I didn’t actually sign up for the Challenge, but even before it came up I had already made the decision to read more African non-fiction. It is embarrassing, after all, for a man my age to be there when he hasn’t read Long Walk To Freedom. I also need to read at least three accounts of life under Idi Amin, and am interested in a history of Shaka Zulu so as to get at least some kind of insight into how the tribes we have nowadays were formed.
(Raises nose haughtily at Carlo)
A couple of days before the mosquitoes got me I was at Aristoc and landed on this book. (That’s the Amazon link. I have recently discoverd Google Books, too… here)
And now, presenting: A brief review.
It isn’t brilliantly written. In fact, it is quite amateurishly written. It is definitely not Dickens; it is the kind of thing you would expect from a young guy who only began read and write in proper English in his later teens, who, before that, only attended rural primary schools in one of the poorest countries in the world.
Ishmael Beah was caught right in the middle of the Sierra Leone civil war and was a child soldier himself.
And when a person who has seen that much decides to talk about life, the wise man listens.
So you should read this book.
Mr E. Bazanye 
With such a fierce recommendation who would not want to read the book?
Raise your nose? It is a compliment to you by the way for a man your age to want to read children’s books. Because you are young at heart. But ok, refuse to be young you . . . you . . . Abraham Gandalf you!
I like the way you say “for a man my age to be there”. It is so educated, like you started to read and write in proper english from the cradle.
B.t.w. sorry about your malaria. They say you haven’t really lived in a new house until you get malaria from it – or the mosquitoes in it
… and what does the wise woman do? Walk away?
Since I am neither a man nor am I wise, I’ll read it just because you say so.
@ Victoria: thank you. At least someone cared. Sniff.
@ Tumwi: I used the masculine pronoun? Nah, I’m not going to change it. I am still annoyed at all you internets. 27th said all men are barbaric idiots and you all clapped for him.
@ 333: It wasn’t that fierce. I mean, you can read Terry Pratchett if you prefer.
@ Dakota Fanning: I have been old at heart since I was a toddler! But if you can find me any Just William books…
People still be getting malaria in the age of Windows Vista? I thought Baz would be suffering from diseases like high cholesterol, but malaria? So colonial. You should start suffering from some newer diseases.
This is a review? This is a review. What a review!
P.S: Am I the only one who thinks books with a handwriting-ish font on the cover are worth reading? Oba it’s just a publishing trick of nowadays?
@Minty- it’s a publishing trick of THOSE days!
All men are barbaric idiots.
*clap, clap, clap*
Okay, me, I’m not that moved by stories, to be frank with you. I’m moved by style. Fuck stories – they abound. Style doesn’t. But still.
No, 27th Comrade, that’s not it.
I know you guys think that they are making some valiant and chivalrous guesture, turning their swords on themselves so that milady may be spared the hilt, and that this is noble and that women should be flattered or grateful. But that is so deeply sexist itself.
The idea that women are gentle, compassionate, emotional, maternal beings as opposed to men, who are tough, aggressive hunters and warriors is not just a sexist argument, it is THE sexist argument. It is the basis, the root, the fundament, the begining of all sexism.
Some guys are assholes, some guys are cool. Some chicks are assholes, some chicks are cool. You judge a person by the merits of their character and not by that gender. Anything else is sexist, and offensive and wrong.
Dude, don’t make me write a page on you. Cos you know I got my health back…
@Magoola, oba you want me to get those things of needing Prozac?
@ Minty, by the way, are you also on the Challenge?
Kale me, these things of reading STRESS me a lot these days. I have school kati atte now adding This CHALLENGE to my stress will kill me.
So forgive me when I say that I WILL skip this challenge for now.
But I waz’ere!
And Minty…it’s not funny when u go and disappear like this!!!111
Baz, it is true – on the whole, women are gentle, compassionate, emotional and obviously maternal, since they can’t be paternal. Call it sexist if you want. It is the truth, it is nature.
