Read More: Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness

Update: Well, I loved Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, so I wasn't surprised to find out that I liked Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness as well. I didn't find it quite as moving as her first book, but it was still definitely worth reading. This book focused on her mother's fascinating life, and the portrait she painted of her mom was a lot more sympathetic. I got the feeling it may have been an attempt to make things right with her mom after the last book came out!

The tragedy in her parents' lives kind of boggles the mind. More children dead than alive. Civil war after civil war. Being surrounded by death and destruction. As young people, they decided to live in the place that they loved, never really knowing what they were signing up for. Even so, I think Fuller describes the places they lived in a way that lets you understand why they never thought of abandoning their way of life. More than anything, this book made me want to see the light in Kenya!

-Kristin


White African memoirs are not my favorite, as I believe I've written a bit about before. So I tried to read Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness pushing this bias aside with all my might. It couldn't be helped, my oppositional thoughts did their best to continually creep in, but I must pat myself on the back for doing a pretty good job at keeping them at bay. This may be the reason that I enjoyed this book much more than Alexandra Fuller's previous memoir Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight.

I liked it because throughout the book the mom antagonizes her daughter about her Awful Books. "Be careful what you say, she'll put this in one of her Awful Books." Apparently the mother was not too happy about her previous memoir. However, she groomed Fuller from the time she was small to write a memoir about her and her fantastic deeds. So she finally does, this book focusing mainly on her mom, Nicola Fuller of Central Africa and her amazing exploits. Also written about is her crippling depression, which I assume would be quite a sensitive topic. I wonder what the mother will think about this one.

Her mom led such a harsh life out in the African wilds. You'd think being from a Western country you'd somehow keep managing to live that lifestyle no matter where you go. But moving to Africa they had the same infant mortality rates as any indigenous African. Only two out of her five children made it to adulthood.

At times I wondered why in the world they chose Africa of all places to live. Probably because you can grow up with a chimp as your best friend there. And that makes all the war and illness and deadly animals worth it. 

- Megan Leigh