And Away We Fly -- Madness in Prescribed Doses -- Decisions by Dionysus -- Mr. Adventure's Immunity -- Marital Advice from a Mildly Stoned Cook -- Marriage Vows in the Time of Malaria -- Continental Drift -- Marriage Advice from the End of the World -- Signal Flags -- The Midday Sun -- Last Call on the African Queen -- This Grand Inheritance -- Marriage in the Time of Cholera -- Babies in the Time of Yellow Fever -- Mad Beans, Time, and Ghosts -- The River Runner and the Rat Race -- Fortune Teller Fish -- Falling -- Broken -- Cry for a Whole People -- Leaving Before the Rains Come.
Summary:
"' ... One of the gutsiest memoirs I've ever read. And the writing--oh my god the writing'--Entertainment Weekly; A child of the Rhodesian wars and daughter of two deeply complicated parents, Alexandra Fuller is no stranger to pain. But the disintegration of Fuller's own marriage leaves her shattered. Looking to pick up the pieces of her life, she finally confronts the tough questions about her past, about the American man she married, and about the family she left behind in Africa. A breathtaking achievement, Leaving Before the Rains Come is a memoir of such grace and intelligence, filled with such wit and courage, that it could only have been written by Alexandra Fuller. Leaving Before the Rains Come begins with the dreadful first years of the American financial crisis when Fuller's delicate balance--between American pragmatism and African fatalism, the linchpin of her unorthodox marriage--irrevocably fails. Recalling her unusual courtship in Zambia--elephant attacks on the first date, sick with malaria on the wedding day--Fuller struggles to understand her younger self as she overcomes her current misfortunes. Fuller soon realizes what is missing from her life is something that was always there: the brash and uncompromising ways of her father, the man who warned his daughter that 'the problem with most people is that they want to be alive for as long as possible without having any idea whatsoever how to live.' Fuller's father--'Tim Fuller of No Fixed Abode' as he first introduced himself to his future wife--was a man who regretted nothing and wanted less, even after fighting harder and losing more than most men could bear. Leaving Before the Rains Come showcases Fuller at the peak of her abilities, threading panoramic vistas with her deepest revelations as a fully grown woman and mother. Fuller reveals how, after spending a lifetime fearfully waiting for someone to show up and save her, she discovered that, in the end, we all simply have to save ourselves. An unforgettable book, Leaving Before the Rains Come is a story of sorrow grounded in the tragic grandeur and rueful joy only to be found in Fuller's Africa"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.