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`Bussmann proves her skill as a writer in this travelogue that gets off to a hilarious start with the tale of how she ended up in war torn Uganda after acting on a reckless whim. She is irreverent and winningly self-deprecating, especially when writing about her own trials. Comedy and conflict in Africa might sound a tricky marriage, but this is a very amusing page-turner which also portrays an Africa you never read about in the foreign-news pages.' --Time Out , Paperback Pick
`Imagine The Last King of Scotland written by Shazzer from Bridget Jones's Diary, and you'd still only get halfway to appreciating Jane Bussmann's funny, incongruous and artlessly perceptive account of ditching the day job to pursue a chisel-jawed peace negotiator, John Prendergast into the heart of a child-corpse-strewn Ugandan war zone. Such fragile material sounds like an unpromising basis for a humorous memoir. But this is one of the funniest books I've read for a long while, and the "romance" with Prendergast is self-deprecating satire at its finest.'
--Sunday Times
'Wickedly funny chronicle of the author's amorous pursuit of chisel-jawed peace negotiator.'
--Sunday Times
`Marrying vociferous rage with self deprecating humour...this is a marvelously maverick approach to the investigation of war crimes.' --Marie Claire Five Stars
`Imagine The Last King of Scotland written by Shazzer from Bridget Jones's Diary, and you'd still only get halfway to appreciating Jane Bussmann's funny, incongruous and artlessly perceptive account of ditching the day job to pursue a chisel-jawed peace negotiator, John Prendergast into the heart of a child-corpse-strewn Ugandan war zone. Such fragile material sounds like an unpromising basis for a humorous memoir. But this is one of the funniest books I've read for a long while, and the "romance" with Prendergast is self-deprecating satire at its finest.'
--Sunday Times
'Wickedly funny chronicle of the author's amorous pursuit of chisel-jawed peace negotiator.'
--Sunday Times
`Marrying vociferous rage with self deprecating humour...this is a marvelously maverick approach to the investigation of war crimes.' --Marie Claire Five Stars
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I picked up this book because I've always liked Jane Bussmann's writing - she neglects to mention in her book that she's one of the few journalists who could turn out an interview with a celeb filled with the usual tripe and make it readable.
So I knew it would be interesting, but I didn't expect it to be superb, and I don't say that word lightly.
The sharp Gonzo-esque humour draws a savage line through the madness of Hollywood, before turning to the Apocalypse Now-on-steroids uber insanity of Joseph Kony's LRA and African politics.
There are probably better, more detailed books about the war crimes perpetrated in Uganda. There are certainly more worthy ones. But I imagine few draw you in and then smack you the way this does. Bussmann is so ordinary, it makes the horror of Kony's brutalised child army and the Ugandan government's complicity in the LRA's atrocities, more real. If Jane, a scatty journalist of fluff, can see the problems, then why the hell can't the experts? African politics, that's why.
Bussman's self-deprecating humour is what brought me to the book in the first place, and it's essential to leaven the mix - without it the human suffering is unrelenting. Not that she rubs the reader's nose it in, far from it - her writing is remarkably elegant. This is dark stuff, drawn brilliantly.
Read it. you won't regret it.
So I knew it would be interesting, but I didn't expect it to be superb, and I don't say that word lightly.
The sharp Gonzo-esque humour draws a savage line through the madness of Hollywood, before turning to the Apocalypse Now-on-steroids uber insanity of Joseph Kony's LRA and African politics.
There are probably better, more detailed books about the war crimes perpetrated in Uganda. There are certainly more worthy ones. But I imagine few draw you in and then smack you the way this does. Bussmann is so ordinary, it makes the horror of Kony's brutalised child army and the Ugandan government's complicity in the LRA's atrocities, more real. If Jane, a scatty journalist of fluff, can see the problems, then why the hell can't the experts? African politics, that's why.
Bussman's self-deprecating humour is what brought me to the book in the first place, and it's essential to leaven the mix - without it the human suffering is unrelenting. Not that she rubs the reader's nose it in, far from it - her writing is remarkably elegant. This is dark stuff, drawn brilliantly.
Read it. you won't regret it.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Like the rest of the world, the economy in the U.S. is not in great shape now and I decided that since I can't afford to actually travel I would give myself the illusion of visiting England by reading the London Times Literary Supplement. In it I found a review of this memoir, which made me wild to read it, and since I couldn't bear to wait until 2010 when it will be out in the U.S. I ordered it here on Amazon UK. The author is a comedian but there is some grim material in here and Bussman manages the amazing trick of being both tremendously funny and deadly serious at almost the same time.
