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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Perhaps I should have read this one first . . ., April 9, 2000
I came to this book after reading and immensely enjoying its sequel, A CAFE ON THE NILE. Since I like rip-roaring adventures in faraway places, and the sequel proved so enjoyable, I grabbed this one up as soon as I found it in a used bookstore. And it was enjoyable, creating a world for me which constantly drew me back each time I'd put the book down. Yet there was something lacking in this tale of new settlers and broken souls cast up on the shores of British East Africa (the future Kenya). Here were all the characters who play such a significant role in the subsequent book and we get to see how they found their way to become what we later encounter there. The English gypsy boy, Anton Rider, lost and adrift in England will find his moorings in the African bush -- a hunter and adventurer with a touch of the farmer in him. The dwarf from Goa, Olivio Fonseca Alavedo, a man who will gradually change from the cold-hearted schemer who cares for nothing but himself to the cold-hearted schemer who also, by the way, happens to care for a few friends. Gwenn Llywellen, wife of a broken World War I soldier, will endure the wilds of the new country and the sadness of loss while becoming a stronger person. Lord Penfold, hotel proprietor and down and out English gentleman, will sink further into ineffectualness but never, quite, inactivity. And the German ex-soldier, Ernst von Decken, will demonstrate why he can be relied upon despite his cold and ruthless ways. All of these are here in a tale of wandering and land-grabbing and lust in colonial Africa. And yes, there's lots of lust. In fact the sex is rather prominent in this tale, and frequently quite strange. Besides the usual sort, we are treated to Olivio's kinkiness and a brutal rape. And Mr. Bull has a thing for recurring motifs: The twin Somali courtesans here, the "Black Tulips", vs. the sexually assertive and promiscuous American twins in the sequel. Olivio bound and trapped in both books facing imminent destruction through immolation. The loss of a beloved African sidekick in both. I could go on. But suffice it to say that the sexuality has an oddly abstract quality to it (it does not kindle and smolder in the reader's mind as, I think, it should) while Mr. Bull seems to be fixated on a number of recurring motifs and situations. Yet, this said, I must add that while the book did not surprise as I'd hoped, the tale did not keep me guessing, it once again kept me coming back and wanting more of the wild world which Bull portrayed. For a big book, I thought the end rather rushed and almost anti-climactic. And somewhat predictable. But it was an experience to be reading it. (I put several others aside just to see it through.) Perhaps if I'd read this one before its sequel I wouldn't have been so disappointed. But, on balance, I liked the second one better.The King of Vinland's Saga
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Period Details Elevate Wanton, Violent Tale of Colonial Kenya, August 24, 2005
Bartle Bull's "The White Rhino Hotel" is the first novel in his series of historical fiction about colonial Africa ("A Cafe on the Nile" and "The Devil's Oasis" follow), and "White Rhino" gets the series off to a rip-roaring start. Starting in 1919 as WWI closes, "White Rhino" follows a varied band of intrepid heroes, trusty sidekicks, and dastardly villains as the British start to assert their control over Kenya. Thanks to British arrogance and a fundamental misunderstanding of Africa, chaos abounds. Fortunes can be made and lost for the daring, the cunning, and the ruthless. Anton Rider is arguably the "hero" if the tale, and he is a young English gypsy seeking his fortune on the Dark Continent. En route to Africa, he meets Gwenn Llewelyn, the beautiful Welsh ambulance driver who is heading to Kenya to meet her fiance, Alan, who suffers cruelly from his wounds sustained in the British army but still dreams of starting a farming life in Kenya. Adam Penfold is a small-time English lord who thinks he runs the White Rhino Hotel in Kenya, which is the focal point for much of the tale as the local bastion of European civilization. But the hotel is actually run by Olivio Alovedo, Bull's greatest creation, a dwarf majordomo who schemes triumphs and vendettas while having some of the kinkiest sex imaginable. As the story follows these characters and several others through the struggles to start a new life in Africa, Bull displays a commanding knowledge of the unique pulse of African life. Regardless of whether he's describing a lonely safari far from the trammels of civilization, the smelly optimism on a steamer ship from England to Africa, or the melting pot of various nationalities, agendas, and ambitions of the players in the White Rhino Bar, Bull transports the reader to another time and place with effortless efficiency. That he peppers his story with copious amounts of sex and violence is a plus, for Bull is spinning a yarn here. Look for sly seductions, profound loves, heart-breaking losses, and above it all, sudden swift death that can reach out for anyone at any time. The pages will fly by as you get deeper and deeper into Bull's world, and you care more and more for his rag-tag bunch of misfits and explorers. The only reason that I don't give "White Rhino" five stars is that I want to distinguish it from "A Cafe on the Nile," which is in the same vein as "White Rhino," but is an even more epic and enjoyable read.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Finest kind of escapist reading, woo hoo!, August 15, 2006
I recently have blown through a quartet of novels by a writer with the unlikely name of Bartle Bull (he's said to be a former publisher of the Village Voice). The politically incorrect but somewhat historically accurate novels set mostly in Africa in the 1918-1943 timeline are quite a delight, assuming one goes for African Adventure and I do, boy howdy. These novels are fun, intriguing and semi informative. And, they're about AFRICA. For those largely ignorant (as was I) of the Italian invasion of Abysinia (aka Ethiopia) in the mid-Thirties, Cafe on the Nile is especially interesting. The White Rhino Hotel A Cafe on the Nile The Devil's Oasis Shanghai Station. OK, so it's not Africa; it's Shanghai. Sue me, do. Finest kind of light reading, perfect for escapist holidays, beach reading, flight numbing and generally out-of-the-loop fare. To be enjoyed.
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