Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight

An African Childhood

By: Alexandra Fuller

Narrated by: Lisette Lecat

Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

Alexandra Fuller tells the idiosyncratic story of her life growing up white in rural Rhodesia as it was becoming Zimbabwe. The daughter of hardworking, yet strikingly unconventional English-bred immigrants, Alexandra arrives in Africa at the tender age of two. She moves through life with a hardy resilience, even as a bloody war approaches. Narrator Lisette Lecat reads this remarkable memoir of a family clinging to a harsh landscape and the dying tenets of colonialism.

©2001 Alexandra Fuller (P)2003 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

• Book Sense Book of the Year Award Winner, Adult Non-Fiction, 2003

"A classic is born in this tender, intensely moving and even delightful journey through a white African girl's childhood." (Publishers Weekly)
"This was no ordinary childhood, and it makes a riveting story thanks to an extraordinary telling." (School Library Journal)
"In this powerful debut, Fuller fully succeeds in memorializing the beauty of each desert puddle and each African summer night sky while also recognizing that beauty can lie hidden in the faces of those who have crossed her path. Highly recommended." (Library Journal)
"An honest, moving portrait of one family struggling to survive tumultuous times." (Booklist)

Really Enjoyed Thus Story

Having just traveled to Zambia and Zimbabwe I found this book to be a lot of fun to listen to.

The narration makes this story come alive!

I can't imagine the enjoyment I would miss hearing Alexandra Fuller's voice come alive (thanks to Lisette Lecat) if I had read the book instead. She conveys all of the wonder, mischief and charm of "Bobo"'s view of the world as a child and brings life to her mother and father's quirky ways. Brava!

The child of expats farming in Africa

Always interesting to hear another person's account of life as a white settler in Africa. Especially as a child.

In a word, outstanding

Highly recommend. Well read and extremely well written. Did not want it to end. Maybe I'll listen again?

Writing (and narrating) at its best!

Would you consider the audio edition of Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight to be better than the print version?

I have not read the print version.

What does Lisette Lecat bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Fuller writes in a very verbose style. A reader of the print version might find this a plodding and heavy style. By listening to Lecat's excellent narration, I could enjoy the imagery without struggling with the reading.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I got carried away to another time in Africa...

Captivated

I enjoyed this memoir. Partly because I am not familiar with the places and times. Partly because it was about survival, but probably mostly because I loved the reader. Her voice and accents were spot on and made the story come to life.

Fascinating Story of Growing-up in Africa

Narrator has a perfect voice for this true tale of life on a farm during the tumultuous wars in Rhodesia.

Superb, fascinating

Fascinating, enchanting, well-written, beautifully narrated. Poignant story about women dealing with life and overcoming hardships amidst the harsh and foreign beauty of several different African countries as white foreigners. The story got better and more enjoyable with every hour I listened.

So Real, True and Understated - Excellent!

I Loved this book, and was delighted when the audio version recently became available to listeners in South Africa. (Thank you, Audible).

I could relate to everything Fuller wrote (from the longdrop toilets to the earthiness of our being), and admired her simple, factual, undramatic, almost understated style. You need to read/listen between the lines in order to begin to understand the enormous courage, fortitude, endurance which this family lived from day to day. How they continued the struggle of survival, which Africa often is, in the face of all obstacles and severe trials.

A lovely read that reached deep into my heart.

It brought back so many memories.

I still have a bag in my cupboard, with "Rhodesia" and an elephant printed on it. A relic from years since, and yet it stays while others get turfed out. With it is a book, called "Hold My Hand, I'm Dying".

I remember the almost unbearable heat, walking along the Zambezi, each of us carrying a garden umbrella in an effort to shield ourselves from the blistering, dessicating sun. Then the songs we sang as we bumped along in an old pick-up: (regret, composer unknown)

O the stinging tsetse flies and the crocodile eyes
This is no place to dally
For there's no food here and I long for a beer
In the hot Zambezi valley.

In the cool place that i come from
The women are like velvet
The bulldogs all have rubber teeth
And the hens lay instant omelettes.

Oooooooh the stinging tsetse flies .....

Thank you, Alexandra Fuller. I'm sure you miss Africa and are glad you're gone, all mixed up into one great big emotion.

Lisette Lecat's narration was superb with no jarring accents to a local ear. She seems to have lived in these parts, and has a lovely voice.

Glad I finally read this book!

I bought the audible version a few days ago. I listened for two days and could not stop until the end. The book and the story are riveting and well written. The reader is amazing, one of the best I have heard.