As I said, it's a very strange book. Just when you think nothing is happening, that things are meandering around aimlessly, things happen. In fact, a lot of things happen. People die. People fall in love. People participate in group sex. People come to deep realizations about their lives. People ask for divorce. People get mauled by lions. And not necessarily in that order.
Ingalls, with elegant ease, allows us into the thoughts of both Millie and Stan, providing us a tandem view into their flawed partnership, a mosaic of misunderstandings and woundings. As all of this is revealed to the reader, a lion is coughing in the grass, and something mystical is afoot.
It's not that often that an ending can completely cinch a book for me - can elevate it to exactly what I wanted it to be, but this book's ending was just so deeply touching and satisfying. It brought to light how our damaged selves bring us to a place, the ripple effects of that damage, the moment where the truth finally crystallizes, so clear, so devastating, and the beauty of that clarity, even if it seems that it has come too late. WOW.
A strange little book, it follows Stan and Millie Binstead, an unhappily married couple, as they travel to London and then Nairobi where they begin a safari. Stan is an academic with a wandering eye. Millie is a shell of a woman who slowly blossoms back into herself.
As I said, it's a very strange book. Just when you think nothing is happening, that things are meandering around aimlessly, things happen. In fact, a lot of things happen. People die. People fall in love. People participate in group sex. People come to deep realizations about their lives. People ask for divorce. People get mauled by lions. And not necessarily in that order.
Ingalls, with elegant ease, allows us into the thoughts of both Millie and Stan, providing us a tandem view into their flawed partnership, a mosaic of misunderstandings and woundings. As all of this is revealed to the reader, a lion is coughing in the grass, and something mystical is afoot.
It's not that often that an ending can completely cinch a book for me - can elevate it to exactly what I wanted it to be, but this book's ending was just so deeply touching and satisfying. It brought to light how our damaged selves bring us to a place, the ripple effects of that damage, the moment where the truth finally crystallizes, so clear, so devastating, and the beauty of that clarity, even if it seems that it has come too late. WOW.
August 27, 2020
Let me start by saying that this is my first book by Rachel Ingalls, but she's now on my list of authors to look out for. What an amazing novel! The Binsteads have a failing marriage. It's gotten so bad that when Stan plans an African safari for some research, stopping first in London to see a colleague, he insists that Millie pay her own way if she wants to go! He is an awful husband with a wandering eye, and she is depressed and unhappy. But from the moment they step foot onto foreign soil, she blossoms, spreads her wings, and begins to thrive. She decides to do what makes her happy, husband be damned. That turns out to be a wise decision.
What happens, first in London, then in Africa, is a magnificent story. Ingalls feeds us just enough information and gives us hints about what's happening off screen to keep us interested. Wonderful characters, including the lions, and a completely unexpected, but perfect ending. Not giving anything away by revealing that the husband never stops being an A**hole.
I would never even have known about this book or author without the wonderful review by GR friend Robin. She won me over by describing this as an offbeat, little known novel, my favorite kind of read. She has created a new fan for Ingalls, and I think anyone else who gives this book a try will be a fan as well. Thanks, Robin, I loved it.
What happens, first in London, then in Africa, is a magnificent story. Ingalls feeds us just enough information and gives us hints about what's happening off screen to keep us interested. Wonderful characters, including the lions, and a completely unexpected, but perfect ending. Not giving anything away by revealing that the husband never stops being an A**hole.
I would never even have known about this book or author without the wonderful review by GR friend Robin. She won me over by describing this as an offbeat, little known novel, my favorite kind of read. She has created a new fan for Ingalls, and I think anyone else who gives this book a try will be a fan as well. Thanks, Robin, I loved it.
September 5, 2020
This book is such a marriage of kind of English drawing room dialogue, with the spareness and escalating tension of Pinter, woven into a mystical shamanic African safari journey that I don't know how to begin to explain it. So I won't. Except to say that I really enjoyed it and, once again, am so grateful to Goodreads friends (Diane Barnes and Robin) for reviewing this book. I never would have known about it otherwise.
