AMIE an AFRICAN ADVENTURE
by Lucinda E Clarke
BLURB:
Amie was just an average girl, living in her home town close to friends and family. She was happily married and she had her future all planned out. They would have two adorable children, while she made award winning programmes for television.
Until the day her husband announced he was being sent to live and work in an African country she’d never heard of.
When she came to the notice of a Colonel in the Government, it made life very complicated, and from there things started to escalate from bad to worse.
If Amie could have seen that one day she would be totally lost, fighting for her life, and enduring untold horrors, she would never have stepped foot on that plane.
MY REVIEW:
I found this book to be enjoyable and informative. According to Clarke’s bio, she lived in Africa for many years and this shows in her storytelling with the rich details about Africa and its culture. I found it interesting that they don’t think of themselves as a Third World Country, but they have no idea how to maintain any of their infrastructures. Corruption and bribery are the norm for the day, from the richest to the poorest. Towards the end of the story, there was an insightful exchange between some of the English characters about the rampant poverty and Africa’s standard of living. The majority of the world lives in poverty compared to the few pockets of civilization that doesn’t. And even then, our First World Countries are rife with people living in poverty, just not to the extent as Third World Countries. So, count yourself lucky if you’re one of the few fortunate ones.
The story did grab my attention right from the beginning, then bogged down to a snail’s pace. This is not a page turner. It didn’t pick up pace again until over halfway through. As I said, there is a lot of detail, which will always affect the pace of a story. So be prepared to spend some leisurely time with this one. I did think the ending was a little too contrived, but it does set you up for the next book.
As for Amie, I really didn’t like her. She was whiney and always looking for validation. After all the trials she went through though, she did change and I did come to root for her. Her husband Jonathon was hardly a character at all. I felt he could’ve been developed more, but I think that happens in the second book. Besides Jonathon, there were tons of other secondary characters. You would expect that in an epic journey that takes you from England to the wilds of Africa and back again. I loved the tribe of small people and their lifestyle, such a contrast from the rest of modern African culture.
If you love travel and adventure, especially in Africa, I recommend this book. I give it 4 feathers.
