Customer Reviews

Another Day of Life

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ryszard Kapuscinski has written more celebrated books, has grappled with more complex questions of geo-politics, but this small, simple account of life on the inside of the collapse of blighted African country should be read by everyone with an interest in Africa, journalism, or plain good writing. Representing a Polish news agency, Kapuscinski stays behind when Portugal abandons Angola and the barbarians come hurtling towards the gate. He is without protection in a country mad with fear, suspicion, and messy death. His meditation on the concept of "confusao" - the Portugese version of confusion - is priceless. His accounts of travelling to battle-zones on empty roads are terrifying. How good is his information? Will they be ambushed? Will the next roadblock be friendly or will they be pulled from their car and killed? Are the risks worth taking? Does anybody out there care? Kapuscinski renders the absurdity and deep tragedy of Africa's post-colonial wars with great compassion. It is a moving, sad, funny and often breathtaking book - the mark against which other journalists' "I was there" books should properly be measured.

Kapuscinski's "Another Day of Life" was a complete impulse buy for me. Why is it that these are very often the most enjoyable and satifying reading experiences? This slim 144-page, novella-like volume taught me so much about Angola, it's Portugese colonial heritage, the factional fighting that developed in the 60s & came to a head during Kapuscinski's three-month stay in the country in 1975, and the eye-opening level of involvement of such players as Cuba and South Africa.

The amazing thing is *how little* things have changed since 1975. Since the fall of Portugal's dictatorship, there has been constant battle for almost 30 years. Jonas Savimbi - introduced here as a very young freedom fighter - was killed in battle only a short time ago.

Added bonus: There's a wonderfully sparse little map of the country & the borders of its neighbors at the front of the book. You'll thumb back to that page no less than 50 times while reading "Another Day of Life."

The title is apropos..when one of the characters utters the it two-thirds of the way into the book, I thought it was the perfect line at the perfect time. No wonder they culled it out of the book and had it serve as the title as well.

I plan on reading the rest of Kapuscinski's works now.

I read parts of the Emperor in college and expected a lot of this book. Well, it delivered. Kapuscinski shows more in this book about the civil war in Angola than one would expect. They say that a good journalist stays impartial and doesn't get involved with his story, but this proves the opposite. The author goes to Angola at the last minute and burrows into the country. He almost becomes a citizen, learning the local custom and showing how life actually is.

This book is full of insight into the human condition, the problems caused by colonialism, and how stupid war can be. This isn't a war of the front and trenches, its chaos. Chaos dictated by the rules of living in a harsh place like Angola. The weekends are days of rest, the heat prevents battle, children fight and lose interest.

Kapuscinski shows a side to this civil war, and in turn other wars, that you never get to see. This books is funny, touching, sad, and well written. It reads like a novel, it has character and place. The difference is its true. An excellent book for the history lover or the literary lover.

This fast paced book taught me so much about Angola's history and
> current dispute. It made me want to learn more about this country's history and
> its people. I enjoyed the book because it was more than just a history and an
> account of war. It was an in-depth look at the people and their culture. It is
> the story of struggle for a whole civilization after gaining their independence
> from the ruthless European nation of Portugal. Kapuscinski didn't try to confuse
> you with numerous names, groups, and organizations. He gave you the basic and
> made the past easy to understand. Characters were brought to life through his
> detail, which made you feel for them when they left or were even killed. In the
> front of the book, a map of Angola is provided allowing you to flip back many
> times while reading this book. You know at all times what part of the country
> you are in and what is going on. A detailed history of the events leading up to
> independence and civil war is also provided in the back of the book. It explains
> what occurred during the war also.
Excerpt of A.K. winning book review! Good Job A.K. Mrs. Arthur

This is a fine, fine piece of tightly written war reportage. From the first page the heat, tension, cruelty and fear of the Angola civil war following Portugese decolonisation is brought to life by Kapuscinski's biscuit dry prose. He was not one of these sit back and learn of events from a distance whilst sipping fine malt whisky journalists. He bore right into the heart of the action, frequently risking his life. Some of the stories in here are highly strung in terms of tension, wit and emotion. Take the encounter with the security post, where you have a choice of two greetings to shout to the guards, the wrong one will result in death, and garbling a half sounding equivocation doesn't cut it. Also the heartbreaking sacrifice by a Mulatto girl who stays behind and is killed after Kapuscinski's truck leaves.

