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Don't Let's Go to the Dogs…
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Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood (original 2001; edition 2003)

by Alexandra Fuller

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
3,5021063,630 (3.88)253
Biography & Autobiography. History. Multi-Cultural. Nonfiction. HTML:NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER â?˘ 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.
â??This is not a book you read just once, but a tale of terrible beauty to get lost in over and over.â?ťâ??Newsweek
â??By turns mischievous and openhearted, earthy and soaring . . . hair-raising, horrific, and thrilling.â?ťâ??The New Yorker
Though it is a diary of an unruly life in an often inhospitable place, Donâ??t Letâ??s Go to the Dogs Tonight is suffused with Fullerâ??s endearing ability to find laughter, even when there is little to celebrate. Fullerâ??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 Fullerâ??known to friends and family as Boboâ??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 Donâ??t Letâ??s Go to the Dogs Tonight is more than a survivorâ??s story. It is the story of one womanâ??s unbreakable bond with a continent and the people who inhabit it, a portrait lovingly realized and deeply felt.
Praise for Donâ??t Letâ??s Go to the Dogs Tonight
â??Riveting . . . [full of] humor and compassion.â?ťâ??O: The Oprah Magazine
 
â??The incredible story o
… (more)
Member:Jarquin
Title:Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood
Authors:Alexandra Fuller
Info:Random House Trade Paperbacks (2003), Paperback, 336 pages
Collections:3ème English recommended list
Rating:
Tags:3ème English recommended books

Work Information

Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood by Alexandra Fuller (2001)

  1. 10
    The House at Sugar Beach: In Search of a Lost African Childhood by Helene Cooper (littlemousling)
    littlemousling: Fuller's experience as a middle-class white child in (then) Rhodesia and several other African countries is an interesting contrast to Cooper's experience as an upper-class black child in Liberia.
  2. 10
    The Story of an African Farm by Olive Schreiner (Imprinted)
  3. 21
    Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa by Peter Godwin (Ape)
  4. 00
    My Traitor's Heart by Rian Malan (BGP)
  5. 00
    Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga (charl08)
  6. 01
    The Last Resort: A Memoir of Mischief and Mayhem on a Family Farm in Africa by Douglas Rogers (jilld17, vwinsloe)
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» See also 253 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 106 (next | show all)
This isn't a typical memoir, but rather almost an autobiography told in a series of snapshots of the author's growing up in Africa. There isn't a lot of introspection. She just presents things as they are/were, herself included. And although she and her family are white, and essentially colonizers continuing the incursion of the British Empire (until the African colonies won their various wars of independence), she is also a true child of Africa, having spent her entire childhood and young adulthood there. And although she and her family were better off than the local Africans, by any other standard they were living in squalid poverty.

The racism and colonialism come through loud and clear without Fuller having to make an issue of it, as does her mother's alcoholism and mental illness, but that's not really what this story is about. It's the story of a dysfunctional, unconventional family, made more so by their geographical and economic circumstances, and yet there was love and a strong familial bond. She doesn't apologize for her parents' and her own (learned) racism, but we do see her become more aware and responsible as she grows older.

In addition, it's an homage to a land, a love story to one of the harshest places on the planet. And perhaps it's growing up in such harsh circumstance that makes Fuller's life at that time so vivid and so alive, and why she loves it to this day. This memoir is a complex story told in a deceptively simple manner. There's a lot to unpack, and Fuller leaves most of that unpacking to the reader. ( )
  TheGalaxyGirl | Jan 26, 2024 |
This well-written memoir of a young white girl growing up in Africa (Zimbabwe, Malawi and the Zambia) was a treat. The author really brings to life the setting and culture of the place well. She captures the dialogue, the mentality of local workers and a bit of the political landscape. Her family lives through unstable and sometimes violent times, before and after independence. This contributed to the already harsh environment of hot and impoverished Africa. Though not well off, her whiteness sets her and her family apart as privileged compared to many of the locals. But the author begins to recognize this and the previously-not-questioned prejudice, as she matures. A notable aspect of the book is the issue of growing up with an alcoholic mother with mental health issues in the context of bereavement. ( )
  AnnieKMD | Sep 25, 2023 |
Good memoir of a childhood in Africa. ( )
  kslade | Dec 8, 2022 |
it was hard to know about this book. This was a bookclub book by Sherry for Sept 2014.
It was a bit depressing and in some parts gave a little bit of the South African history of the wars. ( )
  PatLibrary123 | Aug 9, 2022 |
Definitely a story worth telling--covers both the familiar "my crazy family" and "my life in ---" memoir staples with energy. Interesting to get the perspective of a white African family in post-colonial Africa, told bluntly and seemingly without much retrospective whitewashing. ( )
  AlexThurman | Dec 26, 2021 |
Showing 1-5 of 106 (next | show all)
Don’t Let’s Go To The Dogs Tonight: An Africa Childhood by Alexandra Fuller who was born in England but was raised in Rhodesia by an “absented mind” mother, an “always on the go and work to do” father and with an “I mind my own business and you all can go to hell” older sister.
The book is about her childhood in Africa. There are witty passages and sad ones and a lot about Africa
added by grelobe | editlibrary thing, grelobe
 

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Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Alexandra Fullerprimary authorall editionscalculated
Heer, Inge deTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
Don't let's go to the dogs tonight, For mother will be there. - A.P. Herbert
Dedication
To Mum, Dad and Vanessa and to the memory of Adrian, Olivia and Richard: with love.
First words
Mum says, "Don't come creeping into our rooms at night".
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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Biography & Autobiography. History. Multi-Cultural. Nonfiction. HTML:NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER â?˘ 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.
â??This is not a book you read just once, but a tale of terrible beauty to get lost in over and over.â?ťâ??Newsweek
â??By turns mischievous and openhearted, earthy and soaring . . . hair-raising, horrific, and thrilling.â?ťâ??The New Yorker
Though it is a diary of an unruly life in an often inhospitable place, Donâ??t Letâ??s Go to the Dogs Tonight is suffused with Fullerâ??s endearing ability to find laughter, even when there is little to celebrate. Fullerâ??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 Fullerâ??known to friends and family as Boboâ??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 Donâ??t Letâ??s Go to the Dogs Tonight is more than a survivorâ??s story. It is the story of one womanâ??s unbreakable bond with a continent and the people who inhabit it, a portrait lovingly realized and deeply felt.
Praise for Donâ??t Letâ??s Go to the Dogs Tonight
â??Riveting . . . [full of] humor and compassion.â?ťâ??O: The Oprah Magazine
 
â??The incredible story o

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