In this installment of Page 69,
we put Lance Cross's Diary of a Man Being Driven Around Africa on a Truck with Some Other People to the test.
Ok, Lance, set up page 69 for us.
On Page 69 of Diary of a Man Being Driven Around Africa on a Truck
with Some Other People the truck has just arrived in Mali after leaving
Mauritania. The passengers weren't able to drink alcohol while in Mauritania so
they are camping at the first bar in Mali they find (which isn't actually a
campground) so they can have a glass or two (or three, or four).
Steve didn't drink quite as much as everyone and so isn't having a good
time of it. Gareth, his tent buddy, has not had enough cigarettes (but drunk
enough beer) to put him in a grumpy mood too.
What is Diary of a Man Being Driven Around Africa on a Truck with
Some Other People about?
Diary of a Man Being Driven Around Africa on a Truck with Some Other
People follows Steve, as he endures a
five-month trip down the west coast of Africa on an overland truck. He is
supposed to be on a short luxury trip through Spain but there is a mix up with
the tour company and his options are going home or taking the longer, more
arduous journey. Steve agrees to the longer trip because his girlfriend, Sofia,
doesn't think he could hack it (and he may have taken too much flu medication).
Steve has never wanted to go anywhere near Africa, but refuses to get off the
truck as he doesn't want Sofia to think he is a quitter.
As Steve passes through Morocco, Mauritania, Mail, Burkina Faso, Ghana,
Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, The Democratic Republic of Congo,
Angola, Namibia and South Africa he has to deal with eight other passengers and
a grumpy truck driver while trying to deal with Sofia via text, phone and
e-mail, as she's not too happy he's in Africa for five months.
Do you think this page gives our readers an
accurate sense of what Diary of a Man
Being Driven Around Africa on a Truck with Some Other People is about? Does it align itself the book’s overall
theme?
This page certainly gives an accurate sense of the annoyances and danger
Steve faces on his journey as he's still not happy to be on an overland truck
in Africa and he's still getting to know his fellow passengers.
It doesn't quite align with the overall theme as he's not questioning
why he's really on the journey, and he's just recording or reacting to the
events happening to him at the time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PAGE 69
Diary of a Man Being Driven Around
Africa on a Truck with Some Other People
‘Craig,’ said Gareth.
‘Can we skip cooking tonight?’
‘Why?’
‘Because the food won’t
be appreciated as everyone’s going to be smashed by the time it’s ready.’
‘Yeah. I can’t see a
problem as long as you ask people politely to buy their own food.’
Gareth stood in the
centre of the circle of drinkers.
‘Right,’ shouted
Gareth. ‘We’re not fucking cooking tonight so you’ll have to buy your own
fucking dinner. All you fuckers okay with that?’
People agreed to get
their own dinner.
I searched for
something local to eat after leaving the weary travellers to get ever more sloshed.
It wasn’t a substantial town and it didn’t take long to circumnavigate to find
someone in the street barbecuing meat in an old oil drum.
The younger folks had
consumed more of the amber liquid than me and thought it would be a wheeze to
play Def Leppard for eight hours straight. Doof-doof music was also pumping
from the bar, making it a super fun night.
On my way to the tent I
passed several of the group sitting on stacks of bald tyres in the car park
campsite and heard Liam say, ‘I didn’t punch a nun. I was only accused of
punching a nun.’
No, I did not want to
know. I went to bed.
Day 28, Monday – Burning Down The House
Gareth’s sleeping mass
was trying to take as much room as the tent would allow (again) and I was being
squashed. I usually only discovered it when I awoke in the morning to find
myself curled in a corner of the tent, although the music kept me awake.
And I could smell
smoke. Why could I smell smoke?
I felt heat on my back
and when I turned I saw flames licking their way up the side of our abode. The
tent was on fire.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lance Cross lives in London, UK, although is
originally from New Zealand. Diary of a Man
Being Driven Around Africa on a Truck with Some Other People is
his first novel, but he is hoping it is not his last.
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