Books for the Break
More a brief synopsis than review, let me highlight two great reads --- perhaps for your intersession enjoyment?!
Both books are available in the Tower Reading Room: A Guide to the Birds of East Africa and The House at Sugar Beach: In Search of a Lost African Childhood.
Also, there's a complimentary book in the Stacks entitled Exporting American Dreams: Thurgood Marshall's African Journey written by USC Professor of Law, History and Political Science, Mary Dudziak.
Synopsis follows:
Fiction:
A Guide to the Birds of East Africa (Houghton Mifflin, 2008) is a charming tale of love written by Nicholas Drayson. The setting is contemporary Nairobi (and surroundings), with enough historical references to give depth to the narrative space. The basic story-line is: Man steadfastly adores woman from a respectful distance; playboy breezes onto the scene and is attracted to the same. When both gentleman express their desire to invite the lady in question to the social event of the year, the annual Hunt Club Ball, their peers (members of the Asadi Club, "where a fellow goes if he is not white or black but brown") devise a competition to determine who should have the "honor of first invitation."
Let me quickly interrupt here to cite another book (that is available in the Law Library Stacks: KSK 2095 D83 2008) entitled Exporting American Dreams: Thurgood Marshall's African Journey by Mary Dudziak (Oxford UP, 2008). For more in-depth information see (among other websites): http://mdudziak.com/exporting.aspx . My comments are simple: It's a very accessible presentation of the fascinating link between the American Civil Rights Movement and, in particular, the birth of an independent Kenya; a link that has contemporary brilliance in the person of President-elect Barack Obama. What makes me think of this book in relation to A Guide to the Birds of East Africa is that Dudziak writes about the various tribal and racial (ethnic and cultural) tensions within Kenya, which included the precarious position that the Asian community faced as the interplay between colonial and native erupted. Our protagonist, Mr. Malik, is just such a fellow, a Kenyan of Indian descent.
So let us return to Mr. Malik, his rival, Mr. Khan, and the object of their adoration, Rose Mbikwa. Our heroine leads the Tuesday morning bird walk of the East African Ornithological Society, a weekly event that Mr. Malik has faithfully attended for several years, while Mr. Khan has just appeared as the story begins. So, what better augur of affection than a competition based upon who can spot the most avian species within a one week period?! And for all you aspiring lawyers, please note that the competition is duly drawn up, with rules and an oversight committee, and presided over by H.H. (Tiger) Singh, LLB, MA (Oxon.), barrister-at-law.
What ensues is a quiet and steady movement of events and emotions that incorporates past and present, main characters and adeptly-developed and interwoven peripherals, the landscape and, of course, the birds of Kenya.
So who wins? Read, and enjoy!
Non-Fiction:
The House at Sugar Beach: In Search of a Lost African Childhood (Simon & Schuster, 2008) is written by Helene Cooper, a journalist for the New York Times, previously the Wall Street Journal. There has been so much press surrounding this book (no pun intended) that it hardly seems worthwhile to write much other than the basic story-line and a personal impression, or two. If you do want more information before you decide to spend a few hours unable to put the book down (I couldn't) then simply Google the author and title and you'll find everything from YouTube to National Public Radio to International Herald Tribune, and blogs aplenty.
Ms. Cooper has created a visceral re-telling (or, first-telling: a recounting or reckoning) of her own and her family's experiences: from a childhood securely anchored within the wealthy Liberian elite, through the devastation of the Doe coup (1980) and the family's departure for the U.S., to high school and college in Tennessee and North Carolina, a career, and American citizenship. She speaks of simple pleasures and normal adolescent fears, divorce and a family separated by horrendous circumstances, yet also of cohesion, continuity and love, of exceptional fortune and exceptional violence; and, lastly, after 23 years, of her return to Liberia, and their house at Sugar Beach.
Personal impressions: Her writing is cinematic: I felt like I was seeing the images, hearing the sounds. She made it simultaneously possible and impossible to step into her shoes. I experienced the telling as a delicate mix of one life, and many -- the personal and the universal.
In her author's note (at the end of the book) she writes:
"One thing I've learned from all this: our parents, grand-parents, and great-grandparents are the best resources any of us has when it comes to figuring out each of our individual stories. There was a wealth of knowledge waiting for me; all I had to do was shut up and listen."