Springcleaning Book 25 – A literary novel about trust and betrayal

I have a bit of a mixed reaction to the novels of William Boyd. I loved This Human Heart, for example, but was less enthusiastic about Love is Blind (see my review here). Brazzaville Beach was one of the books in my 2024 Advent Calendar and I had some reservations about whether or not I would enjoy it – see my first impressions here. My lack of enthusiasm probably explains why this book has lingered so long on the to-be-read piles, but I have now read it as my final book of the current challenge and I am pleased to have done so.

The main character of the book is Hope Clearwater who lives now on the beach in Brazzaville in Congo. She is an ecologist and she makes it clear that there are some very dramatic events in her life which she is now examining and trying to come to terms with. The book tells her story in three time periods which are interwoven in the narrative – the current day on the beach, Hope’s first job as an ecologist in the UK and her marriage, and Hope’s most recent project working with chimpanzees in Africa. I had no problem with the shifts in times and I enjoyed the story being told in this way.

Hope works hard and enjoys her life as an ecologist but, it soon becomes apparent, she becomes involved in the dramas of other people in her life, especially the men. That drama nearly always ends up in an act of violence perpetuated by a man, and Hope is left in a difficult position. Every man that Hope trusts, or who is in a position of authority, betrays her or lets her down in some way. Her marriage, to a mathematical genius, becomes derailed by his behaviour and adultery. Her project in Africa is impeded and blocked because the man running it wants to suppress her findings because they do not match his. She is kidnapped by revolutionaries and forced to watch them abandon her in dangerous circumstances while her male colleague runs away.

I enjoyed this story but found it had quite a dismal message. Hope should not have trusted any of these men because they all let her down. She would, perhaps, have been better to be more ruthless and cynical. She is still considering all this as she sits on the beach.

This book will now go to the book table at my local Sainsbury’s because it’s a bit battered, although still readable.