Official Review: Nightmare Along the River Nile
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- Latest Review: "Nightmare Along the River Nile" by Suzanna E. Nelson
Official Review: Nightmare Along the River Nile
[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Nightmare Along the River Nile: Abducted by the LRA" by Suzanna E. Nelson.]
There are two words which describe how I felt about the book: compelling and eyeopening.This book is not for those with a weak stomach. The reader is presented with death and some torture in realistic manner.
Set during the 1990’s in Uganda and Sudan, this book is like a historical fiction book written in a modern style. However instead of the reader being transported back in time to learn of the troubles of a past era, Nelson’s book presents the sheltered reader with a very accurate picture of what is going on is our own age.
Occasionally sentence structure was a bit awkward but never to extent an extent which makes the story unreadable. Often the reader is told extra information which seems unnecessary to the storyline(such as saying that person, showered, dressed, brushed their teeth, etc rather than simply mentioning that they got ready for the day. The reader could easily infer these details.), however this is a minor point which can be easily ignored. The book starts a bit slow but by the end of chapter one I was hooked.
Written in the first person perspective, this book describes the experiences of a young boy, named Edgar, who is abducted by Sudanese rebels and sold as a slave to Arab Mullahs. While numbers of his fellow slaves fall to disease or are mown down by their guards for “rebellion”, Edgar manages to survive through the help and encouragement of a fellow slave that grows into a great friendship. While Edgar is held captive his three school friends and their relatives work tirelessly to rescue his despite the massive fiances and personal risk involved. The chapters cycle between telling the story of Edgar’s capture and slavery and his friends efforts to rescue him, thus providing a needed reprieve from the horrible circumstances that Edgar faces throughout the book.
If one can get past the frequent scenes of atrocity committed by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), the common thugs, or even by the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) themselves, there are many redeeming themes to glean from the book besides it’s stated purpose to inform people about the slavery which exists throughout the world.
The first positive theme I noticed was generosity. Not only do “Eddie’s” friends, Wilbur Sam, and John give up time to search for his, but they and their relative give up large amounts of their financial resources to pay for the necessities of the search such as bribes. In fact, several uncles are highly involved in the story, hiring agents to search for Edgar and helping the boys plan each stage of the rescue. The second positive theme was compassion. At least five separate people care for Edgar, or help his friends in their search for the sole reason that that they want to help a fellow human being in need. The third major theme I noticed was friendship. Three boys are willing to give up everything to save their friend. They not only give up all their resources, but they spend months living in a hostile area (southern Sudan) where their lives are often in danger. One of the boys risks his life twice during the search. One of the slaves whom Edgar meets during his captivity is named Jimmy. This man constantly works to help him. Even more importantly, Jimmy provides moral support and strategy for when to escape or not. Edgar admits “If it wasn’t for him, I would never have survived. His name is Jimmy Abiriga,” (Kindle Location 6434). When Edgar finds out that his friends are still actively searching for him after months in captivity he ponders their devotion, “My friends had been looking for me all this time. I remembered telling Jimmy that they would but that was a long time ago. They never gave up. I felt so blessed” (Kindle Locations 6158-6159).
Throughout the book one cannot ignore the depravity of those in the LRA or the Arab Mullahs. This is best explained in a conversation that Edgar has with Jimmy early on.
“‘Don’t worry, Jimmy, however you look at it, we shall be free. This is the twentieth century,’ Jimmy replied, “Before there are any changes, the people have to first know they are doing something wrong. [The slavers] are landowners who live in another age; their only care was their own survival” (Kindle Location 2116-2117, 2122-2123, 2151). This explains how people can commit such horrible atrocities. Until they can learn the evil and repercussions of their deeds they will never stop. As Edgar’s friends puzzle through this same question they receive a very astute answer from one of the men who is helping their search. ‘Son, I will say this. Not every Muslim is a good Muslim, just as not every Christian is a good Christian. The same goes for all other religions. Not every black person is a good person either. Different people behave differently and interpret their faith differently,’ (Kindle Locations 3154-3156). As previously mentioned the prospective reader should be warned that there are numerous (non-graphic) descriptions of people being killed or tortured ruthlessly. It is also mentioned that slaves are often used as forced breeders. These are awful topics but accurate of the circumstances Mrs. Nelson is trying to portray. The other major problem which continues still today was AIDS. The reality of being infected and dieing through cross injection or treating someone who was diseased was broached a multitude of times, and the reader cannot get away from the fact that this is a reality which has destroyed the lives of millions and continues to do so today. Wilbur asks the question that really underlies much of this theme throughout the book ‘I was wondering why people capable of making rockets and spaceships are unable to find medicine for this killer disease,’ (Kindle Locations 4104-4105). Nelson implies that if people had more will to overcome it AIDS could be solved.
