When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa

This was suggested reading by my guide in Africa, and I am so glad . It’s a grizzly and important story which shows how ugly greed can really be. Parallels to the holocaust are frightening but this is so beautifully written. I will wonder how the mother’s story ends for a long, long time.

"When a Crocodile Eats the Sun" is a magnificent memoir. It is, in my mind, the best book I have read for some years. At varying times, it can be tragic, uplifting, sad and captivating. I simply devoured it over a handful of days.Peter Godwin was born in Rhodesia, a country to which his parents emigrated after the Second World War. His mother was a doctor and his father an engineer. They were seeking a fresh start in Africa. Their hopes would have been boundless.Godwin's memoir covers the period from 1996 until 2004. It is a period in which his father's health is progressively declining and ultimately leads to his death. This decline is a metaphor for the tragedy that is modern Zimbabwe. From having been part of the nation's educated elite, Godwin's family is slowly reduced to penury. The nation is ruled by an authoritarian kleptocrat, Robert Mugabe. Single handedly, this man has run Zimbabwe down from a relatively prosperous nation with good prospects to being a beggar. One can only hope that history treats this man with the contempt that is his due.Godwin tells the story of the nation's decline through the eyes of a foreigner who now only visits the country periodically. He has moved to New York where he is a writer. On each trip home he sees a nation one step closer to anarchy. This in itself is a sad tale but when seen against the backdrop of his own father's failing health, the tale is especially tragic.Intertwined with the larger picture is a slowly revealing portrait of his father's background which had been kept secret from his children. This too is a sad story. Some people are truly dogged by the misfortunes of when and where they were born. This is certainly true for Godwin senior.I will say no more. Arguably, I have revealed too much already. However, I do thoroughly recommend this book. It is a masterpiece of compelling literature.

I’m not sure how to rate this book. It appeared to me at once a biographical about the depressing early years of an independent Zimbabwe; on the other hand, it devolved into a most personal autobiography. I am torn.I lived in Rhodesia from 1962 through 1969 with a year in Zambia sandwiched in between. I was not raised in Rhodesia but did spend nearly six of my formative years in Tanganyika. Before moving to Rhodesia as a young man I did a six months’ stint in Blantyre, Malawi, staying at Ryalls Hotel (not Riley’s as misprinted,) and have mixed feelings.From a literary perspective, Godwin’s writing style is creative, exotic and stimulating although the ‘stimulating’ part, which tends negative, was a bit much for me having lived in the country in happier times. Coming events however, were indeed casting their shadows before them in the 60s. So, I harbor little doubt that the impression he leaves is accurate. I made a flying visit to Harare, (Salisbury) in 1985 and saw the downhill trend with my own eyes. A former Shona servant of mine whom I contacted bemoaned the terrible situation and avowed how much better life had been under white rule. And Mugabe was just getting started.If you knew Rhodesia, reading this book will leave you impressed and distressed. If you didn’t, you may regard the story with a more objective eye although it’s hard to believe anyone could be objective about this international disgrace.Well worth the read if you can handle it. The Slope of Kongwa Hill: A Boy's Tale of Africa

For anyone following events in Africa, what has happened in Zimbabwe has been tragically clear. In the span of less than ten years, President Robert Mugabe has turned this breadbasket of farm exports into an African basket case.In Peter Godwin's "When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa," the reader finds out why. Seeking to amend the constitution in 2000 so that he can remain in power, Mugabe suffers a surprising electoral defeat in a referendum. Enraged, Mugabe declares war on his own people. As Mugabe and his loyalists in his ZANU-PF party ransack the country, the man distracts international attention by targeting the white farmers by seizing their property under a spurious land reform program.Godwin charts the collapse of the country's economy and morality as he finds it more and more difficult to provide care for his ailing father amidst the crisis. Although his father initially recovers, his health begins to deteriorate rapidly in 2000 just as Mugabe makes his move. For the reader, the health of Godwin's father becomes as extended metaphor for the suffering of the country.However, the metaphor deepens when Godwin learns his father is not really English and instead is a refugee from another, even more tragic historical persecution. With this new information, Godwin questions whether he or any other white can possibly live in Zimbabwe in particular or Africa in general as long as the continent's leaders find it politically expedient to indulge in race-baiting and persecution.The book is a poignant look at a country being crushed by a man Archbishop Desmond Tutu called "the very caricature of an African tyrant." A must read for any one trying to understand Africa and its limitations today.As he was in his previous memoir, "Mukiwa" which is about growing up in Rhodesia, Godwin is a master craftsman when it comes to writing.

