The Sky and the Forest

by C.S. Forester

Loa was not just king of his Central African tribe, he was a god to his people. He controlled life and death in his village. Then he turned outward and conquered his neighbors. He felt very fierce. But this was not to last. Europe was on the march in Africa, and destiny in the form of King Leopold's agents trod on Loa. They sacked his kingdom with an avarice unimaginable to the natives. Soon nothing was the same...nor would it ever be again. "A dazzling exhibition of the author's storytelling virtuosity." (The New York Times)

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literature, Audiobook, Adventure

313 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1948

About the author

Cecil Scott Forester was the pen name of Cecil Louis Troughton Smith, an English novelist who rose to fame with tales of adventure and military crusades. His most notable works were the 11-book Horatio Hornblower series, about naval warfare during the Napoleonic era, and The African Queen (1935; filmed in 1951 by John Huston). His novels A Ship of the Line and Flying Colours were jointly awarded the 1938 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction.

Reviews

[Paul Cornelius · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strange in many ways, The Sky and the Forest begins as a novel from the perspective of a divine Central African chieftain and his wife and son. The story of Loa takes the reader through his arrogant and deluded beginnings to his capture by Arab slave traders. His wife, Musini, and their son, Lanu, rescue him and then begins a long trek to return to their home village. Along the way, Loa becomes more self aware; he seems to evolve. Even his capacity for language and thought expands. Needless to say, many may find this somewhat condescending. Still, by book's end, Loa and Lanu have become empire builders, conquerors of nearby villages.

This is the summary for the first eighty percent of the book. Then, suddenly, focus shifts to an English mercenary in the pay of King Leopold of the Belgians who is busily absorbing the Congo into his empire. For the remaining parts of the book, the perspective is that of the European. When next encountered, Loa is an old man and he must decide how to meet the Europeans with their guns, steamships, and artillery.

Some think this a radical turn of events for Forester, taking the perspective and sympathy of Loa and black Africans. Yet, it is certainly not the first time this was done by an English author reflecting on European imperialism in Africa. H. Rider Haggard had done the same thing, even more thoroughly from the perspective of his Zulu protagonists, in Nada the Lily. And without the whiff of condescension that spoils many of Forester's pages.

Nevertheless, as usual, Forester displays a remarkable talent for describing scenes of adventure and action. And he has made a gallant try of introducing a different look at the native inhabitants of the Congo.

[Stuart Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Story of a central African chieftain during the 1800's. Loa is treated as a god, his people have no contact with the outside world, they literally never travel more than a couple of miles from the spot where they are born. Other people are all considered enemies and a potential source of food. Loa is a petulant, pampered god of a tribe that has lived without change for thousands of years. The forest provides more food than they need, the climate never changes, nobody comes from the outside. Then Arab slavers arrive and Loa learns that there are more powerful gods than him.

A psychological study of a man suddenly exposed to things beyond his comprehension. A man once treated as a god, who used people at a whim, is enslaved by people he did not even imagine existed. For the first time in his life he feels pain, hunger, and despair. He learns that even the lowest of his tribe no more about life than him. For awhile he learns humility.

A dark, unpleasant tale. Loa's tribe thinks nothing of killing and eating anyone that don't know, Loa is willing to kill anyone he doesn't like, and rape anyone he takes a fancy to. The noble savage is exposed as an ignorant killer, the outside world bent only on conquest, and the innocent soon learn the ways of violence. A harsh judgement on both the uncivilized and civilized alike.

[Nate Hendrix · Rating 2 out of 5]

An African chief is kidnapped by slavers and escapes. He takes months, possibly a year to get back to his village. He then turns his village into an empire and is then conquered by the white man. If it wasn't a Forester novel I wouldn't have read it. I have loved so many of Forester's books that I am trying to read all of them. It's not looking good, but you can't hit a homerun every time, or whatever you do in cricket.

[Matthew Takeda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book several decades ago, but thoroughly enjoyed it. Loa's journey is moving and filled with cultural information.

[Michaela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intense and brutal but a great look into how colonization destroyed culture, tradition, and livelihoods in Africa.

[Andy Gore · Rating 5 out of 5]

As ever Forester is the master of the story and even if it seemed to start slowly, the brutal inevitability of the end more than made up for it.

[Pachi · Rating 4 out of 5]

7.2/10 I felt like I needed to a better person after reading this

[Bill Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book when I was a teenager and thought it was 5 star. 40 years later, I still enjoyed it but the passage of time has taken its toll and I could only give it 4 stars.

This is a tale of the struggle of a primitive tribe in central Africa against slave trading and colonisation by Arabs and then by the West. Loa is the tribal chief and is regarded also as God. The peaceful tranquility of the jungle village is forever disturbed by Arab slave traders. Loa is captured and shackled and this immediately causes him to question his godly status. Later he is helped to escape by his wife and son and thus begins his quest to return to the home he once had and the life he knew. Loa's godlike qualities do not equip him for life in the jungle though.

The story follows the group's struggle to overcome the dangers and deprivations of the jungle. Forester's ability to tell the tale is superb. He especially brings out the Loa's change in fortunes and how he deals with the change in relationship as a result. From God to mortal and back again. This part of the book is a real page turner for me.

Unfortunately, the ending rather lets it down as the result of western incursions is inevitable.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved Forester's Hornblower series, The African Queen, The Good Shepherd, and Rifleman Dodd, but somehow had never read The Sky and the Forest. Now that I have, all I can say is 'Wow!' It is not an easy read, but Forester manages to tell two important stories - that of an African tribe's world destroyed by slave traders first and later King Leopold's forces and that of the god Loa becoming a human being. In many ways, that is the more affecting story. When Loa, who is brother to the sun, the moon, and the river realizes that he is clueless as to how to survive in the jungle and has become, at best, a kind of beloved, but tolerated pet to his wife and son, he has to decide how to deal with this new reality. It is a harsh, but touching story.

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was surprised that an author from this era would attempt to portray a sympathetic "native" chief complete with traits you would expect from a ruler; haughty dignity, a sense of entitlement, and condescension. And yet you don't hate Loa. He is a sympathetic character. His astonishment at the reversal of fortunes inspires pity. Descriptions of the West African slave trade are also interesting because this book dates to a time before African-American studies in universities, etc.

[Lietric · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book for the glimpse into and the hisotry of central africa. I found it enlightening and understandable into how a society and why a society of pygmies and hisotric africa existed the way that it did. What I didn't enjoy about this book was not one character in it had any redeming quality to it. In the end they were all evil people noone taking the high road at all. But I would recomend someone else to read it for the historical viewpoint of it.

[Tom King · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of Forester's Africa books (The African Queen is the other). I got this one by mistake. It shows some insight into tribal mentalities and what it took to survive in that very strange world that was Africa. Forester's book shows a fair look at the sins on both sides of the clash between the white man and the black man in that dark time and place.

[Colleen Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Learned so much not covered in 9th grade world history

Highly recommend. This book will lead you to learn about the cruelty of Muslim slave traders and King Leopold II Congolese atrocities as well as the inevitable contagion of cruelty that Africans inflicted on each other after being victimized by the invaders.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't read this book in many years due to availability. However, I originally read it as it was one of my grandfather's favorites. I was in high school and absolutely loved this! If it could be loved by both of us concurrently, it must be good!

[Kirby · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the only book I have found that movingly covers the lives of those who were torn from their homes in Africa and taken as slaves.

[Rabbit {Paint me like one of your 19th century gothic heroines!}]

Pre-read (3/28/18): This isn't the cover of my book or has the same page number, but it's the closest version on here. My dead tree copy is quite battered.