Finally, throughout the book there is a strongly religious theme. Early on, Edgar asks “How can God let my life end like this? I had been a responsible person and I went to church, got good grades in school, and avoided bad groups. I was even sure I had passed the exams to attend Makerere University. I couldn’t believe that I had done all this only to end up as a slave in some godforsaken foreign country” (Kindle Locations 2555-2558). However he later realizes that his capture was not because of bad things he had done, but a trial which is faced to bring about growth. He finally concludes all of the good providences which eventually happen are directly correlated to God’s influence in his life, “I realized that all these things hadn’t happened by accident. There was a reason why by some undefined power things happened”. (Kindle Locations 4955-4956).” He eventually says that he understood his life depended on divine intervention, and later events indicate just that.
I really liked this book, while it was written in an interesting style, there was a lot to learn, both about the culture, good character traits, and real evils in our world which ought to be fought against whoever chooses to support them. Just because the African’s themselves are enslaving their fellow countrymen does not mean it is okay. This is a message which every person in the world ought to hear. Some things are never okay for anybody to do. These are called crimes against humanity, and it is these which Suzanne E. Nelson really preaches against in this book. Like Uncle Tom’s Cabin of yesteryear, this book provides a much needed criticism of systems such as the LRA. For all of these reason’s I am giving Nightmare Along the River Nile a 4 of 4 and would suggest anyone who can get around the blood horror of the nightmare.
***
Buy "Nightmare Along the River Nile: Abducted by the LRA" on Amazon
There are two words which describe how I felt about the book: compelling and eyeopening.This book is not for those with a weak stomach. The reader is presented with death and some torture in realistic manner.
Set during the 1990’s in Uganda and Sudan, this book is like a historical fiction book written in a modern style. However instead of the reader being transported back in time to learn of the troubles of a past era, Nelson’s book presents the sheltered reader with a very accurate picture of what is going on is our own age.
Occasionally sentence structure was a bit awkward but never to extent an extent which makes the story unreadable. Often the reader is told extra information which seems unnecessary to the storyline(such as saying that person, showered, dressed, brushed their teeth, etc rather than simply mentioning that they got ready for the day. The reader could easily infer these details.), however this is a minor point which can be easily ignored. The book starts a bit slow but by the end of chapter one I was hooked.
Written in the first person perspective, this book describes the experiences of a young boy, named Edgar, who is abducted by Sudanese rebels and sold as a slave to Arab Mullahs. While numbers of his fellow slaves fall to disease or are mown down by their guards for “rebellion”, Edgar manages to survive through the help and encouragement of a fellow slave that grows into a great friendship. While Edgar is held captive his three school friends and their relatives work tirelessly to rescue his despite the massive fiances and personal risk involved. The chapters cycle between telling the story of Edgar’s capture and slavery and his friends efforts to rescue him, thus providing a needed reprieve from the horrible circumstances that Edgar faces throughout the book.
If one can get past the frequent scenes of atrocity committed by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), the common thugs, or even by the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) themselves, there are many redeeming themes to glean from the book besides it’s stated purpose to inform people about the slavery which exists throughout the world.
