 The
setting is 1990s, the African Congo. The plot surrounds the
adventures and horrors of Raoul Stern, a
European oil representative on business who learns more than he
bargains for about the seamy side of area politics.
The
book opens in 1994 when Raoul has left a
broken marriage to help an African oil-company branch run a new
venture. Upon entering his African hotel room, Raoul
sits cross-legged, performing a ritual of meditation. During, he
thinks reflective thoughts – “I
need to ... vow to connect with the people of this land”
– which eerily pre-empt plot events. A formerly communist area,
money and sex now reign but Kessler’s character is an idealist,
envisioning scenarios with the oil project being a potential source
for Congolese betterment.
What
Raoul discovers is the system is corrupt
to the core. An intrepid environment laced with prostitutes, Raoul
meets Rosa, a woman he greets in his hotel then makes a date with
when she waits on him later that day. She tells Raoul
of the source of Congolese social disintegration and
authorized crime: the ruler, President Libolo.
Libolo spends the budget on women,
villas and castles for himself.
Plot
details make the reader squeamish, including the ultimate scenario
of government hypocrisy: a prostitute being taken to a room to be
raped by an entire police squadron unless she agrees to give up her
wages. And, there is a too-late climactic moment in which President Libolo
is offered evidence by an oil rep that his rule is nearing an ugly
end. Nevertheless, Kessler’s prevalent message is subtle and
irresistible: The little guy counts most. As example, there is a
scene where Raoul sits observing an old
mechanic as he works “in a mood of awareness and meditation” –
and Raoul thinks “What
would the world do without these superb craftsmen who keep the world
moving?”
To
order Jungle Fever or
learn about its author, click http://shop.store.yahoo.com/dorrance/junglefever.html
~Review by Sara
Webb Quest
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