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Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness Hardcover – August 23, 2011

by Alexandra Fuller (Author)

305 customer reviews

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African; Biography & Autobiogaphy; Childhood and youth; Fuller, Alexandra; Non-Fiction; Personal Memoirs; Southern Africa; Zimbabwe

Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Penguin Press; Complete Numbers Starting with 1, 1st Ed edition (August 23, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1594202990
ISBN-13: 978-1594202995
Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 0.8 x 9.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 305 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #222,819 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #23 in Books > History > Africa > Zimbabwe
- #45 in Books > History > Africa > Southern Africa
- #283 in Books > Parenting & Relationships > Parenting > Parenting Girls

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Elizabeth H. Cottrell

A safari of epic proportions...to another continent and into the heart of humanity

February 1, 2012

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

While there is, as one critic mentioned, considerable overlap with the author's first book (Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight), I found this one even more fascinating and compelling, with many elements I consider when evaluating a memoir:

* It contains lyrical and vivid writing that pulls the reader into the sights, sounds, smells, and emotions of the narrative's places, especially Africa.
* It offers an introduction to a world and culture and place that is so utterly foreign to me, I felt as though I had gone on a grand safari myself.
* Its character development was both harsh and compassioniate, especially the rendering of the author's mother "Nicola Fuller of Central Africa."
* The story provides keen insight into the often unmentioned civilian victims of war.
* The narrative explores life's emotional complexities of, and brutalities against, the human heart, yet it moves quickly enough not to become maudlin or mired dark places.
* It inspired me to think about how I would react in some of the unspeakably awful circumstances that Nicola Fuller, the author (Nicola's daughter), and others in the family had to face. We judge others at our own peril.
* The author's ability to step back far enough to see her family with the eye of an artist and the heart of a loved one impressed me.
* The book succeeds, I believe, in conveying why anyone might be willing, against incredible odds, to keep coming back to what must be a very seductive part of the world.

Here are some quotes I noted:

Speaking of her mother's childhood in Kenya: "It was, in many ways, a charmed and feral childhood."

Describing the brutal landscape: "It was toward the end of the long dry season; the wind had been red all day with dust blown in from Uganda and settling on everything like powdered blood, the sun blistered out of a high, clear sky."

...and her mother's garden: "an encouraged tangle of bougainvillea and passion fruit vines, beds of lilies and strelitzia, rows of lilac bushes and caladiums looming over borders of impatiens."

"War is Africa's perpetual ripe fruit. There is so much injustice to resolve, such desire for revenge in the blood of the people, such crippling corruption of power, such unseemly scramble for the natural resources. The wind of power shifts and there go the fruit again, tumbling toward the ground, each war more inventively terrible than the last."

As the author tells the story of her brother's illness and death: "My impuse is impossible: I want to reach back through the years and protect my young parents from what happens next."

"Surely until all of us own and honor one another's dead, until we have admitted to our murders and forgiven one another and ourselves for what we have done, there can be no truce, no dignity and no peace."

"People often ask why my parents haven't left Africa. Simply put, they have been possessed by this land."

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Linda Ballou

Seduced by the African Sun

April 3, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

What a wonderful find. Alexandra Fuller captures the seduction of the African sun and burning landscape. The vast spaces that set the mind sailing seduced her parents and made them stay against great adversity. They lived in Kenya when British Colonists spent their days in royal comfort, but those days ended with a revolution and war in the 60’s. Ms. Fuller masterfully weaves the very personal history of her dramatic childhood and the life of her stiff upper lip parents against the backdrop of a tumultuous time. Her parents chose to remain in Africa after their lands were seized and to set up housekeeping in remote Zambia where they found peace under the” Tree of Forgetfullness”. I have ordered the third book in the trilogy of Ms. Fuller’s stunning memoir.
[...]

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sas

swept into Africa

October 5, 2011

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Ms. Fuller has written an intriguing story of her parents' lives in [mostly] eastern Africa, their struggles during and after British control and what the white farming experience was [and I guess is] like in that vast continent. She does an excellent job describing the beauty and horrors of living daily life there; particularly touching is the Fullers' deep love for Africa which is quite palpable throughout the book - they just can't imagine living anywhere else and always come back. I'd really like to know these people! No obstacle deters them from scratching out a living on various farms they either own or manage. And it's clear how much Ms. Fuller loves and admires them for their perseverance.

Some of the descriptions of the surroundings and landscapes are so lovely - particularly as evening falls - that I felt as though I were sitting right there with Ms. Fuller and her mother as they reminisce together. Two minor negatives are 1) the book starts off a little jumbled and would have been better had it proceeded chronologically as it does as it gets going, and 2) more pictures and maps of the regions the Fullers lived and traveled in would have been helpful.

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Sassafras

Felt a bit like a repeat

March 18, 2012

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

I enjoyed Fuller's other book, "Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight," so much that I immediately bought this one. While "Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness" is a good, solid book, there were enough similarities between the two that I often felt I was reading the first book over again. "Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight" paints a vivid, personal picture of Fuller's childhood in Africa. The hardships she endures, brought on by conditions, bad choices, and even worse luck, are an individual tapestry of place and time from the author's own perspective. I felt like I was right there with her, seeing life through the lens of her changing perspective as she matured. In "Cocktail Hour," Fuller focuses more on her amazing and sometimes maddening mother and her life before, during, and after Alexandra came into the world. It's true that her mother is a larger than life character, and she already figures prominently in the first book. If I had read "Cocktail Hour" first, I would probably give it four stars, but because so much of it already felt familiar, I was a bit disappointed. If you haven't read "Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight," I highly recommend it! If you want to read "Cocktail Hour" as well, I'd suggest letting a few months or years pass first so it feels more like a fresh book.

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Jay McLaughlin

Possibly my favorite living author

March 28, 2018

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I love the way she writes - the feel of her words going across my brain, for lack of a clearer expression. It’s steady, there are no extra words, the pace is brisk, the details are crisp. Her ear for spoken language is brilliant. Her descriptions of smells are without compare. This is the third book I’ve read by Ms. Fuller and I’ve loved them all. The moment I submit this review I’m going to begin my fourth one. I’m happy she’s such a prolific writer!

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Most recent customer reviews

W. Kirschner

Humorous and very interesting

As a person who has had a great interest in Africa, especially since we hosted a Kenyan student while I was in High School, I found this memoir a rapid and enjoyable read.Read more

Published 2 months ago

NANCY A.

Too slow

Read the predecessor to this book. Got 1/4 of way in. Never quit reading a book. I did this one!

Published 3 months ago

Amazon Customer

A Beautiful Love Story

The story had a slow start but once the characters were in place I could not put it down. I love Africa and this author nailed the many reasons people are mesmerized by this...Read more

Published 4 months ago

Amazon Customer

Offbeat, jarringly funny autobiog.

Got this one, too, coz I loved her jarringly funny/sad/bad/hysterical stories of bizarre life experiences.

Published 5 months ago

Amazon Customer

brings back many happy memories of Rhodesia

Lovely book, brings back many happy memories of Rhodesia. And of sad times too.

Published 8 months ago

Julie

Life in Africa, part two...

I read the first book of memoirs from the author , Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, and highly enjoyed it.Read more

Published 8 months ago

Serena

A Love Story

I think we would all be a bit nutty if we faced the stress of having to carry an Uzi around to protect the kids, drive a partially mine protected vehicle, and suffer the multiple...Read more

Published 9 months ago

Catherine C.

Five Stars

Truly well-written, interesting read.

Published 10 months ago

Barbara J. Wuest

Sweet

Sweet contemplation of life

Published 11 months ago

beverly

nothing like stories of Africa I've rad before

A rambling, stream of consciousness tale of a family living in Africa over many years..nothing like stories of Africa I've rad before, too personalized...Read more

Published 1 year ago

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