North of South: An African Journey

Wow. Basically hated this.

Tedious, aimless, superficial. I had to skim the last 20% of this book, as I just couldn't bear to read any more of Naipaul's one-note caricaturing of East Africa, or, as the book frequently proclaims, AAAAAAFRICA. This is a reductivist and therefore incredibly boring portrayal of Kenya, Tanzania, and Zambia. Its main message seems to be: “Whoa, this place is a shithole. And everyone here is an idiot!” Yeah, thanks, Shiva.

I can see why this book would be praised for its seemingly gloves-off “brutal honesty” about the racism and political failures of 1970s Africa. But, honestly, I think the people who would offer such praise probably (1) haven't visited the region, and (2) if they have, came away with a pretty skewed interpretation of it all.

Everyone Naipaul portrays in this book speaks with the same voice (a red flag) and exhibits the same one-dimensional stupidity. Everyone in this book - from the over-anxious Indian Kenyan in the first pages, to the lugubrious, hypocritical Tanzanian bureaucrat falling asleep in his AC, to basically any American/European in a “crazy/racist expat” cameo - is a fool. And (I suspect) Naipaul revels in it. “Look at these people! No wonder this place is so poor!” seems to be the implicit conclusion.

I live in Tanzania, and have lived in other developing countries. And I was deeply disappointed by this book, as it covered incredibly interesting topics (the Ujamaa policy in Tanzania, and the troubled history of the South Asian diaspora in East Africa), and there just aren't that many books to read about here.

This is essentially a travel journal Naipaul keeps on his (relatively brief) trip through East Africa, and I don't see any reason why his musings should be any more valuable than, say, just a plain ol' history book. His tone stank of condescension throughout but - when he arrived in Tanzania and visited places I've visited myself - any illusion that his writing was anything but mockery was shattered. I've been to those places. Yes, sometimes things don't work. No, not everyone is such a full-blown idiot. Fans of this book may be surprised to find that there are a number of intelligent, well-rounded, nice folks here too. And sometimes things work really well. COUGHM-PesaIf you're wondering why some places are poor and some places aren't, and if you're curious about a (brief) history of (anywhere in) Africa, I'd recommend this or this instead.I should also note that this book seems to be part of a worrying Cynical and Snarky Among the Less Fortunate genre: similar to things like The Sex Lives of Cannibals or Eksil (Exile). Or Slumdog Millionaire. i.e. “Gritty realism” which is really just poverty porn with a bad attitude. i.e. Stuff that relies entirely on othering the people you choose to write about. Argh, and don't even GET ME STARTED on Naipaul's portrayal of women in this. GARBLE GARBLE FEMRAGE GARBLE. *tears out hair

tl;dr: Mocking caricatures of E. Africa. Don't waste your time.