About this title: In parched Port-la-Nouvelle in central Africa, Dr Mallory watches his clinic fail and dreams of discovering a third Nile to make the Sahara bloom. During the search for water, an ancient tree stump is uprooted by one of his bulldozers and water wells up, spreading until it becomes an enormous river. With the once arid land now abounding in birds ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Edition: American ed.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
Date Published: 1988
ISBN-13:9780374135270ISBN:0374135274
Description: Good in good dust jacket. Unmarked and unfolded inside. Some discoloration on edges. Some wear on cover. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 256 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Description: Used: Very Good. Used Book; Very Good Condition; Appears To Have Never Been Read; Dust Jacket In Excellent Shape; Pages Are Tight And Clean; Slight Spotting On Top Of Pages Due To Age. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Date Published: 1988
ISBN-13:9780374135270ISBN:0374135274
Description: A wonderful copy with some minor edgewear to the cover. Dust Jacket may have chips and close tears. -, Hard Cover, Very Good / Good. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Date Published: 1988
ISBN-13:9780374135270ISBN:0374135274
Description: A wonderful copy with some minor edgewear to the cover. Dust Jacket may have chips and close tears. -, Hard Cover, Very Good / Good. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN-13:9780374135270ISBN:0374135274
Description: Good. Ex-Library book-will contain library markings. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Very Good. Former Library book. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Very Good. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
"Mallory, a English doctor in Africa, tries to figure a way to restore a dried lake by drilling wells on its shore, in a country that is in the midst of a civil war. By accident he moves a bit earth with his foot and unleases a spring that in a few days becomes a river. Of course, the river fills the lake, becomes a wide river, he names Mallory. I kept wondering, is such a thing geologically possible? Anyway, he wants to find the source of the river many miles upstream, and with a prepubescent African girl, he named Noon, he commandeers a ferry and he's off on his quest.
Anyone who would name a river after himself, has to be an egotist, and an egotist on an Africa river reminds the reader of Kurtz from Conrad's Heart of Darkness. (Mallory=Marlow?) The further up the river he goes, running short of food and battling fever and other illnesses, soldiers and rebels, he becomes quite insane. The book becomes an interesting study of obsession. I wondered as I read it, why no one ever wrote a book about how Kurtz went mad?"
"I just started on my J.G. Ballard kick after reading Empire of the Sun, which I highly recommend. This one is good, but not as good as Empire. Semi-autobiographical novels seem to find their own impetus and become the writer's best novel. Such as Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five being his best book, in my opinion, compared to his other books, which I did like quite a bit. Or Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire. Same thing. Beautiful imagery of going up the new Nile in the desert of Africa, causing war and strife between factions and individuals alike."
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