Book Review: Falling Night by Phil Clarke

Anything based out of Africa becomes my instant favourite, be it a movie or a novel or a documentary. In that pursuit, for years I have read novels of Wilbur Smith. The more I get to know about this continent, the lesser it seems. Indeed Africa teems with stories – adventurous yet horrifying. Phil Clarke’s novel Falling Night is a brutal honest account of a humanitarian aid worker’s life in the horn of Africa. Though delivered in fictional tone, the novel is an extended version of a memoir of an international aid worker. The hero of the book is Alan Swales. He is from England – a young man with a girlfriend and good lifestyle. However to break the monotony of his life from a golden cage, his quest for something unusual and adventure brings him in the war-torn Kugombwala (fictional African country).

MedRelief is the company that brings him. He works as an administrator in a hospital looking after starving kids. MedRelief was a sort of NGO, working in close alliance with UN peacekeepers to feed starving children. The African country was into war due to many reasons…one being divided into many tribals. Right since his first day there Alan founds himself in an inextricable mess and many stark realities of aid companies befuddled him. Eventually, as he makes peace with his seething heart and people there on the duty, it comes out that even humanitarian companies have profits in their minds than just helping the needy ones.

Death threats and gunfire was a common banter for Alan. He struggled with his co-workers internally and warlords and tribalism externally. The book paints a dark yet real picture of Africa and its never-ending stark reality. As I kept reading, it reminded me of Blood Diamond movie where children were forced to join forces, they being wasted and getting killed. Phil’s experience and observation of darkness of Africa is heartfelt and is a matter of concern for developed countries that send their mercenaries and UN force and NGOs for help but in real that is just a trap for natives, well the real motive is to mint money.

The book binds struggles and chaos of an aid worker caught in the dilemma of political and moral mess. He wanted to stand up for the real help but it seemed far from the objectives laid out by humanitarian firms. Anyone who enjoys dark stories from Africa must look at it. Falling Night by Phil Clarke is based on true events yet highly entertaining and insightful about a country that is disturbed by genocide, political turmoil, violence, and civil war.

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