Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood

This book kept me engaged to see what "diffrent" thihg would happen next. While not great writing, it is vivid and depicts things most of us can hardly imagine.

An amazing book that brings Africa to life. It is a vivid portrait of a family and a continent in a very particular period. Deserves rereading as there is so much to it.

In Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, Alexandra Fuller describes her childhood in Africa. Fuller's story, told in graceful prose, is brutal and touching and never overly sentimental. I enjoyed many of the stories Fuller includes in this memoir, but I found certain aspects tedious. Fuller's family moves through many different living situations in numerous countries and confronts various unstable political regimes. After awhile, these places and politics run together and became repetitive. The tedium borne of this repetition somewhat lessens the overall power of this memoir, but Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight remains a worthwhile read.

I certainly enjoyed this book. We will be reading this book as a choice for a book club. There is a lot to discuss-from the family life to the unrest that is pertinent to what was once Rhodesia and is now suddenly thrust into the spotlight as Zimbabwe. Ms. Fuller takes you to a place that few in today's world will experience. She is honest in her depiction of her family and one is caught up in each of their personalities. I wish more books could offer such insight and descriptions that will both educate and entertain at the same time.

Gail Boyd, Washington, Ga.

Although mostly well-written, this memoir is very depressing. I was expecting more about Africa from this NF book, but it's largely the tale of a highly dysfunctional family that suffers blow after blow, bringing much of it on itself. And no one seems to learn anything from their mistakes. The Book of Job is uplifting reading by comparison.