An African Memoir

Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A quirky title always catches my attention, and this was no exception. This memoir of Bobo (Alexandra) Fuller's life is basically a love story about Africa. Not a romantic love story, but real life love story of hard work and tough times in what can be a hard life, but I love it anyway, love story.

Bobo moves with her family to Africa when she is two years old. She has no memory of life before Africa, so when she does go to England, she is surprised by the things she misses, things she just takes for granted are a part of everyone's lives.

 ". . . her (Africa's) smell; hot, sweet, smoky, salty ,sharp-soft. It is like black tea, cut tobacco, fresh fire, old sweat, young grass." 

Then you have the sounds of Africa

"At dawn there is an explosion of daybirds. . .in the hot, slow time of day. . . the sound of heat. The grasshoppers and crickets sing and whine. Drying grass crackles. Dogs pant. . .And at four o'clock. . . there is the shuffling sound of animals coming back into action to secure themselves for the night. . .The night creatures saw and hum with such persistence that the human brain is forced to translate the song into pulse." Those words gave me a nice picture of her Africa.

I was surprised to learn that the author now lives in Wyoming as her passion for Africa came through so clear in her memoir.

I liked this book well enough to try another. . . either "Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness" or "Scribbling the Cat: Travels with An African Soldier".

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