Daren's Reviews > The Shadow of the Sun: My African Life

I have only read a few book by Kapuscinski, one of which was a Penguin Great Journeys book The Cobra's Heart, which is an excerpt from this book. I gave that five stars, and reading that book convinced me to buy more of this authors work, including this book, which I have finally made time for from my shelf.

This is probably Kapuscinski's best known book, and is his highest rated book on GR. Not without reason. This is 5 stars for me, and this was confirmed by about a third of the way through.
This book just reads well - it deals in detail, with some complex issues, but it doesn't get bogged down, and remains very easy to read, and very ... approachable, I guess. Perhaps this is a nod to the skills of the translator, as well as the author.

It is not a linear narrative book. It jumps around in time and in location. A chapter does not necessarily follow the one before, but sometimes they do. Kapuscinski is known for his reportage, perhaps more so than his books, and this book certainly displays an aspect of reportage, in that it can almost be read as a series of essays - some inter-related, but most not.

Geographically it covers many more countries than I had expected - my shelf list mentions each country that gets more than a passing mention. Kapuscinski obviously has an understanding of the peoples and the cultures, and he writes often with passion and emotion, but also at times with detachment - perhaps this comes from his reportage background too.

But not everyone is a fan. There are professional reviews of Kapuscinski's work where he is heavily criticised, including this book. The most critical is probably John Ryles review linked here. There are a number of points Ryle makes, some of which are unfair (eg calling Kapuscinski out on generalisation - I found the author goes out of his way to explain when he generalises at the start of the book, and from then on is careful to talk about specific tribes or countries), some are bizarre (his calling out of Kapuscinski over a statement about a bookshop - I reread that section to try to understand Kapuscinski's timeline - to me it could be anywhere from 1957 to just before publication in 1998, and therefore Ryle's argument that it isn't true at the time of his review is pointless), and some seem to be correct in that there are errors in Kapuscinski's text (there are a couple of mentions about women not being able to touch cattle). These last criticisms are minor, but nevertheless I have no defence for the author on these.

Irrespective of some minor failings on fact checking, which are surprising, but unfortunate, really enjoyed reading this book.
Some quotes I enjoyed:

“Only with the greatest of simplifications, for the sake of convenience, can we say Africa. In reality, except as a geographical term, Africa doesn't exist.”

"Dawn and Dusk - these are the most pleasant hours in Africa. The sun is either not yet scorching, or it is no longer so - it lets you be, lets you live."

"People are not hungry because there is no food in the world. There is plenty of it; there is a surplus in fact. But between those who want to eat and the bursting warehouses stands a tall obstacle indeed: politics."

“This is a very difficult terrain,” Father Johan admitted. “These people ask us how many gods there are in our religion, and whether we have a special god for cattle. We explain to them that there is only one god. This disappoints them. Our religion is better, they say; we have a special god who takes care of cattle. After all, cows are the most important thing!”