Customer Reviews

the Sky and the Forest

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

 

 

I love C.S. Forester's writing. I've read the Hornblower series so many times I've worn out a set or two, loaning them to friends and acquaintances. But I don't pretend the Hornblower series is anything more than a fun, interesting journey through the life of an imaginary man.

The Sky and the Forest is another matter. Forester sets the novel deep in Africa at that crucial moment in history when the stone age metamorphosed overnight. This is no smileybook fantasy about the noble savage raped by intrusions of civilization. Forester's character is a human being living as humans lived in primitive environments and chronicals crucial, devastating events that change those lives when one culture succumbs to another. Forester might have chosen pre-Columbian America, pre-Coronadoan New Mexico, pre-Pizzaroan Peru, pre-Roman England or Gaul, or any of a thousand other places and times.

This is a timeless novel about the human condition and shared human flaws by an author capable of doing them justice. I wholeheartedly recommend this book.

If you are all ready a C.S Forester reader this will be a singular addition to your collection. It's the telling of an African king's life. His reign coincides with the gradual incursion of Europeans into the deep forest. The characters are portrayed with stunning and often brutal authenticity, free of judgement or sentiment. Forester presents an old and well-ordered society who for very practical reasons take part in cannibalism. Their complex relationships ring so true that you have no doubt these people existed in some incarnation at some time and some place.

This book is excellent. The author has a very smooth writting style that allows the reader to get lost in the book. It gives a very personal and thoughtful glance into the slave trade. I would highly recommend it.

What makes this book especially interesting is that it is told from the viewpoint of a brutal cannibal. Early in this novel, Loa, the god-king of an obscure Congolese tribe, gets irritated with his first wife because she is nagging at him. Since meat is scarce, he ponders whether he should have her killed so he could eat her. When I read this, my first thought was that Forester was writing an adolescent adventure novel, and that he knew nothing about actual Africans. This first impression proved to be quite wrong. Though Loa's society is degenerate, there actually were, and perhaps are, such societies, and Forester portrays Loa's with sympathetic, though grim, realism. And as the reader discovers, Loa's cruelty is naïve and unsophisticated; he learns and applies real evil from his white captors. For someone who loved Burroughs's Tarzan novels as a kid, it was a real treat to find this realistic account of Africa at the point when Africans first encountered white "civilization." This is a great book not only from the both the historical and anthropological, perspective, but also from the perspective of adolescent jungle adventure.

This is my first C.S. Forester book that I have read. My father was an avid reader of his, and I have inherited his collection of Forester novels. Forester is very descriptive, as he brings the Congolese jungle to life for his readers. The novel begins with the introduction of Loa, the God-King of his own jungle village. Loa has been given everything since birth: food (plants, animals, or his fellow man), women and wives, and the ability to command on who lives and dies according to the signs of the Moon, Sun, and his forefathers. All is good for Loa and his village, until the day the Slavers arrive. The village is thrown in chaos, as Loa's followers are slain or chased into the jungle. Loa himself is beaten down, and chained. From here, he and his villagers are marched into the jungle and on their way to the Middle East to be auctioned off. However, things do not go according to plan on the march.

I enjoyed the way C.S. Forester delved into the mind of Loa from his time as a God-King, to being a slave with no help from his "gods". Loa is a simple-minded King, and often struggles internally with what has happened to him and his village. How could he not receive assistance from his "gods" to escape his slaver captors? Later, there is an interesting development in the relationship between Loa, and his son, Lanu. The writing from Forester is excellent. The only reason I give the book 4 stars, is the last few chapters of the book. It has been 3 days since I have read the book, and I am still trying to figure out why Forester took the direction he did. You will have to read the novel to see what I mean. However, I look forwards to reading the rest of the collection of Forester books that I have.