Like all the veterans of the war, K has blood on his hands. Driven by K's memories, Fuller and K decide to enter the heart of darkness in the most literal way, by travelling from Zambia through Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) and Mozambique to visit the scenes of the war and to meet other veterans. What results from Fuller's journey is a remarkably unbiased and unsentimental glimpse at life in Africa, a land that besets its creatures with pests, plagues, and natural disasters, making the people there at once more hardened and more vulnerable than elsewhere.
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Amazon Review
These days, powerfully evocative personal memoirs like Alexandra Fuller's Scribbling the Cat are so plentiful, it would be tempting to think that such quality writing is the norm. Generally, it isn't--but on the strength of this book and Fuller's equally impressive Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, this is an author from whom we may expect only the best.
The first book, a childhood memoir, brought the author's childhood experiences as a young white girl living on a farm in Rhodesia (and suffering through the Civil War) vividly to life; the new book has Alexandra Fuller (known as 'Bo') taking a journey to her parents' farm in Zambia and finding things very changed. She encounters the beguiling and attractive neighbour of her parents, 'K', who has lived life on the edge. He entrances Alexandra with descriptions of the turbulent life he has led, and the two form a bond, attempting to forge a shared approach to life and love in a land that is tearing itself apart with civil strife.
In her atmospheric and subtle prose, Fuller pulls off something of a juggling act here: while the relationship between herself and the conflicted, seductive 'K' is foregrounded, with every nuance of emotion between the two subtly delineated, the reader is simultaneously granted a picture of a country in strife that misses nary a detail in its careful but discursive line drawing. The author may have settled down to family life in Wyoming, but it's impossible not to feel that this was clearly the most significant period of her life--and her sharing of that time with the reader in this finely–honed book is something for which we may be grateful. --Barry Forshaw
Review
Searing, at times intoxicating prose . . . striking, intimately revealing . . . ("The Washington Post") "Scribbling the Cat" defies easy definition . . . [a] wild-hearted beauty of a book. ("O, The Oprah Magazine")
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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BECAUSE IT IS THE LAND that grew me, and because they are my people, I sometimes forget to be astonished by Africans. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
BECAUSE IT IS THE LAND that grew me, and because they are my people, I sometimes forget to be astonished by Africans. Read the first page
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
32 of 32 people found the following review helpful
By Is
Format:Paperback
Alexandra Fuller grew up in Rhodesia, a country that doesn't exist anymore. Her memoir "Don't Let's Go To the Dogs Tonight" was published a couple of years back, an honest, thoughtful story told in the easy flow of a natural writer. At the centre of that book was the description of her parents; hard-drinking and tough white farmers, leading what would be a life of hardship according to European standards, but luxury compared with what most people around them faced. It seemed striking how ready Fuller was to expose her family; it was, obviously, also what made it a compelling book.
In "Scribbling the Cat", it's once again this willingness to pin down the often unpalatable attitudes of her fellow white Africans without much moralising that turns it into an uncomfortable but honest read. On a visit back to Zambia, where her parents have washed up following Zimbabwe's independence, Fuller meets a veteran of that war, only referred to as K. Hiding his name seems to be a strange concession to anonymity, because Fuller exposes everything else about him; theirs is the vulnerable relationship between a person and his biographer, and Fuller writes compassionately but incisively about K's violent past.
However, she is much more reticent and protective of her own emotions and reactions. For example, is she infatuated by K, as some passages in the beginning hint? Or is she merely interested in his story? At no point does she indulge herself in lengthy condemnations of what K has done: she seems to accept that his guilt is hers as well, not as a white girl in Africa, but as a person, full stop. This is what we're all capable of, is the harsh message of the book; in certain circumstances, most men are capable of murder, of torturing women to death. Is that moral laxity? Or once again, is it just the truth? I have no answer myself, but I can't shake off the question.
The two of them end up journeying back to Mozambique in some vague quest for K to confront his demons. Fuller is an evocative writer, maybe sometimes a little bit too flowery, but always adept at recreating an atmosphere. This is a world she knows very well, but also one that she has left behind, so her eyes are both those of an insider and an observer... surely the perfect vantage point for a travel writer!
