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Title: The True Sources of the Nile by Sarah Stone ISBN: 0-385-72183-8 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 08 July, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (7 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Interesting tale of love, revelation, and betrayal
Comment: This book nicely illustrates what happens as two people who have fallen in love move beyond the initial attraction/lust stage to the learning to love eachother stage amid the backdrop of the genocide in Burundi in 1993. What does happen when the person you (think that you) love turns out not to be the person you thought s/he was? Annie is a public health worker in Burundi, and has been having a torrid affair with Jean-Pierre, a member of Burundi's ruling class, when events in both the United States (her mother's cancer & her sisters' insistence that she return home) and in Burundi (the genocide following the elections) force the lovers apart, and thus giving them the chance to reassess their relationship. Although the book deals with the themes of love and betrayal in the context of an affair, these topics and issues can occur in any kind of relationship, but the added sexual tension makes the revelations much more poignant. Annie has some very hard questions to ask herself as she gains both physical and emotional distance from Jean-Pierre. Can the relationship ever move forward given what she now knows about him? Can she accept what he has done both in the past as well as what he has contributed to this latest atrocities in Burundi? Can she justify it in any way? The author does a good job conveying Annie's quandry to the readers, making us feel her pain as she learns things about her lover that she never imagined possible. I also liked very much how the author drew the complicated relationships Annie has with her family in California. These relationships too are fraught with pain, unresolved and much less talked about issues, hurts, jealousies, the usual kinds of things that often go on in families.
As I was reading the novel, I did wonder why Annie was with Jean-Pierre. I got the impression that it was mostly sexual, yet even Annie began to realize that Jean-Pierre could be cold, distant, withdrawn, uncommunicative, etc. In fact, in many ways, just like her family! Neither Annie nor Jean-Pierre (nor Annie's family) tell eachother about important things in their lives. There is a strong element of secrecy and mystery, much like the source of the Nile, to their relationship. This secrecy, of course, is ultimately what truly contributes to the destruction of their relationship (besides the horrific things that Jean-Pierre has done).
In other ways, good as the novel is, I found that I was annoyed with certain aspects of it. I really did not like the rushed and conveniently tidied up ending. I got the feeling that the author was under time and space pressure to finish the novel, so she quickly paired Annie off with someone who was not even a blip on her radar screen during the novel. I would think that since this relationship was such an important one for Annie, she would have handled the ending differently. There were also times when I found myself annoyed and angry with Annie for being so blind and stupid. She is 37 years old, not a young kid, yet she is given clues that she either chooses to blithely ignore (naively thinking it could not possibly be real) or does not attach any significance to them. Was she thinking at all? She also does not ask her lover (nor herself) some of the tough questions she clearly needs to ask. The few times she did ask and was stonewalled, she instantly caved and offered sex as a peace offering to make things right (i.e., uncomplicated) between her and Jean-Pierre. I thought that she really did not want to know the real, complete Jean-Pierre. Granted, lovers do not reveal everything to eachother immediately, and part of the joy of a relationship is the gradual peeling away of the facade presented to the world to reveal the real person within. What happens when what is revealed is something that goes against your moral fiber, the core of what you value? If you justify it, or decide that you love the person, not the deed, can you live with yourself? In what way does it affect the relationship? Is any relationship worth compromising your moral core, your values if the act is antithetical to your values, morals, and ethics?
Rating: 1
Summary: Too much melodrama for me
Comment: My previous review was deleted because I used the word "dreck."
This book would trade the massacres of Rwanda and Burundi for a soapy Mill Valley love affair, and I think that's tragic. A thoroughly disappointing book.
Rating: 5
Summary: Insight into love and war
Comment: First of all, this was one gripping read--I'm usually too busy to devour books in one weekend, but this one had me. And although Sarah Stone knows how to write a compelling love story, she doesn't stop there--she uses the love affair to investigate the nature of war, and the flawed but universal human qualities responsible.
I've read newspaper accounts of genocide in other countries, and have never been able to wrap my mind around it. It's always seemed impossible to understand the motivation for holding on so tightly to longstanding traditions of hatred and brutality. And I have to admit that, like some of the American characters in this novel, I haven't really wanted to think about it. The True Sources of the Nile put faces on the abstract numbers, and helped me understand. I found the characters complex and fascinating--not just the American protagonist, Anne, and her California family, but also the Burundians, especially Anne's lover Jean-Pierre and his sister.
I was fascinated by Burundi, by its culture of secrecy, by its landscape, by Jean-Pierre's attempts to elucidate his country with stories and the occasional folktale. I was also impressed by the convincing portrayal of the world of Northern California--the author is able to convey its New Age quirks without making it just a caricature (for example, a past-life regression scene serves a surprisingly serious purpose). The way the Burundi and California plotlines shed light on each other and weave together thematically is nothing short of amazing. Two things become utterly clear: Burundi's culture is utterly alien to our own, and yet human nature is the same everywhere.
Another thing I like about this book is that its characters are smart people who are genuinely trying to figure out the world and explain their worldviews articulately.
The book goes some dark places, especially in the latter half. The violence never struck me as gratuitous, though. And ultimately the novel doesn't leave you feeling bleak. The author clearly understands the worst of human behavior, our endless capacity for self-deception, harm, and betrayal. But she also knows we're equally capable of insight, healing, and loyalty.
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Title: Dark Star Safari : Overland from Cairo to Cape Town by Paul Theroux ISBN: 0618134247 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co Pub. Date: March, 2003 List Price(USD): $28.00 |
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Title: The Zanzibar Chest: A Story of Life, Love, and Death in Foreign Lands by Aidan Hartley ISBN: 0871138719 Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press Pub. Date: June, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: Detroit Tales by Jim Ray Daniels ISBN: 0870136623 Publisher: Michigan State Univ Pr Pub. Date: June, 2003 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: The Fruit of Stone by Mark Spragg ISBN: 1573222232 Publisher: Riverhead Books Pub. Date: 01 August, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Piano Tuner : A Novel by Daniel Mason ISBN: 1400030382 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 19 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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