Navigation of a Rainmaker (African Writers) [Paperback]

Jamal Mahjoub (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 4, 1989 | Series: African Writers

This first novel follows the journey of a young man from a mixed family who travels from Britain to the Sudan to claim his heritage from his father. As famine inexorably moves into the western part of the country, Tanner finds himself the embodiment of the same malaise gripping Africa.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jamal Mahjoub is Sudanese/British. His first novel, Navigation of a Rainmaker, was published in 1989. He won the Guardian/Heinemann 1993 short story competition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Heinemann (December 4, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0435905600
• ISBN-13: 978-0435905606
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,051,283 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars haunting strange beautiful terrible eternal desert fable, May 7, 2003

By 

"jenniferadgoa" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Navigation of a Rainmaker (African Writers) (Paperback)

I didn't really understand this book, but that made it more interesting. It is definately beautifully written, and had some haunting scenes, like the aid worker with the baby, the Harem, the scence with the father, the rich girl, the time he realized he was in love with Nina, and of course the ending. I also like how the story is told as if it isn't an important story- its just about a desperate and lonely man lost (at first figuratively, later literally) in the desert.

I also like how this book makes you feel like you live in Sudan just from reading it. There are no explanations for the Sudan, its just the way it is there- the characters are who they are, the angelic and the not-so angelic seem more like minor ants crawling over the bigger picture of the eternal struggle for life in the desert.

The main character seems to be a mirror to his country. He is just as broken and wounded and dried up inside as the Sudan. He is fighting a civil war with himself, too. He wants to understand his life by living somewhere that is desolate and sparse, and also because his father is from there. But unlike a desert prophet or the old man looking for water at the beginning of the book, he doesn't gain a shred of enlightenment or even find something worth looking for (she goes back to South America). He comes up a bit empty-handed you might say, but you might learn more from him and his experience than the Alchemist by Paulo Coelho who takes a desert journey/ spiritual journey as well. Well, If you go looking for something in the desert, go with friends not strangers, bring a compass and I hope what you look for is not a rainmaker.