March 28, 2019
I devoured this novel, though "devour" is probably not the best descriptor for a book that involves man-eating lions in Africa. My most-literate friend I. told me about Rachel Ingalls when the author's recent death was covered in the NY Times. Ingalls was a writer whose magical-realism novellas and novels got some attention during her life, but she wasn't really "known" until she reached her 70s. And then, alas, she died. Now her books are being reprinted and they are well worth seeking out. Ingalls is perhaps best known for "Mrs. Calliban," in which a lonely single woman falls in love with a sea creature. Sound familiar? As in "The Shape of Water," the movie that won an Oscar? Director Guillermo del Toro insists he didn't read it, but still.... Anyway, I., my Ingalls-loving friend, who knows that I love wildlife and Africa, insisted I read "Binstead's Safari" before "Mrs. Calliban." What a lovely, poetic, exciting and mystical novel! I adored "Out of Africa" and loved this novel even more. I won't go into the details of the story about an unhappily married young woman and her academic husband who go off to Africa to pursue his quest for "mythic" stories of man and beast in the bush. It's full of twists that enlighten as well as surprise. If you love wild animals and adventure -- and have a passion for life -- read it!
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November 16, 2023Another Rachel Ingalls banger about a woman finding liberation by falling in love with an mysterious creature.
July 1, 2021
This is the African novel that Ernest Hemingway probably always aspired to write, but didn't. His short story, "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" (1936) perhaps comes the closest. The perfection that Rachel Ingalls has achieved in slightly over 200 pages is simply astounding. First published in 1983, this novel has the technical mastery of something written by W. Somerset Maugham with a dash of the gothic and macabre of Daphne du Maurier. This book is a prime example of novella or short novel length fiction that has been nearly perfectly executed.
While the setting of this tale is a long African safari, it is really about the liberation of a woman from an oppressive marriage and her own self doubts and low self esteem. Slowly but surely, Millie, the novel's primary protagonist, 'slips the surly bonds' and begins to experience the "joie de vivre" of being part the world and people around her, including finding real romantic love. The novel begins with Millie just tagging along as her boorish academic husband, Stan, sets off for Africa to write his anthropological treatise on a supposed native cult based on the worship of lions. But the reader quickly realizes that Stan is, in fact, the sideshow and that Millie is really at 'the heart of the matter.'
Once started, I defy anyone to put this novel down. The careful and astute reader will appreciate Ingall's masterful use of metaphor as Millie slowly grows and expands to fill every nook and crevice of the plot. This is a very good book, and while Ingalls and this novel appear to be relatively unknown, this is a classic that readers will enjoy discovering and reading and rereading for years to come. I highly recommend this powerful little gem!
While the setting of this tale is a long African safari, it is really about the liberation of a woman from an oppressive marriage and her own self doubts and low self esteem. Slowly but surely, Millie, the novel's primary protagonist, 'slips the surly bonds' and begins to experience the "joie de vivre" of being part the world and people around her, including finding real romantic love. The novel begins with Millie just tagging along as her boorish academic husband, Stan, sets off for Africa to write his anthropological treatise on a supposed native cult based on the worship of lions. But the reader quickly realizes that Stan is, in fact, the sideshow and that Millie is really at 'the heart of the matter.'
Once started, I defy anyone to put this novel down. The careful and astute reader will appreciate Ingall's masterful use of metaphor as Millie slowly grows and expands to fill every nook and crevice of the plot. This is a very good book, and while Ingalls and this novel appear to be relatively unknown, this is a classic that readers will enjoy discovering and reading and rereading for years to come. I highly recommend this powerful little gem!
