ElectrifyingWriting in shimmering, musical proseMs. Fuller manages the difficult feat of writing about her mother and father with love and understanding, while at the same time conveying the terrible human costs of the colonialism they supported Although Ms. Fuller would move to America with her husband in 1994,her own love for Africa reverberates throughout these pages, making the beauty and hazards of that land searingly real for the reader. Michiko Kakutani, THE NEW YORK TIMES Ten years after publishingDont Lets Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood, Alexandra (Bobo)Fuller treats us in this wonderful book to the inside scoop on her glamorous, tragic, indomitable motherBobo skillfully weaves together the story of her romantic, doomed family against the background of her mothers remembered childhood. THE WASHINGTON POST Another stunnerThe writer's finesse at handling the element of time isbrilliant, as she interweaves near-present-day incidents with stories set in the past. Both are equally vivid With "Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness" Alexandra Fuller, master memoirist, brings her readers new pleasure. Her mum should be pleased. CLEVELAND PLAIN-DEALER Fuller's narrative isa love story to Africa and her family. She plumbs her family story with humor, memory, old photographs and a no-nonsense attitude toward family foibles, follies and tragedy.The reader is rewarded with an intimate family story played out against an extraordinary landscape, told with remarkable grace and style. MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE [Fuller]conveys the magnetic pull that Africa could exert on the colonials who had a taste for it, the powerful feeling of attachment. She does not really explain that feelingshe is a writer who shows rather than tellsbut through incident and anecdote she makes its effects clear, and its costs. THE WALL STREET JOURNAL [A]n artistic and emotional feat. THE BOSTON GLOBE An eccentric, quixotic and downright dangerous tale with full room for humor, love and more than a few highballs. HUFFINGTON POST Cocktail Hour[Under the Tree of Forgetfulness] subtly explores the intersections of personality, history, and landscape in ways that are continually fresh and thoughtful. CHARLESTON POST AND COURIER Gracefully recounted using family recollections and photos, the author plumbs the narrative with a humane and clear-eyed gazea lush story, largely lived within a remarkable place and time. KIRKUS REVIEWS In this sequel to her 2001 memoir,Dont Lets Go to the Dogs Tonight, which her unflattered mum calls the Awful Book, Duller gives a warm yet wry account of her British parents arduous life in Africa. . . . With searing honesty and in blazingly vibrant prose, Fuller re-creates her mothers glorified Kenyan girlhood and visits her forever-wild parents at their Zambian banana and fish farm today. The result is an entirely Awesome Book. MORE MAGAZINE Fuller brings Africa to life, both its natural splendor and the harsher realities of day-to-day existence, and sheds light on her parents in all their humannessnot a glaring sort of light, but the soft equatorial kind she so beautifully describes in this memoir. BOOKPAGE Fuller revisits her vibrant, spirited parents, first introduced inDont Lets Go to the Dogs Tonight(2001), which her mother referred to as that awful book. . . . This time around, Nicola is well aware her daughter is writing another memoir, and shares some of her memories under the titular Tree of Forgetfulness, which looms large by the elder Fullers house in Zambia. Fullers prose is so beautiful and so evocative that readers will feel that they, too, are sitting under that tree. A gorgeous tribute to both her parents and the land they love. BOOKLIST(starred review) A sardonic follow-up to her first memoir about growing up in Rhodesia circa the 1970s,Dont Lets Go to the Dogs Tonight, this work traces in wry, poignant fashion the lives of her intrepid British parents. . . . Fuller achieves another beautifully wrought memoir. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY(starred review)About the AuthorAlexandra Fuller was born in England in 1969. In 1972, she moved with her family to a farm in southern Africa. She lived in Africa until her midtwenties. In 1994, she moved to Wyoming.Excerpt. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.Nicola Fuller of Central Africa Learns to FlyOur Mumor Nicola Fuller of Central Africa, as she has on occasion preferred to introduce herselfhas wanted a writer in the family as long as either of us can remember, not only because she loves books and has therefore always wanted to appear in them (the way she likes large, expensive hats, and likes to appear in them) but also because she has always wanted to live a fabulously romantic life for which she needed a reasonably pliable witness as scribe.At least she didnt read you Shakespeare in the womb, my sister says. I think thats what gave me brain damage.You do not have brain damage, I say.Thats what Mum says.Well, I wouldnt listen to her. You know what shes like, I say.I know, Vanessa says.For example, I say, lately, shes been telling me that I must have been switched at birth.Really? Vanessa tilts her head this way and that to get a better view of my features. Let me have a look at your nose from the other side.Stop it, I cover my nose. where can i download free books Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Life in Africa, part two...By JulieI read the first book of memoirs from the author , Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, and highly enjoyed it. This one was also good, but told more about her parents growing up and her life as an adult. The book may be every bit as good as the first, but I tend to like the "childhood" parts of memoirs the most.Anyhow, the author has had quite an interesting life, growing up in Africa . If you read the first book and want more background on her parents, then give this on a try.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. An engrossing personal tale of growing up in AfricaBy JakeThe life of Ms. Fuller and her family in Africa from the 50s to the present is a remarkable story in and of itself, but the fact that she lived this life and developed into a skilled author makes this a truly engrossing read as she describes the life they have lived. My work has me traveling throughout Africa and I was drawn to the book by the subject matter, but others unaccustomed to the continent can read this work and gain an insightful understanding of the evolution of colonial Africa to the current state where many of the nations gained their independence in the not so distant past.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Entertaining, but I wish I had read Don't Let's Go To The Dog's Tonight firstBy sb-lynnWhen my book club selected this book, I admit I was a little concerned that that book was going to be a little twee because of the title. It turns out I could not be more wrong.This memoir is written by Alexandra Fuller and it is about her upbringing in Africa. Her parents and siblings lived under incredibly difficult circumstances, having to deal with all the civil wars and rebellions of the late twentieth century. It was very interesting to get an insider's look at what happened during those times, and especially as seen through the eyes of a young girl.The author not only gives us a great visual picture of the land and environment (the descriptions are wonderful,) but also an idea of the type of people that were able to survive all the troubles coming their way. What I didn't know was that the story was really laugh out loud funny in bits, especially when the mother is talking. She really was quite a character; incredibly unique. At times the mother keeps referring to the "Awful Book" written by her daughter, and I am assuming that is the author's previous memoir, "Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood.I wish I had read that book first, and I think if I did I would've enjoyed this book even more. As it is, I wonder what is in that book because this memoir feel rather complete on its own.Recommended. Very entertaining and funny although heartbreaking as well. By the end of the book you understand the meaning and importance of the "tree of forgiveness".