If this book was fiction, it would be fantastic. The fact that it's a story of truth and reality makes it a stupendous masterpiece.The premise for the narrative is the author's (Peter Godwin who is a freelance journalist) and his family's grim experiences in Zimbabwe. This is at a time when the malevolent Mugabe is dragging the state into a dystopian madness.Although he grew up in Zimbabwe, Peter ends up residing in New York. He tries to return as often as he can to visit his family who remain in Zimbabwe. In this regard he is steadfast and unwavering. He even enters the country when he is blacklisted and could face potential arrest. His parents are liberal, middle class, well educated folk who have decided to make Zimbabwe their home. Despite the gradual atrophy of their environment and lives, they are in no mood to budge. Underpinning their resolve, is a well tuned moral compass which works off conscientious and altruistic principles culminating in an ethical outlook which is solid and commendable. This forms a stark dichotomy to the ubiquitous malversation in the country they inhabit.As the country deteriorates further into contused destitution it inevitably catches up with his family. Peter also discovers something about his father's background he never knew. This challenges his own self perception and prompts him to think even more deeply about his own life and even further family relationships. However, throughout this, he is assiduous in his commitments to his parents (to the point he forsakes time with his own children).Human rights and family relationships are persistent themes throughout this book. Because his family are clearly decent people, and worthy of respect, the reader can only empathise with their affliction. However, despite the forlorn mood, the book has a number of very strong points. Firstly, it's an informative and trustworthy description of life in a country with a long litany of human right abuses. Freedoms and rights we take for granted are just non-existent. Secondly, the effusive nature of his parents and their salient ethical outlook is edifying. Thirdly, it's a story of the philosophical importance of home and the family. Perhaps, in tragic times it can only become evident how important these things are.I can only but recommend this book.

A very personal and compelling memoir of the authors ageing parents struggle to maintain some quality of life and dignity in the country they love deeply which is tragically collapsing around them. The book eloquently and movingly describes the mess that Zimbabwe has descended into all as a result of one megalomaniac and his greedy supporting caste of cronies. One finds it galling that good and decent people like the Godwin's, who've given far more to their country than they have ever taken end up getting such a rough deal whilst immoral and selfish people seem to be getting on just fine. This book shatters the fallacy that the Mugabe regimes hounding of the tiny remnant white population in Zimbabwe has anything to do with improving the lot of the black majority. Godwin's sensible and careful analysis reveals the truth, that things have never been worse for the vast majority of Zimbabweans.

I lived in Northern Rhodesia from 1949 to 1958 and went to boarding school in Bulawayo from 1955-58 . It was a life of total bliss in those days, we spent a family holiday in the Nyanga mountains and Peter's descriptions take me right back there. Oh how I weep for the country where I spent a large part of my childhood. Such a pitiful waste of a generation and maybe many, many generations to follow. Magabe will be remembered as a terrible president and yet he had the potential to be a great man. Absolute power corrupts they say and in this case it is entirely true. The fact that he has stayed in power, just goes to show what an inept bunch of people the Shona are. They breed like rabbits - the Matabele are the true leaders and always should have been. Maybe too much dagga was smoked or skogeon drunk or the warrior men would have taken Harare by storm. No I am sure that the North Koreans had armed the Dingaans with their AK47s etc so they would survive against the natural flow of things.Rise up oh ye strong men and put this man to shame Zimbabwe could yet become a wonderful country

This is an exceptional book from an exceptional writer. I haven't got anything further to add to the positive comments from the previous 5 star reviewers. From someone who is of the same vintage as Peter Godwin, who fought in the "Bush" war, now lives in the UK and has an abiding love of Africa, I have a significant amount of empathy for what he describes and shares in this memoir. My only regret is that I didn't read this book several years ago when it was first published because whenever one reads a book of this nature describing a country falling into an abyss, one could always hope and pray that in reality, in the future, ie now, the situation would be better. After all, the World Wars only lasted a few years. However, the depressing reality is that since he wrote this book, the situation hasn't got better, it has worsened. I am not sure I can bear to read his follow up, if it's even half as well written as his earlier books. Congratulations Mr Godwin.

As a child born in India, whose family went, with many others at the time of Partitian in 1947, to Africa. We went to Kenya before Nairobi was a city, and ended up in Uganda. I went by train to boarding school in Kenya during the era of Mau Mau and I found England devoid of colour when I was eventually sent there to complete my education. I know only too well the compelling pull to return and I miss the animals, the people and all the colours of Africa. Strangely my name is also now "Godwin" and I have always enjoyed reading Peter Godwin's books and am sorry I've finished it