In a Dry Season

Amazon.com

Detective chief inspector Alan Banks is a walking midlife crisis, full of rage because of his recently failed marriage, a career crippled by a jealous superior, and problems with his son. In less skilled hands, Banks could have quickly become a royal pain, but Robinson makes him instead a very likable character, who is slightly baffled and bemused by his bad luck. When he criticizes his son Brian's decision to drop out of college to become a rock musician, Banks quickly regrets it--recognizing the same impulses that made him rebel against his own parents, and some of the pain he felt when a college friend died of a drug overdose. The realization that Brian's heavy-metal band is actually quite good brings genuine pleasure to a man whose idea of rock is Love's Forever Changes and other 1970s delights.

Banks is assigned to work on a case that the Yorkshire police department considers to be somewhat of a joke. The skeleton of a woman wrapped in World War II blackout curtains has been found in a dried-out reservoir. This man-made watering hole was a village--Hobbs End--that had been flooded many years earlier. Through the journal of a major player we realize early on who the dead woman is, but a large part of the fun is watching Banks and an edgy, attractive female cop put the pieces of the puzzle together. In a Dry Season is a stylish and gently reflective tale of secrets and lies.

Banks's other books include Wednesday's Child, Final Account, and Blood at the Root. --Dick Adler

Book Description

In the blistering, dry summer, the waters of Thornfield Reservior have been depleted, revealing the ruins of the small Yorkshire village that lay at its bottom, bringing with it the unidentified bones of a brutally murdered young woman. Detective Chief Inspector Banks faces a daunting challenge: he must unmask a killer who has escaped detection for half a century. Because the dark secret of Hobb's End continue to haunt the dedicated policeman even though the town that bred then has died—and long after its former residents have been scattered to far places . . . or themselves to the grave.

From an acknowledged master writing at the peak of his storytelling powers comes a powerful, insightful, evocative, and searingly suspenseful novel of past crimes and present evil.

Customer Reviews:

First Rate Crime Writing.......2007-03-21

Peter Robinson grew up in Yorkshire, and is the author of thirteen previous novels featuring Inspector Banks. He is the winner of numerous awards in the United States, Britain and Canada, and in 2002 he won the CWA Dagger in the Library. As I also come from Leeds the background to his stories is something that I have experienced first hand and because of this I have a special affection for his books. However they would be first class crime fiction wherever they were based.

Many of the reservoirs dotted around Yorkshire and other parts of the country have strange things lurking beneath their surfaces. Woodland, old farm buildings and in the case of Thornfield reservoir a whole village was sacrificed in the name of progress and the populations `thirst' for water.

When a blistering summer causes a draught that sees the small village of Hobb's End resurface after more than forty years underwater, it becomes a magical place for one curious young boy, that is until he finds more than he bargained for, a human skeleton. Detective Chief Inspector Banks is given the difficult if not impossible task of identifying the victim . . .

Good intentions gone awry.......2007-03-09

Much more than simply a mystery, In a Dry Season makes use of complex, imperfect characters to spin a tale of suspense and loss. Set in modern-day Yorkshire, DCI Banks solves a half-century old murder and confronts the consequences of a woman's misguided good intentions.

On par with Elizabeth George at her best.

A Solid Effort in the Banks Series: Good Characters, Less Trivia.......2007-03-06

This is a key book in the Banks series. Robinson seems to shift away from his reliance on British trivia as we see in prior novels and he has given the novel a strong set of characters. Also, he introduces a police woman, Annie, which makes the story a lot more interesting. Robinson has written almost 20 novels, this is approximately #13, written about 10 years after the first and we see some progress in the complexity of the work. This is one of his best.

As a side note, the present book is available from Pan as ISBN 0330 43265 6 which is two novels in one book, i.e.: In a Dry Season and Dry Bones That Dream. That is a great value since you get two Peter Robinson novels for the price of one.

I have read seven novels in the Inspector Banks series of the near 20 Robinson novels in print. I liked most of the other novels but some are not great while a few are very good. My impression here is that In A Dry Season is probably his best, or among the best. It rates 4 or 5 stars. It is a solid 500 page effort and has good characters and an interesting plot. It is well balanced and has a good story that keeps the reader entertained. Robinson injects humour at all the right spots, and the crime remains a mystery until the end. It is a quick light read. It has some flaws but they are minor.