Kapuscinski died very recently, he was one of those rare and brave Europeans who finds the intellectual life of Western Europe (though he was actually Polish) lax, self satisfied and bland, and sought to find places where life really was lived with every emotional and sensory dial turned up high. Another Day of Life is a very apt title.

Anybody not familiar with Kapucsinski's insightful and entertaining expedtions in the world's forgotten corners would do well to start with 'Another Day of Life.' A fast, page-turning account of Angola's tumultuous last days before independence (and the start of one of Africa's longest and bloodiest civil wars!), 'Another Day of Life' viscerally captures the utter chaos of war. Kapucsinski brilliantly illuminates a world where friend and foe slaughter each other through the steamy, tropical nights and then sleep it off during the burning days. In a world where your death comes at the hands of a Kalishnikov-totting ten-year old, where one false step means a life without legs, where the next check-point down a body-scattered road could be your last, Kapuscinski makes us look straight into the face of 'confusao,' the mind-numbing, senseless confusion of war.

Terse, nimble and always entertaining, Kapucinski's musical prose turns the pages for you. At about 130 pages, this is the ideal one-sit read. While the narrative meanders all over the place, you can't help but hold on tight, waiting to see what's next around the bend. Hold on as the sights, sounds and stenches of sub-Saharan African jump right off the page.....whether its the icy calm before an ambush, the bed full of cockroaches or the oppressive uncertainty lurking in the bush....Kapucsinski puts his reader right beside him as he bumps along that mine-strewn bush road. While his books are always long on atmosphere, they are often short on detail. But with 'Another Day,' your imagination has more than enough to feed on.

For those looking for the door into Kapucsinski-land, this little gem holds the key. More cohesive than 'The Soccer War,' more inspired than 'Shah of Shahs,' 'Another Day of Life' is the perfect intro to his African Queen, 'Shadow of the Sun.' So sink into your arm-chair and grab on tight, as this master story-teller takes you for a ride!

This is the fourth of Kapuscinski's books that I have read, and I was not disappointed. His trademark wit is once again on display, as he manages to impart jewels of wisdom while reporting from the deadliest and remotest corners of the world. For those unfamiliar with Kapuscinski, do not get this book if you are looking for a detailed political history of Angola. He gives a brief historical overview of the country in the final chapter, and it might help to start there first. Otherwise, a novice will quickly get confused by all the acronyms (MPLA, UNITA, etc.) and names; Kapuscinski does not really explain to the reader which group is fighting for what causes or what their ideological standpoints or political goals are. In a sense, however, this ambiguity is highly effective, since it conveys the actual situation in Angola in 1975. Kapuscinski's aim is not to offer a trenchant political analysis, but to simply convey to the reader what it is like to live in a desperately impoverished country in the midst of a brutal civil war. One could substitute any number of countries for Angola, and the themes would likely be the same; desperation, helplessness, ignorance, despair. Kapuscinski looks at the conflict from many points of view. He relates how the Portuguese colonialists desperately fled Angola in the months leading up to that country's independence, certain that all hell was about to break loose. He points out the general state of confusion among most Angolans, who were just as uncertain about the future as their former Portuguese rulers. He looks at the war from the point of view of the guerilla soldier, for whom death is almost inevitable, lurking unseen in the bush at every moment. He even tells how the dogs in Luanda followed the example of the Portuguese and bolted town; no dead dogs were to be seen, but they all seemingly disappeared. And, of course, Kapuscinski has lived through more near-death experiences than just about any reporter on the planet. He must look at movies like "Tears of the Sun" and simply laugh, for he himself has avoided certain death on a number of occasions. Kapuscinski's books are a blend of political commentary, narrative travelogue, abstract philosophy, and action adventure. The reason for only four stars is that because this book is so short (it can easily be read in one sitting), it falls shorts of some of his other works in terms of depth and scope. Also, this is one of his earlier works, and his style has been improved on since then. That doesn't stop me from highly recommending this one, though.

