Imagine: Africa!

by Amos Van Der Merwe

a continent of mystery, magic, wonder – and stories. It is here our ancestors huddled around the glowing embers of a late-night fire for the first time, and it is here the very first stories were told. Some of these stories are true, of course, but others simply reflect the impressive creativity of the people who live Africa! challenges the reader to pull up a chair next to an imaginary fireside, sit down, and allow the stories to transport him or her to remote villages, strange people and weird situations. Here you'll find an elephant with a sense of humor, the reason cheetahs have tear streaks down their cheeks, and several dubious characters with an array of scores to settle. An old soldier discovers why he was wounded in the war and an investment banker with a taste for his clients' wives has to face reality. Chinese tourists find a new aphrodisiac, while a woman must decide what to do with her father's murderer.This book wants the reader to rediscover the immense power of imagination. The stories are poignant, humorous, sad, and sometimes even cruel. In every story reality takes a few twists and turns to surprise and entertain.A word of While some of these stories are fictitious, some of them aren't. Next time you travel in Africa, you may well meet some of the characters on these pages. Whatever you do, don't ask them to tell you what happened after each story – it is so much more entertaining to use your own imagination.

196 pages, Paperback

First published January 31, 2012

Reviews

[Amos Van · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed writing these stories. Some of them were collected in Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Botswana and Namibia. Some of them popped up along the way. And some of them simply insisted on being written.
My hope is that Imagine: Africa will make readers want to explore the oldest gift to mankind: the imagination. Come along, enjoy the safari, and become part of Africa once more.

[Anton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very often one picks up a book and after a few pages it's very obvious that it's not going anywhere else than the recycle bin. Well, this is very obviously not the case with this book. I picked it up (and free I may add) and thought that this would be something like a readable version of a Discovery or National Geographic video - and what a surprise was lurking in the book!

Coming from Africa myself, I expected this to be just "another" version of modern fables "out of Africa", but halfway through the first story, I enjoyed the first startling and pleasurable surprise; and then, from there on, it was like each story drags you in deeper and deeper into the existence of Africa: through the story itself, the vibrant language and descriptions, and the straight line of comparisons between humans and animals. In this book Amos makes it very clear that we are indeed no different from animals.

Some stories were clearly more enjoyable to me than others, but to keep it fair, I won't reveal the titles of those stories. What I can say though is, ALL of them are tremendously enjoyable and EACH story has a fascinating twist in the "tail". If you're looking for the average, predictable type of story, you're very definitely in for a surprise.

Now, that's all the positive; but what about the negative? Well, the only problem I find with this book is the fact that it does have an end - I would prefer having had some more to entertain me. This is unfortunately one of those books where the end is too close to the beginning!!

You can most probably remember how - at school - a teacher would give you a compulsory list of books to read, and how you dreaded going through it. This I will put on that compulsory to read list, with the guarantee that you will NOT - like in my case - want to put the book down.

Well done Amos van der Merwe - I am very definitely looking forward to some more of these. It gives me the utmost pleasure giving this title the maximum of five stars - however, if I could, I would give it more as it deserves more.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nou kyk hier, ek is 'n groot "fan" van Amos van der Merwe se skryfwerk, so hy kan bitter min verkeerd in my oe doen.

Laat ek net eerstens se, ek hou GLAD nie van kortverhale nie en sal nooit 'n boek met kortverhale lees nie. Maar omdat dit Amos se boek is, het ek besluit - kom, klim uit die comfort zone in and do it. En is ek nou bly ek het. Het dit ongelooflik baie geniet.

Ja, dit is kort stories, maar vorm tog 'n geheel - en is heeltemal anders as wat 'n mens verwag. Ek is mal daaroor dat hy mense en hulle en die diere en hulle dinge saam kombineer - allerhande lessies om oor na te dink - en 'n hele paar humoristiese oomblikke waar 'n mens sommer uitbundig lag.

So well done Amos!!

And last but not least - well done aan die uitgewer - kwaliteit werk!!

[Grampy · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exceptional collection of meaningful short stories; not simply for entertainment, but for edification as well. Africa is an amazing continent, and this collection of tales is definitely up to the task of presenting Africa well. The tales run the gamut from humorous to tragic to anecdotal. All the tales were quite well-written, and the author's brief bio at the end of the book is impressive, to say the least. I highly recommend this book for anybody capable of reading. In fact, if anyone ISN'T capable of reading, I'd recommend they get someone to read it to them! I don't want to oversell the author's talent at painting a realistic word picture, but you might want to have some bug-spray handy while you're reading this.

[Mari · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful journey through Africa. Smell the dust and feel the heat on your face. To choose my favourite story it would have to be Words and dusty tears. "Silence is just dead words waiting to be born again. Giving life to words is God's most precious gift to anybody."

[Alison]

kindle 196 (africa)

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great read and as the writer states use your imagination and get totally absorbed into the African way of life and mindset. A truly enjoyable read and revealing of human nature.

[René Annandale · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do not usually enjoy short stories but there's a twist in each story. I like Amos's style of writing.