| Blood River: A Journey to Africa's Broken Heart | 
 enlarge | Author: Tim Butcher
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: £7.99
Buy Used: £1.09
You Save: £6.90 (86%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  64 reviews
Sales Rank: 109
Media: Paperback
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 4.9 x 1
ISBN: 0099494280
EAN: 9780099494287
ASIN: 0099494280
Publication Date: January 3, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Contents are clean throughout - pages are thumbed and fanout at eachend - first page is priceclipped - fine creasing on spine - cover corners are rubbed,2 flick up - slight dusting to page edges - lightwear to outer - condition reflected in the price - despatched same/next day.
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| Customer Reviews:
 An eye opener May 11, 2008
6 out of 10 found this review helpful
Blood River was a painful read because it provided insight into the very real horror that is the Democratic Republic of Congo. The book was about the author's brave adventure to cross the country navigating the mighty Congo river and every other page spoke about the misery that exists in a country where nearly 1200 hundred people die every day. The extent of the suffering and the realities of life in the DRC was very painful to read about and frankly quite an eye opener. You just do not read about this in the newspaper or see it in on television.
Some readers have criticized the author for sounding elitist or not focusing enough about the lives of ordinary people in the Congo, however I did not see it that way. Tim Butcher risked his life with this audacious attempt to cross the Congo and he deserves great recognition for bringing to light the cruelties in the DRC that the world has chosen to ignore. It seems very unfair to harshly judge someone who was brave enough to undertake a journey of this magnitude.
I found the book to be very well balanced and the history lesson plus the documentary overtone simply added more credibility into the message of the book.
A Boys' Own Yarn - with insight. May 8, 2008
11 out of 14 found this review helpful
This is an enthralling, hair-raising tale of a country in the grip of an exploited past and a gruesomely plundered present; interwoven with the equally hair-raising story of a man in the grip of an insane obsession.
A calm and measured analysis of Belgian colonial rule counterpoints Butcher's apparently senseless and appallingly perilous quest - that of following in the footsteps of the explorer Stanley, a newspaper-man whose motives for making that first 1867 trip down the Congo seem to have been pretty dubious; and who, moreover - unlike Butcher - travelled under the protection of a bloodthirsty private army of his own. The author's fascination with his subject, combined with the unseen terrors that lurk round every bend in the river, make this a page-turner; and at a deeper level, his pointless seeking out of danger stands, I think, as a distorting-mirror to the madness that is the Congo today: in this instance, a madness that is both European and self-imposed.
"Blood River" brilliantly conveys the plight of the Congo as a whole; its only defect is a certain lack of human empathy for the citizens of a once-civilized country now slowly being obliterated by fetid jungle - and, indeed, by rivers of blood. I read this book immediately after enjoying Annie Hawes' much more laid-back African tale, "Handful of Honey"; another fearsome thousand-mile journey across the continent - this time amid warring Islamists and their opponents. The themes of post-colonial collapse and of Macchiavellian interference by the ex-colonial powers are heart-breakingly similar in both books; and are something us comfortable Westerners need to hear a lot more about. But compared to Hawes' full-blooded Moroccans and Algerians, people with opinions of their own, Butcher's Congolese often seem mere ciphers. I would recommend reading both books for the fuller picture!
Brilliant and revealing read... April 10, 2008
5 out of 8 found this review helpful
The author managed to keep my attention and allow me to enter the dark world that is the Congo. He has a gifted ability in writing and a bravery to match to dare to enter such a dangerous place in the world. The end was a bit disappointing as his river trip seemed to end in the back set of a car otherwise I would have given him a 5 star! The book is a good example of what Africa is capable of achieving - absolutely nothing. I expect to see him write another book on the destruction of Zimbabwe in the next ten years time where it'll be in even worse state than the Congo is right now!
a very interesting book April 7, 2008
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
I really rate the story and the tale of the journey, the only part of the book witch I was not endeared by was his analysis of the route cause of the problems of the DRC. He appeared a little fixated on certain points to the exclusion of other potential causes. However having said this, the book does not profess to be a socio-economic analysis of the problems of the DRC, but a very well written tale of a man trying to travel a route used by past explores.
 The preface had me gripped... April 5, 2008
2 out of 8 found this review helpful
British journalist and former Africa Correspondant for the Telegraph, Tim Butcher, recreates his predessesor H.M.Stanley's (the adventurer/ journalist that found Livingstone and uttered the oft quoted words 'Dr Livingstone I presume?') historical expedition through the Congo. Against all advice, following the path of the river through impenetrable, war torn lands where no white man has passed for decades (for good reason).
The preface had me hooked and so I bought it. It was an interesting and at times gripping read and gave me an understanding of Congolese history and a better insight into the history and effect of colonialism/ post-colonialism in Africa.
That said, I can't help but feel that the author's feat of crossing the Congo is more impressive than his writing (sorry Tim). For me the key message was that the DRoCongo is reflective of many African nations which struggle with corruption at the highest levels and where a lack of civil law and order undermines the (potential) economy and soceity at every level.
Maybe the author is right in repeatedly emphasising this important point but I would have got the message from an hour TV documentary (which would have been great) or a two page newspaper article. Nevertheless a good read (6/10).
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