In this marvelously detailed, nonfiction narrative of travel on the spirit-rich roads of Niger, West Africa, Chilson chronicles his journeys by "bush taxi," or freelance transport, through maddeningly frequent police checkpoints, past a seemingly unbroken line of wrecked vehicles (many of them, no doubt, bush taxis like those in which he rides), and into a number of fascinating meetings and conversations with people who call the desert regions of Niger home. Those he meets include bush taxi drivers, the commandant of Niger's often corrupt and abusive highway patrol, a revered holy man who provides the writer with talismans to ward off harm on the road, and Niger's only female commercial driver, who aspires to owning her own bush taxi service. As he travels, Chilson reflects on his own responses to the landscape and to the harshness of life in the impoverished country. Ultimately a book about a place, Riding the Demon offers insights into a land of which most non-Africans know nothing at all. The influence of Graham Greene is felt here in the lushness of the book?s physical detail, the clarity of its cultural observations, and the depth of its inquiry into what makes for a truly human existence, a life lived morally and well.
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Alix Ohlin's characters are complicated bundles of love and fear and confusion and anger and hope -- the whole dizzying human mix. Sometimes easy to fall for and sometimes hard to embrace, they are always very real. This is a fine collection of stories for those who feel that fiction's true purpose is to explore (and to connect readers with) what it means to be human. The author is clearly fascinated by the texture and the mystery of our emotional lives and attachments, and like her novel, The Missing Person, this book is well worth your time.
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(1 of 1 readers found this comment helpful)
Alix Ohlin's characters are complicated bundles of love and fear and confusion and anger and hope -- the whole dizzying human mix. Sometimes easy to fall for and sometimes hard to embrace, they are always very real. This is a fine collection of stories for those who feel that fiction's true purpose is to explore (and to connect readers with) what it means to be human. The author is clearly fascinated by the texture and the mystery of our emotional lives and attachments, and like her novel, The Missing Person, this book is well worth your time.
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(6 of 10 readers found this comment helpful)
Read the original essay by Kathleen Norris and save 30% on Acedia and Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life.
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Riding the Demon: On the Road in West Africa
Henry, June 9, 2007
In this marvelously detailed, nonfiction narrative of travel on the spirit-rich roads of Niger, West Africa, Chilson chronicles his journeys by "bush taxi," or freelance transport, through maddeningly frequent police checkpoints, past a seemingly unbroken line of wrecked vehicles (many of them, no doubt, bush taxis like those in which he rides), and into a number of fascinating meetings and conversations with people who call the desert regions of Niger home. Those he meets include bush taxi drivers, the commandant of Niger's often corrupt and abusive highway patrol, a revered holy man who provides the writer with talismans to ward off harm on the road, and Niger's only female commercial driver, who aspires to owning her own bush taxi service. As he travels, Chilson reflects on his own responses to the landscape and to the harshness of life in the impoverished country. Ultimately a book about a place, Riding the Demon offers insights into a land of which most non-Africans know nothing at all. The influence of Graham Greene is felt here in the lushness of the book?s physical detail, the clarity of its cultural observations, and the depth of its inquiry into what makes for a truly human existence, a life lived morally and well.(2 of 2 readers found this comment helpful)
Babylon and Other Stories by Alix Ohlin
Henry, June 9, 2007
Alix Ohlin's characters are complicated bundles of love and fear and confusion and anger and hope -- the whole dizzying human mix. Sometimes easy to fall for and sometimes hard to embrace, they are always very real. This is a fine collection of stories for those who feel that fiction's true purpose is to explore (and to connect readers with) what it means to be human. The author is clearly fascinated by the texture and the mystery of our emotional lives and attachments, and like her novel, The Missing Person, this book is well worth your time.(1 of 1 readers found this comment helpful)
Babylon and Other Stories (Vintage Contemporaries) by Alix Ohlin
Henry, June 9, 2007
Alix Ohlin's characters are complicated bundles of love and fear and confusion and anger and hope -- the whole dizzying human mix. Sometimes easy to fall for and sometimes hard to embrace, they are always very real. This is a fine collection of stories for those who feel that fiction's true purpose is to explore (and to connect readers with) what it means to be human. The author is clearly fascinated by the texture and the mystery of our emotional lives and attachments, and like her novel, The Missing Person, this book is well worth your time.(6 of 10 readers found this comment helpful)