Geldof in Africa

by Bob Geldof

Musician Bob Geldof first visited Africa in 1984. The following year, Live Aid inspired a generation to raise millions for the starving in Africa. More than 20 years on, passion undiminished, Geldof returns to what he calls the Luminous Continent. This is his personal diary. Unflinchingly honest, and stunningly illustrated with his own photographs, Geldof in Africa paints a unique picture of this extraordinary and beautiful land.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Biography, Memoir, Politics

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Robert Frederick Zenon Geldof KBE, known as Bob Geldof, is an Irish singer, songwriter, actor and political activist who became famous as a member of the rock band The Boomtown Rats. His achievements include organizing Live Aid and Live 8. Geldof's most notable compositions include "Rat Trap" and "I Don't Like Mondays". He also starred as Pink in Pink Floyd's 1982 film The Wall.

Geldof left the Boomtown Rats in 1986, to launch a solo career and release his autobiography, Is That It?, which was a best-seller.

Reviews

[Wendelle]

In this book Bob Geldof is perceptive, empathetic, affectionate and irrepressibly curious and puts the spotlight on the incredible people he meets during his sojourn throughout the continent.

[Elizabeth]

This is one of those books that's worth getting on audiobook. Read by the author, the tone, the passion of his writing is evident in the delivery. Plus he 'does the voices' of many of the people he has met, including Yassar Arafat, which is both funny and weird. It's a heartfelt book looking into the diversity of Africa from someone who has been working and liasing there for over 20 years. Very interesting.

[Kris]

I had picked this book up because I'm a big fan of travel writing and have traveled extensively in Africa myself doing aid work. It has good turns of phrase, eloquent descriptions, thematic structure of each mini-piece, but somehow I was finding it very uninspiring, it was filling me not with the fear I'd never be as good as the writer, as some travel writing does, but rather an existential fear that I'd come off like him. So I set about trying to put my finger on exactly what was putting me off.

I think the sense of self of the protagonist is a bit off-putting for one. It assumed you know who this Bob Geldof is, I did not, so being written with the assumption that you already regard him as a celebrity came off as kind of wankery ... though maybe I should have taken the cue from the photo on the cover, a book about Africa featuring primarily yourself looking off into the distance on the cover is clearly about to be a book in which the author has a very high regard for himself.

The book is a series of disconnected little mini stories ranging from a few paragraphs to a few pages, arranged without any context in no coherent order that I can discern, so that's kind of a problem. Within each piece he's clearly aware of story structure and developing themes, but it gives the impression this is just the sweepings of every disjointed thing he's ever written.

And the theme of nearly every piece seems to be what an absoluet shit-hole Africa is (with a small number that are about what a cool guy Geldof is with his massive entourage and braving dangerous places). Having traveled extensively in Africa myself, granted it was 30 years after him, yes life is hard in many places and they've had many politically unfortunate circumstances, but to just hit this theme over and over and over again encourages an unfortunate perception that the continent is just a shit-hole, which I think is counterproductive.

Another major theme he keeps harping on is cynical and sarcastic dumping on other charities. Yes charities often make mistakes and are worth watching cynically, but the implication here comes across like he, Geldof, alone, knows how to help Africans. Considering Live Aid gave all it's millions to the oppressive Derg regime that was causing the famine he aimed to ease, and "arguably prolonged the war," and a primary outcome of it all was that aid groups learned to not do what he did and not give money directly to oppressive governments, his attitude toward other aid organizations comes across as a bit rich.

Soo.. if you want to read about Africa I wold definitely recommend picking up a more thoughtful and nuanced author like Paul Theroux. I'm not sure I'd recommend this particular book to anyone other than perhaps someone who is just already a huge fan of Geldof, in which case, if you've read this far, you're probably bright red and steaming to give me your rebuttal ;) but hey this is just my two cents.

[Simon Sweetman]

Obviously not a patch on his first (proper) memoir, but a comparison is also not quite fair, given this is ultimately a travel memoir, and allows Bob to focus on his politics and knowledge gained from creating and holding a seat at the table. Some wise reflections, some strong points, a lot of it dated now of course, but a really interesting snapshot of his initial memories of visiting Africa, and his knowledge gained from returning so often.

[Elaine]

It will have you laughing, crying and being horrified, it was like reading about a different world not just another country.

[Jenny Love]

Informative, and at times insightful but delivered in his usual privileged yet self-indulgent, colonial-shaming way. Unfortunately reads drier than his sandles walking through the Sahara.

[Behrooz]

Good read.

[Louise Armstrong]

Well worth reading! Great photos as well - he's so talented.

I totally respect Sir Bob - but once or twice I thought that, as a poor, low-status female, I could see angles to certain African ideas that hadn't occurred to him as a rich, high-status male (he doesn't really understand how powerful he has become & what a difference that makes), and I do not always agree with his political/economic ideas. But it's still a great read.

[Kat]

Geldof hasn't written this chronologically. Each chapter is a short account of one of his experiences, or perhaps just an observation. He doesn't preach, like you might expect, but is straight to the point and honest.

[Sophie]

I didn't listen to all of this book as I was afraid I would get upset, but Geldof writes brilliantly, better than other travel writers! His descriptions of the landscape are amazing, he captures the places and feelings well and comes across as very down to earth.

[Kim]

Just started it, but it has grabbed me already.

[James Russell]

Cracking. Geldof's awesome.

[Ash Brom]

Another Geldof classic. Very human, very eloquent, very relevant