Customer Reviews

The Last King of Scotland

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Idi Amin's bizarre and brutal eight years of dictatorship in Uganda are the setting for this assured debut. The narrator is Nicholas Garrigan, a young Scottish doctor who arrives in Uganda for a contract job at the same time as Amin's 1971 coup. The book is his recollection of his two years in a small town clinic and six years as Amin's personal doctor in Kampala. His story continues the Conradian tradition of the European man who comes to Africa and becomes transformed through his contact with evil. Amin is Garrigan's Kurtz, and while the doctor and other expats generally turn a blind eye to the truckloads of political prisoners being taken to the countryside to be executed, eventually Garrigan is dragged face to face with Amin's horror.

Of course this isn't pure Conrad, rather it's cut with a bit of William Boyd, another Englishman writer who's written compelling fiction about modern Africa and the legacy of colonial rule. For the horror here isn't that Garrigan begins to understand Amin (after all who could really hope to understand a man of Amin's awesome eccentricity), but begins to like him in an odd way. And it's not that the doctor is a weak character, he's actually remarkably average, and thus very much like ourselves. The reader is unable to to find solace in making easy smug judgments about Garrigan's gradual moral slide as he sucked more and more into Amin's confidence and makes small compromises with himself. Amin is a great character in his own right, lurching from buffoonery to gluttony to sly cunning to sheer incomprehensibility at the drop of a hat. Of course Fodden had a lot to work with, as many of Amin's deeds and speeches are classic examples of truth really being stranger than fiction.

Speaking oh which, Fodden went to great lengths in researching this novel, interviewing a wide range of people who witnessed Amin's reign. Alas, the Saudi government wouldn't grant him permission to interview Amin, who is still alive and living on a Saudi pension in Jeddah. Garrigan is loosely modeled on Bob Astles, a British WW2 veteran who somehow became Amin's closest advisor. Altogether a very good read, regrettably Fodden's next two books apparently don't live up to this one.

The fictitious memoirs of Nicholas Garrigan, personal physician to ex-Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. Garrigan passively recounts his own fall into moral ambivalence as he describes Amin's erratic, homicidal rule. A surprising and disturbing book -- at times we find ourselves liking psychopathic, murderous Idi Amin more than we do the nebbish and irresolute Dr. Garrigan. The prose is crisp and pleasurable to read; at times this novel looses its focus, but overall it's a moving and affecting book which takes us on a journey not only through the personal landscapes of Garrigan and Amin, but which also provides flashes of insight into African society and politics and European-African relations.

Idi Amin Dada was the Gargantua of moral nightmares. He ruled post-colonial Uganda with the guile of a court jester, a likeable chap who kept the West in stitches while he flayed his enemies with the Devil's scalpel. Into this woofing madness comes our protagonist, Nicholas Garrigan, a healer with a warped mission of mercy as naive as Dr. Kildare, and Giles Foden begins to weave us into his tapestry of moral quandary. Step by step, Garrigan slip slides into the snakepit of evil, seemingly aware but oblivious, well-intentioned but complicit. It is all so properly justified, he says (scrub, scrub). I do not make moral judgments, he says (scrub, scrub). I am a doctor, he says (scrub, scrub), yet the innocent die all around him. Foden has taken the Gen-X theme of moral ambivalence and whacked us upside the head with it. Although Garrigan eventually escapes to his idyllic Scotland, he remains haunted by correspondence from Amin, as we remain haunted by the million more who recently died in Rwanda. Like Sartre said, there is no exit. Deal with it! A stunning debut.

This is an exciting debut novel. It is the story of one Nicholas Garrigan, a young Scottish doctor who is assigned to be the personal physician to Uganda's famous dictator, Idi Amin. Yet the young doctor discovers, to his own cost, that one can never be totally removed from the wild excesses of others... I read the first half of this novel breathlessly. The depiction of Uganda is intriguing. Perhaps this is due to morbid fascination: most people will be aware of Amin's bloody history. The knowledge that everything will go wrong draws you further into this book. Foden presents a compelling portrait of Amin, even to the extent of making him likeable. For instance, there is Amin's eccentric love of all things Scottish, and the peculiar messages he sends to other heads of state. But there is always a palpable fear for Garrigan whenever he's in Amin's presence. Amin is dangerous, for Garrigan never knows what he's going to do next, and how he will become embroiled in his bloody vengeance... I found the resolution to be quite disappointing. In his bid to escape Uganda, Garrigan literally stumbles across the worse excesses of Amin's regime, almost tripping over a pile of corpses. This is the only part of the novel where Foden's otherwise excellent research overwhelms. Uganda's bloody history is already well known, and it would have been far more effective for Garrigan to have remained in ignorance about the worst excesses. Garrigan becomes a mere cipher in Foden's bid to depict the downfall of Amin. But this is only really disappointing in contrast to the excellent first part. Overall, it well deserves its critical success.

