Customer Reviews

The Shadow of the Sun

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This was an easy and quick read! The book goes beyond the typical historical and political changes in Africa, describing a little known world to the reader, a world of day to day challenges of the communities. Excellent read!

For four decades Ryszard Kapuscinski was "Poland's most celebrated foreign correspondent", developing a specialty for reporting from violent Third World countries. He was the first, (and, for a long time, the only) Polish foreign correspondent in Africa.

"The Shadow of the Sun", unlike his books that each focus on one country, is a collection of non-fiction short stories from his many years all over Africa. Each chapter is a miniature portrait or vignette of some person, place, or event; some of these are historical (Samuel Doe or Idi Amin, for example), others are personal (the author's apartment in Lagos, killing a snake on a long-distance drive, visiting a village). All are written with a beautiful precision that captures both Africa's first few decades of independence (1958 - 1990) as well as Kapuscinski's reactions to Africa. Here is a first-rate author, and a very good book. It is good that Kapuscinski's stories will be available to those that do not read Polish.

Ryszard Kapuscinski is a Polish reporter who has been covering Africa since 1957. Through the years, he's written six books about his experiences. This, his latest, is a collection of essays spanning more than four decades. Each can stand alone, and yet, together they form a unique portrait of Africa, its peoples, and the writer himself. From the initial enthusiasm in the 1950s when colonial power began to wane to the destruction of that dream and war and starvation, Mr. Kapuscinski sees it all. He keeps the reader right there with him too, and we share the heat and the dryness and the insects and even the malaria and tuberculosis that attack his body.

We all know that Africa is very different from the world we know, and in this book we learn just how different it is. We learn about the African's identity with his clan, we get a feeling of his sense of time and distance, and understand the joy of something as simple as a sip of water or a small shady spot under a tree. Always, there is heat, so oppressive that people walk slowly to conserve energy and do nothing but lie quietly during the hot burning heat of the day. It's the keenly observed details that bring it all to life. For example, the introduction of plastic containers for carrying water improved the lives of the people. Plastic containers are lighter and come in various sizes. Children can carry water now, thus freeing adult women from hours of work. Reading about this makes me thankful for the clean running water I take for granted. I also learned a lot about some of the raging wars. For the first time, I really understood what exactly the war was about in Rwanda and why so many people died. And his descriptions of the various governments in Liberia and the horrible in-fighting was very clear. I shuddered to read about so many murders in the places he came to know so well. And there were tears in my eyes reading about the starvation and the reasons for it. I'm deeply saddened too, because I see no easy answers.

The episodic nature of the book was both its strength and its weakness. It's true that I got an excellent overview. But the chapters skipped around, from place to place and covered a span of more than forty years. I would have preferred a more in-depth look at any one area. I understand though, that his other books are more focused in this way and I look forward to reading more of his work. I also wish he had included some maps as well as a few photographs. In spite of this, however, I do recommend this book. It really did deepen my understanding of this very complex continent.

If you are expecting a scholarly, organized, dissertation explaining modern day Africa you have picked up the wrong book. If you are looking for something that gives you a window into the every day lives of "ordinary" Africans than I can not think of a better book or writer. Like his earlier works, Kapuscinski educates simply by living and writing down his experiences. While there is tremendous value in the works of those, like Robert Kaplan, to sit back and take the 3,000-year view, there is nothing that paints a clearer picture than the words of somenone who has literally lived his subject matter. I have yet to find a book that so vividly portrays life in Africa today and at the same time provide real entertainment and some background history. Also refreshing is Kapuscinski's total lack of fear when making sweeping judgements (Africans are ____ ), a refreshing departure from the timidity and obsessive annotation of academics. I strongly endorse this book for anyone that wants to learn about Africa and be entertained at the same time. I do not recommend this book for someone looking for source material for their history paper!

The shadow of the sun is an intensely personal, non-linear account of Ryszard Kapuscinskis forty years in Africa. Poetically written, it describes Africa as a land of extremes: drought, sun, heat, storms , disease, and political instability. His decades long desire to know the heart and soul of the African people led him to travel extensively on that continent, often at great personal risk. The vignettes he describes give us a glimpse into some of the 10,000 different cultures on that continent. They also give us a clear view of our common humanity. I enjoyed this book, not as a historic document or sociologic report,but as an epic poem of one mans voyage of discovery.

I completely enjoyed this book. Each chapter focuses on a new story of his journey yet each one some how connects with each other. I found that this book gave me a better understanding of the daily lives of people in some african countries that we as westerner's could not comprehend. I feel that Kapuscinski has given a unbiased account of troubled times in the 60's that have not changed that much today.

This book is simply fantastic. I have recommended it to everyone that has so much come into a conversation with me. There are books that are so cherished by the readers of the world, one's that have left a remarkable mark and have become must reads of literature.

The Shadow of the Sun is short of the complex language that is typical of literary acclaimed books. Its strength is in its description of events, people and places and the beauty is in its simplicity.

This is a love story between the author and the African continent and as you read this book, you will journey through his various encounters and learn the significant events in Africa's history as well as a deep appreciation for Africa's cultures. It comprises of short stories about his encounters - some of them so tragic and others so beautiful. It is a roller-coaster ride of emotions and he will keep you perfectly engaged.

It has been a week since I have finished this book but bits and pieces of it still resonate in my mind. I would recommend this book to anyone that seeks a pleasurable read or wants to learn more about Africa.

Interestingly, I originally became aware of this author through a review of this particular book and then proceeded to read his earlier five books...which are all available in paperback and tend to be far more narrow in scope than The Shadow of Sun and therfore I found somewhat more intersting and focussed. I must say that I was slightly disappointed (but not nearly as much as some of the other reviewers who apparently were rather displeased and quite critical of the book) In any event, it is, like all of Mr. Kapuscinski's books, an involving ande engrossing read but is is somewhat inconsistent and does meander at times. In short, I think this author has done a better job when he has taken a more specifc issue or period of time --like the fall of one particular nation or it's ruler and here he has tried to capture the complexities and enormity of a whole continent..and at times he does go off the path --but still and all a very interesting and fascinating read. Interestingly, like Colin Thurbon who has studied Central Asia and Siberia in similar depth --neither author really shares much of their personal life which I think would be equally interesting to read about.

I can hardly praise this book enough and should have probably given it five stars instead of four! First of all it is so well written (which is rare these days) and so different then if let's say a CNN correpondent would have written a book about Africa. Kapuscinsky goes to the core of the Africa experience, gets sick, stays in hell holes and flea bag hotels and writes about it in a non judgemental and very human way. It's also a great book to begin to understand why Africa is in the situation it is today. This is my first book by this author, a friend of mine loaned it to me. It won't be my last however. I'll keep you posted.

I think I have read all the books writen by Kapuscinski and this particular one is weak. It seems that the author just took some of the notes that he wrote during his visits to Africa and constructed an unsuccesfully collage; to my big surprise and regret, Kapuscinski just superficially refers to the greatest dissease of many African and Third World countries: corruption. Nevertheless, this book is a just a good initiation for those interested in the forgotten continent politics.