A flaw in the Banks series, especially some of the early novels, is that Robinson relies on a lot of British pub trivia to set the mood. That cannot sustain a series. That is present here but thankfully in small doses. Robinson seems to have graduated from that - at least partially - and now uses a strong set of characters to carry the novel, and this is a big improvement for the Banks series. He still has Banks quoting T.S. Eliot, but at least that sort of thing does not dominate the book. The introduction of Annie to boost the series was a brilliant move by Robinson.

Annie is an interesting and attractive fellow police officer. As it turns out she becomes Banks's lover. Robinson has many other interesting characters to fill in the pages including an attractive potential victim, a young blond named Gloria, an older male eccentric artist who paints a nude of Gloria, and a female fictional crime writer, who is somewhat similar to Robinson. Also, there are many interesting second and third level characters.

I have been reading a number of the Banks novels and also recommend some of the Detective Wallander series by Henning Mankell. Mankell has less trivia padding and more action. He has nine novels in the series and I read seven. The stories are set in southern Sweden near Malmo-Copenhagen. I recommend these two 5 star novels by Mankell: "One Step Behind" and "Faceless Killers."

This present Banks novel is good to excellent and worth 4 to 5 stars. It is not a classic but it is good and has very interesting characters and lots of human emotion.

A Gem of a Police Procedural.......2006-10-21

Nicely paced police procedural featuring Inspector Banks which jumps between wartime and modern Yorkshire. Eye-opening and credible detail about life in England during WWII punctuates this creative plot. In addition to the superb plot, the characterization is rich and finely developed. This is not a thriller -- it won't keep you up at night -- but it moves along nicely, and unwinds in an intelligent manner. This is my first Peter Robinson book, but it definitely won't be my last.

Robinson is One of the Best.......2006-08-17

I love mysteries and also enjoy books that paint a vivid picture of a time and place. Peter Robinson does both in this entertaining book. His description of the countryside of the UK during the World War II was wonderful. Also his description of the trip to London is great.

Inspector Banks is an interesting character. I have read a previous book that was early in the series when he was happily married. The only real suggestion is to read these books in order because it is hard to understand Banks out of order.

This is such a good book it really did not matter that the murderer's identity was not very important.

The Desert Cries: A Season of Flash Floods in a Dry Land

Average customer rating:

outstanding
Narrative Nonficiton At Its Best

The Desert Cries: A Season of Flash Floods in a Dry Land
Craig Leland Childs
Manufacturer: Arizona Highways Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Natural Disasters | Earth Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books

Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1893860647

Book Description

Flash floods spread violence and fear over the land. And yet, they sometimes bring peace and grace. You will meet survivors whose stories explain such a paradox. Gripping stories of five flash floods that raged in the Grand Canyon and elsewhere in Arizona within a two-month span and killed 22 people.

Customer Reviews:

outstanding.......2007-03-01

This is a superbly written page turner, and not just for those who are attracted to the power of the southwest. The book is thrilling without being sensationalist. Childs is a lyrical writer who immerses the reader in his environs. I bought this book after thoroughly enjoying The Secret Knowledge of Water, and was not disappointed.

Narrative Nonficiton At Its Best.......2004-03-19

While on a recent trip to Anza Borrego Desert State Park, I saw The Desert Cries: A season of Flash Floods in a Dry Land on the shelf in the visitor center. Since I knew a thing or two about flash floods, I flipped through a few pages. Yikes. I was in it, and it wasn't an entirely flattering depiction. But of course, I had to buy the book. That night, while camped in a desert wash, I read The Desert Cries by flashlight. "This is good!" I said to my husband who was waiting for me to stop reading so I would turn off the headlamp and he could get some sleep. The book was too suspenseful to put down.

In this harrowing tale of nature's beauty and wrath, Craig Childs vividly depicts the fates of people whose lives have been changed forever by five flash floods. Unfortunately, not all of them make it out alive. The illustrator, Regan Choi, provides grim and shadowy views that supplement the stories well. Even if you've never seen a flash flood, you will have "felt" one by the time you finish this book. The author's fine balance between detail and drama builds a cinematic tension that both satisfies and horrifies. Set in the stunning landscapes of the Southwest, these stories are outdoor adventure narrative at its best. And they are all true.

