Crossing the Heart of Africa follows what should be a foolproof formula: the author retraces the route of an explorer from the golden age of African exploration. In this case, Smith (roughly) follows the route of Ewart Grogan, the first person to travel the length of Africa from south to north. Why did Grogan make this trek? Officially, it was to scope out potential telegraph or railway routes, but he really undertook it in order to prove himself worthy of a rich woman he hoped to marry. His modern counterpart Smith goes on his journey in advance of his own wedding.
The combination of romance and adventure should be a winner, but it's not. On the romantic side, Smith asserts the strength of Grogan's feelings for Gertrude, but we never see them illustrated. The story of Smith's own romance is mundane, full of episodes that are surely meaningful for Smith and his wife but not interesting for us. And despite the presence of lions, elephants, head-hunters, dense swamps, and genocidal tribes, the journeys lack any narrative drive to tie together the events. I didn't get a sense of Africa, or of Grogan's character, or of how the Africa of today relates to the Africa of 1899.
The combination of romance and adventure should be a winner, but it's not. On the romantic side, Smith asserts the strength of Grogan's feelings for Gertrude, but we never see them illustrated. The story of Smith's own romance is mundane, full of episodes that are surely meaningful for Smith and his wife but not interesting for us. And despite the presence of lions, elephants, head-hunters, dense swamps, and genocidal tribes, the journeys lack any narrative drive to tie together the events. I didn't get a sense of Africa, or of Grogan's character, or of how the Africa of today relates to the Africa of 1899.
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