I bought this book last year when it was hyped on LT. I only couldn't remember why, but it brought high expectations for this read. Partly these came through, as I liked the way the book was set up and it was a good read. On the other hand, it couldn't fully grap me...

The story tells the tragic life of Hope, as she reflects on in from a beach house in Brazzaville Beach. Two story lines are told, one in London and one in Africa. They are intertwined, but it's clear the London part happened before the part in Africa.
Hopes life in London with John, her husband, gets worse while John, mathematician, gets crazy while wanting to become famous. Hope works outside the city as an ecologist. In Africa, she studies the behaviour of chimpanzees and finds strange behaviour among them. Both story lines end tragically and show their connection.

http://boekenwijs.blogspot.com/2009/0... ( )

Hope Clearwater makes a discovery while observing chimpanzees in their native habitat that runs her afoul of her boss; she's in Africa because she ran afoul of her bipolar husband first.

Her discovery of chimpanzees at war is deadly to her employment. She's forced to sit at Brazzaville Beach in exile from all employment, family, and career. Eventually she returns to work and vindication - whether this will endear her to the ethologists' establishment is not really known.

I'm not sure why the scenes of her on the West Aftican beach stay with me at the expense of the rest of this well-told story. Hope (she of the very evocative name) faces the abyss from the edge of the world, keeping her toe-hold, not being denied.

A worthwhile read. ( )

It's been some time since I've read a book that satisfied on so many levels - vividly created characters, a sense of time and place, an engaging multi-level plot, and philosophical, scientific, and psychological theories. Now what? What to read next that will measure up? I'm hoping it's more of William Boyd. ( )

This is intelligent fiction - I enjoyed the layered stories, the time shifts and the small diversions into other topics which add to the layering and the feeling of 'how it is to be alive'. ( )

Boyd is a master storyteller. Well, he's a master of everything: setting, characters, plot; just everything. I enjoyed A Good Man in Africa just a tad more though, just a tad. ( )