Roof, Shelter’s Magazine, October 2008 Imagine this. You are forced from your bed at gunpoint in the middle of the night, tied up and dragged off, half-naked and barefoot, into the wilderness. You are made to walk for twelve hours, then permitted to rest, but for no more than two hours, on hard ground, on …
The rain tumbles down; it does not relent. The forest is hazy, saturated, obscured by the downpour, and during those brief periods when the rain abates, steam rises from the canopy, the thick dense jungle within giving off a great heat. We hear an unfamiliar sound and my father rises. He arches his great back, …
“I read, and liked, Nick Taussig’s first novel, Love and Mayhem, but somehow missed Don Don, so I’m glad I came across his third book, Gorilla Guerilla, a book I really enjoyed from cover to cover. Told from the twin perspectives of a 12 year old African boy mercenary (Kibwe) and a 12 year old …
“I thoroughly enjoyed this beautifully written novel. Based on the true story of a child soldier, Kibwe, Taussig powerfully sets the nightmare brutality of civil war against the lush, calm, jungle setting of the silverback’s domain – just as the story of Kibwe and Zuberi is both brutal and beautiful. Taussig’s description of Kibwe’s journey …
“In this book Nick Taussig evidences his intelligence, humility and humanity by juxtaposing the lives of two higher primates – one of which writes books. The author also thus renders the barriers we erect between our species and others to protect our sense of uniqueness otiose – or at least calls them (quite rightly) into …
“Gorilla Guerrilla has to be Nick’s best yet. This author truly makes the reader feel for the characters and events that follow.” Mr. S. Modi
“One of the best books I have ever read and Nick Taussig’s best novel so far. Like the ‘brown brown’ forced upon the African child soldiers the story takes you on a savage trip, smashing you in the face with its emotional power and honesty. Never before have I been transported into a world so …
“I remember at school being forced to read books of no particular importance. Maybe every child and prisoner should be forced to read this.” N. Greenwood
“Your book, Gorilla Guerrilla, made an impression on me, and I’ll be heading to Uganda in the foreseeable future.”