Out of all of Kapuscinski's books this little novella probably reads the most like a straight narrative. It follows Kapuscinski's experiences in Angola during the invogorating and terrifying time of its "liberation" in the 1960's. The narrative provides a visceral and enlightening account of the tumult that lies at the edges of what we (in the West) call order and civilization.

As always, Kapuscinski's vision is lyrical, penetrating, and unflinching. He holds up for our examination the ironies and absurdities laid bare when the curtain of imperial colonialism is withdrawn, and its victims are left scrambling to erect a milennia's worth of social and political institutions in a week, a month, or a year. Kapuscinski exposes the true face of this century's "limited wars": almost always fought by uncertain armies for unclear purposes, and most directly resulting in nothing more than bodies, smoke, and refugees. Yet his voice is never bitter, sanctimonious or pedantic, but rather honest, ironic, and (in a subtle way)sadly disenchanted.

If you haven't ready anything else by Kapuscinki, this is a great place to start. If you have, this book is a unique and powerful gem.

I thought this book was great. An intense read.

... "I read many of the dispatches sent from Luanda in those days. I admired the opulence of human fantasy." This is Ryszard Kapuscinski's biting assessment of the quality of reportage by so many of his fellow war correspondents. Kapuscinski made necessity into a virtue. He was a reporter for the Polish News Agency, which could not afford the lavish expense accounts that so many Westerner correspondents had, who all too often had the tendency to file their dispatches from the 5-star hotel in the capital, after talking with those who frequented the bars at these hotels. Kapuscinski was either lucky, or quite prescient, (or both) managing to be in the right place at the right time. He was in Iran for the fall of the Shah, which he described in "Shah of Shahs", and in Ethiopia shortly after the fall of Haile Sellassie, which he described in "The Emperor." This book which describes the very last days of Portuguese rule in Angola in 1975 may not have the same intensity of insights as the other two books, but still, it is excellent, and is the only view that we have of these last days.

Angola is rarely in the news (or of interest in the West, particularly since the end of the Cold War). It was mis-ruled by Portugal for three and a half centuries, and its principal export was slaves. This trade was so lucrative and prolific that the country is still under populated. After the downfall of the Salazar dictatorship in 1974, Portugal's new democratic leadership quickly agreed to grant the colonies their independence, which included Angola, where a guerilla war of liberation was being waged for numerous years. There were three principal liberation groups, the MPLA which was backed by the Soviet Union and Cuba, the FNLA, backed by the Western powers and Zaire, and the UNITA, backed by the Western powers and South Africa. The front was "everywhere" literally, whenever one band of these groups might collide.

Kapuscinski's first chapter describes Luanda during the final days, and the exodus of the Portuguese. (Most went to Brazil.) Among the many useful insights, the author mentions the poverty of the whites, unique among European colonies. There were white children begging in the streets, and his hotel maid was Portuguese. The author went to the "front," and in so doing took at least as many chances as Filkens, the NYT correspondent who wrote "The Forever War." Kapuscinski memorably describes approaching checkpoints, manned (or more accurately, "kidded") by heavily armed boys. One never knew to which side was their allegiances, and the wrong greeting could literally mean death. Later he took the first re-supply convoy (that got through!) from Benguela to Pereira dEca, near the border with Namibia. Angola was a place where the proxy wars of the Cold War were waged, and Kapuscinski reports on the Cuban involvement, and broke the story of the South African invasion.

There is an excellent appendix chapter, entitled "ABC", which covers most of the salient facts about Angola, the Portuguese mis-rule, and the war of independence. In the end the author admits an exhaustion with the living conditions and the constant dangers, and telexes home for permission to return, which was granted. In the process, he made a significant incorrect assessment: "It is more or less clear what will happen, which is that the Angolans will win,..." When he said it would "take a while" I suspect that he underestimated the extent and length of the fighting between the forces of Holden Roberto and Savimbi, which would last through 2002. Today Angola is still notorious for the number of land mines that plague the country.

Overall, the book is "another day of life", of Kapuscinski, who has written an excellent account, almost certainly the best we will ever have, of the last days of Portuguese rule in Angola.