Mukiwa

The Barnes Noble Review January 1998 Mukiwa A White Boy in Africa is the story of Peter Godwin s experiences growing up in Rhodesia He recounts the story of that country s violent transformation into Zimbabwe, as well as his own personal metamorphoses from privileged boy to reluctant soldier to investigative journalist. Godwin s story begins, I think I first realized something was wrong when our next door neighbor, Oom Piet Oberholzer, was murdered I must have been about five then It was still five years before the real war would start The Godwins enjoyed a typical genteel existence in 1960 rural Rhodesia, their household including a garden boy, a cook boy, and a nanny Peter s father managed a wood and sugarcane processing plant His mother, a rural government doctor, was often called to pronounce deaths or conduct autopsies, for which she brought along her assistant, five year old Peter, who was responsible for shooing away the flies. Godwin s plans for attending college were squashed when he was drafted into the Rhodesian army and assigned to the Anti Terrorist Unit, which proved to be an important experience in his life When he later looked at himself, he saw a man coursed through with anger and despair It was the face of someone who would kill an unarmed civilian for withholding information Disturbed by what he had become, Godwin left Rhodesia after he got out of the army, only to return in 1981 as a journalist Rhodesia was now Zimbabwe, and the terrorists he had reluctantly fought against were now the country s rulers. Godwin reported on theutterbrutalities in Zimbabwe and the fate of Matabeleland, a black minority region in Zimbabwe He described the army style of interrogation, in which before they even began to question you, they would break one wrist, and wrote about the old mines where bodies of the dead were buried When Godwin s writings received worldwide attention, the Zimbabwean government tried to discredit him, and he received numerous death threats, escaping the country just hours before the police came looking for him. Mukiwa is not only a memoir but also a compelling adventure story that tells a personal saga that needs to be heard Read Mukiwa – kino-fada.fr In those days we called African men boys We had cook boys and garden boys, however old they might be African nannies we called girlsI think I quite purposely avoided memoirs written by white Africans I was afraid of their good old days nostalgia and I had no interest in hearing about their blissful colonial childhoods.This, however, was nothing like this Even though some reviewers claim the first part of this memoir describes an innocent childhood in Rhodesia, I really fail to see juIn those days we called African men boys We had cook boys and garden boys, however old they might be African nannies we called girlsI think I quite purposely avoided memoirs written by white Africans I was afraid of their good old days nostalgia and I had no interest in hearing about their blissful colonial childhoods.This, however, was nothing like this Even though some reviewers claim the first part of this memoir describes an innocent childhood in Rhodesia, I really fail to see just how carefree and innocent it really was It does open with one of the narrator s earliest memories that of a murder of his neighbour by African guerrillas and what follows is not recommended for people with delicate stomachs.Actually, what I liked most about this book was that Godwin didn t try romanticise his Rhodesian childhood He didn t try to trivialise or ignore the instances of racism to make himself look better His narrative voice is that of a child and is not allowed a hindsight.That is not to say t...authorOK, close enough to the end of 2017 for me to determine my favourite reads Mukiwa is my 2017 BEST BIOGRAPHY.This is a fantastically well written autobiography It really puts a human face to the white Zimbabwean s who are stereotyped as racist bigots, seen as on the wrong side of the black majority white minority history of Rhodesia Zimbabwe.Godwin s recollection of his childhood, and the writing style he employs for this section of the book is perfect He writes the way he felt, interpreted ev OK, close enough to the end of 2017 for me to determine my favourite reads Mukiwa is my 2017 BEST BIOGRAPHY.This is a fantastically well written autobiography It really puts a human face to the white Zimbabwean s who are stereotyped as racist bigots, seen as on the wrong side of t...My boyfriend s Dad grew up in Zimbabwe about the same time as this author and gave this book to my boyfriend Pete as the closest example of how his life was growing up Pete gave it to me after watching me try to read a series of autobiographies on the same subject which just weren t that great.Godwin is a journalist and writes in the journalist style I can never decide if I like, but it s an interesting book and o...Peter Godwin certainly has a story to tell It s a story of an idyllic, if unusual childhood, a disrupted but eventually immensely successful education, military service and then two careers, one in law, planned but aborted, and then one in journalism, discovered almost by default Listed like this these elements might sound just a bit mundane, perhaps not the subject of memoir When one adds, however, the location, Rhodesia becoming Zimbabwe, the result is a deeply moving, in places deeply sad, Peter Godwin certainly has a story to tell It s a story of an idyllic, if unusual childhood, a disr...This book is divided into three sections The first is about the author s upbringing in what was then Rhodesia the relationship to his parents and sister, schooling the normal kind of stuff except with a Rhodesian angle There is a slowly escalating violence, but white Rhodesians continue to believe in the bubble they inhabit unable to view life outside of this paradigm.The writing throughout is matter of fact and reads well, almost like a novel The second section concerns his recruitme This book is divided into three sections The first is about the author s upbringing in what was then Rhodesia the relationship to his parents and sister, schooling the normal kind of stuff except with a Rhodesian angle There is a slowly escalating violence, but white Rhodesians continue to believe in the bubble they inhabit unable to view life outside of this paradigm.The writing throughout is matter of fact and reads well, almost like a novel The second section concerns his recruitment for the police, but this is really like a paramilitary group The author comes to realizeandthe moral quandary he finds both within himself and the country he was born in All is on a slow fuse and we sense his futility in tr...This book was written in three parts 1 A description of his African childhood I don t think it was the author s intention, but I felt very sorry for this lonely little boy I had to remind myself that this was a different time, and that children were raised with much less fuss 2 His time fighting in the Rhodesion war Imagine figting a war that you don t believe in Putting your life on the line for a war you know can t be won 3 His time as a lawyer and investigative reporter in Zimbabwe This book was written in three parts 1 A description of his African childhood I don t think it was the author s intention, but I felt very sorry for this lonely little boy I had to remind myself that this was a different time, and that children were raised with much less fuss 2 His time fighting in the Rhodesion war Imagine figting a war that you don t believe in Putting your life on the line for a war you know can t be won 3 His time as a lawyer and investigative reporter in Z...What a fantastic memoir Peter Godwin grew up in Rhodesia as the country was beginning to shake off colonial rule His father a factory manager, and his mother a doctor, young Peter often rode along with his mother when she was called to attend to deaths many the result of violence This, among other dangers of Africa, left a huge impression on Godwin, causing fears no child should suffer Like most white African children, he was sent to boarding school at a young age, and then as a young m What a fantastic memoir Peter Godwin grew up in Rhodesia as the country was beginning to shake off colonial rule His father a factory manager, and his mother a doctor, young Peter often rode alo...About growing up in Zimbabwe by Peter Godwin who grew up there the same time as Kit my husband but stayed there and fought in the war Brilliantly written, prize winning Would recommend to anyone How do people remember so much detail about their childhoodA mukiwa is a fig that is the same color as white people Peter Godwin wrote a memoir about being a mukiwa in the changing African country of Rhodesia Zimbabwe In a quick read, Godwin writes about 1 his pleasant childhood growing up in the African wilderness, 2 being a disillusioned police officer during the Rhodesian Bush War, and 3 investigating, as a lawyer and journalist, Zimbabwe war crimes I don t mean to be jade...

• English
• 05 May 2018
Peter Godwin
• Paperback
• 432 pages
• 0802141927
• Peter Godwin
• Mukiwa