April 20, 2019
I knew when I started the book I'd have to read it critically just by the way they talk about Africa like it's a country, but god do you have to sift through a lot of crap to get to the storyline. They continuously refer to Africa as a country and always refer to black people in slightly racist connotations. The way that a white man (Henry) is revered as some kind of god to a tribe is on many levels very problematic. And that Millie can only find her freedom through ANOTHER MAN? They even say that she was never this Interesting and Well Adjusted before she became pregnant with Henry's kid. Like??? What is the author trying to say by that? The "power" of Henry and his desire of her humanized her and gave her a personality and the gall to bite back at Stan? I'm so unimpressed. There are some interesting critiques about white heterosexual relationships between Millie and Stan and that's the only redeemable part of this book. But all of Millie's power is written to come from a different man showing interest in her. That concept of a man will save you from your abusive relationship is so tired and unhealthy. The ending was atrocious, too. The only character the readers were built up to care about was Millie and then she just dies and there are still at least 20 pages of story to go through that didn't add anything to the plot? I'm just confused. In the middle of the book I thought I understood what the message was (a feminist critique on the way husbands are "allowed" to abuse and diminish their wives) but it got totally lost. Even Stan doesn't come to understand his true flaws, he just gets killed trying to kill this lion. I feel unsatisfied.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 3, 2022
A very English book even if it is about Americans, and sadly it is not at all my cup of tea. I found the book pretentious and an absolute slog to read. Too many characters to keep track of, and a plot which I found both irritating and absurd are just the beginning of my resistance to this story.
The most central flaw is that Stan Binstead is such a jerk, and he and his wife, Millie, are the central figures. He is almost everything bad a man can be in a relationship with a woman (aside from chronic violence, I guess), and the frequent revelation of his thinking makes him banal and callow. Millie is more likable during the time the book covers, but why did she put up with that creep for so long? People got divorced in the 1980's, and goodness knows Millie had grounds.
I have a lot of resistance to novels where characters fall madly in love (and into bed) at the very beginning of their being acquainted. I also don't respond positively to the magical elements of the plot, which imply reincarnation. The ending is so preposterous than I found it hilarious, and in a small way it made me glad I struggled to the end of this. And I agree with other readers about the discomfort of Ingalls' "white man's burden" approach to people indigenous to Africa. The lions are sort of cool, though, and they do away with a fair number of Europeans in the course of the story.
The most central flaw is that Stan Binstead is such a jerk, and he and his wife, Millie, are the central figures. He is almost everything bad a man can be in a relationship with a woman (aside from chronic violence, I guess), and the frequent revelation of his thinking makes him banal and callow. Millie is more likable during the time the book covers, but why did she put up with that creep for so long? People got divorced in the 1980's, and goodness knows Millie had grounds.
I have a lot of resistance to novels where characters fall madly in love (and into bed) at the very beginning of their being acquainted. I also don't respond positively to the magical elements of the plot, which imply reincarnation. The ending is so preposterous than I found it hilarious, and in a small way it made me glad I struggled to the end of this. And I agree with other readers about the discomfort of Ingalls' "white man's burden" approach to people indigenous to Africa. The lions are sort of cool, though, and they do away with a fair number of Europeans in the course of the story.
November 1, 2018
I am 60% of the way through, and I'm too bored to keep reading. I really want to like it because I adored Mrs. Caliban—and what I've read certainly isn't bad—but it's just not doing it for me. DNF.
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November 11, 2019So impressive how she switches back and forth between the husband and the wife’s point of view, paragraph by paragraph, and you never get lost. Never going on a safari now though.
July 9, 2019
An academic and his neglected wife go to Africa, where she's transformed into the center of attention, much to his surprise.
March 28, 2025
This little gem of a read was on some list in The Times of excellent books that have been ignored.
The Binsteads are not a happy couple. Stan is an academic, a man with a wandering eye and zero tolerance for his little wifey, Millie. To do research on African lion cults Stan goes on an extended safari and Millie joins him. On the way they spend some time in London, he partying with an old friend and she making the most of her time by exploring the city. She gets a newfound sense of empowerment from her solo time.
When they get to Africa Millie no longer is the doting wife, no longer needs anything from Stan. She meets handsome Harry at a party and they have a brief but clearly deep connection. While she is at various camps Harry gets love notes to her. Meanwhile, hubby Stan is noticing how beautiful Millie now looks, how people are attracted to her, how well she connects with them. But she has no interest in him. Handsome Harry gets killed in a bar. What was Harry doing to have someone hire thugs to eliminate him? We get to decide that for ourselves.
