Blog Post #4

Blog Post #

The book I am currently reading is called Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight. What has caught me most about this book so far is the introduction to the story. It most definitely had an effective attention getter. It caught me off-guard, I read it twice.

“Mum says, “Don’t come creeping into our room at night.”
They sleep with loaded guns beside them on the bedside rugs. She says, “Don’t startle us when we’re sleeping.”
“Why not?”
“We might shoot you.”
“Oh.”
“By mistake.” (1.3)

If I am not mistaken, I imagine this passage caught you off guard as well. Maybe even more than me. You see, I had some prior information about this book. I knew it was about English family who go live in Africa. The family is well equipped and guarded against “terrorists”. But that was it. It’s still a rather alarming yet unique way to start a book. However, I really admire the boldness used to launch the story. Alexandra Fuller, the author, really does a splendid job setting a good portion of the scene with minimal words and maximum impact. She opening passage encouraged me to dive in the rest of the book with passion and enthusiasm. It provided just the right amount of “out there” without being entirely random.
And just as the reader predicts, the rest of the story proceeds in the same “out there” fashion as the opening passage. After all, how much more “out there” can you get than the African wilderness?