Facing the Congo [Hardcover]

Jeffrey Tayler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2000

Tayler's haunting travel adventure follows his 1,100-mile trip up the Congo River on a barge teeming with merchants, deckhands, prostitutes, mothers, spiritual followers, fishermen, and children. Readers feel the oppressive heat hanging wet in the night air over the floating marketplace, and shudder at the slither and crunch of the stir-fried worms that Tayler reluctantly injests. On his trek downriver, Tayler is met with even greater challenges as he battles for survival, paddling through the adverse elements on a tiny pirogue. At times lost in the fog-covered backwaters, at others faced by tribes of people whose ancestors were murdered by those with white skin, Tayler's level of comfort is pushed to its limits, transforming his adventure into a journey of discovery.
Praise for Jeffrey Tayler:
"The establishment media is full of official half-truths that ultimately get exposed, whether of Russia's fledgling democratic success or sub-saharan Africa's economic renaissance. Jeffrey Tayler goes off the beaten path to give us a much deeper version of the truth, whether along the Congo River or in Siberian flophouses. And unlike so many other gonzo travel writers, he is not politically naive."-Robert D. Kaplan, correspondent for the Atlantic Montly, and author of An Empire Wilderness and Balkan Ghosts
"Tayler is a skilled craftsman who could become a significant new voice in travel literature. Compelling and deeply unsettling reading."-Booklist
Jeffrey Tayler is the author of Siberian Dawn. He has published numerous articles in such publications as Atlantic Monthly, Spin, and Cond Nast Traveler, and is a regular commentator on NPR's All Things Considered.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this Heart of Darkness-revisited tale, Tayler (Siberian Dawn) sets out to retrace the steps of British explorer Henry Morton Stanley, who in the 1870s, accompanied by a crew of hundreds of Africans and three Europeans, sailed the entire length of the Congo River in a pirogue. At 33, Tayler, an American ex-pat living in Moscow, finds himself wading into the murky waters of an existential crisis. Having traveled and lived in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, and journeyed across Siberia, he is unable to shake off the wanderlust bug. But his personal crisis runs deeper than whether to find a job and settle down. "The imperative," he writes, "is to accept the frightening yet liberating fact of our finitude... not to succumb to the illusion, comforting though it may be, that our days will go on and on." He makes a final lunge in the hope that "facing the Congo" will create more meaning for him than simply a new adventure. Tayler arrives, however, not in Stanley's 19th-century Congo, but in Mobutu's corrupt and strife-ridden Zaire in the aftermath of the infamous pillaging that tore the country asunder in the early 1990s. Throughout his journey downriver, the author ruminates on the significance of his own life and the history of the Congo and its terrible legacy of colonialism and enslavement, asking what "right" he or any Westerner has to venture, pockets full of cash, into a foreign land stricken with poverty and misery. Eloquent and sincere, Tayler brings immense cultural sensitivity to his journey, fully conscious that the poverty and misery are in large part due to Western hegemony. His story, however, ends abruptly, and his questioning sinks deep into the jungle whence it came. (Sept.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Tayler vividly recalls his 1995 1,100-mile journey through the jungle and crocodile-infested waters of sub-Saharan Africa. Along with a guide, he traveled first on a barge and then in a hand-carved, dugout canoe called a pirogue^B, navigating the treacherous Congo River. Among the dangers he faced were corrupt officials and soldiers demanding bribes, suffocating heat, rats, lizards, blackflies, maggots, torrential rains, hordes of mosquitoes, the threat of malaria and sleeping sickness, and hostile tribes. He remembers, like it was yesterday, floating marketplaces, fishermen, deckhands, prostitutes, stately gum trees, bare-breasted women, men dressed only in loincloths, the Milky Way, and clumps of water hyacinth. Tayler's use of hackneyed dialogue and phrases--"he harrumphed," "he gulped," "the Colonel leaned forward, shouting 'Ha-ha-haa'"--is annoying, but his remarkable journey is a trip that readers won't want to miss. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 300 pages
• Publisher: Ruminator Books; First Thus edition (September 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1886913447
• ISBN-13: 978-1886913448
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,083,081 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Facing Central Africa through TAYLER'S eyes, January 31, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Facing the Congo (Hardcover)

Jeffrey Taylor's book Facing the Congo gives an insight into the former-Zaire, as well as a brief view of Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo. His book contributes immensely to an outsider's inside view of Zaire and how a leader by the name of Mobutu Sese Seko, along with western support, de-moralized and contributed to the present state-of-affairs in the newly renamed DRC. Jeffrey Tayler's cautious and realistic approach to the region does justice to the task that was at hand. Neither does Tayler make stereotypical assumptions, nor does he grossly inflate his story, he tells the situation as it was, and is.

For people who are interested in the Central Africa region, this book is highly recommended as a nice travelogue written by a mondele who sought to travel the River Congo and document his experiences. As someone who has traveled throughout this region, I can personally say that I have had similar experiences as Jeffrey Tayler has had.

For those who consider themselves 'travelogue-junkies,' this book will be a nice addition to your collection(s)and imagination(s). This book will give you plenty of sights, smells, and images to think about as you read the book, and to further think about after you put it down.

Thanks Mr. Tayler for putting your experience on paper!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Recommended reading for the armchair traveler, May 17, 2001

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Facing the Congo (Hardcover)

Part travelogue, part memoir, Jeffrey Tayler's Facing The Congo takes the reader on a memorable and fascinating journey into sub-Saharan Africa's crocodile waters and lush jungles, lush jungles, and a spectacular variety of merchants, deckhands, prostitutes, mothers, spiritual followers, fishermen, children, and many other assorted charecters. From lively marketplace banter to cramped, mosquito infested sleeping spaces, Facing The Congo is the story of Tayler's trip up and down the legendary Congo River complete with fog covered backwaters, hostile tribes, and true-life high adventure. Facing The Congo is thoroughly satisfying, enthusiastically recommended reading for the armchair traveler.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Real Page Turner, January 10, 2001

By 

"aguercio" (Eagle River, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Facing the Congo (Hardcover)

This was an excellent book. It details the trials and tribulations of a mans journey down the navigable part of the Congo River before the fall of Zairean President Mobutu. Everything, from his experiences in the lively cities of Brazzaville, Kinshasa and Kisangani to awaiting the perils just around the curve of the river, make this an exciting read. This also gives some insight into Central African modern history and culture as well.