Don't let's go to the dogs tonight : an African childhood

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Title:

Don't let's go to the dogs tonight : an African childhood

Author:

Fuller, Alexandra, 1969-

ISBN:

9780375758997

Personal Author:

Fuller, Alexandra, 1969-

Edition:

1st ed.

Publication Information:

New York : Random House, 2002, c2001.

Physical Description:

315 p. : ill., map ; 21 cm.

Abstract:

Ms. Fuller reads from her book, Don't let's go to the dogs tonight, an autobiography portraying the life of a white African girl growing up in the midst of the Rhodesian civil war in the 1970s. She describes growing up on several farms in southern and central Africa. Her father enlisted in the war on the side of the white minority government and was often away fighting, leaving Alexandra, her mother, and her sisters to take on the rigorous daily farm work.

Personal Subject:

Fuller, Alexandra, 1969--Childhood and youth.

Subject Term:

Girls -- Zimbabwe -- Biography.

Geographic Term:

Zimbabwe -- History -- Chimurenga War, 1966-1980 -- Personal narratives, British.

Copies:

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Copy	Status
Searching... 1:IIEMSA	1:GEN-BOOK	33168025486404	150 F965D 2003	1	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A worthy heir to Isak Dinesen and Beryl Markham, Alexandra Fuller shares visceral memories of her childhood in Africa, and of her headstrong, unforgettable mother.

"This is not a book you read just once, but a tale of terrible beauty to get lost in over and over."-- Newsweek

"By turns mischievous and openhearted, earthy and soaring . . . hair-raising, horrific, and thrilling."-- The New Yorker

Though it is a diary of an unruly life in an often inhospitable place, Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight is suffused with Fuller's endearing ability to find laughter, even when there is little to celebrate. Fuller's debut is unsentimental and unflinching but always captivating. In wry and sometimes hilarious prose, she stares down disaster and looks back with rage and love at the life of an extraordinary family in an extraordinary time.

From 1972 to 1990, Alexandra Fuller--known to friends and family as Bobo--grew up on several farms in southern and central Africa. Her father joined up on the side of the white government in the Rhodesian civil war, and was often away fighting against the powerful black guerilla factions. Her mother, in turn, flung herself at their African life and its rugged farm work with the same passion and maniacal energy she brought to everything else. Though she loved her children, she was no hand-holder and had little tolerance for neediness. She nurtured her daughters in other ways: She taught them, by example, to be resilient and self-sufficient, to have strong wills and strong opinions, and to embrace life wholeheartedly, despite and because of difficult circumstances. And she instilled in Bobo, particularly, a love of reading and of storytelling that proved to be her salvation.

Alexandra Fuller writes poignantly about a girl becoming a woman and a writer against a backdrop of unrest, not just in her country but in her home. But Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight is more than a survivor's story. It is the story of one woman's unbreakable bond with a continent and the people who inhabit it, a portrait lovingly realized and deeply felt.

Praise for Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight

"Riveting . . . [full of] humor and compassion." -- O: The Oprah Magazine

"The incredible story of an incredible childhood." -- The Providence Journal