Average customer rating:

My own opinions as a high school reader.
A harrowing novel
to widen your scope
Gripping but dated fiction
Political Threat

A Dry White Season
Andre Brink
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Political | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0061138630
Release Date: 2006-09-19

Book Description

As startling and powerful as when first published more than two decades ago, André Brink's classic novel, A Dry White Season, is an unflinching and unforgettable look at racial intolerance, the human condition, and the heavy price of morality.

Ben Du Toit is a white schoolteacher in suburban Johannesburg in a dark time of intolerance and state-sanctioned apartheid. A simple, apolitical man, he believes in the essential fairness of the South African government and its policies—until the sudden arrest and subsequent "suicide" of a black janitor from Du Toit's school. Haunted by new questions and desperate to believe that the man's death was a tragic accident, Du Toit undertakes an investigation into the terrible affair—a quest for the truth that will have devastating consequences for the teacher and his family, as it draws him into a lethal morass of lies, corruption, and murder.

Customer Reviews:

My own opinions as a high school reader........2006-03-30

During the 1970's in South Africa, several protests were happening against the apartheid acts and the education of African natives to speak Afrikaans, instead of their chosen language. In Andre Brink's brilliant novel, A Dry White Season, he presents the brutality of the African struggle for freedom from the white leaders by telling the story of one man's effort to clear his black friend's name. When Gordon Ngubene, a janitor at the local school in Johannesburg, finds his son dead without a clue of what happened, he asks his colleague Ben Dutoit for financial help and support. After certain inquiries were developed on Gordon's behalf for his son, Jonathan, he is arrested by the police and is marked by his own "suicide". However once Ben begins to unfold the evidence that leads to what truly happened, he is caught in a jungle of lies, danger, and an atrocious form of racism.

Ben Dutoit was a simple man content with his mediocre life based on his wife, two daughters, and his teaching. Although the Special Branch had become more involved in the town where he lived, he purely continued throughout his basic routine day in and day out. Once Gordon is told by the Security Police that his son has died of "natural causes" while in a severe detention for publicly protesting, it seems that he will stop at nothing to figure out what had occurred the night of Jonathan's death. "If it was me, all right. But he is my child and I must know. God is my witness today: I cannot stop before I know what happened to him and where they buried him. His body belongs to me. It is my son's body."(Pg.49 A Dry White Season). Throughout this time period, whites naturally assumed themselves superior to that of the African race, and ruthless acts were brought upon the blacks daily. Brink vividly described the numerous cruelties aimed at the "inferior race" due to such instinctive racism. The author conjures the understanding of the reader to see how simple it would be for Ben to turn a blind eye on Gordon's tragedy. Yet after Gordon is accused of strangling himself by tying bits of torn blanket together, Ben is convinced that it was torture that killed the prisoner, and Ben just cannot let the case go with injustice. One can sense just how stubborn Ben truly is regarding the truth of his friend's alleged murder, mainly because of the emotions depicted by Brink that the reader can pick up on. Assembling as much evidence against the Special Branch's summary of Gordon's arrest, with the help of taxi driver and informational guide Stanley, Ben attempts to prove that the police are sadistic liars that have crossed the line of racism and have entered a territory of the highest form of hatred. Publicity of his "Negro loving" efforts have provoked such racists to seek ways to harm Ben and his family, such as sending bombs in the mail and shooting through his windows at night. I simply cannot comprehend the motive of someone to physically or mentally abuse another for their own views. However nothing could frighten him from completing what he had started in the first place, not even the terrifying Captain Stolz who had threatened him many times during the case. The thorough detail Brink constructed to picture the startling police officer was amazing, admitting a very clear idea of just how alarming this character must have been. Aware of his immense caution in his own case, he presented one of his old college friends with pieces of information in order to write a biography of Ben Dutoit. Two weeks later, Ben was killed in a hit and run car accident, but fortunately for him, his story would not be left untold. I personally found myself having to read certain paragraphs repeatedly in order to really grasp what was happening in all of the excitement, which I appreciated from the author. The plot was persistently heart pumping, giving off the effect that South Africa's horrifying and unfair history was not given the deliberate attention it deserved.

