Do You like book Somebody's Heart Is Burning: A Woman Wanderer In Africa (2003)?
The first paragraph (something about going to Africa to escape a boyfriend) led me to expect 300-pages of navel gazing. Happily, that wasn't the case (for the most part). This collection of short stories, fluidly told, follows a loose chronological order. At its best, we follow her unique experiences with Africans from all walks of life (rich, poor, urban, rural). She conveys their stories with a sharp, lively voice and makes some meaningful insights (with some clichés tossed in here and there). Near the end, though, I found myself becoming increasingly disenchanted with stories that I felt were trying to reach for greater emotional depth than what the words or experiences allowed.
—Chris
The woman in this book has a wanderlust like none I've ever seen. She does lot of things that I would be afraid to do, like her crazy boat trip to Timbuktu. In some ways she is frustrating becasue she runs away from life to travel whenever things get difficult. But the book mostly concentrates on her travels, not why she left for them. Entertaining and interesting and gives a very balanced view of the countries in Africa that she visits, and touches on her struggles in seeing so much poverty around her.
—Christine
I stated this book two years ago and put it down one day only to pick it back up today. I was supposed to finish it today. Someone's heart is burning- are not all of our hearts a fire in one way or another???? There was a moment in the book where she says "How could I explain my strange life to him? How could I tell yet another person here with everything that had been given to me, I was still restless and unsatisfied? That I felt driven to wander the earth in search of some elusive key that would unlock that chamber of my own happiness? How could I explain that I chose physical hardship; dysentery, heat rash, dizzying rides in crowded vehicles down bumpy potholed roads- hardship he had no choice but to endure- that I chose all of this, because it was the only thing that made me feel truly alive?"Somehow- I know about this. I am a happy person however- there is something that happens to me while I am on my own adventures. I am alive in a way I cannot describe. While I definately suffer as she describes and maybe there have been times where I have been even worse- I would not trade it. There is something defining about all of it- everytime I return home I return with another little part of myself that somehow got away and was carried afar on the wind.
—GoldenjoyBazyll
