When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa

The Power of One: A Novel If you've read The Power of One, you'll have a good background for Peter Godwin's novel. This grim, factual-ish, totally absorbing work is a must-read for all who see Africa as the land of sunshine, safaris, exotic flora and fauna, and Ipi Tombi. It deals with post-war (1998-2006) Zimbabwe in an engaging, intimate, heart-wrenching fashion. It is not a political treatise. It is a stunning showcase of how "Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely." The story begins and ends with Peter Godwin's father's death in 2006. The parts in between should be taught in every Pol. Sci class. The writing is excellent, and very accessible; the accounts horrific and frustrating.

WOW! These memoirs, expertly crafted by Peter Godwin, leave the reader still haunted by its horrors, from hospital experiences to burial. The parents leave one Holocaust only to find themselves reentering another! This is a remarkable insight into Mugabe's rule and its after-affects. The Godwins are a fascinating family, each so accomplished and each so loving and patriotic to Zimbabwe. A MUST READ!!!! I LOVED IT AND HAVE RECOMMENDED THIS TO ALL MY FRIENDS WHO IN TURN HAVE LOVED IT!

It opened my heart and eyes to the dire evolving situation in Zimbabwe. The book is beautifully written with passages of passionate beauty for his former homeland. The disclosure of the family secret and haunting parallel to the holocaust are gripping and frightening. Yet, the little stories of personal kindness and heroism helped me make it through the heart wrenching tragedy.

Having visited Botswana on several occasions, specifically the Okavanga "high end" safari camps, I was conscious of the the lack of exposure to the real Africa, the everyday Botswanan life experience. But for diamonds, the foresight of a powerful tribal chief and, among other things, a government committed to local natives investing in eco-tourism, Botswana could have been Zimbabwe. Godwin's "Mukiwa" increased my awareness of colonial Rhodesia and it's collapse into local rule and the emergence of Zimbabwe. "When Crocodiles Eat the Sun" relates Godwin's family's experience as Zimbabwe's social fabric is destroyed under the rule of Robert Mugabe. At the book's end I cried. Not for a romantic return to Rhodesian colonial life and not for what is happening today during the lead up to a re-election, but for what will happen in Zimbabwe's (and Africa's) future.

A book so well-written that you are compelled to keep reading even as the story breaks your heart. Superbly descriptive. A first hand account of the utter moral bankruptcy of modern day Zimbabwe. A must read for the African leaders who seem clueless about their neighboring country.