Subjects:  1. Maps    2. Somalia    3. Travel / road maps & atlases   

Subjects:  1. 1964-    2. Africa    3. Africa - General    4. Biography & Autobiography    5. Biography / Autobiography    6. Biography/Autobiography    7. Essays & Travelogues    8. General    9. Korn, Fadumo,    10. Social life and customs    11. Somalia    12. Travel - Foreign    13. Women's Studies - General    14. Biography & Autobiography / General    15. Biography: general    16. Coping with personal problems    17. Women's studies   

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Travel    3. Children's 9-12   

Subjects:  1. Description and travel    2. Somalia   

Subjects:  1. Africa, East    2. General    3. Guidebooks    4. National parks and reserves    5. Nature / Field Guide Books    6. Safaris    7. Travel    8. Wildlife watching   

Subjects:  1. Description and travel    2. Somalia   

Editorial Review

Though he has lived in exile for the last 20 years, Nuruddin Farah's eye never strays far from his native Somalia. In

Reviews (8)

Mapping the human psyche
Personal or political. That is the question. Nuruddin Farah says that everything is political. What does the term political mean? I think it implies the dynamics between the ruler and the ruled.What we see as political writing today has essentially to do with the state. But even within the smaller segments of the state and the society, even within human consciousness, there is the ruler-ruled dichotomy. So everything is political. But the response to that is individual, characteristic of the human being, and hence personal. The political manifestation in the personal life of Askar is what the book is about. While it does this, it also maps the contours of the psyche of Askar in the most lucid and poetic manner possible. Farah is a Somali shaman who weaves the tale of Askar in the oral tradition of Africa.

Hmmm?
This book is not exactly what I would call a joy. You start reading it and you just can't wait to finish it. I found the whole novel dry and uninteresting. It did have a brilliant beginning, but as time went on, you just get tired because the story itself never really develops in a way that would pique your interests at all. I can't say I'm a fan of Farah, but maybe I should try another of his books and see.

A Society Much Different Than the U.S.A.
I read this book based on the glowing, 5 star reviews of others.I stopped reading the book 30 pages before the end.The first half of the story held my interest well, but then it started lagging until my intereststopped altogether.Read more

Subjects:  1. Bildungsromane    2. Fiction    3. Somalia    4. Young men    5. Non-Classifiable   

Reviews (1)

The personal experiences of an African trip.
I love to travel and I admire Hudson for taking off and spending a year traveling the African continent.This book relates his experiences in three countries:Mali, Zaire (DR of Congo), and Somalia.This was written in the eighties before two of these countries fell to pieces.It probably would not be safe to travel now with the way things are going in much of Africa.Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th Century Description And Travel    2. Africa    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Congo (Democratic Republic)    5. Description and travel    6. Hudson, Peter    7. Somalia    8. Travel    9. Travel - Foreign    10. Journeys   

Subjects:  1. Children's 9-12 - Sociology    2. Children: Grades 3-4    3. Description and travel    4. Juvenile literature    5. People & Places - Asia    6. Social Situations - General    7. Somalia   

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign    4. TRAVEL & HOLIDAY   

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Business & Economics    3. Business/Economics    4. Development - Economic Development    5. Government & Business    6. International - General    7. Travel - Foreign    8. Area / regional studies    9. Places & peoples: general interest    10. Reference works   

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Africa - East    3. Contemporary Politics - Africa    4. Government - General    5. Social Science    6. Social Sciences (General)    7. Sociology - General    8. Spanish: Adult Nonfiction    9. Travel - Foreign    10. Travel / Africa   

Subjects:  1. Politics/International Relations    2. Somalia    3. Travel / road maps & atlases   

Subjects:  1. Guidebooks    2. Somalia   

Reviews (2)

Let me off at the next stop
Perhaps it was my high expectations before starting, or Burton's unscrupulous and merciless exposition of topics dear to him, but while he seemed lost many times during his journey, he lost me every time he made some anecdotal observation on some obscure point, now lost in total oblivion, which is perhaps where Burton rescued it from in the 1850s. Perhaps he should have left it there. First Footsteps in Reading an Exciting Author
Sir Richard F Burton is one of the most famous of unread authors. Nearly everyone can tell you about his scandalous doings with native women, his marriage to an ultra-Catholic Englishwoman, and the latter's destruction ofthe author's private papers after his death.Read more

Subjects:  1. Description and travel    2. Harari language    3. Hārer (Ethiopia)    4. Somalia   

Subjects:  1. Description and travel    2. Giuba (Italian Somaliland)    3. Kenya    4. Lorian Swamp (Kenya)    5. Social life and customs    6. Somalia   

Subjects:  1. Maps    2. Somalia   

Subjects:  1. Description and travel    2. Somalia