Call number
968.83 S
Collection
Genres
Publication
New York : Penguin Press, 2008.
Description
Documents the author's adventures growing up in Botswana with her eccentric family, an upbringing marked by her doctor father's yearnings to be a vet, her holistic and home-schooling mother, and the apartheid mind-set embraced by their white neighbors.
Subjects
User reviews
LibraryThing member Caspettee
This is the memoir of Robyn Scott who grew up in rural Botswana in the 80’s and 90’s. Her up bringing was unconventional due to her parents who were firm believers in natural living and home schooling. Her father is a flying doctor to remote Botswana communities and her mother schools them in
With her siblings Lulu and Damien the children’s unconventional schooling has them learning what was relevant. Robyn at the roughly the age of twelve started her own free range egg business that rescued old battery hens and was highly successful. Lulu was fluent in latin and could name any tree or animal in its latin name, and Damien was adept at machinery.
Robyn’s style of writing flows easily and is light hearted. She has a very descriptive but not heavy way of bringing the Botswana country side and its inhabitants to life. This book does not deal with any real dramatic issues but does touch on the AIDS epidemic from her father’s perspective which in it’s self is interesting.
A good read but if you are looking for a memoir that deals with meatier issues go elsewhere; this is a story about family.
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their family home.With her siblings Lulu and Damien the children’s unconventional schooling has them learning what was relevant. Robyn at the roughly the age of twelve started her own free range egg business that rescued old battery hens and was highly successful. Lulu was fluent in latin and could name any tree or animal in its latin name, and Damien was adept at machinery.
Robyn’s style of writing flows easily and is light hearted. She has a very descriptive but not heavy way of bringing the Botswana country side and its inhabitants to life. This book does not deal with any real dramatic issues but does touch on the AIDS epidemic from her father’s perspective which in it’s self is interesting.
A good read but if you are looking for a memoir that deals with meatier issues go elsewhere; this is a story about family.
Show Less
LibraryThing member bobbieharv
I think I learned the meaning of the narrative arc by its absence in this memoir. Except for one chapter toward the end about the problem of AIDS in Botswana, it was one happy family tale after the other. The father was a hard-working compassionate doctor, the mother was a creative smart free
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spirit who home-schooled the three kids, the kids were always happy and smart and creative etc. etc. The Africa setting was really the only thing that held my interest. Show Less
LibraryThing member ddirmeyer
Imagine being seven years old and your father comes home (in New Zealand) one day to announce he wants to move to Botswana. Your mother replies, "when?" This begins the real-life adventures of Robyn Scott, her parents, and two younger siblings. Ms. Scott is a fabulous story-teller. She does not
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appear to overly embelish or sugar-coat her stories. Her words paint a vivid picture of Africa in the 1980's and 1990's, complete with AIDS, racism, and other social ills. What a wonderful, and unorthodox, upbringing she had. Obviously, her mother's approach to homeschooling produced at least one very well educated and successful daughter. I look forward to more works by Ms. Scott. Show Less
LibraryThing member muroora
I am unashamedly biaised towards any book set in Southern Africa after living in Zimbabwe. This book bought back the sweet smell of red dust, the sight of crazy upside down tree (baobabs) and a longing for endless blue skies of Africa. Filled with a cast of eccentric characters it was a fun read.
LibraryThing member catarina1
I picked up this book with a desire to learn more about Botswana - having read all of Alexander McCall Smith's Mma Romotswe books sets in that country. In the end I learned a little more, but not much. But it was an enjoyable read about her eccentric family, homeschooling, HIV in Africa, etc.
LibraryThing member Peggy72
A wonderfully warm and exotic memoir of three children growing up in Botswana. The parents get top marks for challenging the boundaries of what is acceptable in conventional society and allowing their kids to find their own way.
It also illuminates the devastation that is the AIDS epidemic. By the
Wise, intoxicating and poignant. It reminded me very much of one of my favourite books by Gerald Durrell – My Family And Other Animals.
It also illuminates the devastation that is the AIDS epidemic. By the
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mid 1990’s, Botswana had one of the highest rates of HIV infections in the world where one quarter of Botswana’s adults were HIV-positive. Wise, intoxicating and poignant. It reminded me very much of one of my favourite books by Gerald Durrell – My Family And Other Animals.
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LibraryThing member yukon92
This was a unexpected find at a book sale! A great read! I learned a lot about life in Botswana - an African country I knew almost nothing about. The author writes in a very pleasant to read style!
LibraryThing member pennykaplan
Entertaining and enlightening non fiction story of a girl growing up in an wonderfully exotic expatriate family in Botswana. Set largely in the last decade of the twentieth century, this is a story of passion filled individuals against the backdrop of a beguiling Botswana as it enters the AIDS era.
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Highly recommended! Well written and lots of naturalist detail. Show Less
LibraryThing member cygnet81
This is one of the best books I've read in a long time. It is at times funny, at time heart breaking but always compelling. It is the perfect companion to the Alexander McCall Smith books. I would highly suggest it to anyone who is interested in life in Africa.
LibraryThing member Alphawoman
Interesting collections of memior type essays of formative years spent in Africa. Lots of wonderful family characters centering around the doctor father and the eccentric mother.
Pages
453
ISBN
9781594201592