liralen's review
4.0
Rogers grew up in Zimbabwe, in a position of not inconsiderable privilege: the son of white farmers, he eventually left the country for the Global North; his parents stayed on, eventually settling into a life running a game farm and backpackers' lodge.
But Zimbabwe was headed for intense turmoil, and nobody was entirely spared. The young and disenfranchised—and disenfranchisement in Zimbabwe was no joke—took up arms; farmers were booted from their land, often violently; opposition parties were silenced, also often violently; the value of the currency spiralled, and spiralled, and spiralled some more. For Rogers, it was reminiscent of the 70s, when each radio station told a slightly different story: was it 1200 refugees who had been killed, or 1200 guerillas, or 1200 terrorists? It all depended on your point of view. By the 2000s, Rogers was long since out of the country, but he returned again and again to write stories—and to visit his parents. Of his father, Rogers writes:
It is worth noting that Rogers portrays his parents as being sympathetic to the people around them—again, they benefit from a life of relative privilege, but this is a mercifully far cry from books I've read that frame it as 'us' versus 'them' (and in which 'us' is white and 'them' is black). But in no small part because of his parents' widely varied contacts, Rogers had access, throughout the events he writes about, to many sources and perspectives, and he's in and out as the lodge shifts from a foreign, white clientele to a local, black clientele, and as...well. As the landscape shifts and shifts and shifts again. With the fate of Zimbabwe, the farm, and Rogers' parents uncertain throughout, it's a gripping bit of history and human interest.
But Zimbabwe was headed for intense turmoil, and nobody was entirely spared. The young and disenfranchised—and disenfranchisement in Zimbabwe was no joke—took up arms; farmers were booted from their land, often violently; opposition parties were silenced, also often violently; the value of the currency spiralled, and spiralled, and spiralled some more. For Rogers, it was reminiscent of the 70s, when each radio station told a slightly different story: was it 1200 refugees who had been killed, or 1200 guerillas, or 1200 terrorists? It all depended on your point of view. By the 2000s, Rogers was long since out of the country, but he returned again and again to write stories—and to visit his parents. Of his father, Rogers writes:
He had grown a thick grey beard and was starting to resemble some of the rugged armed men in the sepia-tinted photograph of his Afrikaner grandfather's commando unit in the Second Boer War that he had hung in his study. Taken in 1902, two months before the end of that bloody conflict, the photograph shows my great-grandfather, the dashing Gerrit Gauche, in his veld hat and khaki uniform, rifle at his side and a bandolier of bullets across his chest, standing directly behind the white-bearded leader of the commandos, Jan Smuts, the legendary Boer general who later would become prime minister of South Africa.
I wondered aloud: Was the beard his own last stand, a sign of atavistic Boer resistance?
He looked at me like I was an idiot.
'No,' he said. 'There's a shortage of razor blades.' (51)Despite the challenges, Rogers' parents stayed. They knew the risks—farmers around them had been beaten or worse when their land was taken over—but this was also all they knew...and by the time they started to think that maybe Mozambique wouldn't be so bad, the little cash savings they had was more or less worthless.
'...There is a way to work out what the value to the dollar should be.'
'What's that?'
'The egg rate.'
'The egg rate? What, like a local equivalent of the Dow or the FTSE?'
She cackled loudly. 'No, darling. Go to a street dealer and ask him for seven boiled eggs. The price he charges is the rate of the Zim dollar to the US dollar on that day. It's highly scientific.' (181)I wish I'd been more aware of the turmoil in Zimbabwe when it was happening, because only now are some things put into context for me. I remember a college classmate from Zimbabwe telling some of us that her parents were excited for her next trip home and were already saving up petrol to be able to pick her up—this was 2007 or 2008, maybe, and now I wonder how much this all affected her life, and her family's. Not that I knew her well enough to ask, but...privilege of the West, I guess; I was just blissfully unaware.
It is worth noting that Rogers portrays his parents as being sympathetic to the people around them—again, they benefit from a life of relative privilege, but this is a mercifully far cry from books I've read that frame it as 'us' versus 'them' (and in which 'us' is white and 'them' is black). But in no small part because of his parents' widely varied contacts, Rogers had access, throughout the events he writes about, to many sources and perspectives, and he's in and out as the lodge shifts from a foreign, white clientele to a local, black clientele, and as...well. As the landscape shifts and shifts and shifts again. With the fate of Zimbabwe, the farm, and Rogers' parents uncertain throughout, it's a gripping bit of history and human interest.
taniabotes's review
4.0
Truth is always stranger than fiction.
4.5 stars. This is the author’s account of his parent’s extraordinary lives in Zimbabwe. The book provides you with a thorough account and timeline of the country’s descend into hell. What makes The Last Resort so amazing, is that this is done with MANY laugh out loud moments. Because of this I was reminded of my favorite memoir of all time – [b:The Glass Castle|7445|The Glass Castle|Jeannette Walls|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1523542886s/7445.jpg|2944133]. Obviously, we also get to witness the horror, and the last chapters had me anxiously turning pages and swallowing tears.
