Do You like book Woman In The Mists: The Story Of Dian Fossey And The Mountain Gorillas Of Africa (1988)?
Fascinating personality and set of circumstances that led Dian Fossey to be The Gorilla Martyr. I enjoyed the balanced look into her personal life but at times the diary entries felt too private and unnecessary to the story the auhor was trying to tell. She was an amazing person but also flawed, just doing the best she could versus overwhelming factors. This biography seemed to lean heavy on her diary and I felt not enough interviews were done, especiallly with any of her Africa staff or friends. Overall an interesting life story but not a very well written biography.
—Joe
A fascinating, intimate look at a driven soul. I've never seen the movie about Dian Fossey so I don't know how she may have been romanticized there, but Mowat's book dispells a lot of the prevailing misconceptions about her such as the alleged alcoholism. Mowat does an outstanding job of carrying the narrative forward while letting Fossey speak for herself, with many passages reprinted directly from her diaries and book. There is not a lot of information about the gorillas themselves; for that go to Dian Fossey's book, Gorillas in the Mist.
—Allyson
I thought this would be an interesting story, about how a woman was able to get close enough to the mountain gorillas to form personal bonds and document interesting facts about these creatures. The first part of the book introduced Dian Fossey, her childhood, and how she ended up in Africa, but the majority of the book delved into her dysfunctional relationships with men, her family, and colleagues. I felt this story was an unauthorized biography of sorts, and I wondered several times while reading this book, if Dian Fossey would have approved of the subject matter. I lost interest 3/4's of the way into the book after I realized I wasn't going to find out any real information about her bond with the gorillas. Her much publicized relationship with Digit was briefly written about. This was a disappointing book.
—Paula