Dear Victoria, Long comment. I had a whole morning meeting to draft it:
here we go.
“On the whole, women are compassionate and caring” seems like a safe conclusion to make at first.
But if you look at it closely you find that, unfortunately, it isn’t as firmly bound together as you would initially believe. Flip it around a bit. Look at it from different directions and you will see.
“If you got all the compassionate people in the world and put them in one room, and all the uncaring people in the world and put them in another room, you will find that almost all the women are in the same room and almost all the men are in the other.”
Now it becomes a bit less certain.
“Walk down Kampala Road and look at all the faces there. It is safe to say that almost all the women you see are kind sweethearts and almost all the men are assholes.”
A bit more dubious.
Or what about this:
Minister: “I need a compassionate person. Go get me a woman.”
Secretary gets a woman off the streets. Minister asks her, ” Are you compassionate?”
Woman sneers. “Nah. I couldn’t give a fuck.”
The minister is disapponted. He calls is secretary. “Get me another woman. This one is faulty.”
Another woman is brought in. The minister asks her the same question. “Are you compassionate, madam?”
The young woman sneers. “Puh-leese. I don’t even know you!”
The minister sighs. “Next!”
Another woman is brought in. “Any compassion?” he asks her.
“As much as the next guy, I guess,” she shrugs.
This isn’t going well. The secretary knocks on the door and sheperds in another candidate. “This one, sir, is very compassionate. Everyone says so.”
“Yeah, but he is a man. I can’t use him. It says here ‘women’. Get me a woman.”
The secretary vanishes through the door with the rejected fellow in tow. In a minute he leads another woman into the room.
“And you, are you compassionate?” the minister asks, hopefully.
“Yes, I am. Very compassionate!”
she replies.
The minister beams. Sucess at last.
See? Now it becomes absurd.
Baz, why are you blogging in your comments section?
Nate, it is something I feel deeply about.
Argh. Baz, my old Comrade in Arms. Up in arms, most of the time.
Baz, I’m going to sound like those assholes who excuse racism by pointing to lame biology they can barely speak. But, if you listen carefully, it is different.
Men have more testosterone, which helps with aggression. They are designed like that, and that is okay. But it makes them more-aggressive. More prone to expressing violence and mindless self-preservation, more than women. Of course, it also ensures they have no breasts, which may contribute to why I see things this way. 😉
I hate that part of guys. I prefer women’s measured calmness. And all those nice things: compassionate, whatever. Men, as I once said, are a better pick, if you want their features. War? Genocide? Heavy-lifting? (Testosterone helps with muscle-building.) Boxing? Murder? Road rage? Get a man, and you are fixed. If these are the things you want, get a guy for the job!
That minister was a Minister for The Love of Little Children With Disabilities. He was wrong to turn away the compassionate guy, or even to look for a woman. He should have said “I want a compassionate person”, and picked the most-compassionate. Chances are that person would be a woman. Check the orphanages, if you don’t believe me. 🙂
yeah, but you don’t need testosterone to be aggressive. And you can have testosterone and not be aggressive. That is why it is a useless statement to make. It is useless as information.
“A person with testosterone may be aggressive. Then again, they may not. You can’t really tell. It depends on the person.”
Or look at it this way: Because of historical circumstances there are very many uneducated Africans in the world. But there are many educated Britons. So, I guess you can say Americans are more educated than Africans. But what would the point of that statement be? In the end wouldn’t it make better sense, if you are looking for literate people, to scrutinise a person’s CV than to say, “Wanted: Briton”?
And chances are that person would be compassionate. That is all you need.
Something happened with him and I guy from Perth. It was headlined in the papers here for 2 weeks. I kind of want to read the book now.
now that baz read that and recommends it, let me jump on and ask u to read one by china katetsi [is that how they write it] called child soldier or something. it’s quite an insight into some of those big lads u see in uniform. oh the things they used to do will upset your stomach. so u must read it.
p.s.
i love your review baz.