Continuing the attempt to catch up, here are another couple of reviews.
Erich Maria Remarque, The Night in Lisbon
Solid little story about the difficulties faced by refugees who’ve fled Nazi Germany. Although hampered by rather staid and pedestrian dialogue, the story itself moves briskly enough to keep things ticking over. Though lacking when measured against All Quiet on the Western Front, Remarque manages to construct a disturbing account of courage and cowardice, love, faith, evil and everything in between. I’m somewhat surprised that this hasn’t been made into a film, because it has all the ingredients of a tragic romance. Although the love story remains a little clichéd and predictable, it does manage to reconstruct the little known (to me at least) world of those who left Germany in the face of persecution, but struggled to find anyone prepared to take them. The fact that Remarque himself faced this brings authenticity to the tale. Mildly recommended.
Giles Foden, Mimi and Toutou Go Forth
A really good example of an accessible history text by the author of The Last King of Scotland, Ladysmith, and Zanzibar. Foden has a good local knowledge of Africa, and has done a fair bit of research here. Supporting this, the author's personal accounts of his visits to the area nicely supplement the lesson, and put the events that transpired into proper historical context. Reconstructing a bright and colourful historical account of a forgotten episode in the East Africa theatre during World War One, namely the British naval campaign on Lake Tanganyika, it reads very much as a Boy’s Own adventure. As much an exploration (evisceration?) of the character of leading officer Geoffrey Spicer-Simson, this book really is both an interesting and amusing romp. As an aside, I enjoyed the cartoons accompanying each chapter, but would have loved some more detailed pictures of the vessels involved. It is such an odd little tale, it was somewhat difficult to conjure up visual images. Recommended.
Erich Maria Remarque, The Night in Lisbon
Solid little story about the difficulties faced by refugees who’ve fled Nazi Germany. Although hampered by rather staid and pedestrian dialogue, the story itself moves briskly enough to keep things ticking over. Though lacking when measured against All Quiet on the Western Front, Remarque manages to construct a disturbing account of courage and cowardice, love, faith, evil and everything in between. I’m somewhat surprised that this hasn’t been made into a film, because it has all the ingredients of a tragic romance. Although the love story remains a little clichéd and predictable, it does manage to reconstruct the little known (to me at least) world of those who left Germany in the face of persecution, but struggled to find anyone prepared to take them. The fact that Remarque himself faced this brings authenticity to the tale. Mildly recommended.
Giles Foden, Mimi and Toutou Go Forth
A really good example of an accessible history text by the author of The Last King of Scotland, Ladysmith, and Zanzibar. Foden has a good local knowledge of Africa, and has done a fair bit of research here. Supporting this, the author's personal accounts of his visits to the area nicely supplement the lesson, and put the events that transpired into proper historical context. Reconstructing a bright and colourful historical account of a forgotten episode in the East Africa theatre during World War One, namely the British naval campaign on Lake Tanganyika, it reads very much as a Boy’s Own adventure. As much an exploration (evisceration?) of the character of leading officer Geoffrey Spicer-Simson, this book really is both an interesting and amusing romp. As an aside, I enjoyed the cartoons accompanying each chapter, but would have loved some more detailed pictures of the vessels involved. It is such an odd little tale, it was somewhat difficult to conjure up visual images. Recommended.
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