Things take a turn for the magical. A lion keeps showing up, apparently with a special attraction to Millie. He's a magnificent dark-maned creature, bigger and more perfectly muscled than any the hunters in this camp have ever seen. Any more and I'm into Spoiler territory.
This book is chock full of great perceptions about relationships, set against a background of the wilds, full of unidentifiable noises and dangers. Published in 1983, it's an odd but wonderful blend of psychology and adventure, of people who can't see what's right in front of them, and people who see things that aren't really there. Much is left unexplained. I'm left in a mystical zone having fun filling in the blanks.
The Binsteads are not a happy couple. Stan is an academic, a man with a wandering eye and zero tolerance for his little wifey, Millie. To do research on African lion cults Stan goes on an extended safari and Millie joins him. On the way they spend some time in London, he partying with an old friend and she making the most of her time by exploring the city. She gets a newfound sense of empowerment from her solo time.
When they get to Africa Millie no longer is the doting wife, no longer needs anything from Stan. She meets handsome Harry at a party and they have a brief but clearly deep connection. While she is at various camps Harry gets love notes to her. Meanwhile, hubby Stan is noticing how beautiful Millie now looks, how people are attracted to her, how well she connects with them. But she has no interest in him. Handsome Harry gets killed in a bar. What was Harry doing to have someone hire thugs to eliminate him? We get to decide that for ourselves.
Things take a turn for the magical. A lion keeps showing up, apparently with a special attraction to Millie. He's a magnificent dark-maned creature, bigger and more perfectly muscled than any the hunters in this camp have ever seen. Any more and I'm into Spoiler territory.
This book is chock full of great perceptions about relationships, set against a background of the wilds, full of unidentifiable noises and dangers. Published in 1983, it's an odd but wonderful blend of psychology and adventure, of people who can't see what's right in front of them, and people who see things that aren't really there. Much is left unexplained. I'm left in a mystical zone having fun filling in the blanks.
March 2, 2025
A twisted tale of greed, infidelity and death in the afternoon. I liked Ingalls’ writing a lot, and she sure knows how to keep the tension on high throughout the story. I couldn’t place the time nor the exact safari setting - if this was the 1950’s, the 80’s or somewhere in between - and that was a good thing. The myth and majesty of the lion plays a big part of the novel as the author draws you in, making you part of the exotic African experience. And that pervading feeling of doom that envelops the book reminded me of two other favorite authors who do it so well, Paul Bowles and Paul Theroux. So glad I read this.
December 22, 2021
Ingalls does not miss!! I am so impressed with the prose and structure of this novel, how she shifts between her protagonists, and how the ending is wildly unpredictable, even as she tells you what is to come. She has full confidence in her suspense; it’s like watching a movie and play, a surreal classic out of the 70’s. Every character is fully alive and tightly interwoven with the next. It has an essence of fantasy as the impossible becomes possible, and yet it’s anthropological, not speculative.
July 25, 2019
The bookmark note from the Fish Creek library guy who recommended it said "A very strange book, and I loved it". I agree with both parts of that comment. Reminiscent of some of the tales in
the Alexander McCall Smith "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" series, it has a fascinating way of blurring the distinction between normal life and a spiritual, mystical being. Yes, that is difficult to to understand, and even tougher to try to explain!
SO, if you have an open, curious mind, just read the book!
If you can t find it, then read some of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. I loved them all!
the Alexander McCall Smith "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" series, it has a fascinating way of blurring the distinction between normal life and a spiritual, mystical being. Yes, that is difficult to to understand, and even tougher to try to explain!
SO, if you have an open, curious mind, just read the book!
If you can t find it, then read some of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. I loved them all!
February 22, 2023
He said, ‘I used to think. When people said they were lonely…’ He swallowed. She waited for him to go on. Her wristwatch started to tick loudly. He raised his head. ‘I used to think it was their own fault’
A couple on the brink of divorce go on an African safari. Got it mostly for cool cover but still was very fun!! Dark and deep at times, wicked comedic at others
A couple on the brink of divorce go on an African safari. Got it mostly for cool cover but still was very fun!! Dark and deep at times, wicked comedic at others
March 13, 2019
This book was recommended to me by my favorite bookseller, Mary McBride. I didn’t know what to expect but the book was unsettling, to say the least. Also, don’t think I would ever want to go on safari after this! That said, it was a unique and compelling novel.
