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van_worldexplorer's review
0.5
If the author gave any info on who Mary Kingsley was before she started her journey I might be more interested. It assumes you already know Kingsley and makes a lot of references to her. Hard to follow. Skipped most of it tbh, which I hate because I was really interested based on the back of the book description.
graciegrace1178's review
2.0
2.3 stars. God, I so WANT to like Alexander. I really really really do. She's important and I think she's a genius but her tone?? Just doesn't click with me. I need to be in the right frame of mind to absorb any of her content. I'm sorry Alexander. I adore you as a person, but this isn't for me. I refused to DNF though. I gave this a proper and thorough shot.
PT: travelogues, reading around the world: Gabon, by extension: greek and roman myth (Caroline Alexander), Africa
What I Liked
1) Thorough. If nothing else, this was thorough in its account of Gabon's environment and history. That's no small feat. This is the primary reason this earned its 2 stars.
2) Sprinkling of humor here and there. Despite my comments in WIDL, Alexander DID have a few moments of good humor. Those were great.
What I Didn't Like
1) Academic tone. Much as it pains me to say, there is (kind of) a time and place for academic tones. Sure, I can acknowledge that. But this?? This was excessive. Too academic for my blood by a long shot. I wanted more of a witty personal account grounded in realism and humor. This was not that.
2) Mary Kingsley. See, I knew going into this book that Mary would probably feature heavily in the story because Alexander was following her trail, but nothing could've prepared me for JUST how much Kingsley was in the story. My goodness, it was a lot. Too much. This whole thing felt more like an essay on Kingsley's experiences than a travelogue of Alexander's own adventures. I understand the intellectual desire to lean towards depending on someone else's work as an outline for your own story, which makes sense, but if I wanted to hear Kingsley's story, I would've just read her book. I wanted Alexander's take on Gabon, and unfortunately, this didn't especially fulfill that want.
3) Historical database. Further on intellectual leanings: this read like an index of historical individuals of the area at times. While I think it IS important to establish context and maybe throw in a few notable characters here and there for intrigue's sake, Alexander's approach was too dry for me. There was nothing that particularly stood out as exciting or enchanting about the people of the area, despite the POTENTIAL they had to be set up as exciting. I think Alexander's style just doesn't sit well with me. Not my cup of tea.
4) Nothing happened? Where was the excitement? The fun? The danger?? Even the most dangerous moments felt tamped down by the academic tone of it all. Alexander was on an adventure, but it read like a cookbook list of instructions; she was just checking off the activities on her journey, not living them fully. Maybe that's not fair of me to say. Maybe she was really living them fully, but every chapter's chance at emotion felt stifled by academia.
PT: travelogues, reading around the world: Gabon, by extension: greek and roman myth (Caroline Alexander), Africa
What I Liked
1) Thorough. If nothing else, this was thorough in its account of Gabon's environment and history. That's no small feat. This is the primary reason this earned its 2 stars.
2) Sprinkling of humor here and there. Despite my comments in WIDL, Alexander DID have a few moments of good humor. Those were great.
What I Didn't Like
1) Academic tone. Much as it pains me to say, there is (kind of) a time and place for academic tones. Sure, I can acknowledge that. But this?? This was excessive. Too academic for my blood by a long shot. I wanted more of a witty personal account grounded in realism and humor. This was not that.
2) Mary Kingsley. See, I knew going into this book that Mary would probably feature heavily in the story because Alexander was following her trail, but nothing could've prepared me for JUST how much Kingsley was in the story. My goodness, it was a lot. Too much. This whole thing felt more like an essay on Kingsley's experiences than a travelogue of Alexander's own adventures. I understand the intellectual desire to lean towards depending on someone else's work as an outline for your own story, which makes sense, but if I wanted to hear Kingsley's story, I would've just read her book. I wanted Alexander's take on Gabon, and unfortunately, this didn't especially fulfill that want.
3) Historical database. Further on intellectual leanings: this read like an index of historical individuals of the area at times. While I think it IS important to establish context and maybe throw in a few notable characters here and there for intrigue's sake, Alexander's approach was too dry for me. There was nothing that particularly stood out as exciting or enchanting about the people of the area, despite the POTENTIAL they had to be set up as exciting. I think Alexander's style just doesn't sit well with me. Not my cup of tea.
4) Nothing happened? Where was the excitement? The fun? The danger?? Even the most dangerous moments felt tamped down by the academic tone of it all. Alexander was on an adventure, but it read like a cookbook list of instructions; she was just checking off the activities on her journey, not living them fully. Maybe that's not fair of me to say. Maybe she was really living them fully, but every chapter's chance at emotion felt stifled by academia.
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