Musungu Jim and the Great Chief Tuloko

By: Patrick Neate

Narrated by: Ben Onwukwe

Zambawi, a banana republic in sub-Saharan Africa, is on the verge of revolution. President Adini clings to power whilst his soldiers switch sides so often they don't know which uniform to wear. It is here that student teacher Jim Tulloh arrives to indulge in a spot of character building. Then Jim is kidnapped from his bush school by the rebel Black Boot Gang and his fate takes a very unexpected turn...

©2000 Patrick Neate (P)2011 W F Howes Ltd

This is my favorite book of all time!!!!

I truly cannot believe that this book is now available on audible. I first discovered this magical novel when I was 16 years old, on a trip with my family to Barcelona. This would have been around 1999 or 2000. Amazingly, it wasn’t me who found the book. Out shopping, my mom’s attention was grabbed when she noticed the cover art, and I believe the unspoken, yet mutual knowledge that I was a pothead influenced her to think of me when she saw the gigantic joint held by the cover’s cartoon rendering of Musa, one of the story’s main characters. Well, she was right. I saw Musa on the cover and thought that that was a promising start. I then read the back cover, and I knew that I was about to experience something truly special through literature. I read it in less than 2 days, and would have much sooner if I wasn’t being dragged around doing tourist-y stuff with my family. Once I was done, I wanted to make sure that what I had just read was actually that good, that funny, that witty, that brilliant, that relatable. So, I read it again before we even got on the plane home. It ended up being even better the second time, when my enhanced situational and cultural understanding helped me to understand jokes and concepts that had gone over my head the first time around. Well, flash forward 20 years, and I have read Musungu Jim and the Great Chief Tuloko seven times straight through, and I have read particular sections many more times, whether for inspiration, entertainment, or even wisdom. If this all sounds like a bit much, then just read it. The smarter you are, the more worldly you are, the more humility you present to the people you meet, the more likely you are to find something of what I have been lucky enough to have had for more than half my life: a deep connection with literature. I wish everyone could feel how I feel about this special novel, but I'd prefer that feeling to be toward favorite books of their own. If you take this review seriously, and you're considering what to listen to next, just trust me... The last thing I will say is that hearing this book performed has imbued it with a whole new spirit. There are new pronunciations, as compared with the ones in my head, and the voicework/acting is perfect. I am so happy that this book, which wasn't even available in the United States' Amazon system, has now been performed as well as the writing deserves, and can potentially be discovered by new American readers. Patrick Neate is a wizard. 5 billion stars!!!!

post-colonial Wodehouse?

I found this literally uncontrollably "laugh out loud funny" in places, but at times it approaches tragedy, too. I downloaded it for a fun and easy listen, which it was, but it is also serious satire -- and unlike me, the author dosn't rely on cliches. Warning: be prepared for post-colonial fart jokes, something I'd never thought could make me laugh.