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118 of 136 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Sadistic and confusing, August 18, 2004
I was very unclear about how to rate this book. It's brilliantly written and about a subject -- the brutality of the war in Rhodesia and the human fallout from it -- that we don't know much about in the US. It's an amazing, up-close picture of a desolate part of Africa, that is nonetheless teeming with life and interesting individuals.
But there is a kind of patent dishonesty going on here that clouds the book's best intentions and the author's considerable storytelling gifts. The story is straightforwardly presented as authobiographical, but Ms. Fuller is incredibly stingy with revealing herself (while she virtually guts her subject, the former White Rhodesian soldier she calls "K"). In order to get "K" to open up to her and tell his absolutely wrenching, devasting story, Ms. Fuller manipulates him in an unusually cruel way -- she allows him to fall in love with her (even though she is a married woman with two children back in the US) and continues her deception throughout a long road trip, during which he confides his darkest secrets to her, believing that she is "the one" -- the perfect mate sent to him by God to heal his loneliness and his pain.
Although the stories of military violence, racism and horrific African poverty are deeply affecting, I was profoundly disturbed at the way Alexandra Fuller obtained K's life story. In many respects, she hurt and victimized this terribly damaged man in ways that are psychologically worse than violence -- by betraying his trust. (When I was in high school, there was a not-very-nice term for women who use their sexuality to keep men on a string.) Furthermore, Ms. Fuller is coy enough not to let us know if the attraction was at all mutual or what the state of her marriage was. After all, she has left her husband and children back in Wyoming...it matters a great deal to the reader if she is purely a writer in search of a story (however manipulative) or if she is actually a unhappy wife looking for a potential lover. This unspoken story nagged at me, especially the last part of the book where Ms. Fuller actively begins a flirtacious relationship with ANOTHER ex-soldier...basically trivializing not only her mysterious marriage but her confusing relationship to "K".
The last time I was so distracted from the content of a non-fiction book by the actions of the author was Kathryn Harrison's "The Kiss", about that author's adult love affair with her own biological father. As bad as incest is, somehow Alexandra Fuller's deceptive and cruel manipulation of "K" to get a clever and unusual story bothers me even more. Certainly it should make the reader think about just how far it is reasonable or moral for a writer to go to obtain material for a book...does the fact that "K" had a truly fascinating story to tell mean that it was OK to use him and to break his heart?
In conclusion, I found this story to be sadistic and disturbing, although the author is a fine writer and superb storyteller, she has a lot of work to do in developing a conscience.
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31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An African Soldier's Story, February 25, 2005
Alexandra Fuller's second narrative of Africa tells about her friendship with a former Rhodesian soldier code-named "K". After soldiering in the bloody civil conflicts in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and Mozambique, K tries to start a new life of farming in Zambia, where he lives on the farm next to Ms. Fuller's parents. In a visit to her parents from her adopted American home, the author (nicknamed Bobo) meets the former soldier K, and on somewhat of a lark, gets him to agree to take her on a road trip back to Mozambique, to show her where he fought as a mercenary soldier.
There are many ugly, brutal details about the African civil wars in this book. Although the reading is painful, the message is important...war creates "fatal cracks" in both the soldiers of war and civilian bystanders, cracks which take the rest of a lifetime to repair. Bobo undertakes this story thinking that she could better understand the violent man that K has become by "walking a mile in his shoes". Yet the reader comes away with the lesson that war leaves a different impression on all who are involved.
Ms. Fuller's writing is beautiful and non-judgemental. The book is interspersed with amazing snapshots of the African people and countryside. I definitely recommend reading Ms. Fuller's own memoir first, "Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight". And be warned that the images in "Scribbling the Cat" are quite graphic. Nonetheless, this story is a compelling look at Africa, both today and during its civil wars of the 1980s.
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37 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The impact of war on Rhodesia -- its people and its soldiers, April 30, 2005
Alexandra Fuller is a white woman who grew up in Rhodesia in the 1970s. Life was harsh and there was a war on. Eventually, her parents lost their farm and had to leave the country which is now called Zimbabwe. Eventually the family settled in Zambia and still live there. Alexandra, however, married and moved to Wyoming, where she lives with her husband and two children. One day, while visiting her parents, she met a man who had been a soldier in the defeated Rhodesian army. She was fascinated by him as well as the whole story of what had happened in Rhodesia during her childhood. A few months later she planned a short trip with him into the land where the fighting occurred. It was a journey of discovery for both of them. This book is the result of that journey.
Let me explain the title. The word "scribbling" means "killing" in the slang of the region. And it refers to the expression "curiosity killed the cat". She decided to take this trip because she was curious. It's as simple as that.
The former soldier, who she refers to as "K" is war hardened. He's now a loner, living on a farm he literally carved out of the African bush himself. Some native Africans work for him but his relationships with them are simply that aof boss and worker. His former marriage had ended in divorce and it was clear from the beginning that he was interested in Alexandra even though she was married.
She wasn't interested in him in that way. And I'll say right up front there that even though towards the end of their trip there was some romantic tension between them, it never materialized. The book instead is about their relationship to Africa and the way that Africa itself has shaped their personalities.
I live in New York and my whole life is one of material comfort. I turn on the water tap to get water, the air is free of insects and flies, electricity gives me light at night and cools my apartment in the summer. For Alexandra's African family and also for "K", these are luxuries. They are constantly lighting fires with a match in order to boil water for tea. Their homes have no electricity. They are always sweat soaked from the horrific humid heat. Taking a shower means pouring a bucket of water on themselves. If they have a car, gasoline is very expensive and they do not use air conditioning. All this is a given.
During their trip, K told Alexandra stories. He remembered the guns and the death and the terrible fright. He admitted to atrocities with deep regret. Along the way they met some of the men he had served with. They were all hardened war veterans. One of them lived alone on an island with a lion. Another kept smoking unfiltered African cigarettes even though he obviously was suffering from lung disease. They talked about old times. And how they had to go for days without water and it would get so bad they would be willing to kill each other for just a sip of the precious liquid. They romanticized the fistfights. And, one of the most interesting things was that they all seemed to accept the life they were thrust into and remembered the years of the war as a time in their lives that they felt very much alive.
Wisely, the author focused her book on this trip and subtitled the book "Travels With An African Soldier". Personally, I might have liked to hear more about her husband and children back in Wyoming. I also would have liked to see a map included somewhere in the book. But I think her intent was to focus on the impact of war on people, and on the small sub-set of Rhodesian soldiers. By doing this, she made her story universal.
I loved the book, couldn't put it down and definitely recommend it.
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