Books Set in Africa: Kenya

The Lioness, by Chris Bohjalian (2022)

 

This novel takes place in 1964 in East Africa, at a time when there was considerable violence in the continent.  Kate Barstow, a wealthy A-list Hollywood actress had just married David Hill, a struggling art gallery owner.  They were on a safari honeymoon in the Serengeti along with several of their closest friends.

 

David’s gallery isn’t doing well, and he is well aware that his wife is the main breadwinner.  After all, she is funding the trip for everyon ethe safari.  David’s father also holds some ambiguous position with the CIA, which adds to the political intrigue.

 

Kate’s inner circle, who are on the safari include her brother and sister-in-law, her best friend (a minor Hollywood actress) and her husband, Kate’s publicist, her agent and another fellow actor.  Their local guide is a big game hunter, who had to change is focus from clients who were more interested in shooting animals to clients more interested in shooting photographs.

 

While there were political uprisings in the Congo, the safari party has been assured that they will be perfectly safe in East Africa.  Unaware that there are political rumblings throughout the continent, the party seems oblivious to their surroundings.  They are luxuriating in the extreme pampering they are experiencing on their safari.

 

After enjoying a few spectacular days on the safari, in which the African porters tend to the company’s every need, things take a drastic turn.  Suddenly, they are caught in a kidnapping gone wrong.  Russian mercenaries burst upon their camp and separate the American tourists into smaller groups.  Immediately, one of their guards is shot and killed.

 

The novel goes back and forth between the events unwrapping in the kidnapping, and the events leading up to the trip.  The reader gets to know the background stories behind each tourist.  Before embarking on the trip, they knew of the potential dangers in the African plains but believed themselves to be in capable hands.

 

What is the motive of the kidnapping?  Is it money?  Who is behind the kidnapping?  Who has the most to gain?  What is the importance of David’s father?

 

We know from the first page, that very few of the party will survive, we just don't know who.  While I enjoyed most of the book, the ending left me wanting.  Why did one of the captors confess to the rationale of the kidnapping?  This was done in a manner that didn’t fit with the rest of the novel.

 

I find that this author often wraps up in novels quickly in a way that doesn’t fit with the rest of the book.

Read:  February 11, 2023

3.5 Stars

Books Set in North America; United States, Hollywood, California and New York, New York

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reid (2017)

 

Seventy-nine-year-old Evelyn Hugo, a former Hollywood star, is determined to tell the world her life story only if young-and-coming writer Monique Grant writes the book.  Monique is a relatively unknown magazine writer and her boss reluctantly agrees to allow Monique to work with Hugo for an exclusive in the magazine.  Monique agrees to meet daily with Evelyn as Evelyn recounts her true life story.

 

Evelyn Hugo grew up as Evelyn Herrera in Hell’s Kitchen but was determined to become an actress.  Her first husband, Ernie Diaz, whom she married as a young teen, was her vehicle out of Hell’s Kitchen.  Ernie was a former neighbor with dreams of Hollywood, so Evelyn hitched a ride with him to realize her dreams.  The marriage was short-lived, but Evelyn quickly learned to trade her sexuality to climb the ladder into the movies.  Her life becomes a fabric of lies.  Her next husband is her co-star, Don Adler, who soon becomes physically abusive.  When he leaves her, he takes steps to ruin her career.  After a couple of years, Evelyn remakes herself making avant-garde films in Europe.  Her star rises again along with another marriage, and another, and another.

 

As Evelyn marries and divorces, it is apparent that her marriages are all shams.  She marries because the studio wants her to, she marries to cover-up her true feelings and sexuality, she marries for show.  Early in her career, Evelyn met a young starlet, Celia St. James, whom she mentors, then falls in love with.  As I read this novel, I couldn’t help thinking of some of the movie stars from this era who had multiple marriages and wonder how much of this novel rings true to the causes behind their marriages.

 

We know very little about Monique other than she is of mixed race – her father, who died when she was 7, was black and her mother is white.  Spoiler: near the end of the book, we learn just why Evelyn selected Monique to write her life story.  Monique’s father was the love of one of Evelyn’s husband.

This novel portrays a very jaundiced view of Hollywood in the 1950s and ‘60s.  It kept my interest, however.

 

Read: November 9, 2021

 

4 Stars