Before this misfortune had happened, Ben had been conceived as having a rather introverted personality, spending most of his time alone playing chess in his den. However the demand for real facts about what had definitely taken place seemed to have changed his behavior. Suddenly Ben was actually offering his true opinions back to those that he would not dare before, such as Captain Stolz, no matter how harsh or unsettling. After this unexpected alteration, Ben began to become more aware of his surroundings, more observant of his daily routines that he had developed into over the years. The author made sure to explain Ben's strange emotions in noticing things in his life that seemed unfit to him. "All at once this is what seemed foreign to him: not what he had seen in the course of the long bewildering afternoon, but this. His garden, with the sprinkler on the lawn. His house, with white walls, and orange tiled roof, and windows and rounded stoop. His wife appearing in the front door. As if he'd never seen it before in his life."(Pg.99 A Dry White Season). If you take a considerable amount of time to glance at your own life, as I have done from the direction of this book, you perceive things that might belong to you, though they might seem impossible to be yours. The process is difficult to explain, until you try to complete it yourself. Brink wrote the character as if his own qualities were shifting along to the varied events of Gordon's death case. The author seemed to have used Ben's life as symbolism of how one moment could alter anyone's life as they know it. A calamity such as this could happen to anyone, even I, and this thought makes me wonder. How would the way I act now be changed?

The Soweto protests of the 1970's in South Africa led to many empty lots filled with tear-gas, public shootings, and violent massacres of black citizens. In the novel A Dry White Season, Andre Brink tells the tale of one honorable man that knew too much information for his own good at a time era like his generation, which guided him into a vast land of moral corruption. Ben Dutoit's story has captivated my imagination, gripped my heart, crossed my frustrations, and stirred my tears. This book has taught me, as well as numerous other readers as well, to follow your instincts and never let justice go unserved. "Perhaps all one can really hope for, all I am entitled to, is no more than this: to write it down. To report what I know. So that it will not be possible for any man ever to say again: I knew nothing about it. (Pg.316 A Dry White Season).

A harrowing novel.......2004-08-06

Ben Du Toit teaches history and geography in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is the period of the height of the youth riots in the township of Soweto. At Ben's school, Gordon Ngubene, a native, is a cleaner and he occasionally does little chores for Ben. When Ben sees that Jonathan, Gordon's son, is showing signs of intelligence and diligence, he decides to partly finance his education. One day however, Jonathan takes part in a demonstration which ends up in a violent riot and is arrested by the police. A few weeks later, after a harrowing quest through countless offices, Ben and Gordon are informed that Jonathan died "of natural causes" while in detention.
Due to the mystery surrounding his son's death, Gordon gives up his job in order to devote himself entirely to the enquiries which have become an obsession with him. Both the Special Branch and the Security Police are annoyed about Gordon's insistence and soon enough Gordon is arrested. After numerous attempts to try to trace Gordon and speak to him, Ben and Gordon's wife Emily are told by the spokesman of the Security Police that Gordon apparently committed suicide by hanging himself with strips torn from his blanket.
But Ben Du Toit senses that the official explanations for both Jonathan's and Gordon's deaths are just a pretext for poorly disguised murders and so he decides to take matters in his own hands and starts investigating.
Mr Brink's novel is a harrowing account of a solitary man's fight against all the atrocities of the Apartheid. During this dark period in the history of South Africa, a white man had to be a real hero to fight for the right of the Afrikaners. The author beautifully captures the fact that Ben has to fight not only the resentment of the people of the other race, but also that of the people belonging to his own race - his family for a start. The descriptions of the townships of Johannesburg, particularly that of Soweto, are breathtaking in their accuracy and poignancy.

to widen your scope.......2003-04-21

i read this while i was a high school student and i can honestly say it has been one of the few books that have made an impact on the way i view society. read it! you'll love it!

Gripping but dated fiction.......2000-09-26

Brinks sketches the life of a idealistic man - Ben du Toit that lives his life in Apartheid South Africa on the brink of normalcy until the mysterious death of a black American friend and his son points to government involvement. As du Toit becomes obsessed with discovering the truth he becomes the symbol of Afrikaner conscience struggling to cope with the conflict and alienation that this crusade against Apartheid causes. With Apartheid being woven into the Afrikaner concept of nationhood and religion Ben finds himself not only in conflict with his family or the government but with his own history and ultimately with his own identity and even his soul. du Toit becomes a classical Afrikaner in his stubborn steadfast refusal to sway from his course , irrespective of the consequences, that he believes to be the only just and morally acceptable one.

He painfully exposes the moral vacuum of Apartheid and how it alienates not just du Toit from himself and his family but ultimately the Afrikaner from their fellow South Africans, as well as their own ideas of justice and morality.

