Status
Available
Description
"Seven years in the making, Congo Journey is destined to become one of the classics of travel literature." "Ostensibly a quest for Mokele-mbembe, the Congo dinosaur (whose secret becomes clear), this story of travel through the jungles and swamp forests of the northern Congo is Tolstoyan in its depth, scope and range of characters, and as vivid as Nabokov in its image and detail. A portrait of a country, it is alive with natural history: eagles and parrots, hornbills and sunbirds; forest cobras and crocodiles; gorillas, chimpanzees, monkeys, swamp antelope, forest elephants - and one Giant Gambian rat. A search for the meaning of sorcery, the purpose of religion (and a celebration of the comfort and mysteries of science), it is also an adventure told with great narrative force." "Of course there is a darker side to the Congo, and that, too, is recorded here."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Stbalbach
I've now completed the three O'Hanlon jungle books: Into the Heart of Borneo (1984), In Trouble Again (1988) and Congo Journey (1996) - they are best read in that order as they grow increasingly longer and complex. Congo has been called his magnus opus. I found it the least enjoyable. It's a hot
Show More
mess, reflecting the place. As another reviewer pointed out, this is not an easy read with a lot going on, many characters who are mostly distasteful, an aura of magical realism, drugs and alcohol, death and sex, fear, disease, painful insects, claustrophobia. It deserves multiple closer readings, I'm not sure I could take it. Show Less
LibraryThing member Seajack
Folks raved about how funny this author can be, but I guess I don't "get" his sense of humor. The first 2/3 is the story of his travels with an American colleague; the author himself more in the role of narrator. Said colleague has returned home by the final section, leaving an anti-climax
Show More
featuring O'Hanlon's ramblings and the natives' squabbling. I might read another by him, but not soon, and would recommend not starting with this book as I did. Show Less
LibraryThing member susanadewey
I read this some time ago, but recall liking it so well I went on to read several other travel books by O'Hanlon. He has a wonderfully humorous way of presenting his journeys. While much of the book was undoubtedly based on fact and reality, I suspect he may have stretched the truth a bit to create
Show More
a better story. A good, light read for those who enjoy world travel and/or Africa. Show Less
LibraryThing member jethomp
O'Hanlon is a splendid writer. He manages to bring a sense of wonder, compassion and knowledge to whatever subject he writes about.
Here he travels deep into the Congo, allegedly to visit Lake Tele and search for the cryptid dinosaur Mokele-mbembe, but I think more just to travel deep into the
Traveling companions, flawed as we all are, are presented in a way that feels honest and understanding, and the most jerk-like behavior is often followed by actions that redeem the person in the reader’s eyes.
Personally, the rescue and transportation of a young orphaned gorilla represents O’Hanlon’s combined craziness, intelligence and empathy for nature and all it offers.
Here he travels deep into the Congo, allegedly to visit Lake Tele and search for the cryptid dinosaur Mokele-mbembe, but I think more just to travel deep into the
Show More
Congo.Traveling companions, flawed as we all are, are presented in a way that feels honest and understanding, and the most jerk-like behavior is often followed by actions that redeem the person in the reader’s eyes.
Personally, the rescue and transportation of a young orphaned gorilla represents O’Hanlon’s combined craziness, intelligence and empathy for nature and all it offers.
Show Less
LibraryThing member MarkBeronte
Lit with humor, full of African birdsong and told with great narrative force, No Mercy is the magnum opus of "probably the finest writer of travel books in the English language," as Bill Bryson wrote in Outside, "and certainly the most daring."
Redmond O'Hanlon has journeyed among headhunters in
The flora and fauna of the Congo are unrivalled, and with matchless passion O'Hanlon describes scores of rare and fascinating animals: eagles and parrots, gorillas and chimpanzees, swamp antelope and forest elephants. But as he was repeatedly warned, the night belongs to Africa, and threats both natural (cobras, crocodiles, lethal insects) and supernatural (from all-powerful sorcerers to Samalé, a beast whose three-clawed hands rip you across the back) make this a saga of much fear and trembling. Omnipresent too are ecological depredations, political and tribal brutality, terrible illness and unnecessary suffering among the forest pygmies, and an appalling waste of human life throughout this little-explored region.
An elegant, disturbing and deeply compassionate evocation of a vanishing world, extraordinary in its depth, scope and range of characters, No Mercy is destined to become a landmark work of travel, adventure and natural history. A quest for the meaning of magic and the purpose of religion, and a celebration of the comforts and mysteries of science, it is also--and above all--a powerful guide to the humanity that prevails even in the very heart of darkness.
Redmond O'Hanlon has journeyed among headhunters in
Show More
deepest Borneo with the poet James Fenton, and amid the most reticent, imperilled and violent tribe in the Amazon Basin with a night-club manager. This, however, is his boldest journey yet. Accompanied by Lary Shaffer--an American friend and animal behaviorist, a man of imperfect health and brave decency--he enters the unmapped swamp-forests of the People's Republic of the Congo, in search of a dinosaur rumored to have survived in a remote prehistoric lake.The flora and fauna of the Congo are unrivalled, and with matchless passion O'Hanlon describes scores of rare and fascinating animals: eagles and parrots, gorillas and chimpanzees, swamp antelope and forest elephants. But as he was repeatedly warned, the night belongs to Africa, and threats both natural (cobras, crocodiles, lethal insects) and supernatural (from all-powerful sorcerers to Samalé, a beast whose three-clawed hands rip you across the back) make this a saga of much fear and trembling. Omnipresent too are ecological depredations, political and tribal brutality, terrible illness and unnecessary suffering among the forest pygmies, and an appalling waste of human life throughout this little-explored region.
An elegant, disturbing and deeply compassionate evocation of a vanishing world, extraordinary in its depth, scope and range of characters, No Mercy is destined to become a landmark work of travel, adventure and natural history. A quest for the meaning of magic and the purpose of religion, and a celebration of the comforts and mysteries of science, it is also--and above all--a powerful guide to the humanity that prevails even in the very heart of darkness.
Show Less
LibraryThing member michellebarton
I was fascinated by this tale of Redmond O'Hanlon's treck through the Congo in search of a prehistoric beast purported to be still living deep in the jungle.