Scan barcode
gossamerwingedgazelle's review
4.0
This reminds me a lot of Ursula K. Leguin's "The Left Hand of Darkness" in that there wasn't a lot of plot in this book, and yet it was pretty good (except that the ending was a bit anticlimactic). The plot moved quickly, and the characters were appealing. The narrator was a bit intrusive at moments, but not too bad. The only real lame part was the end. I get what the author was going for, but it still seemed to flop.
daja57's review against another edition
4.0
Many people will know this book from the film directed by John Huston and starring Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn which won Bogart his only best actor Oscar and was nominated for three others: best picture, best director and best actress. Many people will know the author for his Hornblower books. The African Queen was written in 1935 just before these novels but he was already a seasoned writer by then.
The book is set in German Central Africa during World War I. After the Germans have raided their mission station, the Reverend Samuel Sayer dies of illness leaving his sister Rose alone. Charlie Allnutt, a cockney engineer who has been sailing down the river with supplies for the local Belgian mine, arrives and Rose and Charlie decide to travel down river in Charlie's boat, the African Queen. The pair are frequently in conflict. Rose is teetotal, Charlie enjoys gin. Rose wants to go out onto the lake at the end of the river and sink the German steamer that is there, to strike a blow for the British was effort. Charlie thinks this will be too difficult.
So the pair must overcome their conflicts and also overcome the formidable obstacles ahead, including passing a German fortress, being shot at, running rapids, mending a broken propellor and negotiating a swamp and a mangrove forest before they can finally try to convert the ship into a torpedo for a suicide attack on the German steamer.
It's well written and the interplay between the two characters keeps it humming along, although I was much influenced by my memories of the film (in the book Charlie is a cockney, but I can't help but hear it said in Bogart's accent).
Being a British book of its time, there is plenty of class awareness. Charlie is a cockney and, despite his considerable skills both at sailing the boat and as an engineer, he is implacably of a lower class than the sister of a Reverend ... although Rose is actually not much above him, since her father kept a shop. At the start he calls her Miss.
As you would expect for a book of this time, there is some casual racism in the book. The Africans are treated as ignorant savages. However, the German officers are not demonised in the way that they might have been had the book been written earlier, or later. The book recognises the patriarchal sexism of the society in which it is set ("She had lived in subjection all her life"; Ch 6; "men were, in their inscrutable oddity, and in the unquestioned deference accorded them, just like miniatures of the exacting and all-powerful God whom the women worshipped."; Ch 8)), but works against that, mostly by having Rose as the dominant partner in the relationship but also by allowing sex to rear its ugly head.
The book is set in German Central Africa during World War I. After the Germans have raided their mission station, the Reverend Samuel Sayer dies of illness leaving his sister Rose alone. Charlie Allnutt, a cockney engineer who has been sailing down the river with supplies for the local Belgian mine, arrives and Rose and Charlie decide to travel down river in Charlie's boat, the African Queen. The pair are frequently in conflict. Rose is teetotal, Charlie enjoys gin. Rose wants to go out onto the lake at the end of the river and sink the German steamer that is there, to strike a blow for the British was effort. Charlie thinks this will be too difficult.
So the pair must overcome their conflicts and also overcome the formidable obstacles ahead, including passing a German fortress, being shot at, running rapids, mending a broken propellor and negotiating a swamp and a mangrove forest before they can finally try to convert the ship into a torpedo for a suicide attack on the German steamer.
It's well written and the interplay between the two characters keeps it humming along, although I was much influenced by my memories of the film (in the book Charlie is a cockney, but I can't help but hear it said in Bogart's accent).
Being a British book of its time, there is plenty of class awareness. Charlie is a cockney and, despite his considerable skills both at sailing the boat and as an engineer, he is implacably of a lower class than the sister of a Reverend ... although Rose is actually not much above him, since her father kept a shop. At the start he calls her Miss.
As you would expect for a book of this time, there is some casual racism in the book. The Africans are treated as ignorant savages. However, the German officers are not demonised in the way that they might have been had the book been written earlier, or later. The book recognises the patriarchal sexism of the society in which it is set ("She had lived in subjection all her life"; Ch 6; "men were, in their inscrutable oddity, and in the unquestioned deference accorded them, just like miniatures of the exacting and all-powerful God whom the women worshipped."; Ch 8)), but works against that, mostly by having Rose as the dominant partner in the relationship but also by allowing sex to rear its ugly head.
tombennett72's review
3.0
A light, fast read.
Much better than the film, and much better than the average review it's received on here.
Much better than the film, and much better than the average review it's received on here.
forestidylls's review
4.0
Excellent up until the end - won't spoil anything for you, but I felt it could have been better.
vortimer's review
4.0
Surprisingly cynical and psychological; the protagonists are younger than in the film, though the characters and situations are fairly close.
_bydbach_'s review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
kcrouth's review against another edition
3.0
A pretty cool story about the two least likely to meet and become friends doing just that, and more. Some parts were too detailed, but realistic. After seeing the film many times, it was great to read the story that inspired it. And it was great picturing Bogart and Hepburn on every page.
kaitlyn_2005's review
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
cathleenrenee's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0