August 16, 2019
4.5, really. What a strange book. But it leaves a lot to think about at the end.
September 14, 2024
Rachel Ingalls was saying “I choose the bear” (lion) way before it became a meme. I also want one of Millie’s little paintings so bad!
June 25, 2025
Rachel Ingalls is a marvel. I loved this book.
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February 19, 2025Rachel Ingalls là một trong những tác giả xuất sắc nhưng ít được biết đến nhưng mình may mắn được chị @maireadingjournal giới thiệu riêng cho, và 'Binstead’s Safari' là minh chứng hoàn hảo cho khả năng kể chuyện đầy mê hoặc của bà vì đây không chỉ là một câu chuyện về một người phụ nữ thoát khỏi cuộc hôn nhân ngột ngạt, mà còn là một tác phẩm sâu sắc về tự do, bản ngã và những hình thái quyền lực ẩn giấu trong các mối quan hệ.
1. Millie: Sự biến đổi hay trốn chạy?
2. Quyền lực trong mối quan hệ: Tình yêu hay một dạng kiểm soát mới?
3. Thiên nhiên đang giải phóng con người hay đang che giấu mặt tối?
4. Phê phán hôn nhân của xã hội phương Tây
Kết luận: Một tác phẩm đa tầng nghĩa và em M cảm ơn chị Mai <3
Binstead’s Safari là một cuốn sách đầy mơ hồ và thách thức người đọc. Nó không đưa ra câu trả lời, cũng không áp đặt một cách hiểu duy nhất do Ingalls viết một câu chuyện vừa mang tính thần thoại, vừa mang tính hiện thực, khiến người đọc không thể phân biệt đâu là thực, đâu là ảo. Có lẽ, cũng giống như Millie, chúng ta bị/ được đặt vào một tình huống phải tự quyết định đâu là sự thật của riêng mình.
1. Millie: Sự biến đổi hay trốn chạy?
2. Quyền lực trong mối quan hệ: Tình yêu hay một dạng kiểm soát mới?
3. Thiên nhiên đang giải phóng con người hay đang che giấu mặt tối?
4. Phê phán hôn nhân của xã hội phương Tây
Kết luận: Một tác phẩm đa tầng nghĩa và em M cảm ơn chị Mai <3
Binstead’s Safari là một cuốn sách đầy mơ hồ và thách thức người đọc. Nó không đưa ra câu trả lời, cũng không áp đặt một cách hiểu duy nhất do Ingalls viết một câu chuyện vừa mang tính thần thoại, vừa mang tính hiện thực, khiến người đọc không thể phân biệt đâu là thực, đâu là ảo. Có lẽ, cũng giống như Millie, chúng ta bị/ được đặt vào một tình huống phải tự quyết định đâu là sự thật của riêng mình.
July 20, 2024
Loved the writing in this, deceptively simple! Really it was strikingly concise. Also reminded me that there's the phrase "not for love nor money" which I will now be using constantly
October 16, 2019
I picked up this slender novel in a Hudson NY bookshop which was also stocking MRS. CALIBAN, the most famous of the works of Rachel Ingalls, who passed away earlier this year. These can be tricky books to find - and stepping into this one was like entering a parallel universe of women’s writing. This is the story of an unbearably unhappy and childless professor’s wife who discovers herself in London, then accompanies her unbearably selfish and self-preoccupied husband on safari and falls in love, all the while embracing the new freedoms and empowerment she has finally allowed herself to feel. I know I’ve enjoyed a book when I find it hard to write about it immediately upon finishing - my mind is still half in the dream-like and hypnotic world that Ingalls skillfully created, despite minimal description of both setting and characters. Why this book matters is in part due to the achingly real and troubled landscape of the wife’s mind, a perturbing picture of what so many women historically would feel, socially and emotionally invisible to the ambitious men they have married. Watching Mrs. Binstead come to life under such mentally grueling circumstances makes what could have been a rather bleak book a fascinating time capsule and life lesson all in one.
