23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I'm Glad He Made This Foolhardy Journey, April 13, 2005
This review is from: Facing the Congo: A Modern-Day Journey into the Heart of Darkness (Paperback)
I've recently become a fan of Jeffrey Tayler's writing. Having just finished "Angry Wind" I quickly ordered two more of his books, including "Facing the Congo." It's quite a harrowing tale.
In the 1990s Tayler traveled up the Congo on a freight barge to Kisangani and back down on a native canoe (pirogue). Throughout the narrative I found myself cringing at some of the descriptions and wondering why anyone would put themselves through such a trial. In retrospect it was a very foolhardy adventure. The problem was, however, once he was in the middle of it there was nothing to do but finish, dangerous though it was.
Throughout the tale, Tayler's white face provokes and incites the people along the Congo River. There's no getting around it and at times his life is in real danger. One wonders, however, how he could come to some of the decisions he made. He hires a guide he barely knows, a guide whose incompetence is maddening. The guy buys a shotgun (with $300 of Tayler's money) that doesn't work, he lets his family use all the precious drinking water to do laundry and he spouts passages from the Bible and Zaire's employment law at night or while they're paddling downriver. What a nightmare.
The lives of the Zaireans, in many cases, appear to be hell on earth. Their hand-to-mouth existence causes them to take desperate action, resulting in corrupt officials and military constantly angling for bribes, fellow barge passengers begging Tayler for anything, boldly demanding he give them money and food or, worse, trying to rob him, or (if they could get away with it) murder him with machetes. As a "mondele" (white man) he's seen with great suspicion about his motives but also as a bottomless source for riches. The people along the Congo can't believe he's not there to pilfer their country of diamonds so he's faced with hostile reactions everywhere he goes.
The conditions on the barge are horrendous. People defecate into the river that they also use for water to drink and bathe in. They live off anything that swims or crawls, including crocodiles that get their skulls caved in, electric catfish and slimy slugs and live caterpillars consumed as snacks. Clouds of mosquitos and other insects torment them as does the never ending glare of the sun and the stifling humidity.
I'm glad Tayler made this journey. His descriptions of the conditions along the Congo are quite vivid. The frustration he feels being hit up for money all the time is certainly understandable. To travel to a place like that, when he did, with $4000 hidden on his person (an absolute fortune to the Africans) can only be described as foolhardy. Thank God he survived. We, the reading public, are richer for it.
Other reviewers have mentioned his tendency to squeeze too many obscure words into his prose. I agree. On the other hand, if we take the time to look them up we might learn something. I've studied a little French so his habit of slipping some of that language into the text didn't bother me. The day-to-day slog down the river from Kisangani got just a tad tedious but I'm sure it's nothing compared to actually doing it in a boat.
I'd highly recommend this book. I still don't know why Mr. Tayler undertook this adventure (he's very lucky to have made it home) but, as I said, the result is a gripping story. I'm now on to another of his works, "Glory In a Camel's Eye."
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Honest, June 10, 2002
This review is from: Facing the Congo: A Modern-Day Journey into the Heart of Darkness (Paperback)
Having lived along the Oubangui River (just a pirogue ride to Zaire) at about the same time that the author undertook his journey along the Congo, reading this brought back a lot of memories. I probably rated higher for nostalgia, so take the rating with a grain of salt. What I admired most about this book was the honesty that Mr. Tayler brought to it. He knows that he is a privileged, white (yes, it does matter) guy undertaking a journey for purely selfish interests among people who are literally dying around him that cannot understand the absurdity of the journey and he knows that he will never be able to explain it to them. I found it refreshing that this writer writes as much about his struggles each day with weighing these thoughts against the simple desire to complete the voyage. There's a lot to learn in this book about balancing one's selfish goals against the guilt that can come with the simple ability (financial and otherwise) to undertake them. The fact that he does so without the typical (I'm an RPCV, so I can say this) Peace-Corps-type bravado is refreshing. I won't give away the ending, but Mr. Tayler's decision allows him to face a lot more than the Congo.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Up and (part way) down the Congo river, February 25, 2002
This review is from: Facing the Congo: A Modern-Day Journey into the Heart of Darkness (Paperback)
In the 1980s Helen Winternitz wrote "East Along the Equator" which chronicled her journey from Kinshasa to Kisangani by river barge. This stretch of the Congo river was probably first written about in "Through the Dark Continent" by Henry Morton Stanley, who, in the employ of the King of Belgium, laid the foundation of the Congo Free State which inspired Conrad to write "Heart of Darkness" and the disintegration and aftermath of which became the subject of V. S. Naipaul's "A Bend in the River" and Barbara Kingsolver's "The Poisonwood Bible".
Now, Jeffrey Tayler in "Facing the Congo" tells the story of his attempt to recreate Stanley's voyage down the Congo river. He begins as did Winternitz, taking a barge up the river in the mid 1990s. As there are virtually no roads in the Congo region these river barges are the only transportation available to the average Congolese. They function as floating villages, filled with merchants who trade manufactured goods for forest products along the river route. As if that isn't enough for a book, Tayler then buys a pirogue (canoe), hires a guide, and attempts to paddle back down to where he started.
"Facing the Congo" is an excellent record of his trip. He is a thoughtful and thought-provoking writer and as is the case with most good travel writing the book is not only a record of his voyage, but also a record of self-discovery. Especially interesting are his interactions with the Congolese people he encounters along the way: people who usually can't fathom why a foreigner would be travelling the way he is. Other writers might simply depict such encounters in a comical or stereotypical fashion; Tayler makes an honest attempt to see their world through their eyes. He even manages some sympathy for the military and secret police officials that block his path. A good choice for any armchair traveler or anyone interested in Central Africa.
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