The title was what grabbed my initial attention. The second paragraph had my complete attention and fascination - Giles Foden writes: "Back in my old neighbourhood, I'd seen to Idi once. On his bullying visits to the gum-booted old chiefs out there, he would drive a red Maserati maincally down the dirt tracks. Walking in the evenings, under the telegraph poles where the kestrels perched, you could tell where he'd been - the green fringe of grass down the middle of the track would be singed brown by the burning sump of the low-slung car." How inappropriate a red Maserati must have been in the depths of Uganda over 20 years ago!

The book is a novel suppossedly based on the diaries of Idi Amin's personal Physician Nicholas Garrigan. I have no knowledge of whether such a person existed but the cover states that it is based closely on historical events. I learn't alot of fascinating things about Uganda and its connections with Israel, Libya, Britain and t! he US. Giles Foden writes about the every day lives of the people (mostly expatriates) living in Uganda at the time and their interaction with Idi Amin. His accounts of various incidents is humorous and insightful. Nicholas Garrigan is drawn into a spiral of events in which he takes up the position of personal physician to Idi Amin and then chooses not to leave through his fascination with Amin. As I have never been to Uganda I cannot comment on whether it is relevant to life in Uganda but it seems convincing. Fascinating too are the letters written by Idi Amin to Margaret Thatcher and President Nixon. A really good read although one feels desperate for the people of Uganda and the anguish and loss that they went through.

I never heard of Giles Foden but his title and premise looked interesting so I gave it a try. What a find! His imagination is ripe for satire and dark humor which I devoured. The story of a Scottish doctor in the British foreign service who excepts Idi Amin Dada's invitation to become his doctor is at times droll, funny and horrifying. It encompasses most of Amin's reign including the Entebbe raid by the Israelis. Foden does a superb job of making Amin ruthless and charming. But Foden's best asset is that his novel is never predictable. Foden is an author I'd like to see write again.

So of course, my title refers to the character of Idi Amin rather than the man himself. In his first novel, Giles Foden tells the story of Nicholas Garrigan, a Scottish doctor who becomes Idi Amin's personal physician after the madman's rise to power in Uganda. Garrigan is personally torn between the facts of Amin's cruel military dictatorship, which he gets first- and second-hand, and the charms of the man in the flesh. This novel is told from the point of view of Garrigan writing his memoir of sorts, so that he is able to reflect on his time in Uganda and his connections (or lack thereof) with the atrocities committed there.

I wanted to read this book before seeing the movie, so now I have reason to get myself to the rental store. Tales of Forrest Whittaker's performance echo among the treetops, but in reading this book, it becomes clear that Whittaker had great material to work with. Foden's portrayal of Amin is masterful--Amin is a character larger than life in both his horror and energy and maybe even charisma, yet somehow identifiable, which is what makes him all the more scary. From his sermon from the platform of a device that lets him emerge almost god-like from a pool, a sermon he gives while chowing down on chicken and soda, to his moments of dementia when in his torture dungeon, Amin is a superb character, well worth the hatred and planning done by other characters in this book, plans to overthrow him and even kill him, plans that of course sometimes cross Doctor Garrigan's path. There is a moment later in the book, during the time of the anticipated downfall, that gets almost too unreal, too horror-movie, and Foden doesn't really convince during that chapter, which is unfortunate, because he succeeds quite well with Amin through most of the rest of the book.

But also, Doctor Garrigan's introduction of sorts, the situating of his life and viewpoints in the days before meeting Amin, was much less than interesting. I found myself glancing through many of these paragraphs rather than avidly reading them. Only when Amin came full force into the story did I finally know what drive I was missing, but unfortunately Doctor Garrigan and the historical background takes up the first 120 pages of the book or so.

It seems to be a kind of unwinnable trap that Foden fell into and couldn't quite figure a way out. Clearly, Amin himself would not have served well as the primary focus of this book. His psychology was too wavering, and I had no interest in finding out the source of his being. Garrigan was a much more human character, with a moral, ethical and philosophical dilemma that is clearly the stuff of good fiction, but ultimately he does not pan out as an engaging figure to center the book on. As alluded to before, Foden's work with Amin is strong enough to pull this book through in the end, but the overall framework left a little to be desired. A good read, once you get past the obligatory set-up and character spotlights to get the real narrative going.

From what I've seen in the reviews of this book, either people really really liked it or they really really disliked it. Personally, I liked it, and I liked it a lot. Let me note here that I did see the movie prior to reading the book -- a definite plus in this case since the screenplay of the movie was changed quite a bit from the book.
The narrator is one Dr. Nicholas Garrigan, a Scottish doctor who is somewhat disillusioned with life under his father and life in general -- so he ends up in Uganda, where he is helping out at a clinic there, until a chance meeting with Idi Amin changes his life forever. When Nicholas had arrived in Uganda, Amin had not yet cemented his power, but after the freak accident that put Nicholas in Amin's path, Nicholas found himself in the position of Amin's personal physician and moved to the capital. On one level the story is about Nicholas and his dealings with Amin, but on another level, it turns out to be about his examination of his own soul as he wonders why he has failed to see the truth about Amin, and what it says about him that he let himself become so immersed in and remained somewhat in denial of the evils of the entire situation and of Amin himself until it was nearly too late. As Garrigan said at one point to a reporter, "You've never known real fear," but it's really obvious that he was somewhat fascinated by Amin at the same time he was afraid. It wasn't until some time after he eventually found himself on the other side of Amin's generosity that he realized that he was probably a marked man and tried to find a way out; yet in the meantime, he stayed put while others were cruelly tortured and while whole villages & peoples were destroyed.
This is fiction, so if you're looking for a book to fill in holes in your knowledge about the reign of Idi Amin, this may not be what you're looking for. However, if you want something really good to take your mind off things for a while, this book is perfect. And don't expect the movie between the covers. I can definitely recommend this one to anyone interested in the topic. The writer did a great job.