Bussman got tired of hanging around Hollywood during 2003-2006, which she calls the Golden Age of Stupid, interviewing (mostly useless) celebrities. She decides to radically change her life by following a peace negotiator (really cute--and very useful) to Uganda so she can write an article about him, but after scraping together the money for a plane ticket he doesn't show up. Not for a month or two anyway--he's now back in Hollywood. Bussman is left to kill time in a cheap Ugandan hostel, so she decides to try doing some investigative fieldwork while she waits for the chance to interview/date her negotiator. She teaches scriptwriting at an AIDs orphanage, meets numbed victims of the warlord Joseph Kony, and interviews anyone--even very scary people--who might be able to help her figure out why for 20 years the Ugandan army has been unable to prevent Kony from kidnapping children as young as four and forcing them to fight in his militia.
Being a celebrity journalist isn't completely useless preparation for her adventures. Both smug Hollywood stars and menacing army colonels become friendly and helpful after she asks her two work-saving Magic Questions--"You're in amazing shape, what's your secret?" and "We all know what you're famous for, but how does it make you feel when you're not appreciated for your inner talents?"
The peace negotiator eventually shows up, but the interview/date she hoped for doesn't work out the way she planned. The resulting book, however, is a great success. The risks she took, and her mind-blowing accounts of traipsing around Africa kept me reading into the wee hours of the night.
Bussman got tired of hanging around Hollywood during 2003-2006, which she calls the Golden Age of Stupid, interviewing (mostly useless) celebrities. She decides to radically change her life by following a peace negotiator (really cute--and very useful) to Uganda so she can write an article about him, but after scraping together the money for a plane ticket he doesn't show up. Not for a month or two anyway--he's now back in Hollywood. Bussman is left to kill time in a cheap Ugandan hostel, so she decides to try doing some investigative fieldwork while she waits for the chance to interview/date her negotiator. She teaches scriptwriting at an AIDs orphanage, meets numbed victims of the warlord Joseph Kony, and interviews anyone--even very scary people--who might be able to help her figure out why for 20 years the Ugandan army has been unable to prevent Kony from kidnapping children as young as four and forcing them to fight in his militia.
Being a celebrity journalist isn't completely useless preparation for her adventures. Both smug Hollywood stars and menacing army colonels become friendly and helpful after she asks her two work-saving Magic Questions--"You're in amazing shape, what's your secret?" and "We all know what you're famous for, but how does it make you feel when you're not appreciated for your inner talents?"
The peace negotiator eventually shows up, but the interview/date she hoped for doesn't work out the way she planned. The resulting book, however, is a great success. The risks she took, and her mind-blowing accounts of traipsing around Africa kept me reading into the wee hours of the night.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
they lied when they said funny couldn't be deadly serious. this book proves it. a brilliantly goofy quest for love which ends up in africa exposing the dark heart of the west.
jane bussmann is at the forefront of a new kind of writing - gonzo journalism by women. she's hunter s thompson and bob woodward squeezed into killer heels.
Top read.
jane bussmann is at the forefront of a new kind of writing - gonzo journalism by women. she's hunter s thompson and bob woodward squeezed into killer heels.
Top read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A laugh! Made me feel younger again!
I liked this book! In fact considering that I am in my 60's i was surprised. It was a little "light" I suppose but that, for me was part of its charm! Read more
Published 3 months ago by textilet
Mixed feelings
The jacket cover says "how it took a comedy writer to expose Africa's secret war" and I guess that left me with high expectations. The civil war in Uganda isn't a secret. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Richard Beddard
Hilarious insight into the craziness of a woman's mind
I bought this book after it was recommended by Caitlin Moran. Jane does what most of us (won't admit) we've thought about many times and pursues a man she starts fantasizing about... Read more
Published 10 months ago by sally hardisty
Serious stuff told in an understandable way
Jane Bussmann is a woman who wants an adventure. This turned out to be travelling to a war turn country in search of an interview and finding herself in very deep water. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Janie U
Bad Title
This was a Book Club choice and frankly if it wasn't for the fact that we would be required to discuss it I wouldn't have continued reading past the first chapter. Read more
Published 17 months ago by RFC
Excellent - not a conventional documentary or history book
The Worst Date Ever by Jane Bussman is a truly excellent, lively book. Rather as soldiers may do in war time, it adds a disconcertingly robust and cynical humour to discussion of... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Legal Vampire
Apocalypse Now meets Bridget Jones!
Jane Bussmann rocks so hard, it's hard to know where to begin...
What a story. Absolutely nuts! Read more
What a story. Absolutely nuts! Read more
Published 20 months ago by Ms. S. G. Ostler
Undefinable but a cult
This isn't the sort of book you can pigeonhole - funny but also tragic, a love story but not, true but unbelievable. Read more
Published 22 months ago by London Bookworm
Left me wanting to know more about the Lords Resistance Army
Entertaining and shocking, left me wanting to know more about the Lord's Resistance Army and the collusion of government.
Published 22 months ago by J. Green
(almost) achieves the impossible
Jane Bussman manages to blend crude humour and shallow Hollywood nonsense with war crimes and dangerous investigative journalism... not quite seamlessly. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Missy
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