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redowns1022's review
4.0
A good juxtaposition of a family and national story. Thoroughly depressing to realize that several years after this book was published the situation in Zimbabwe remains the same or worse.
muhavipi's review
4.0
This book offers good insight into the years following independence by following the life of a white Zimbabwean family. It should also be recognized that the viewpoint necessarily skews the perspective. Their separation from black Zimbabweans overall is clearly seen. While it can be noted that many of the atrocities that followed independence were regrettable, the necessary removal of white power and the structures of colonialism, of which those suffering in the book benefited from, are not. They experienced just a taste of what colonialism caused for many black Zimbabweans. Even the resulting dictatorship and failed economy was a result of the colonialist structure that was imposed on the people. I'm sure the native peoples of the Americas wish they would have had this option as opposed to almost complete annihilation.
book_concierge's review
3.0
3.5***
Peter Godwin was born and raised in Rhodesia. He was away at Oxford when the war for independence was finalized and the country became Zimbabwe. He returned in 1982, working for a time as a lawyer, but settling on journalism and moving away from his homeland. His parents remained in Zimbabwe, their failing health and increased frailty mirroring the slow destruction of a once-vibrant economy into anarchy and destruction. This is Godwin’s memoir of the years from 1996, when his father had his first heart attack, through 2004.
This was not what I was expecting. Somehow when I learned this was a memoir of a white African, I assumed it would be about his youth. But this is the story of an adult son coming to grips with the mortality of his parents, and learning something about himself as a man in the process. Along the way, Godwin examines the problems of the country he still calls “home,” though he may never live there again, nor even visit again. His brutal honesty about deteriorating conditions is an eye-opener to anyone who has ignored the relatively sparse newscasts about Zimbabwe’s “president” Robert Mugabe.
There really is no way for Godwin to tell his family story without also telling the story of Zimbabwe. I think he does a respectable job of journalistic reporting on the country and its issues, while still giving us a very personal and intimate look at his relationship with his parents and his home.
Peter Godwin was born and raised in Rhodesia. He was away at Oxford when the war for independence was finalized and the country became Zimbabwe. He returned in 1982, working for a time as a lawyer, but settling on journalism and moving away from his homeland. His parents remained in Zimbabwe, their failing health and increased frailty mirroring the slow destruction of a once-vibrant economy into anarchy and destruction. This is Godwin’s memoir of the years from 1996, when his father had his first heart attack, through 2004.
This was not what I was expecting. Somehow when I learned this was a memoir of a white African, I assumed it would be about his youth. But this is the story of an adult son coming to grips with the mortality of his parents, and learning something about himself as a man in the process. Along the way, Godwin examines the problems of the country he still calls “home,” though he may never live there again, nor even visit again. His brutal honesty about deteriorating conditions is an eye-opener to anyone who has ignored the relatively sparse newscasts about Zimbabwe’s “president” Robert Mugabe.
There really is no way for Godwin to tell his family story without also telling the story of Zimbabwe. I think he does a respectable job of journalistic reporting on the country and its issues, while still giving us a very personal and intimate look at his relationship with his parents and his home.
puistaja's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
ericfheiman's review
5.0
Initially, I thought this book was going to be another white colonial (hence patronizing) view of Africa, a la Kapucinski or Theroux, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover it was much more—and much better—than I ever expected. There is a nice triumvirate of storytelling here that when the disparate strands are linked together as they are in this book, pack a punch that none of the three lines alone could have done. Peter Godwin IS white, but he was born and raised in Zimbabwe (nee Rhodesia) and his tacking between the worlds of black and white creates a palpaple tension in that you aren't sure if the narrator can be trusted. Two of the storylines—the death of Godwin's father and the disintegration of Zimbabwe—have a nice parallel, but it's Godwin's discovery that his father is not English by birth but actually a Polish Jew who disowned his birthright after World War II, that gives this memoir its propulsive narrative glue. I haven't cried from reading a book in a long while. This one broke the dry-eye streak and the tears felt earned and genuine.
joyensen's review
5.0
This was a heavy book. It contained such an intimate look into the life of someone whose country of birth chooses to disown him and people like him.
This is a good book for people wondering what it’s like to live under the rule of a dictator, who are struggling to empathize with the frustrated feelings of being racially persecuted, or who want insight on the ground reporting from the fall of a nation.
I tentatively recommend and can imagine reading again some day.
This is a good book for people wondering what it’s like to live under the rule of a dictator, who are struggling to empathize with the frustrated feelings of being racially persecuted, or who want insight on the ground reporting from the fall of a nation.
I tentatively recommend and can imagine reading again some day.
moogen's review
There's no doubt that Robert Mugabe is one bad dude. But I'm not convinced Zimbabwe's white population - especially it's white farmers - are as blameless and selfless as the author suggests. I would have liked to hear from the other side. Instead these people are all dismissed as greedy buffoons. The book feels unbalanced and emotionally didactic. I might have ended up with the same opinions as the author but I like to arrive at those opinions by myself.
The final chapter is lazy and disappointing.
The final chapter is lazy and disappointing.
thatclaregirl's review
3.0
A middle class, white perspective on the troubles in Zimbabwe. Although what his parents and the white farmers went through was horrible and hard, I just don't drum up the same kind of sympathy as in the other books I've read about displaced indigenous Africans. They always had a way out if they wanted it - sure they counted Zimbabwe as home, but they weren't from their originally and had realistic other options and could have easily settled into comfortable lives elsewhere (which is what the author had done). I was hoping for more about Africa and Zimbabwe, but the book was centred on his family's history. It was interesting, but it gave an insight into one family, rather than a microcosm of many.