Travel to Kenya

African Nights: True Stories from the Author of I Dreamed of Africa

Format: Paperback
Author: Kuki Gallmann
ReleaseDate: 01 April, 2000
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Rating:

An Attentiveness That's Admirable
She's incredible, seeing beauty in everything, painting vivid pictures for all to delight in. How she does it I don't know. Presuming it to be only remnants from her perfect book I Dreamed of Africa, I doubted the caliber of this work. I was skeptical but willing - but Gallmann has proved that everything she touches illuminates in melodious detail. Whether it is the amplification of a salmon pink sky, silhouettes at dusk, a tree that appears imbued with knowledge, or a night sky saturated with the sounds that are Africa, Kuki's awareness and ensuing stories are exceptional - encroaching inspirational. There is something in every story that appeals to heart and soul. I almost wanted to frame each story separately as if it were a sapphire or quartz rarity, explicit, precious and real. I'm so impressed by her writing and the lighted manner in which she takes in Africa. It's wonderful.

I liked this book. .

Life on a pedestal of African oppression
Based on the colonial legacy of British, one of the many brutal European powers that profited from the domination of Africa, Gallmann was able to purchase 100,000 acres of land, stolen through the colonial system. I was quite offended by this white settler's life of endless parties, adventures, gourmet foods and travel around the world and throughout the stunning countryside of Kenya. All of Africa is in fact the birthright of the African people themselves. Gallmann's book is full of idealized and romanticized stories in which she is the central star. For a more realistic view of Kenya where nearly 60 percent of the people still live on less than $2 a day with a life expectancy of only 45 years, see, for example, Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya by Caroline Elkins. This is the story of the British slaughter of the Kikuyu people of Kenya in the 1950s who were put by the millions in concentration camps and murdered when they were rightfully struggling for the liberation of their homeland.

Avoid This Book
" The book is poorly written and the author has no cultural sensitivity whatsoever. If there is such a thing as "the ugly American abroad," then this book is proof that there is also an "ugly Italian abroad. I grew up in Africa, and can't imagine that there is a reason for anyone to read this book.

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