It's a pacey read, carrying the reader along effortlessly, but comes to a rather abrupt end. Their journey is interrupted. Suddenly they are home. Nothing has been really resolved, neither regarding the intriguing relationship between K and Fuller, or K and his past. Maybe that's another sign of Fuller's honesty? Or the clever make-do of a woman who grew up in Africa, and knows how to find a lot in a little?
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By J. LESTER
Format:Paperback
In her first book, I really liked Fuller both as a "character" and an author. In this book, however, we see a more ruthless side to her character in her attempts to get under the skin of "K".
K is a, white, former soldier in the Rhodesian Independance War and the other conflicts that spilled over into neighbouring countries. It is K who first gave Fuller the premise for this book, and after a series of meetings at her parent's farm in Zambia, they undertook a trip across K's former battlefields in Zimbabwe and Mozambique. This all starts out fairly predictably, although not in a bad way, with many harrowing recollections from both K and the author about the war and it's effects on them.
The analysis of the events that took place during the war, and their effects on them as people are the many focus of the book; however in the final third it starts to concentrate more on the present and the relationship between K and Fuller. This leads to a final showdown which puts the whole book, and Fuller's motives, into question.
That being said, however, it is a very interesting story which manages to combine a good story with a historically informative story.
A Highly recommended read, even if an, at times, uncomfortable one.
K is a, white, former soldier in the Rhodesian Independance War and the other conflicts that spilled over into neighbouring countries. It is K who first gave Fuller the premise for this book, and after a series of meetings at her parent's farm in Zambia, they undertook a trip across K's former battlefields in Zimbabwe and Mozambique. This all starts out fairly predictably, although not in a bad way, with many harrowing recollections from both K and the author about the war and it's effects on them.
The analysis of the events that took place during the war, and their effects on them as people are the many focus of the book; however in the final third it starts to concentrate more on the present and the relationship between K and Fuller. This leads to a final showdown which puts the whole book, and Fuller's motives, into question.
That being said, however, it is a very interesting story which manages to combine a good story with a historically informative story.
A Highly recommended read, even if an, at times, uncomfortable one.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By Turner
Format:Hardcover
Well I got hooked after reading Let's Not Go The Dogs Tonight and I am glad I bought this book. Alexandra revisits Africa again and the brutal day to day existence is recounted with searing honesty and yet she manages to infuse some homour in it too. You feel as though you are there with her and you cant help fall in love with her. The magic in her story telling is she manages to come across as the vulnerable lost girl and you can't but help want to wrap her in your arms and protect her. You will laugh at her encounter with the mad white man and his pet lion and it just goes on and on. I can't wait for her next book!!!!!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
good but *so* harrowing
I agree with "Heart of Darkness": this is a well written book that explores the heart of darkness we fear we all have, and does not judge. Read more
Published on 3 May 2011 by Florence
4.0 out of 5 stars
A fierce passionate tale of war and redemption
On a visit to her parent's farm in Zambia, Zimbabwean author Alexandra Fuller encounters the enigmatic K, a crazed, battle-scarred veteran of the Rhodesian war and a devout... Read more
Published on 21 Feb 2010 by K. Whalley
4.0 out of 5 stars
Emotional scars
Scribbling the Cat: Travels with an African Soldier
Alexandra Fuller, who wrote Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight about family life in Rhodesia, Malawi and Zambia, now... Read more
Alexandra Fuller, who wrote Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight about family life in Rhodesia, Malawi and Zambia, now... Read more
Published on 11 Nov 2009 by SusieH
5.0 out of 5 stars
superb
Scribbling the Cat: Travels with an African Soldier
Astonishing, moving, transporting, funny and a thoroughly good read.
Astonishing, moving, transporting, funny and a thoroughly good read.
Published on 15 July 2008 by Jane
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good but....
Her first book was quite fantastic. The second good, brilliant in parts but not throughout. She has chosen an extraordinarily difficult subject who is clearly a closed and... Read more
Published on 11 Sep 2007 by Mr. LGD Williams
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding descriptions
I would highly recommend reading both "Don't Let's Go To The Dogs Tonight" followed quickly by "Scribbling the Cat". Read more
Published on 6 Aug 2005 by Mrs. Katharine Kirby
5.0 out of 5 stars
Crashing Headlong Into Terra Incognita
What is most striking about a book that contains multitudes of gob smacking passages is Alexandra (Bobo) Fullers excruciating honesty. Read more
Published on 23 May 2004 by Sara Burlingame
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