The original Afrikaans language edition packs a powerful punch and is beautiful to read. English translation loses a bit of impact and fails to capture the finesse of the master writer in his mother tongue but is never the less worth burning the midnight oil for. It should however be noted that the story is dated and not a balanced portrayal of South Africa, Afrikaners or Apartheid.

Good fiction but not a historical treatise of Apartheid as some reviewers seem to think.

Political Threat.......2000-04-24

A heart gripping, eye watering, investigation about two innocent victims tortured and put to death by political powers. This detective story raises many important issues about political abuse and political lies that have been recently common in the United States of America, "the land of the free." One of the most significant issues in the story is about enforcing laws that hurt not only the ones being tortured and killed but also the entire society who becomes captive of its government through fear. This is a very strong and powerful story, complete with excitement, suspense, drama, comedy and love; making it a great combination to facilitate the introduction of important issues and at the same time keep the reader intrigued while using humor and love to lighten-up the tension of the reader.

Organic Gardening in the American West: Raising Vegetables in a Short, Dry, Growing Season

Average customer rating:

Organic Gardening in the American West: Raising Vegetables in a Short, Dry, Growing Season
Robert F. Smith
Manufacturer: Sunstone Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Vegetables | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0865342822

Average customer rating:

Recycled Sermons
A prophetic word from God that will challenge you!
Excellent and Uplifting!!!!

No Dry Season
Rod Parsley
Manufacturer: Charisma House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0884194647

Customer Reviews:

Recycled Sermons.......1999-08-20

Just like all his previous books this is a colection of sermons compiled and put together buy ghost writers. Save your money and just watch Breakthrough, if you so desire.

A prophetic word from God that will challenge you!.......1999-07-13

I am a student at World Harvest Bible College, where Pastor Rod Parsley is President and founder. This book was required reading for one class, because of which I have never been the same! This book will challenge you in your walk with the Lord! Pastor Parsley conveys God's word to this generation in an easy to understand, yet eloquent form. This book deeply moved me and has forever changed my life. I highly recomend it to everyone that wants to know more of what God has for you!

Excellent and Uplifting!!!!.......1998-04-19

I read this book and I have never been so moved by words on a page like I was by Pastor Rod Parsley. His encouragement to raise the standard of morals in this country is truly a message from God! I highly recommend this book to everyone who is searching for answers in life.

Average customer rating:

About as Dry as it Gets
Faulkner or Fitzgerald?
"Love in a Dry Season"

Love in a Dry Season
Shelby Foote
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0679736182
Release Date: 1992-06-02

Book Description

"A fascinating drama...the atmosphere is superbly managed; and on every score, this is a first-rate job of story-telling."

-- Philadelphia Inquirer

Shelby Foote's magnificently orchestrated novel anticipates much of the subject matter of his monumental Civil War trilogy, rendering the clash between North and South with a violence all the more shocking for its intimacy. Love in a Dry Season describes an erotic and economic triangle, in which two wealthy and fantastically unhappy Mississippi families -- the Barcrofts and the Carrutherses -- are joined by an open-faced fortune hunter from the North, a man whose ruthlessness is matched only by his inability to understand the people he tries to exploit and his fatal incomprehension of the passions he so casually ignites. Combining a flawless sense of place with a Faulknerian command of the grotesque, Foote's novel turns a small cotton town into a sexual battleground as fatal as Vicksburg or Shiloh -- and one where strategy is no match for instinct and tradition.

Customer Reviews:

About as Dry as it Gets.......2006-10-26

This is a fascinating examination of the courtship of a well heeled spinster in a small Mississippi town. Young Shelby Foote turned down his flame a little for this one, having just been stung when told by his moonshine hunting pal and idol, William Faulkner, that he should "try to do better" next time after finishing Follow Me Down. Following the lurid and colorful courtroom drama of that first mature work, the prose of "Dry Season" is indeed about as dry as it gets. Those few pithy words from a master are paid up fully here, as a plot virtually without significant action proceeds with extraordinary tension, as the reader almost literally waits for the next pin to drop.

The male lead is a classic American archetype, the confidence man, already explored by luminaries such as Faulkner himself, Melville and Twain. The reader is in little doubt about the character, although Foote's direct statements about the fellow are few. Nor is it an absolute matter; he is gainfully employed and there is room for him to grow or change. So all the drama is on the level of deeper morality and character. The social fabric is what is being explored here, finally, the delicate surface tension of the remnant of Southern aristocracy persisting into century 20 and holding things together in straightened circumstances.

