The Weekenders: Travels in the Heart of Africa (Paperback)

Each of the four short stories reflects the individual author's style: Alex (The Beach, The Tesseract) Garland's "R.S.S." is a creepy story of two boys, the well-known newspaperman W. F. Deedes' debut piece of fiction is old-fashioned, Giles (The Last King of Scotland, Ladysmith) Foden's "Weekenders" is a politically aware drama of aid workers, and Andrew O'Hagan's "Fish River" is an unsettling first-person depiction of the real-life slavers that operate in Sudan. That said, they are a bit thematically repetitive. On their own, each might have shone a bit brighter, but since the writers all went to the same area for a very brief visit, they're all drawing on the same brief impressions for inspiration.

The two nonfiction pieces are biographer/novelist's Victoria Glendinning's surprisingly thoughtful critique of humanitarian NGO operations in southern Sudan, and humorist Tony (Round Ireland With A Fridge, Playing the Moldovans at Tennis) Hawk's bumbling attempt to write a song with some locals. Glendinning's is a worthy antidote to knee-jerk charity responses to conflict, and Hawk's is a hilarious welcome respite from the grimness of the rest of the book. By far the longest piece is Irvine (Trainspotting, Filth, et al) Welsh's 140+ page novella "Contamination." It's similar to much of his work in that the story delves deep into the dark side of human nature, however his vivd imagination and language are largely absent. Instead, there's a very straightforward account of the struggle between two warring tribes to control a village, and the horrors that struggle brings to wide swath of innocents. It's not bad, it's just not the Welsh you might expect. Altogether, the book offers little in the way of hope for the future, and no prescriptions for change, but it is a worthy attempt to bring the general public's attention to an ugly civil war.

By far the best contribution is a short novel by Irving Welsh. In a preface, Welsh warns that he was only in south Sudan for a short time - but it is easy to be convinced that his characters, their conflicts and the attrocities he portrays are drawn from the real experiences of those he met.

The authors are quick to condemn the oil companies who have made a bad situation in south Sudan worse, but there is little in this book to challenge western preconceptions about the country and its people. Questions over the role of humanitarian organisations - and whether they are prolonging the conflict - are confined to a short (but thoughtful) article by Victoria Glendinning. There is no discussion of possible solutions to the war, and no sense of hope for the future.

The Daily Telegraph should be commended for undertaking this project and drawing attention to the plight of south Sudan, but I would have prefered to hear from some Sudanese writers themselves.