In a Free State | 
panA gay English aid worker and the wife of a colleague return home from a conference in the capital of an unnamed African country by road - a trip that takes two days during a time of political upheaval.
Unless you are particularly interested in descriptions of African scenery, I wouldn't bother. Apparently, this novella is from a book of thematically linked short stories. I don't know if reading the whole thing would have improved my appreciation.
In this country in Africa there was a president and there was also a king.
#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl
pick#Uganda #readaroundtheworld #1001 This book won the Booker Prize when it came out in 1971. It is three short stories and the one titled In A Free State is about Uganda. The story takes place over two days at a crucial moment in Uganda‘s history when the newly independent state breaks into tribal factions. The incredibly ugly white main characters are drawn with deft strokes and you really experience their fear and their anger.
I‘m so saddened to hear about the death of VS Naipaul. I was lucky enough to see him at the Booker prize festival last month, and to hear his wife speak about his life and writing. In A Free State was one of my favourite novels I‘ve read recently and I was (still am) very excited to read more by this amazing writer. He was more relevant now than ever and I‘m grateful for the writing he put into the world. RIP
(Pic irrelevant, just a nice one of me reading in a cafe)
Just voted for In a Free State for the #manbookergoldenprize and wanted to say why! Would I say it was the shortlisted book that I enjoyed reading the most? No, English Patient and Moon Tiger were better reads for me, but IAFS was the one that had me thinking the most, and it felt to me like the one that most summed up what I want the Booker prize to stand for. How did other people vote???
so-soOrdering this book I wasn‘t aware that I ordered author‘s revised edition, and that the original (awarded) book was collection of three short stories. My edition have only one - In a Free State which is set in Africa, in unnamed state that has recently acquired independence. The tension between white and black residents is described in a very tangible way, and I think that this is the strongest part of the story. #goldenBooker
A protagonist dream (Bobby‘s nightmare after strange dinner in colonel guesthouse)
ScavengerHunt for #EclecticReadathon
pick3/5 for the #manbookergoldenprize
I thought it was immensely well written, well crafted, mature, thoughtful and the writer is clearly a genius. There was nothing about that that I thought was done badly or crudely, which is why I marked it as a pick. At the same time it was just so brutal and depressing I didn‘t really enjoy a second of reading it so it‘s hard to say I truly loved it. Would absolutely read more by this author tho
Saw this book lying around the house and thought...why not...?
so-soTwo English people, Bobby and Linda, undertake a long car journey across an unnamed East African country (Uganda?) where a coup by the president has just displaced the king. Just freed of colonialism the president‘s men replicate the selfsame power structures, similar instruments of oppression of their own peoples as the whites did before.
During their road trip Bobby and Linda (both so white and racist) become aware of... (continued below 👇)
Before voting for the Golden Man Booker Prize I am going to read this one, the only book on the shortlist that I haven‘t read yet. #manbooker
The only lies for which we are truly punished are those we tell ourselves.
The only lies for which we are truly punished are those we tell ourselves.
