Alexandra Fuller wrote this book in 2001. I can't believe I haven't read it before now. However, I made up for it by reading it almost non-stop, totally fascinated by her well-written account of growing up in what in now Zimbabwe, formerly Rhodesia. The memoir covers the years from her childhood through her marriage. It is impossible to read this book without wanting to know more about this family. Thankfully Fuller has followed up with a second volume, Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness. Fuller is a absorbing raconteur and as I read, I kept wanting to invite her over for a cup of tea, coffee, a glass of wine, anything so that I could ask, "...and then what, but what about?..."
Fuller's account begins with her birth in 1969 and her upbringing in the Burma Valley on the eastern border of Rhodesia and Mozambique. Luckily there is a map at the beginning of the book which I referred to often.
It wasn't answered in this book, but I want to know more about her parents, and why they left England to settle and manage several farms in Africa. Alexandra, called Bobo had one older sister, Vanessa; a brother who died young of meningitis; another sister who drowned as an infant; and a brother who died in childbirth. That Bobo and Vanessa thrived in a dangerous environment and grew to adulthood is a testament to their toughness and the knowledge that they were loved, despite their mother and father's decidedly casual parenting style. The Fullers worked hard, played hard and drank a lot and often. Bobo and Vanessa squabbled constantly, yet protected and loved each other in an atmosphere that was akin to sending toddlers off to boot camp. At times their parents were reckless in their neglect of the safety of the girls as the family worked trying to salvage several derelict and isolated farms. At age 6, Alexandra was loading and cleaning guns and learning how to shoot.
Fuller never judges her parents or the white society of Rhodesia in which she was culturally raised. She states facts and describes conditions of the war for independence along with beautiful descriptions of the wild land she so loves. After their farm was put up for auction in the land distribution program, the family moved to Malawi. The political realities of living there proved impossible to maintain and they ended up in Zambia. When old enough, the girls were sent to board at a school in Harare in Zimbabwe which began as an "A" school for whites only, and subsequently integrated after the revolution.
Eventually we learn that Fuller's alcoholic mother was diagnosed as bi-polar. The girls have further adventures, grow up, find love and marry. After marrying an American, the author moved to Wyoming where she still lives.
I highly recommend this book as it is not only insightful and well-written, it gives a fascinating look at a family's precarious life style in an area of the world that is as beautiful as it is dangerous. This is also a thought provoking study for a reading group.
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