The Last Resort: A Memoir of Zimbabwe,   ISBN:9780307407979

Customer Rating: 

Received this book as a Xmas gift from someone who knows I enjoy reading about Africa, but didn't immediately pick it up as I've read a number of books about Zimbabwe in the past few years. My mistake!! This is a wonderful, refreshing story about two people reinventing themselves continuously in an effort to remain in the country they call home. I was touched by the honesty and humor of their story, and finished the book with great admiration for their efforts. It is as much a story about a son's growing understanding and appreciation of his parents, as it is about their daily struggles in a country that is constantly being turned upside down. I particularly enjoyed the author's perspective-a candid look at how his parents face the changes that confront them daily, and his fears for their safety (as well as his own!). I found myself thinking about Mr. Roger's parents long after I put the book down...

Customer Rating: 

Bribery - yes, corruption - yes, greed - yes, fear - yes, tenacity - yes, brutality - yes, justice - hardly. This book totally depicts all of the above in one small corner of one of the most beautiful countries in Africa. The ugliness and brutality of those in power against so many who had hoped for a better, prosperous and happy future after the bitter war to end colonialism. A vivid picture of how a despot and his government continue to take what was once the bread basket of Africa, into ashes.

Customer Rating: 

I can't stop thinking about this book. I recently visited my family in South Africa (I left in 1983), and I was struck -- yet again -- by their amazing sense of humor, despite all of their difficulties. This book reinforced the feeling of awe I have for them. It is the same feeling I now have for all of the people depicted in The Last Resort. Their lives are tragic, yet heroic; difficult beyond comprehension but full of determination and courage. What makes the book so powerful is how Rogers compels us to empathize with everyone, regardless of their race, ethnicity or political affiliation. They are simply human, born into circumstances not of their own making, swept up by events they can't quite control. Their actions, though sometimes unethical or immoral, are driven by an evolutionary will to survive. They are unapologetic, yet their ability to adapt and even change gives one hope in the human race. Ultimately, it is not power or money that allows Rogers' family to endure; rather, it is the small gestures -- of respect and kindness -- that keeps them on their land in their beloved Zimbabwe; their encounters with individuals, long forgotten, whose connections suddenly mean everything. This is a tale that teaches us that lives can be changed by tiny, seemingly inconsequential interactions between ordinary people, and reminds us to strive to be better every day.

Customer Rating: 

Most American's think of Zimbabwe, if at all, just long enough to shake their heads. The country has gone from breadbasket of Africa to a complete economic basket case, due entirely to the choices of its leaders. We hear of white farmers being dispossessed and their productive farms run into the ground, urban blacks being cast from their slums to go live...where? All the while with President Mugabe being honored at the Rome food conference and treated like a normal president by neighboring states. It is a place that cries out to be disregarded as too exhausting to think about.

Douglas Rogers' wonderfully titled "The Last Resort" is a cure for that sensibility. It is a funny, moving and eye-opening story about today's surreal Zimbabwe. It tells the story of his parents, trying to hold on to their property that was once a famous backpacker's lodge and bar in the countryside that has now fallen on hard times along with every other part of the economy. But it is not just about them and certainly not just about the burdens of whites holding on amid chaos. It tells the tales of their employees and friends, black and white, as well as of their oppressors as they all try to navigate a Mad Max world. The book gives context to how migration, commerce, foreign intervention, war and modern racial politics has brought the country to this pass. It dispels the cartoon-like impression most American have of Africa and replaces it with a real sense of the people and their place, even if both sometimes seem more like a Monty Python skit than actual people in an actual country. It is a wonderful book and we should hope for a sequel.

Customer Rating: 

The Last Resort is a highly personal story about Douglas Rogers' return visits over a few years to Zimbabwe to visit his parents. It is a rich and penetrating portrait of Rogers' homeland and what is happening there under the rule of Robert Mugabe - not only what is happening to the remaining white settlers but to the native black population. Douglas Rogers' parents, Lyn and Ros have run a game farm and backpackers lodge for many years in the eastern part of the country. This is a moving story of their will to survive in their own home against odds that would overwhelm anyone. They are survivers who have learned to adapt to the dramatic changing condition of this calamitious land. From the opening pages describing Roger's plane landing at the airport at Harare when he first returned home one feel a cloud of dread as to what he will find as he thumbs rides to The Drifters, his parents resort. But what is overall the theme of the story is the desire of the human spirit to survive and to outlast the evil that is around them. The book is filled with dramatic happenings to these people but also with great humor. They did not lose their sense of life's joys. There are some very funny scenes of going to Miss Moneypenny who is the money changer, to get bundles of Zimbabwe dollars. The book reads much like a novel as you just don't know how it will end.

I was disappointed that there were no photos in the book until I went to Douglas Rpgers' wedsite [...] and found the photos by Stefan Ruiz. Look at the photos before, during and after you read the book. They are of the characters and the area of the story. They show beautiful noble people. Also it would be great to stay at The Drifters. Even if one is not that intereted in Zimbabwe the book is a wonderful story of survival and the human desire and will to last. I would love to meet Lyn and Ros.