Absolutely fantastic story in my opinion. For the most part I had a difficult time putting the book down, but I must admit there were a couple occasions where I just skimmed the pages. However, do not let that turn you away. The novel is written in an intelligent yet easy to understand way, and provides bundles of fascinating information. Idi Amin proves to be a fascinating and compelling character who I personally found incredibly intriguing. How can a man with a behaviour that is almost child like be so brilliant, charismatic, and so horribly cruel? Not only that, the strange relationship between Nicholas and Amin is equally intriguing. This relationship makes you almost like Amin, until you remember the atrocious things he had done. Overall a great read, one that leaves you with a great feeling upon finishing it.

In Giles Foden's fictionalized account of a Scottish doctor's experiences as the personal physician to Ugandan dictator Idi Amin Dada, evil isn't banal, after all--it's pompous, unpredictable, oafish, ostentatious, alternately unspeakably cruel and imbued with childlike exuberance, and, perhaps most startling of all, it's often more acutely wise to the ways of human nature than we care to admit. It throbs with the amorality of the life-force itself. Whatever else it might be, evil in the considerable form of Idi Amin is anything but boring.

*The Last King of Scotland* is a novel set firmly in the classic tradition of Joseph Conrad's *Heart of Darkness.* In this version of the Conradian theme, a young white doctor, highly-educated, civilized, British, heads to an under-developed Uganda driven by a mix of boredom, aimlessness, and the dim intention of doing some good. He's not there long when control of the country is forcibly seized by a Ugandan general named Idi Amin. Dr. Nicholas Garrigan and General Amin meet by accident--literally--when Garrigan is called to the scene of a roadside collision between a cow and a red Maserati drive by the new Ugandan president for life. Amin takes a liking to Nick--whose Scottish ancestry appeals to the general's obsession with Scotland--and offers the young doctor the position as his personal physician. It's an offer Nick can't refuse, not that he tries too hard to do so. After all, it's a rather prestigious post, better than working in the bush, and Amin is a dynamic and charismatic figure. There've been some rumors, but there are always rumors. Amin doesn't seem so bad, no worse than dozens of others in his position...not yet.

And so begins Nick's journey towards the heart of darkness and the beast who dwells there, propelled on his way by a quickening series of rationalizations, compromises, and choices that slowly erode his conscience and leave him a victim of circumstances. In the end, it's all too clear and all too late. Idi Amin is a monster and Garrigan is his doctor, his confidant, and his apologist--if only because by explaining Amin, Garrigan explains himself.

Fiction in which major historical personages like Amin play a major role always runs the risk of straining credulity, ringing false, or offering a pale imitation of the original. What with truth being stranger than fiction and all. Especially such recent, bizarre, and well-documented history. How do you top the real-life stories of cannibalism, the heads in the freezer, etc.? But Foden does a remarkable job in breathing life into Amin's larger-than-life persona and his many notorious exploits. Foden is equally remarkable in his portrayal of Nicholas Garrigan. Written in the first person, supposedly as a journal, Foden so convincingly and engagingly describes everything from the presenting symptoms of rare (and disgusting) tropical diseases to field dressing gunshot wounds, you'd think Garrigan must be a doctor himself, or at the very least, had some sort of extensive medical training, although his author bio doesn't mention either. His Uganda is so vividly realized you don't doubt his narrator for an instant. In any event, the cumulative result is a novel that often doesn't read like fiction at all, but the memoir it's fictionally supposed to be. Only towards the end of *Last King* does this verisimilitude quaver a bit with the doctor's final confrontations with Amin and the consequences of Garrigan's Ugandan adventure with the British government and media. But this is a novel, after all, and while *Last King* makes an intelligent "thriller" Foden also does a perfectly credible job of speaking for Amin, who is himself a very effective mouthpiece for the heart of darkness--by turns seductive and horrific, satanic and angelic, the source of a running stream-of-conscious monologue that expresses the ongoing dialectic between good and evil in our own hearts; a debate we begin uneasily to suspect--not the least of which in our own fascination with figures such as Amin--is not strictly a matter of either/or.

An old-school novel of adventure and ideas, politics and moral dilemma made new again for our ambivalent and morally bankrupt age, *The Last King of Scotland* might very well be a genuine classic itself one of these days and it's depiction of an "innocent" man's journey to the Kurtz of the late 20th century take on even more mythic proportions. Until then, it's a timely, exciting, and excellently written story you'll find hard to put down until you run out of pages--and even harder to forget when you do.