The first positive theme I noticed was generosity. Not only do “Eddie’s” friends, Wilbur Sam, and John give up time to search for his, but they and their relative give up large amounts of their financial resources to pay for the necessities of the search such as bribes. In fact, several uncles are highly involved in the story, hiring agents to search for Edgar and helping the boys plan each stage of the rescue. The second positive theme was compassion. At least five separate people care for Edgar, or help his friends in their search for the sole reason that that they want to help a fellow human being in need. The third major theme I noticed was friendship. Three boys are willing to give up everything to save their friend. They not only give up all their resources, but they spend months living in a hostile area (southern Sudan) where their lives are often in danger. One of the boys risks his life twice during the search. One of the slaves whom Edgar meets during his captivity is named Jimmy. This man constantly works to help him. Even more importantly, Jimmy provides moral support and strategy for when to escape or not. Edgar admits “If it wasn’t for him, I would never have survived. His name is Jimmy Abiriga,” (Kindle Location 6434). When Edgar finds out that his friends are still actively searching for him after months in captivity he ponders their devotion, “My friends had been looking for me all this time. I remembered telling Jimmy that they would but that was a long time ago. They never gave up. I felt so blessed” (Kindle Locations 6158-6159).
Throughout the book one cannot ignore the depravity of those in the LRA or the Arab Mullahs. This is best explained in a conversation that Edgar has with Jimmy early on.
“‘Don’t worry, Jimmy, however you look at it, we shall be free. This is the twentieth century,’ Jimmy replied, “Before there are any changes, the people have to first know they are doing something wrong. [The slavers] are landowners who live in another age; their only care was their own survival” (Kindle Location 2116-2117, 2122-2123, 2151). This explains how people can commit such horrible atrocities. Until they can learn the evil and repercussions of their deeds they will never stop. As Edgar’s friends puzzle through this same question they receive a very astute answer from one of the men who is helping their search. ‘Son, I will say this. Not every Muslim is a good Muslim, just as not every Christian is a good Christian. The same goes for all other religions. Not every black person is a good person either. Different people behave differently and interpret their faith differently,’ (Kindle Locations 3154-3156). As previously mentioned the prospective reader should be warned that there are numerous (non-graphic) descriptions of people being killed or tortured ruthlessly. It is also mentioned that slaves are often used as forced breeders. These are awful topics but accurate of the circumstances Mrs. Nelson is trying to portray. The other major problem which continues still today was AIDS. The reality of being infected and dieing through cross injection or treating someone who was diseased was broached a multitude of times, and the reader cannot get away from the fact that this is a reality which has destroyed the lives of millions and continues to do so today. Wilbur asks the question that really underlies much of this theme throughout the book ‘I was wondering why people capable of making rockets and spaceships are unable to find medicine for this killer disease,’ (Kindle Locations 4104-4105). Nelson implies that if people had more will to overcome it AIDS could be solved.
Finally, throughout the book there is a strongly religious theme. Early on, Edgar asks “How can God let my life end like this? I had been a responsible person and I went to church, got good grades in school, and avoided bad groups. I was even sure I had passed the exams to attend Makerere University. I couldn’t believe that I had done all this only to end up as a slave in some godforsaken foreign country” (Kindle Locations 2555-2558). However he later realizes that his capture was not because of bad things he had done, but a trial which is faced to bring about growth. He finally concludes all of the good providences which eventually happen are directly correlated to God’s influence in his life, “I realized that all these things hadn’t happened by accident. There was a reason why by some undefined power things happened”. (Kindle Locations 4955-4956).” He eventually says that he understood his life depended on divine intervention, and later events indicate just that.
I really liked this book, while it was written in an interesting style, there was a lot to learn, both about the culture, good character traits, and real evils in our world which ought to be fought against whoever chooses to support them. Just because the African’s themselves are enslaving their fellow countrymen does not mean it is okay. This is a message which every person in the world ought to hear. Some things are never okay for anybody to do. These are called crimes against humanity, and it is these which Suzanne E. Nelson really preaches against in this book. Like Uncle Tom’s Cabin of yesteryear, this book provides a much needed criticism of systems such as the LRA. For all of these reason’s I am giving Nightmare Along the River Nile a 4 of 4 and would suggest anyone who can get around the blood horror of the nightmare.
***
Buy "Nightmare Along the River Nile: Abducted by the LRA" on Amazon
Latest Review: "Nightmare Along the River Nile" by Suzanna E. Nelson