November 17, 2009
I like the way the author develops the way a "frumpy" wife is able to redefine herself and discover a new independence from an uncaring, overbearing and alcoholic husband. I found the author's tendency to leave an adventure abruptly without completing it a bit annoying, but she brings into her story a surreal quality that adds another dimension to the book. I really enjoyed the book 4 stars worth until the ending - then I remembered I was reading Rachel Ingalls. Love her imagination, but she is not above treating her characters rather harshly. Except for the ending, the storyline reminds me of the movie "Bread and Tulips", a really delightful movie I saw recently via Netflix.
June 18, 2018
Who's binstead?
January 10, 2025
very odd. went from boring to fascinating to redundant to entrapping, just as it snapped shut untimely
July 22, 2023
When I started reading this book, I got the impression this was a middle-aged couple, with the man on the brink of retirement. Imagine my surprise, then, when they get to London, the first leg of tjeir trip, when the woman gets a haircut and buy some new clothes, and starts attracting men to her. in fact immediately, she attracts the most charismatic, talented, successful, lion hunter in the village in East Africa where they are staying.
When the book starts out, Millie is a doormat for her husband, the pendejo named Binstead. He's a professor at some college, and he, unbelievably, gets funded to go do a study on folklore having to do with lions in East africa. I don't know of any colleges that would totally fund an expensive Safari to go talk to the tribesmen in the area where Safaris are taken. But this is fiction, so take it with a grain of salt.
I did like the empowerment embodied by Millie, who decided, once she got to London that she had had enough of her fucking husband's treatment. He purported to be going every day, every night, to visit his friend Larry, and she wanted to go with him and meet him. Well he had excuse after excuse after excuse why she couldn't go. In reality, his friend Larry and Larry's girlfriend invited another woman over and took some kind of drugs to make them want to have an orgy. Can you imagine an old fart Binstead enTangled in the limbs of some young women. If it weren't obvious on the cover that it was written by a woman I would definitely think it was written by a man.
Anyways so Millie starts going to the Opera, the ballet, she just goes everywhere and she talks to people and she gets the feedback that she's a nice person and people like her. So she decides "fuck you" to her husband she's going to do her own thing.
Once they get over there in East África, she almost immediately meets this man who supposedly fell in love at first sight with her. And she in turn seems to fall in love with him at First Sight too. They start right off fucking, you know. So she's decided she's going to divorce Binstead. Not only that, she's preggers.
Binstead's just blown away by this "new Millie." Everybody loves her, she's blossomed into a beautiful woman, and she doesn't give a shit about him, which as every woman knows, men just love to be treated like shit by a woman. Well, unfortunately, her wonderful lover gets killed, and she does too.
Stan Binstead not only treats his wife like shit, he treats animals like shit, too. Oh, he has to kill an animal. And what does he do? He kills an innocent buffalo.
"... on the day when he shot his first buffalo, he found out for himself that a lot of noise usually meant danger, but so did complete silence: as they went in to get it, all sound ceased. He knew that when the animal broke out upon him, the noise would be tremendous and it would be right on top of him. They made their way forward very slowly, stopping every SO often, waiting and listening. He held his breath until he thought he'd burst. And when the moment came, the animal wasn't quite so near as he had had imagined, not coming at him quite so fast, but it did seem to be moving with a massive, undeflectable solidity, like the engine of an oncoming train. He stood up straight and emptied everything he had at it until it knelt down exactly two yards away from his feet and Ian let out a whoop of joy. Stan laughed."
Funny. Not.
Magical realism is involved in this book too.
Millie is "the lion's bride."
One afternoon they go to a village to talk to a headman for Binstead's research, but the village is deserted. They go on to the next village, which is also deserted. At the third Village they reach, there's a huge party of villagers, and they're singing and laughing and partying. They beckon Millie forward, focusing on the necklace that her dead lover gave her. They start singing a song, and Millie finds out that the song is about her.
