An uncompromising look at a life lived to the full during often trying political times.
I have to admit to not having read any of Wilbur Smith’s books – I know this is a shocking admission but it has not stopped me from both appreciating and enjoying this memoir.
It is part biographical, part commentary and part adventure story in that it recounts the events that punctuated Wilbur Smith’s early life with his family and which led to his becoming an author. It is also an uncompromising account of being an African and being entwined with that continents landscape and history. This includes having been brought up in an environment (Northern Rhodesia) where hunting and providing the result of this to the local populace was seen as a large part of daily life and as a means of conservation. There is also Wilbur’s account of life if South Africa and his limited acceptance of apartheid – that is he abhorred this but shoes to live in South Africa as a means of promoting change rather than leaving the country. Indeed many of his books were banned by the authorities due to the mixing of the races that occurred in his stories.
Most interesting for me was the way that events in his life lead initially to how he came to write his stories while living and experiencing such activities as working in a gold mine contributed to his other stories by means of research.
His personal life as an adult is glossed over to a degree until he met his current wife and soul mate as he describes her. Perhaps this is an indication that having had success and the freedom that this brought him he has at last matured to the extent that he has found someone that he truly loves.
This book has encouraged me to selectively begin to read some of his work as he is right that works of fiction can help people to understand complex historical and political events.
It is part biographical, part commentary and part adventure story in that it recounts the events that punctuated Wilbur Smith’s early life with his family and which led to his becoming an author. It is also an uncompromising account of being an African and being entwined with that continents landscape and history. This includes having been brought up in an environment (Northern Rhodesia) where hunting and providing the result of this to the local populace was seen as a large part of daily life and as a means of conservation. There is also Wilbur’s account of life if South Africa and his limited acceptance of apartheid – that is he abhorred this but shoes to live in South Africa as a means of promoting change rather than leaving the country. Indeed many of his books were banned by the authorities due to the mixing of the races that occurred in his stories.
Most interesting for me was the way that events in his life lead initially to how he came to write his stories while living and experiencing such activities as working in a gold mine contributed to his other stories by means of research.
His personal life as an adult is glossed over to a degree until he met his current wife and soul mate as he describes her. Perhaps this is an indication that having had success and the freedom that this brought him he has at last matured to the extent that he has found someone that he truly loves.
This book has encouraged me to selectively begin to read some of his work as he is right that works of fiction can help people to understand complex historical and political events.