Thursday, August 07, 2008

Scribbling The Cat



Not an attempt to do a book review, but one of the few books that had an impact me in a good/bad way. Well, few things actually affect me, so the fact that I felt something for/about this book already says quite a bit. 

Picked up the book when I was in Vancouver with Jie. The local public library down at Point Grey was having a major clearance, and basically we spent too long just rummaging through the stuff to find good deals :) Jie found a couple of (really heavy) good deals, and we saw this one as well. We picked it out mostly because of the cover - appearances do make a difference! Anyway, bottom line is that we've both never heard of the book, nor knew what it was about, but it turned out to be one of the best reads I've had in a while.

Fuller's writing is chillingly beautiful especially at the beginning (the later parts are more wrapped around human drama) - especially her description of the African landscape and people.

"He looked bulletproof and he looked as if he was here on purpose, which is a difficult trick to pull off in this woolly climate. He looked like he was his own self-sufficient, debt-free, little nation - a living, walking, African Vatican City. As if he owned the ground beneath his feet, and as it the sky balanced with ease on his shoulders. 

He looked cathedral."

For the curious - "scribble" means "to kill"

(and yes, the cat referring to the one in the phrase: 'curiosity killed the cat')

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