This is classic fiction, perhaps as old fashioned in theme as Thackery and Austen, but fully informed stylistically by Foote's incredible melding of the best of two modern masters, Hemingway and Faulkner. It is finally an odd book, no doubt -- one of a kind but unforgettable.

Faulkner or Fitzgerald?.......2005-08-05

Good feeling for the South and good expression of that frenetic and searching period of our history, this is the first novel of Shelby Foote's that I have read. I found it a very "good read" sort of novel and look forward to the next one - comng soon in the mail.

"Love in a Dry Season".......2000-08-10

This book is hard to put down. Foote's characters are so detailed and fascinting that I found my self totally drawn into the story --even though some of the characters are completely unlikeable and almost pathetic in their selfishness. Foote tells the story of two families affected by the same man (a virtual con-man, who sees himself only as ambitious -- and justified in everything he does). The book was written almost 50 years ago, but it still reads like a modern character study. I'll admit that some of the historical references where too obscure for me, but the characterizations are timeless.

One Dry Season, In the Footsteps of Mary Kingsley

Average customer rating:

One Dry Season, In the Footsteps of Mary Kingsley

ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
ASIN: 0788719246

The Dry Season: Q'anjobal Maya Poems (Imagination series)

Average customer rating:

The Dry Season: Q'anjobal Maya Poems (Imagination series)
Gaspar Pedro GonzaÌlez
Manufacturer: Cleveland State University Poetry Center
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Mayan | Ancient | History | Subjects | Books

General | Foreign Languages | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1880834537

Average customer rating:

Inspiring Travel Memoir/Biography

ONE DRY SEASON
Caroline Alexander
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Coastal West Africa | Africa | Travel | Subjects | Books

General | Africa | Travel | Subjects | Books

Essays & Travelogues | Reference & Tips | Travel | Subjects | Books

General | Travel | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Travels in West Africa (NG Adventure Classics)

ASIN: 067973189X
Release Date: 1991-01-09

Customer Reviews:

Inspiring Travel Memoir/Biography.......2007-05-01

. This lovely travel memoir pays homage to a little-remembered remarkable Victorian woman named Mary Kingsley who explored the wilds of West Africa at the end of the 1900s. Alexander was determined to retrace the steps of the journey made by Kingsley in 1895 which Kingsley chronicled in her best-selling book "Travels in West Africa". In many ways, the territory covered by Kingsley and Alexander has seen little change in 100 years. From Libreville, Gabon's capital, on the Atlantic coast, Alexander followed Kingsley's trail, encountering the same mud-hut villages, the same stretches of waterway, rain forest and empty savannah. With pluck and determination, Alexander recreates Kingsley's adventures on the Ogooue River, shooting rapids and maneuvering through dangerous waters. Alexander is struck by how such journeys affect a traveler psychologically. "Extended travel in countries very different from one's own demands an ongoing suspension of one's personality. There is often no scope or no point, for example, in asserting preferences in matters as basic as food, shelter, and the ocmpany one keeps, and it is often beyond one's powers to direct one's own itinerary." Alexander manages to invoke Kingsley's spirit without cannibalizing Kingsley's experiences. Alexander is determined to quote sparingly from Kingsley's books so that the reader can discover them for herself. This is a fascinating introduction to a mysterious and compelling place as well as to two adventurous women.

Sams in a Dry Season: Sams in a Dry Season

Average customer rating:

Highly recommended! - Deserves to be a film

Sams in a Dry Season: Sams in a Dry Season
Ivan Gold
Manufacturer: Pocket
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0671755374

Customer Reviews:

Highly recommended! - Deserves to be a film.......1999-03-03

Ivan Gold's most recent novel is a haunting, elegaic, and also quite funny novel - a brave book, too, as Philip Roth callled it. It is indeed a story of triumph over alcoholism but without the "Lost Weekend" melodrama or contemporary cliches. More important, it is an engaging and painfully honest treatment of its hero's taking stock and taking control of his life. Consisting essentially of a series of vivid set-pieces - the opening encounter between Jason Sams and his English Department chair is especially brilliant - this book will stay with you for a long time. Its characters and scenes are memorable; its prose full of both play and grace.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books