ellabsimpson's review
informative
medium-paced
3.0
I enjoyed reading this, but felt this was more focussed on telling a story about its author on an adventure than exploring or trying to better understand DRC, which is what I was looking for.
filawless's review
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
3.25
I really struggle rating this book. While I enjoyed the premise and the peppering of Congo's history thoughout the book, I found the author's attitude towards the Congolese people he encoutered and his complete lack of acknowledgement of his immense privlege, being able to travel on UN vehicles, getting help from aid organisations etc very irritating.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism, Violence, and Sexual violence
maria_ruth_jones's review
3.0
Fascinating book and well worth reading. Though at times I struggled getting past the foolhardiness of the trip, and how odd to engage as a tourist in a place of such extreme needs. I liked the combination of history of stanley's journey (though I would have liked more of that) with the contemporary view. This beat into me how much in many ways reality hints have changed for the worse in the drc post-independence. Heartbreaking, in many ways. Compulsively readable as well.
kathleenitpdx's review
4.0
This book is a revelation! Butcher gives us a moving picture of the DRC Congo as he follows Stanley's path down the Congo River. He describes what he sees and feels-fear, dehydration, illness, heat, irritation as he travels by motorbike, pirogue, pusher boat across Congo. He gives us the history of the area from European contact through the latest killings. His interviews of the people--a militia leader, missionaries, village heads, mining officials, aid workers (both Congolese and foreigners from around the world), former tour guides, etc.--sharply etches a portrayal of what it is like to live there now. I have never gotten a clearer picture of a country without visiting it.
I have often wondered what it was like as the Roman Empire crumbled. People that had lived with roads, order and trade and communications from far away, saw civilization retreat. This has happened in the Congo. One village headman says that when he was young he walked a short distance to a road and caught a bus to a city where he attended school. Several years later he was lucky to survive and make it back to the village. The children living in his village now have never seen a road, a bus, a school or a city. When they hear that men are coming, the villagers take all that they can carry and hide in the bush. When the men leave, the villagers return to burned houses picked clean of anything that they left behind.
I have often wondered what it was like as the Roman Empire crumbled. People that had lived with roads, order and trade and communications from far away, saw civilization retreat. This has happened in the Congo. One village headman says that when he was young he walked a short distance to a road and caught a bus to a city where he attended school. Several years later he was lucky to survive and make it back to the village. The children living in his village now have never seen a road, a bus, a school or a city. When they hear that men are coming, the villagers take all that they can carry and hide in the bush. When the men leave, the villagers return to burned houses picked clean of anything that they left behind.
rgombert's review
4.0
A good, but sad and disheartening book.
A very through study of a Libertarian paradise.
Thereby being a cautionary tale for politicians and citizens in other countries.
A very through study of a Libertarian paradise.
Thereby being a cautionary tale for politicians and citizens in other countries.