The Slope of Kongwa Hill: A Boy’s Tale of Africa by Anthony R. Edwards (Book Review #147)

This review was written for Online Book Club “I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars.” This book was an “OnlineBookClub.org Book of the Day.”

This is an autobiographical novel written about a boy named Anthony Edwards. He moves from England to Tanganyika (situated in East Africa). The story entails his journey from the age of nine to fourteen including everything that he goes through, living at the boarding school.

The setting of the story is in the year 1948. Edwards’s relationship with his parents is odd. They have no idea what this boy is going through. The book is in three sections (The Foreigner, One of the boys, and Growing Up). Every section has its own story regarding Edward being bullied, running away, making friends, and meeting girls. At the same time, the three sections are connected creating this intriguing tale in Kongwa Hill.

I enjoyed the truthful tales of the story written by the author. The emotions and hardship Edward was enduring clearly made you feel for the boy. The year in which the story is based from was also authentic to how it used to be back then. The literary standard was of good quality, and I barely saw any editing issues or typos.

I believe the story would have had a better start if the pace was not so slow and unclear. The prologue in particular talks about things that had nothing to do with the story. The backstory also did not assist in providing enough foundation for the rest of the tale to be built on. There were too many descriptions that didn’t allow the characters to develop to their full potential and although the ending was hopeful it still was vague and did not define any clear summary.

I would recommend this book to those that like to read autobiographies situated in Africa.

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