Review: Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness by Alexandra Fuller
Please join Alexandra Fuller, author of Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness, as she tours the blogosphere with TLC Book Tours!
Reviewed by Nina Longfield
Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness by Alexandra Fuller is a return to Fuller’s childhood upbringing in East Africa. Through Fuller’s writing, the reader gets a glimpse into a world vastly different from that of suburban America yet only a couple of decades removed from now. This is her quasi-sequel and prequel to her first book, Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight. Within the pages of Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness, Fuller further explores her African upbringing through a deeper look into the lives of her relatives. The reader follows the author in her travels to the remote Scottish isle of Skye where Fuller seeks out her maternal grandmother’s heritage. She follows her mother’s and aunt’s return Kenya as she ekes out their childhood memories. Through the exploration of the older generations, Fuller delves deeper into her own childhood and life.
Alexandra Fuller has a talent with the written memoir. Her storytelling effortlessly flows from the contemporary setting of her parent’s fish farm in Zambia to the remote cool wet weather of Skye or bleak post-war England. She gives life to her characters through each person’s own unique voice. Fuller shows the reader that her heritage is both stubborn and free-spirited. And she answers the question of why her parents never left Africa.
Fuller is a pleasant writer. There are no surprises, but she presents her stories in almost fantastical proportions. It is not fantasy that she creates, just a different upbringing than most have experienced. Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness
is a passionate amalgamation of ancestral stories that offers a glimpse into one woman’s life.
Rating: 5/5
Nina Longfield is a writer living in Oregon’s fertile wine country. When she is not reading or writing in her spare time, Nina enjoys hiking in the hills surrounding her cabin.
Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Penguin Press. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.
Category: Historical, Memoirs, Nonfiction
Sounds like a very interesting memoir. I like having the story in two such different locales.
Very happy that you got to see the isle of Skye, Colleen. It must have been a very memorable trip. I hope that all of us have the chance to explore the places that our ancestors lived.
Carol Wong
I LOVED Don’t Let’s Go To The Dogs Tonight and I can’t wait to read this one. Thanks for being a part of the tour!
[...] Wednesday, August 17th: Luxury Reading [...]
I wanted to read this just based on the cover alone. I am a huge fan of memoirs. The expat community in Africa is interesting to me. I spent 3 weeks there once on a private reservation with a huge expat population. I found their lives to be quite interesting, living amongst the animals in the middle of nowhere. Bethie mentions The Poisonwood Bible-another favorite of mine-I love when books are told from the perspective of the different characters.
Off to find the book.
luving the human interest generated by sharing personal memoirs. and Alexandra’s story seems to favour a unique flavour from varied continents and cultures. the Isle of Skye being quite different from England to the extremities in difference with Zambia. it’s an entire world of variety waiting to be explored. and we haven’t even touched on the cast of characters or their changes in settings in history. this is definitely set to capture my interest with an excellent read to which i do look forward.
Very good review. I loved it as well.
Mine is up next week, August 25.
Nice to meet you.
Elizabeth
http://silversolara.blogspot.com
Thanks for the review! I don’t read many non-fiction books but this one looks really interesting. Reading about someone else’s childhood experiences in a different culture sounds like a good rainy day book and it’s been raining here:)
Thanks for the review. I loves memoirs and this being set in Africa is an added bonus for me. I have been fascinated with stories that take place there since reading The Poisonwood Bible years ago.
This sounds like it could be good. Usually memoirs need to draw me in with something fantastical in order for me to give them a try (otherwise I feel they can be too dry for me and there are just so many books out there to read) but the idea of her researching her ancestors to find out how she got to Africa and why they stayed there gives it a little “mystery detective” spin
. Also, I have ancestors who came from Skye and have been there myself, so that is an added bonus. It sounds like another to add to my wishlist. Thanks for the review!