"when they reached the Land Rover and started off back to camp, Nicholas asked Millie about her life: had she grown up in such and such a place, had this number of sisters, that number of aunts, and so on.
'Yes. How did you know? I never told you all that, did i?'
'They were singing it. They were telling your story. The story of the Lion's bride.' "
There's this unspoken thing in the book that this gorgeous huge Young Lion is the man that she loved, what he's reborn into. And he only comes around when Millie goes out into the dawn close to their camp. So one of the Safari leaders and Binstead try to hunt it, but the lion just leads them on in a game. So Millie tries to help them in their hunt, but she has no intention of letting them kill her Reborn lover. So right at the moment when the lion appears out of a bush and they're cocking their guns, she goes rushing forward with her arms outstretched, and the bullets hit her, she dies.
When the book starts out, Millie is a doormat for her husband, the pendejo named Binstead. He's a professor at some college, and he, unbelievably, gets funded to go do a study on folklore having to do with lions in East africa. I don't know of any colleges that would totally fund an expensive Safari to go talk to the tribesmen in the area where Safaris are taken. But this is fiction, so take it with a grain of salt.
I did like the empowerment embodied by Millie, who decided, once she got to London that she had had enough of her fucking husband's treatment. He purported to be going every day, every night, to visit his friend Larry, and she wanted to go with him and meet him. Well he had excuse after excuse after excuse why she couldn't go. In reality, his friend Larry and Larry's girlfriend invited another woman over and took some kind of drugs to make them want to have an orgy. Can you imagine an old fart Binstead enTangled in the limbs of some young women. If it weren't obvious on the cover that it was written by a woman I would definitely think it was written by a man.
Anyways so Millie starts going to the Opera, the ballet, she just goes everywhere and she talks to people and she gets the feedback that she's a nice person and people like her. So she decides "fuck you" to her husband she's going to do her own thing.
Once they get over there in East África, she almost immediately meets this man who supposedly fell in love at first sight with her. And she in turn seems to fall in love with him at First Sight too. They start right off fucking, you know. So she's decided she's going to divorce Binstead. Not only that, she's preggers.
Binstead's just blown away by this "new Millie." Everybody loves her, she's blossomed into a beautiful woman, and she doesn't give a shit about him, which as every woman knows, men just love to be treated like shit by a woman. Well, unfortunately, her wonderful lover gets killed, and she does too.
Stan Binstead not only treats his wife like shit, he treats animals like shit, too. Oh, he has to kill an animal. And what does he do? He kills an innocent buffalo.
"... on the day when he shot his first buffalo, he found out for himself that a lot of noise usually meant danger, but so did complete silence: as they went in to get it, all sound ceased. He knew that when the animal broke out upon him, the noise would be tremendous and it would be right on top of him. They made their way forward very slowly, stopping every SO often, waiting and listening. He held his breath until he thought he'd burst. And when the moment came, the animal wasn't quite so near as he had had imagined, not coming at him quite so fast, but it did seem to be moving with a massive, undeflectable solidity, like the engine of an oncoming train. He stood up straight and emptied everything he had at it until it knelt down exactly two yards away from his feet and Ian let out a whoop of joy. Stan laughed."
Funny. Not.
Magical realism is involved in this book too.
Millie is "the lion's bride."
One afternoon they go to a village to talk to a headman for Binstead's research, but the village is deserted. They go on to the next village, which is also deserted. At the third Village they reach, there's a huge party of villagers, and they're singing and laughing and partying. They beckon Millie forward, focusing on the necklace that her dead lover gave her. They start singing a song, and Millie finds out that the song is about her.
"when they reached the Land Rover and started off back to camp, Nicholas asked Millie about her life: had she grown up in such and such a place, had this number of sisters, that number of aunts, and so on.
'Yes. How did you know? I never told you all that, did i?'
