Dancing on Bones

by Ross Gordon

Ross Gordon was born in Rhodesia, the eldest son of a slightly eccentric white tobacco farmer and British mother. In 1963 Africa held the answers to life’s questions and fed a growing boy’s imagination. Against a backdrop of a vicious civil war, Dancing on Bones tells a story of love, hope, innovation, fear and survival. This is a blueprint for life through adversity, culminating in the upheavals of the tyranny of Robert Mugabe’s pogroms.

640 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 9, 2022

Reviews

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rhodesia was home for Mr. Gordon until the political tides turned and he and his family were forced to relocate. When reading this book, one feels the love he held for the land and the animals that surrounded his growing family. It was a sad and confusing time with political and social change occurring almost daily. At times, this story is difficult to read, as it elicits varying emotions, but it does reflect what he experienced and lived through. This was educational for me and thoroughly intriguing.

My thanks to the author, Ross Gordon, for my electronic copy of this book. #Goodreads Giveaway.

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book in a goodreads drawing.

The biography of a fairly well to do kid who grew up in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). He grows up on a farm, where there are wild animals, as well as domestic. It seems fairly idyllic, even though there is an ever escalating war going on.

We all know what happens once Robert Mugabe takes over.

Strangely detached, but very interesting.

[Rhonda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very educational read. I would definitely recommend if you are looking to learn more about the country and people there.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dancing on Bones is a fascinating and detailed account of growing up in Rhodesia, experiencing war and civil unrest, and facing difficult decisions that would forever alter the author’s life. Overlapping his own story is an incredible glimpse into life in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe – wild animals, ancient art, farming techniques, beekeeping, educational systems, African history, ethnic culture and tradition, religious practice, political intrigue, and much more. Some parts are disturbing, others funny, but mostly the story is a charming one with a view of African history from the author’s perspective. Dancing on Bones has inspired me to further research life in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe from the perspective of the Shona and Ndebele groups, and the impact of Christianity on traditional beliefs and customs. My copy of Dancing on Bones came from a Goodreads giveaway.

[Shrabastee Chakraborty · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Dancing on Bones, author Ross Gordon chronicles the years spent in Rhodesia, Africa. The first part of the book describes his childhood and teenage, while the second part narrates his experiences of later years. This multifaceted book not only captured a large part of Gordon's life but also presented an accurate picture of Rhodesia during the apartheid era. The pages are full of thrilling adventures involving numerous expeditions and unexpected encounters with wildlife. In contrast, the book also presented a dark picture of a country rife with civil war and political unrest. Part memoir, part family saga, and part social commentary, Dancing on Bones is an engaging read.

[Kajori · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Dancing On Bones' is a heart-touching memoir penned by Ross Gordon. His love for his motherland is palpable in every line of the book. His vivid writing style not only brings to us the beauty of Zimbabwe, formerly Rhodesia, but also gives us an insight into the white racism that he had to experience in his own country. Dancing On Bones is a story of resilience and family that is recommended to lovers of nature, history, and truth.

[Sandra Massey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read

I like the bits of history that go along in this book it's very interesting to read. Would definitely recommend!

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

First, I would like to thank Mr. Gordon and Goodreads for providing me with a Kindle copy of this book via a giveaway.

In this substantial memoir, Mr. Gordon reminisces about growing up and later raising his own family on a tobacco farm in Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia). He was born to a Rhodesian-born white tobacco farmer and a British mother. His father’s mother was also British, and his father was born in India and later made Rhodesia his home, started the substantial tobacco farm and became a well-respected speaker and a person people went to for problem solving. Mr. Gordon’s slightly eccentric father, who took over the farm, instilled in his family an appreciation for the beauty of their country. His descriptions of the flora and fauna, the rivers and mountains, the wild animals – hippos, elephants, different species of snakes, wild pigs, etc. – are beautiful, and Mr. Gordon painted a beautiful picture of the physical aspect of his home country, but not such a beautiful picture of the decade and a half Rhodesian Bush War he and his family lived through and the politics that ultimately forced him and many of his white neighbors to emigrate to other countries.

