Set in 1959, in the Congo at the time of its bloody and violent plunge into independence, this book is part hitorical thriller, part love story. It's the story of Irish journalist James Gillespie and his increasing involvment in the turbulent and chaotic moves of the Belgian Congo towards self-determination, and his doomed love for fiery Italian journalist Inès. Bennett, like Gillespie is a detatched observer, and because of thsi the sceness of brutality and mayhem for me do not really ring true. I had little sympathy for Gillespie, and though this novel is triumphant in decribing the bloody chaos which Gillespie both witnesses and is a victim of, I found it only partly satisfactory. But if you like Conrad, and Graham Greene, this may well be the book for you. ( )

The underlying theme of this political thriller is the mistiming of love. One is already more ready than the other to give into the insecurities of love...until they are not. Compared over and over to Graham Greene, Bennett's Catastrophist is character driven and full of political intrigue. Irish novelist James Gillespie tells the story of his journey to the Belgian Congo to follow his Italian girlfriend, Ines. As an ambitious journalist, she is covering the Congolese struggle for independence. Once the passion of her life, now she has little time or patience for James. Meanwhile, his romantic pendulum has swung in the other direction, clinging to a newfound adoration obsession for Ines. I found their relationship to be shallow and self-serving. But, no matter. James gets caught up in the politics and befriends all the wrong people, pushing Ines further away. When she takes up with another man, it appears all hope is lost for reconciliation with James...and yet, James is blindly willing to go to unbelievably remarkable lengths to show his devotion. ( )

My attention was not well held by this book. The characters were not particularly likable and inspite of a lot happening historically little happened in the book because of the focus on the relationship of James and Ines. ( )

My attention was not well held by this book. The characters were not particularly likable and inspite of a lot happening historically little happened in the book because of the focus on the relationship of James and Ines. ( )

The book is set in late 1959 early 1960 in Belgian Congo which is lurching towards catastrophic independence "Depanda" when the narrator Irish/English author James Gillespie flies into Leopoldville to be reunited with his Italian lover Ines Sabiana, a journalist with L'Unita. And it was a catastrophe. Before independence the highest ranked black administrator was a mere clerk and the highest ranked black soldier was a NCO. When Belgium suddenly decides to give the Congo independence in six months there is no smooth handover of power instead all the whites jump ship and the country, despite being probably the most mineral rich country in Africa is left bankrupt. When Patrice Lumumba, the leader of the biggest political group and a unionist,is voted into power he makes the ill-judged decision to give all public workers, other than the Army, a large pay rise and is promptly overthrown in a coup by Joseph Mobutu. This leads to disintegration of the country with widespread petty and systematic brutality on both political and tribal grounds. Into this political vacuum steps the vying superpowers USSR and America to further muddy the waters.

Ines, despite being a journalist is passionate about independence and seems to have decided Communist leanings whereas James is indifferent or as he prefers 'objective' preferring to observe rather than really engage. James also becomes friendly with American Stipe who works for their consulate in some undefined capacity but the assumption that it is CIA or something of that ilk. This drives the two lovers apart and so James is left forlorn and desperate for things to revert to the way things were before. However, it seems IMHO a relationship based merely on sex rather than anything deeper.

In many respects this is what I find wrong with this book. I just never felt that James and in particular Ines never really rang true. In fact Ines seemed more like the dreams of a desperate middle aged man with her easy ability to orgasm and inability to have children. Both are writers of sorts but both use words in different ways. Ines uses her journalistic reports to promote her political zeal whereas James uses words as a barrier to hide from the events that are transpiring around him. Ultimately he is forced to face reality and take sides.

On the whole I liked the author's writing style with some fairly stereotypical minor characters and he gives a reasonable account of the madness taking place in the country both before and after independence, although personally I would have preferred a little more. Certainly I feel that the outside world and particularly Belgium come out of it very badly, being portrayed as 'fiddling whilst Rome burnt' beforehand and callously indifferent afterwards. Much the same can probably be said about the UN. However, there was certainly implied, actually it was openly stated at one point, bias within that Britain would have handled the situation better. Perhaps we would have but that is probably more to wider experience, ie more colonies vying for independence, rather than anything else.

I recently read 'A Sunday by the Pool in Kigali' and thoroughly enjoyed that. This was an enjoyable read but not up to that standard. That said if I spot any more of Ronan Bennett's books I will not shy away from picking them up. ( )