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This is where I end up sounding like a dumbo who has no appreciation for serious texts. I really struggled with In Praise of Savagery. I was interested by the premise, I enjoyed some of the tongue-in-cheek prose which ridiculed the voice of the text while almost underscoring the more serious messages of the book. The strange idea behind the text shouldn't have worked on paper, but they did. But... not for me. You know what? There are two reasons that I struggled with this book. 1) Post Colonial Literature 2)Colonialism and the Masculine Two university courses which I remember fondly, but also with still-painful memories of essays and assignments. Maybe this sort of literature is just too much like "homework" for me now? I hope not. The book is a strange mixture of travelogue and biographical memoir which journeys through the Africa that once was, and the Africa that is. Thesiger's journey of old Africa was much more interesting to me as the modern author's journey just couldn't live up to the bright and savage excitement of Thesiger's story. Indeed, reading about Wilfred Thesiger's adventured reminded me of the sort of excitement I used to love in Wilbur Smith novels. This book has pace, excitement and a use of language which is almost melodic at times. So there was nothing wrong with the actual writing... The only reason that it wasn't for me is that it just wasn't my cup of tea. All because two university courses has killed this genre for me...for now at least. So, how to rate it? I would recommend this book to others who have an interest in travelogue, memoir and colonialism. There is depth and meaning behind the parallel journeys in this text and its messages are important. Therefore, despite the facet that this book wasn't "for me", I can't justify a low star rating. Like the coward that I am I shall give this book... ***

2023-06-21 00:29