The cast is quite extensive and super interesting - think diamond dealers, prostitutes, moneylenders, witch doctors and spies (but never portrayed as stereotypes). The true stars of the book are his parents - over 70 years of age - they never lose hope or their love for this country which has taken so much from them. They always remain open-minded, generous and resilient.
If you read only one book about Africa in 2019 make sure it’s this one!!! The only reason it loses half a star is that I really wanted to see some photos.
4.5 stars. This is the author’s account of his parent’s extraordinary lives in Zimbabwe. The book provides you with a thorough account and timeline of the country’s descend into hell. What makes The Last Resort so amazing, is that this is done with MANY laugh out loud moments. Because of this I was reminded of my favorite memoir of all time – [b:The Glass Castle|7445|The Glass Castle|Jeannette Walls|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1523542886s/7445.jpg|2944133]. Obviously, we also get to witness the horror, and the last chapters had me anxiously turning pages and swallowing tears.
The cast is quite extensive and super interesting - think diamond dealers, prostitutes, moneylenders, witch doctors and spies (but never portrayed as stereotypes). The true stars of the book are his parents - over 70 years of age - they never lose hope or their love for this country which has taken so much from them. They always remain open-minded, generous and resilient.
If you read only one book about Africa in 2019 make sure it’s this one!!! The only reason it loses half a star is that I really wanted to see some photos.
lindseypaige45's review
5.0
I knew next to nothing about Zimbabwe before reading this book, and I’m really glad I read it. This was an educational experience for me, told through the moving memoir of the Rogers’ family. Through the process of reading their story, I became increasingly interested in Zimbabwe, and after I finished reading I felt I needed to go do some research to find out what has happened there in the ten years since this book was written. Very eye-opening, a great way to learn about a country I think most of us don’t hear a lot about, and a great story about people doing what it takes to save their lives and maybe even help save their country.
jendewind's review
4.0
This was a very interesting read, as it gave one family's perspective on what Zimbabwe is like now, and some of its history. Zimbabwe has a long history of tension: being colonized, and then of being under Mugabe's rule, and most recently returning white owned land to Zimbabweans. I do not claim to have a comprehensive understanding of Zimbabwe, but here is some information gleaned from reading the book (and from a visit I made to Zimbabwe in 2000).
What was so compelling to me was the point of view of the author and more so his aging parents. They were fighting the land return, citing that they WERE Zimbabweans, and that they had no country to return to. They argued that generations of their families had been in Zimbabwe for over 100 years. They were not citizens of any other country, so could not be displaced to any other territory with a passport, and in fact a Zimbabwean passport was not going to be get them into many places other than as visitors. The author's parents dug in their heels and fought for many years to defend their lodge, and it became a sanctuary of sorts, for others who were the last ones standing.
Of course there is the other side of the story, which is Zimbabweans deserve: redistributing wealth, giving land back to rightful owners, and I'm sure more that I'm missing. Once the white landowners abandoned their property or were forced out, many Zimbabweans had land again. Unfortunately, many of the people who received land were not the poorest, they were people in power, so wealth was not necessarily redistributed. This seemed to be more of Mugabe's culture of corruption at work, allowing his political cronies to benefit while calling for "return of property to Zimbabweans". Also, the new landowners often did not have knowledge of how to properly farm. In turn, land that was farmed for decades was decimated in a matter of years.
All in all, this was not a feel good book! It was quite distressing, but I feel like it's a book that needs to be read. Get out of your comfort zone and read about a new place in the world.
What was so compelling to me was the point of view of the author and more so his aging parents. They were fighting the land return, citing that they WERE Zimbabweans, and that they had no country to return to. They argued that generations of their families had been in Zimbabwe for over 100 years. They were not citizens of any other country, so could not be displaced to any other territory with a passport, and in fact a Zimbabwean passport was not going to be get them into many places other than as visitors. The author's parents dug in their heels and fought for many years to defend their lodge, and it became a sanctuary of sorts, for others who were the last ones standing.
Of course there is the other side of the story, which is Zimbabweans deserve: redistributing wealth, giving land back to rightful owners, and I'm sure more that I'm missing. Once the white landowners abandoned their property or were forced out, many Zimbabweans had land again. Unfortunately, many of the people who received land were not the poorest, they were people in power, so wealth was not necessarily redistributed. This seemed to be more of Mugabe's culture of corruption at work, allowing his political cronies to benefit while calling for "return of property to Zimbabweans". Also, the new landowners often did not have knowledge of how to properly farm. In turn, land that was farmed for decades was decimated in a matter of years.
All in all, this was not a feel good book! It was quite distressing, but I feel like it's a book that needs to be read. Get out of your comfort zone and read about a new place in the world.
quigs07's review
5.0
Such a good book. Remarkable story of experiencing life through an unbelievable economic situation. Well worth searching for this book.