Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness - Alexandra Fuller

Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness

By Alexandra Fuller

  • Release Date: 2011-08-23
  • Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Score: 4
4
From 268 Ratings

Description

“Fuller brings Africa to life, both its natural splendor and the harsher realities of day-to-day existence, and sheds light on her parents in all their humanness—not a glaring sort of light, but the soft equatorial kind she so beautifully describes in this memoir.” —Bookpage

A story of survival and war, love and madness, loyalty and forgiveness, Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness is an intimate exploration of Fuller’s parents, whom readers first met in Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, and of the price of being possessed by Africa’s uncompromising, fertile, death-dealing land. We follow Tim and Nicola Fuller hopscotching the continent, restlessly trying to establish a home. War, hardship, and tragedy follow the family even as Nicola fights to hold on to her children, her land, her sanity. But just when it seems that Nicola has been broken by the continent she loves, it is the African earth that revives and nurtures her. Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness is Fuller at her very best.

Alexandra Fuller is the author of several memoirs: Travel Light, Move FastLeaving Before the Rains Come and Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight. 

Reviews

  • Soulful Writer

    5
    By davidsumnernyc
    Alexandra Fuller's books (I've read them all) are compelling beyond words. Haunting, hopeful, and forever memorable. Her words float with daring and grace. Truly memorable. And for that, I'm eternally grateful. What a pleasure!
  • African Glass Castle

    4
    By Kris56301
    Memoir of mother by daughter set in Africa in the late 20th century as the continent shed colonialism. With fearless Scottish roots Mum, the matriarch, survives war, family deaths, moves and bouts of insanity while in Kenya, Rhodesia/Zimbabwe near Mozambique, England, South Africa and Zambia. Ever adapting, she transitioned from a life of polo privilege to armed combat to tilapia farming with a supportive husband and two daughters. Many of life's joys and sorrows are raw and real on this book.
  • Read "Don't Let's Go To The Dogs" first

    4
    By Toddyburns
    I enjoyed this book, but I think I would have enjoyed it less if I had not read the author's first book, "Don't Let's Go TomThe Dogs..." I think the earlier book helps to put this most recent effort in perspective. And, the first book is awesome, so people should read it anyway.
  • Heartwarming

    5
    By 56rodeo
    I always felt badly how alexandra's mother was treated in her first book. Now we have the rest of the story, how amazing a women mrs. Fuller was and is.
  • Cocktail hour under the Tree of forgetfulness

    5
    By The Weaver
    Alexandra has again told the story of harsh, exciting, vibrant & dangerous life of her parents who pioneered a life in Africa. She writes with abandon bringing the reader to the place she has lived and sharing relationships with an understanding of human complexities. Breathlessly describes a violent & exuberant life where Africa belongs to Africans & immigrants are just visiting for a lifetime. If only we could all have the benefit of the tree to aid in recovering from losses in order to live again in the world. A delightful telling of her parents rich life together.
  • Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness

    5
    By Williamstown3/12/41
    Extraordinary story about extraordinary people in an a place and at a time equally extraordinary. I read it through almost in a single sitting. It's small wonder Alexandra Fuller is what and whom she is. Nicola Fuller as her mother wouldn't have allowed otherwise. What a woman. Thank you for the introduction.
  • Awesome

    5
    By Wendy Victor
    Blown away,again. Ms. Fuller writes with such keen observation and searing language. A storyteller in her full voice, she tells a tale of Africa, of hardship and beauty, of survival and, ultimately, of love.