That said, Mr. Gordon wrote this memoir in the present tense, which, in my opinion, did not work well especially at the beginning when he was recalling his early childhood memories – and the tense changed from time to time, from one sentence to the next. To be frank, I nearly put the book aside, and might have done so had I not felt an obligation to persist because I had won it. Sometimes the narration was childlike, as if Mr. Gordon was trying to remember what he would have thought or said when he was five or eight or eleven in that voice {not effective, in my view) but then the next sentence he sounded like an adult. It did not have an effect of immediacy on me, as one would assume the use of present tense was meant to convey; it seemed artificial. Obviously his childhood was in the past; that was the tense it needed.

Once past the childhood years, though, the present tense was not as disagreeable to me, although even after there were some odd tense changes in paragraphs. At times, as well, there would just be a random memory, a paragraph or sentence, unrelated to the paragraphs or sentences before or after it and it would trip me up trying to figure out what connection I missed. Example: “While an Afrikaans family on the other side of the Dyke is holidaying, their cook is killed by the family dogs when feeding them. The dogs have puppies which sell for top dollar.” Why would those puppies sell for top dollar? No explanation. Sometimes there are references based on faulty assumptions about the readers, e.g.: “One of RBC’s TV presenters, Geoffrey Atkins I think, who hosts a show called Talk About, is injured in a bomb blast in a Paris shop. The irony is not lost on us or on the media.” Well, it’s lost on me. He did not explain what was ironic about that blast or injury. One other odd quirk: he referred to a number of women only buy their first initial, including his wife and three daughters – yet he identified his wife and daughters by their names in his acknowledgments and on the copyright page. I could understand why maybe a former girlfriend would be identified that way, but not his immediate family. It irked me. These were a few of the moments in the book that hampered the flow. Otherwise, the rating would have been higher.

[Jenna Kuitunen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dancing on Bones follows the early part of the author's life as a child growing up in then Rhodesia and then the later part of his time in Zimbabwe as an adult and raising his own family. I felt it was a bit of a slow read as the author intersplices his narrative with anecdotes about his life, but it can make it a bit hard to follow, especially how much time is passing. The stories about family, friends, the landscape, and the aninals to me were more engaging. It was a very interesting look at the history of Rhodesia/Zimbabwe which I was unfamiliar with. The author's perspective is that of a white Rhodesian/Zimbabwean whose family owned considerable land and made their wealth in farming, but in the later chapters when there is political upheaval that forces them to leave their home, it doesn't provide any of the historical context of how colonization and white minority rule laid the groundwork that lead to later conflict. I note that because the last few chapters made me feel like the author loves his home country, but not really the people that were Indigenous to that area.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are a fan of history you will enjoy this book. You will follow a family in Africa as they successful create large farming organization. I found the book enjoyable but disturbing. I liked following the family and learning some of the history until the more modern times. The country is consumed by inflation, war and drastic conditions for the natives, the wildlife and a lot for the white farmers who had been adding to the economy. It will make you thing. It will show the imbalance between white farmers becoming successful at the expense of the natives. The permanent lost of many of the wild animals was disturbing. The family lives you are following set aside part of their very large holding to try to protect endangered wildlife just to see them destroyed by rampant hunger. A country brought to its knees by greed and lack of education and experience. The reference to dancing on bones is relating to the remains of previous inhabitants.

[S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although this story is very long, it is a worthy read. I was fascinated to experience the story of Rhodesia to Zimbabwe from the perspective of a 3rd generation white farmer. Also, interesting were the political parallels to the book written by an Iranian woman of a similar age to Ross Gordon. There just seems to be no limit to the horrors of politics.

[JKC · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't handle the racism, even though contextual and historical, without any explanation given. I know it's a retelling of a childhood but some comment on how that's how it used to be would have helped make it more palatable. DNF.

[susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book. I loved the way Ross Gordon brought Africa to life. It is a rare gem.