Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness is a balm for the reading soul. After spending the last few weeks slogging through a couple of books that I still have decided whether to finish (no titles yet, in case I do!), Alexandra Fuller's Cocktail Hour felt like coming home.
Part memoir, part biography, this book is a clear-eyed look at the lives and choices of Fuller's parents, Tim and Nicola Fuller, whose African lives began in the era of British colonialism - the Happy Valley set comes in for more than an occasional mention - span the final, bloody years of Rhodesia, and continue into the sub-Saharan Africa of the twenty-first century. It is a fascinating account of British colonialism and the choices, which Fuller seems to both understand and be unable fathom, of those like her parents who fought so desperately to hold onto their piece of Africa.
It is also a daughter's ode to her mother, all the more poignant for the tragedies and madness that have dotted the landscape of Nicola Fuller's life. Few lines have struck me with more power than Alexandra Fuller's observation that "the pathos and the gift of life is that we cannot know which will be our defining heartbreak, or our most victorious joy."
Initially, I was expecting Cocktail Hour to unfold along the lines of The Last Resort, probably, foolishly, because both are set in Zimbabwe, which is not exactly a hotbed of travel writing or memoirs or literature these days. The books are quite different - Fuller's Cocktail Hour is much heavier than the often-laugh-out-loud The Last Resort - but it is a satisfying read in every respect.
Four stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment