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Overall very depressing and anger-inducing. Want that keen on any of the stories but still found the subject matter really interesting. Poverty, war, arms trading and aid agencies.
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The Weekenders: Travels in the Heart of Africa
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What would happen if you took some of Britain's best writing talent, put them on a plane and flew them to one of the most extraordinary and inaccessible places on the planet? What would happen if you took Irvine Welsh from the streets of Edinburgh and showed him a remote, dangerous village in Africa? What would happen if you flew Alex Garland into one of the world's most hazardous war zones? And how would Tony Hawks react if you dragged him away from his tennis and asked him to write a song with a Sudanese tribesman? With Victoria Glendinning, Andrew O'Hagan, Giles Foden and WF Deedes, these writers have experienced for themselves one of the most beautiful and yet troubled lands in the world - The Sudan. This remarkable collection of short stories and evocative travel writing is their response - as diverse and unpredictable as the country itself.
340 pages, Paperback
First published November 8,2001
This edition
- Format
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340 pages, Paperback
- Published
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January 1, 2001 by Random House
- ISBN
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9780091881801
- ASIN
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0091881803
- Language
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English
About the author
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William Francis "Bill" Deedes, Baron Deedes, KBE, MC, PC, DL (1 June 1913 – 17 August 2007) was a British Conservative Party politician, army officer and journalist; he is to date the only person in Britain to have been both a member of the Cabinet and the editor of a major daily newspaper, The Daily Telegraph.
Satirical magazine Private Eye's "Dear Bill" spoof letters from Denis Thatcher, published throughout Maragaret Thatcher's years as Prime Minister, were assumed to be addressed to Deedes. The Eye also based its long-running editorial comment, "Shome mishtake shurely?", on Deedes' distinctive slur.
According to many sources, Deedes was the journalist used by Evelyn Waugh as the model and inspiration for the hapless William Boot, protagonist of the satirical novel Scoop.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Deedes
Satirical magazine Private Eye's "Dear Bill" spoof letters from Denis Thatcher, published throughout Maragaret Thatcher's years as Prime Minister, were assumed to be addressed to Deedes. The Eye also based its long-running editorial comment, "Shome mishtake shurely?", on Deedes' distinctive slur.
According to many sources, Deedes was the journalist used by Evelyn Waugh as the model and inspiration for the hapless William Boot, protagonist of the satirical novel Scoop.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Deedes
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Rating(4.1 / 5.0, 14 votes)
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14 reviews All reviews
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I ordered this trying to get my hands on more Alex Garland material and found more authors to follow now.
The book's goal is to bring a deeper understanding to the civil war in Sudan that has spanned several decades. Though this is over 10 years old now and there have been a number of political changes since it was written, the questions it brings up and many of the same and similar scenarios exist there still and in other parts of the globe. Good for deep thinking and questioning what you thought you knew or how you thought you might make an impact in the world.
The book's goal is to bring a deeper understanding to the civil war in Sudan that has spanned several decades. Though this is over 10 years old now and there have been a number of political changes since it was written, the questions it brings up and many of the same and similar scenarios exist there still and in other parts of the globe. Good for deep thinking and questioning what you thought you knew or how you thought you might make an impact in the world.
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Well, it's cannot really be classified as a travel writing that it pretends to be.
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Loved it!
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A compilation of short stories written by a pool of renowned British writers who travel to the heart of "Sudan - the war zone"
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This incisive, insightful collection is what happens when several writers skilled at their craft and keen to travel are brought to the Sudan and asked to write stories based on the experience.
Tony Hawks, best known to me for his 'Round Ireland With A Fridge' wrote, typically, of his excursion and companions.
Other authors gave us a chilling, gentle ghost story of two boys playing and watching two men assessing a ruined, war-destroyed school. Or a long journey through the bush with a reluctant taxi man who begins to weep as he realises that he has made the wrong decision, and his passengers have the weapons. Or we learn how the oil extraction has caused the poisonous snakes to move from the affected part of the country into areas where people and animals live.
This is not a cheerful collection, but it is worth reading to develop an understanding of some of the appalling problems facing this region. Authors include Victoria Glendenning and Giles Foden (author of The Last King Of Scotland) who gave their time to create this book sold in aid of charity. If I recall rightly a charity to benefit was War Child which creates playgrounds in strife-torn towns and cities, so children can play safely.
Tony Hawks, best known to me for his 'Round Ireland With A Fridge' wrote, typically, of his excursion and companions.
Other authors gave us a chilling, gentle ghost story of two boys playing and watching two men assessing a ruined, war-destroyed school. Or a long journey through the bush with a reluctant taxi man who begins to weep as he realises that he has made the wrong decision, and his passengers have the weapons. Or we learn how the oil extraction has caused the poisonous snakes to move from the affected part of the country into areas where people and animals live.
This is not a cheerful collection, but it is worth reading to develop an understanding of some of the appalling problems facing this region. Authors include Victoria Glendenning and Giles Foden (author of The Last King Of Scotland) who gave their time to create this book sold in aid of charity. If I recall rightly a charity to benefit was War Child which creates playgrounds in strife-torn towns and cities, so children can play safely.
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Its an interesting idea to get together well-known current authors and ask that they travel to South Sudan and then write short story pieces. I found many of them very real - well real from what I know after being here only 1 week. But a lot of the stories are similar, which I suppose is due to them all traveling together.
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A real mixed bag. I almost quit during the first story, which is so horrible it is responsible for the loss of one star all by itself. On the other hand, the Irvine Welsh story here does not occur in Scotland, uses no dialect, contains no drugs... and is the best thing he's ever written. It's also the longest piece in here, which is good. The piece preceding it is also humorous. But the 3 stars here are all because of Welsh.
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