Resumo de The Shadow Of The Sun ? My African Life.

In the relationship between this book and myself, it is very easy to see who dominates whom. On each attempt, I will open the festive front cover with the intent on putting an end to this delight and step into a world of strange sights and smells and textures. I move from the bustling streets of Ghana to the endless plains of the Serengeti in fluid movements, as if my journey though Africa is a bucket of water and each adventure is another glass being poured in. The need to rush the ending dissipates in the presence of a master.Having Kapuscinski as a tour guide means that there is never a dull moment on this journey. His quick eye and colourful tongue make parts of Africa that are foreign to me lift off the page. Small black letters dance in front of me, twisting and contorting their shapes, becoming brightly decorated women, brave freedom fighters and deadly predators that appear, disappear and then reappear with just one wave of Kapuscinski's wand. Along with this magic trick, Kapuscinski possesses a hand held watch that absorbs the time surrounding me, leaving me suspended in a state without minutes or seconds. I am lost in a world of imaginings ? seeing myself in interacting with my African brothers and sisters, while the whirlpool of time swallows me up and spits me out on the other side, unsure of where the time has gone and why my alarm clock is making such loud noises. This book has the ability to fill a great deal of time, while still keeping its modesty in tact. It only lets the reader in a little bit of the time, allowing me to think that the adventure will soon reach its peak when in actual fact it has only really begun. The difference, however, with this book as opposed to many others is that I can't make myself rush it. I am thoroughly enjoying my meander through the continent of Africa with Kapuscinski as my very able tour guide.As a reader who has never had any real interest in exploring the lands of Africa, The Shadow of the Sun has had an enormous impact on my areas of interest and future planning. Read in conjunction with Max du Preez's Pale Native, Shadow of the Sun sparked an interest in African politics and geography that all of my High School teachers and a great deal of my varsity lecturers failed to ignite. Towards the beginning of the book Kapuscinski gets lost in the Serengeti with a friend, a jeep and no physical directions whatsoever. Kapuscinski describes the intense heat on the plains, the activities, or lack thereof, of the animals and the immense space that can swallow a person up and digest him, with no trace, never to be found again. The powers of the land of Africa and the descriptions of her raw natural beauty have since become the scenes of my imaginings. No longer is a great portion of my life planned in the luxury of the clear blue waters of the Caribbean; my sarong has now been replaced with a khaki suit and sensible shoes. To feel empowered, I need to have felt disempowered. To write, I need to be empowered, to be disempowered I need to stand in the face of Africa and observe its rolling lands of power that have existed before my time and will not even register when I shuffle off the mortal coil that is earth.To pigeonhole this work would be to take away from its beauty. True, it is a work of non-fiction, literary journalism if you think of it simply, but it is so much more than that. It is a travel-guide, a piece of poetry, a comedy, a drama and a thriller all rolled into one. It is a work of intense study and research that allows the reader to breathe the smells and see the sights of countries far away from us. The books great strength, however, can also be seen as its only weakness. The descriptions although beautiful often got me carried me away and caused me to lose track of the story, which left me feeling occasionally disorientated while reading the book.

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