'They were singing it. They were telling your story. The story of the Lion's bride.' "
There's this unspoken thing in the book that this gorgeous huge Young Lion is the man that she loved, what he's reborn into. And he only comes around when Millie goes out into the dawn close to their camp. So one of the Safari leaders and Binstead try to hunt it, but the lion just leads them on in a game. So Millie tries to help them in their hunt, but she has no intention of letting them kill her Reborn lover. So right at the moment when the lion appears out of a bush and they're cocking their guns, she goes rushing forward with her arms outstretched, and the bullets hit her, she dies.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 16, 2022
After reading Rachel Ingalls' Mrs Caliban, I went looking for her other works because I really liked how she described a woman's inner world and also the slightly dreamlike style of writing. Both of these aspects are present here, as well as another concept I love in books: stories of women's transformation. Millie is unhappy and in her words "dead on her feet", her marriage sucks, her husband is neglectful, to put it mildly. When they go on an African safari via London, she comes alive again. But wherever you think this book is going, it's not. There are twists.
Another reviewer described this book as a mood and I agree. It often meanders among many images and ideas, people and things coming in and out of focus... But not in a frustrating and annoying way, as long as you take your time with it. With only a bit over 200 pages, it's not a long read but it feels intense. And you really can't rush it.
I was apprehensive about how the safari itself would be dealt with because I'm not one for hunt related gore. Happy to report that there was no gore, no unnecessary details, yet you were left in no doubt of danger and wildness lurking around you. There is near-constant low-level tension.
Several times I thought I knew where the story was going only to receive a metaphorical slap from the author. And I liked it. Like with Mrs Caliban there are hints of almost-magical-realism which left ambiguity as to interpretation of events. This book, however, is far more subtle and sophisticated in its handling of this ambiguity. I'm a pragmatic, logical, factual type of person so I would normally lean towards that kind of interpretation but the storytelling here is so seductive, and the atmosphere is so affecting that I find myself contemplating the more mythical interpretations implied by the story. I'm also left wanting more time with the characters, which is unusual for me.
Another reviewer described this book as a mood and I agree. It often meanders among many images and ideas, people and things coming in and out of focus... But not in a frustrating and annoying way, as long as you take your time with it. With only a bit over 200 pages, it's not a long read but it feels intense. And you really can't rush it.
I was apprehensive about how the safari itself would be dealt with because I'm not one for hunt related gore. Happy to report that there was no gore, no unnecessary details, yet you were left in no doubt of danger and wildness lurking around you. There is near-constant low-level tension.
Several times I thought I knew where the story was going only to receive a metaphorical slap from the author. And I liked it. Like with Mrs Caliban there are hints of almost-magical-realism which left ambiguity as to interpretation of events. This book, however, is far more subtle and sophisticated in its handling of this ambiguity. I'm a pragmatic, logical, factual type of person so I would normally lean towards that kind of interpretation but the storytelling here is so seductive, and the atmosphere is so affecting that I find myself contemplating the more mythical interpretations implied by the story. I'm also left wanting more time with the characters, which is unusual for me.
September 18, 2019
This was incredible. Ingalls was an amazing writing and I think Binstead's Safari showcases all of her talents. Her writing style is deceptively plain and draws you in bit by bit. Millie was such a great character: completely nice but unflappable. She had spent most of her life stifled and seeing how her mother and her sister were but she gets an opportunity to get out of that and she takes it with both hands. I really loved how her love interest was described; in any other hands but Ingalls' he'd feel like a complete womaniser and wouldn't trust that he would be worthy of Millie, but you can see that they are meant for each other (more fantastical, than romantically if that makes sense).
Quite a bit of the book has Stan's point of view (the husband) which would be a huge turn off for me but it just builds for his well-deserving ending so nicely. He is going on to this safari, which is going to make his academic career and finding people who allow him to get closure, and instead of being in the centre of it, Millie, his wife who he has diminished and ignored without any consequences for the whole of their marriage, is the star of the show - not only with all his friends, but she is living the experience that in any other story would be Stan's.
Quite a bit of the book has Stan's point of view (the husband) which would be a huge turn off for me but it just builds for his well-deserving ending so nicely. He is going on to this safari, which is going to make his academic career and finding people who allow him to get closure, and instead of being in the centre of it, Millie, his wife who he has diminished and ignored without any consequences for the whole of their marriage, is the star of the show - not only with all his friends, but she is living the experience that in any other story would be Stan's.
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