When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa

It is not news that the world has forgotten Africa. However, reading this wonderful book clarified the issues and struggles on a very personal level. How a country that fed half of Africa is now facing a humantarian crisis is a tragedy. What people forget is the fact that "white" farmers continued to feed and employ Africans for over 20 years after independence. However, in the past 7 years of a stupid brutal and unnecessary policy, a country has been allowed to die. It is only now that there is a crisis the world takes notice. Well written and poetic.

This book is probably the most objective, non-political account of the effect events in Zimbabwe have on ordinary people, with nary a nod to self-pity even though there is ample reason for it, that is available in the shops today. In South Africa we read about these events in newpapers, heard live reports on radio (very little on TV) but most profoundly, heard the stories from the mouths of the victims - both white and black - who have fled south. But those people were homeless, abused, stripped of possessions, often leaving murdered family behind, and their words were understandably filled with anger, fear, despair, hopelessness, and yes, hate.

The author's background as a journalist enables him to report the atrocities calmly without the emotional distress he most certainly felt, and therefore, this book is so untouchably credible. The fact that he has chosen to interwove the story with the discovery of his surprising heritage, the honest and painful rendering of watching his parents grow old, and the unsuccessful struggle to break through to his father's emotions, strengthens the book in so many ways. This is a real story, about real people, with real suffering and the irony is, these things are still happening, only more terribly.

Drive down the main street of Harare (Salisbury) and you will see affluence - new 4x4's (SUV's), Mercedes's, young men in business suits and silk shirts hurrying from one glasscovered skyrise to the next, leather briefcase swinging in his hand. Drive up into the hills and you will see the mansions, even by American standards, with the impeccable lawns, the palms, the blood red Erythrina trees. Hard to believe that the events of this book did not bring about prosperity. Do yourself a favour. Drive into the country. Take the dirt roads and look. Of course you won't be able to get fuel, so perhaps come to Johannesburg, and talk to the Zimbabweans streaming through the river east and west of Mussina. Then ask yourself some questions about basic human rights, international diplomacy, and parallels to South Africa........

If you don't read any other book about Africa, read this one.

A complex book, beautifully written, of a journey for children dealing with aging parents, compounded with all the problems of the parents living in a country that is daily spiralling downwards into chaos and poverty. Peter Godwin uses his own story to illustrate accurately what the country Zimbabwe was like and the tortured route it has been taken down. Those who have not lived in Zimbabwe should read his first book "Mukiwa" before this to get a better insight into the country's difficulties prior to independence. Peter Godwin gives a fair and balanced view of the country and its people who have been treated with contempt by the leaders. It is compelling reading but sad and I would recommend it to anyone interested in Zimbabwe and the people that live there.

A well written book with a good depth and detail.I have lived in Rhodesia and Zimbabwe and the detailed text brought back a lot of memories.Provides an eye opening view to life in present day Zimbabwe.

Brilliantly depicted.Throughout the book I relived my life spent in Africa; I wonder where are my friends now in the country I once knew as Rhodesia, before, through and after Independance.
I found I was unable to put the book down, I had to finish it.
Thankyou for painting a true picture of the way things have become, in that once productive and beautiful country.