When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: An Intimate Exploration of Africa's Beauty and Pain

B.R. STANARD: There is tension from the beginning, though an autobiography. Peter Godwin's parents lived through the decline of Zimbabwe from a thriving country to a bankrupt one—financially, morally, and emotionally. The unwritten question that pervades the book is whether his parents will be killed (as other white farmers were) or will they survive the horrors of Mugabe's dictatorship.

United States on Aug 13, 2023

Mike Brooke: The author has written four books on Zimbabwe. They are all about the tragic slaughter during Mugabe's viscous years in power. He lived there so he knew what it was about and the book is an accurate account of the time. I know I lived there. So read it.

Canada on Jun 18, 2023

carolee von shillagh: This was suggested reading by my guide in Africa, and I am so glad . It’s a grizzly and important story which shows how ugly greed can really be. Parallels to the holocaust are frightening but this is so beautifully written. I will wonder how the mother’s story ends for a long, long time.

United States on May 30, 2023

MR R RYLATT: Beautifully written - a must-read for anyone who knows anything about Zimbabwe - or anyone who doesn't. Parts are very shocking - but that's Africa.
Peter Godwin's earlier book 'Mukiba'or Á White Boy in Africa'about his youth in Rhodesia, as it was then, is also well worth reading.

Spain on Jan 01, 2023

Tony Edwards: I’m not sure how to rate this book. It appeared to me at once a biographical about the depressing early years of an independent Zimbabwe; on the other hand, it devolved into a most personal autobiography. I am torn.
I lived in Rhodesia from 1962 through 1969 with a year in Zambia sandwiched in between. I was not raised in Rhodesia but did spend nearly six of my formative years in Tanganyika. Before moving to Rhodesia as a young man I did a six months’ stint in Blantyre, Malawi, staying at Ryalls Hotel (not Riley’s as misprinted,) and have mixed feelings.
From a literary perspective, Godwin’s writing style is creative, exotic and stimulating although the ‘stimulating’ part, which tends negative, was a bit much for me having lived in the country in happier times. Coming events however, were indeed casting their shadows before them in the 60s. So, I harbor little doubt that the impression he leaves is accurate. I made a flying visit to Harare, (Salisbury) in 1985 and saw the downhill trend with my own eyes. A former Shona servant of mine whom I contacted bemoaned the terrible situation and avowed how much better life had been under white rule. And Mugabe was just...

United States on Oct 05, 2016

Andrew Desmond: "When a Crocodile Eats the Sun" is a magnificent memoir. It is, in my mind, the best book I have read for some years. At varying times, it can be tragic, uplifting, sad and captivating. I simply devoured it over a handful of days.

Peter Godwin was born in Rhodesia, a country to which his parents emigrated after the Second World War. His mother was a doctor and his father an engineer. They were seeking a fresh start in Africa. Their hopes would have been boundless.

Godwin's memoir covers the period from 1996 until 2004. It is a period in which his father's health is progressively declining and ultimately leads to his death. This decline is a metaphor for the tragedy that is modern Zimbabwe. From having been part of the nation's educated elite, Godwin's family is slowly reduced to penury. The nation is ruled by an authoritarian kleptocrat, Robert Mugabe. Single handedly, this man has run Zimbabwe down from a relatively prosperous nation with good prospects to being a beggar. One can only hope that history treats this man with the contempt that is his due.

Godwin tells the story of the nation's decline through the eyes of a foreigner who now only visits the...

United States on Jul 12, 2012

Alex Ireland: If this book was fiction, it would be fantastic. The fact that it's a story of truth and reality makes it a stupendous masterpiece.

The premise for the narrative is the author's (Peter Godwin who is a freelance journalist) and his family's grim experiences in Zimbabwe. This is at a time when the malevolent Mugabe is dragging the state into a dystopian madness.

Although he grew up in Zimbabwe, Peter ends up residing in New York. He tries to return as often as he can to visit his family who remain in Zimbabwe. In this regard he is steadfast and unwavering. He even enters the country when he is blacklisted and could face potential arrest. His parents are liberal, middle class, well educated folk who have decided to make Zimbabwe their home. Despite the gradual atrophy of their environment and lives, they are in no mood to budge. Underpinning their resolve, is a well tuned moral compass which works off conscientious and altruistic principles culminating in an ethical outlook which is solid and commendable. This forms a stark dichotomy to the ubiquitous malversation in the country they inhabit.

As the country deteriorates further into contused destitution it...

United Kingdom on Jul 12, 2009

Dr. Edward R. Swart: It was said of George Fox (the founder of Quakerism) that he was 'no man's copy' and the very same can be said of Peter Godwin's book 'When a Crocodile eats the Sun'. It is no other book's copy.

For anyone who does not know the true history of Rhodesia/Zimbabwe over the last 30 years there can be no other book which provides a better insight into how Zimbabwe has been converted from a viable and flourishing country into a 'needless moral and physical debasement ' of its former self.

When it comes to providing unvarnished details of what has actually happened in Zimbabwe ' without any embellishment or prevarication ' there can be no better source of information. The truth is that as far as destroying the very soul of a country is concerned Mugabe is in the company of the very worst demagogues in the history of mankind. As Godwin rightly says about his fellow countrymen (both black and white) 'they have made scavengers of all of us . . . Reducing us all to desperados and thieves'. Three simple statistic captures the extent to which Mugabe and his cronies have devastated the citizenry of the country they rule. When Mugabe came to power the life expectancy in Rhodesia...

Canada on May 19, 2007

L. Keto: For anyone following events in Africa, what has happened in Zimbabwe has been tragically clear. In the span of less than ten years, President Robert Mugabe has turned this breadbasket of farm exports into an African basket case.

In Peter Godwin's "When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa," the reader finds out why. Seeking to amend the constitution in 2000 so that he can remain in power, Mugabe suffers a surprising electoral defeat in a referendum. Enraged, Mugabe declares war on his own people. As Mugabe and his loyalists in his ZANU-PF party ransack the country, the man distracts international attention by targeting the white farmers by seizing their property under a spurious land reform program.

Godwin charts the collapse of the country's economy and morality as he finds it more and more difficult to provide care for his ailing father amidst the crisis. Although his father initially recovers, his health begins to deteriorate rapidly in 2000 just as Mugabe makes his move. For the reader, the health of Godwin's father becomes as extended metaphor for the suffering of the country.

However, the metaphor deepens when Godwin learns his father is not...

United States on Apr 26, 2007

Geoffrey Woollard: Peter Godwin has written much, but "Mukiwa: A White Boy In Africa" and its follow-up, "When A Crocodile Eats The Sun," must surely be the volumes of which he is most proud. For anyone with even a passing interest in Africa and/or the present problems in Zimbabwe/Rhodesia, they are 'must-reads,' preferably in chronological order - Mukiwa (1996 and later paperbacks) first, and then Crocodile (2005 and 2007).

I confess straight away that my own knowledge of Africa is limited, but I have interested myself in the continent's affairs for as long as I can remember and I also nurtured enormous sympathy for Rhodesia, for its people, and for former Prime Minister Ian Smith.

Peter Godwin has little apparent sympathy for Smith and, for that and other reasons that are clear in his books, he can be looked upon as a liberal. Therefore, his two books are all the more potent for their description of 'the reversal of progress, the shocking decline, the descent into darkness' (Crocodile 2007, page 314) under the tyrannical and murderous regime of Robert Mugabe. These beautifully and movingly written but appallingly tragic books, based on first-hand experience and knowledge and Godwin's...

United Kingdom on Mar 30, 2007