Okavango Gods [Paperback]

Anthony Fleischer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 17, 2001

Pula is the son of the rainmaker and he fishes with his father from a mokoro on the Okavango River. Above him he sees aircraft rising into the clouds and he too wants to fly. He and his dear friend Julia are caught in the biggest flood ever to hit the Okavango Delta. They are rescued from Shakawe by an American pilot flying a C130 Hercules A huge wave of global change now swamps the world, old cultures and long-honoured beliefs are questioned, small languages and small communities are being destroyed, some people are endangered - not only birds and beasts. The cycles of flood and drought have been around since Gilgameshs time, so have unstable metaphysical explanations for them, the eternal role of fickle gods. Even Okavango Gods. Current change in the Okavango Delta and ancient change in the Euphrates are perhaps not so far apart after all. Man will bring about the change, the ancient gods are no longer reliable, the future lies in mans volition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Born in South Africa, educated University of the Witwatersrand, and Oxford UniversityBA Rand, B.Litt Oxon. Former executive of South African Associated Newspapers. Chief Executive of the Financial Mail, and former Adviser to the Chamber of Mines of South Africa. Now full time author, President of the South African Centre of International PEN.

Product Details

• Paperback: 220 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse (May 17, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 059518541X
• ISBN-13: 978-0595185412
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,450,140 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heart of Darkness, Heart of Light, May 8, 2002

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"claresdad" (San Anselmo, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Okavango Gods (Paperback)

The Okavango River Delta in Botswana is about as deep into Africa as one can go. The great river empties, not into the sea, but into the Kalahari Desert, which absorbs it like a sponge. Anthony Fleischer puts you there with exciting and poetic imagery you will not forget, and you, too, will be totally absorbed. He creates authentic characters of this wondrous place, and through their senses we experience its marvelous landscape and animal inhabitants. The native Hambukushu people are portrayed through the young man Pula and his father. We are with them while they struggle to survive a mighty flood and overcome human enemies, and we learn their lore and magic. Pula's friend is Julia, the daughter of a Portuguese doctor (the Portuguese having a presence from semi-colonial days). Their unspoken love powerfully attracts while their separate cultures divide them; we learn much about these cultures as their very personal story unfolds.
Add a few outsiders, demonic or heroic, Bubi the local witch, and even a swarm of locusts. All are both tangible and symbolic. In this darkly mysterious setting, Fleischer weaves together the most personal themes and the grandest legends on the thread of a gripping adventure. In his compact novel, he at once lights up Africa for us, while respectfully leaving it impenetrably mysterious, as it must ever be. This is a wonderful and edifying story by a master of our language.