Customer Reviews

Rainbow's End: A Memoir of Childhood, War and an African Farm

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I love tales of African childhoods and there seem to have been a lot of these books lately. This is the best one I've ever read. All of these books raphsodize about the beauty of Africa but this is the first book that made me see it too. This book made me laugh and cry -- and compelled me to write my first Amazon review. I read two or three books a week and I highly recommend this book.

This book is very good. I was a teenager in America when this was happening in Rhodesia. I remember it changing names and I remember there being some type of war, but I don't remember much else. I was shocked at some of the things that happened, but I really enjoyed the book. It should be required reading for anyone studying histories. I have passed this book on to some one who was born in that country and was just a few years older than the author and she has other memories, but she also said it was good. I definately recommend this book for anyone who likes books about history. It was very personable. The author made you really visualize the scenes as she described them.

This book is a beautifully written memoir of childhood that,importantly for me, does a fantastic job of evoking the time and place, scents and sounds of growing up on a farm in the bush. Perhaps more meaningful to me since I've traveled in southern Africa, but its a wonderful story for anyone not just those interested in that period and that place.

If you like memoirs -- and travel -- you will love this beautifully written book. Nothing sloppy here. Clear, lovely prose. Family, war, romance, Africa -- it is all here. Enjoy.

I lived in Rhodesia in the time period this book was written. Although some minor facts are not quite correct, it gives an excellent feel for what it was like to live there and experience the multitude of changes.

Growing up in 1960s Rhodesia, Lauren St. John thought she was in paradise. Despite the ever-looming threat of terrorist attacks, Lauren lived immersed in breathtaking African beauty. She and her younger sister Lisa had dozens of exotic pets and ran freely across the land, while native Africans ran their farm and household. The world was Lauren's for the taking.

Then the war ended, turning Rhodesia into Zimbabwe - and a completely foreign place. Suddenly the country's black citizens were in full force, demanding equality with their white neighbors. For people like Lauren, who had grown up believing whites were inherently in charge, it was an abrupt and bitter eye-opening. Was nothing the way she'd thought it was?

Slowly but sincerely, teenage Lauren struggles to gain a grasp on her new universe - making friends with the black girls now integrated into her school, getting to know the family employees as individuals rather than generic servants.

St. John's recollections are candid and well-written, capturing a memorable period in African history and offering valuable insight for readers all over the world.

Lauren St. John's tale of family life, strife and growing up in Rhodesia during "the War" -- the guerrilla war that lead to the creation of Zimbabwe and Mugabe dictatorship, is beguilling and frustrating. She talks several times about her unprounouncable Dutch name, but I'm not sure if I ever saw it in the book. She says that the entire family changed names by deedpole, but they all took different surnames, hers being what she now uses, St. John. Wha? Everybody in the family changes their names and no details? After black rule is established, St. John undergoes an eleventh hour realization/guilt trip about her previous life. She feels sympathy toward her black African compatriots and understands some of their excesses after "liberation." But the book glosses over the real twists in the plot. Something is going on between mom and dad, Mom is always getting on a plane and flying around the world, but we dont find out until almost the end of the book. Even then, she doesn't do more than hint until the last few pages. Dad was unfaithful. Why all the secrecy? She tells us anyway, but makes us roll our eyes first. For all her tiptoeing around family disputes, St. John is ultra-descriptive about her daily life, from the vanilla-licious Cerelac she had for breakfast, to her particular preferences in biltong. The book is a fascinating look at a white paradise that, in later years, became more threatening, but still pampering to those fortunate enough to be white. As Lauren undergoes her sudden realization about the Realities of Black Life in Rhodesia, she sees former heroes as less than noble...the Selous Scouts, honored soldiers during the war, are revealed to be something else indeed. The glitter comes off a lot of the gold, but the book is still a entertaining insight into a life, a lifetime, and a lifestyle. This book holds its own among the recent spate of books about the end of Rhodesia and its impact on white farmers and citizens.

I've enjoyed this book especially because the frame for Lauren St. John's story--the Rhodesian Bush War and the transformation of Rhodesia into Zimbabwe--is a well-developed historical account, beautifully integrated into her childhood memoir. We understand the national upheaval as she did, first in a vague outline as her family conflicts are suggested in her adventures as a younger child, then from the white farmers' perspective as the war rages and her family relationships become more strained, and eventually from her shockingly altered perspective as she confronts her new understanding of both her family and her country. Despite her crushing disillusionment, this is ultimately a book of hope--and when you look at the list of her published books, you realize that she did achieve at least one of her childhood ambitions.

This was a wonderful book with superb descriptions of a world now destroyed. I lived for several years in South Africa, and when I read this book, I was transported back in time to the place I was happiest.

Flawless - in every sense - absolutely incredible breadth of space - the view you get through your own eyes is truly very real and utterly horrific.... I grew up like this and I know what it takes to come out of it whole (or at least partly) - as you will never forget how and why we become the soil that makes us true ZIMBABWEANS.

Thank you Alexandra - you are a legend.