| Title | : | The Headhunters Daughter (Belgian Congo Mystery #2) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0061997641 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780061997648 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 256 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 2011 |
The Headhunters Daughter (Belgian Congo Mystery #2) Reviews
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Step back in history. Be prepared to embrace a culture and attitude vastly different from your own. The Congo of the 1940’s and 1950’s holds a dark fascination that will alternately repel and excite. Under Belgium rule, the European attitudes and beliefs clashed frequently with indigenous practices. There are passages within this book that astounded me; descriptions of encounters with the ferocious Driver ants that chilled me; and humor that left me reeling, ruefully shaking my head. For me, the odd voice in this book took a while to get into, but I gradually adapted to the cadence, and the distinctive flow of the sentences. Reading this book, I felt the almost sedate ebb and tide of life and death in the jungle. Culture shock was immediate, but as the mystery unraveled, I found myself becoming entranced, almost against my will, in the unfolding drama of this ultimately uniquely mesmerizing narrative.
Laurie
Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance & More
Full Review:
http://coffeetimeromance.com/BookRevi... -
Wow. Can't wait for the next book club to discuss this one! While the main plot was pretty straightforward, the minor themes make this a great book. I like the author's writing style; the way she vividly conveyed race, racism, tribal Africa, and the tremblings of burgeoning revolution and uprising in colonial Africa was amazing to me. And it was a quick read - she packs more into her 200-some pages of storytelling than some authors can put in their chunksters.
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The year is 1945 in the Belgian Congo.
Born-With-Cord-Around-His-Neck was just a young boy. Though if he wanted to be a man, he had to return to his village with the head of his enemy. While traveling along the river side, Born-With-Cord-Around-His-Neck comes upon a bear. The bear is looking at something. It is a baby girl…a white baby girl for that matter. Born-With-Cord-Around-His-Neck scoops up the baby and brings her back to the village.
While talking to one of the locals, Police Captain Pierre Jardin learns that there is a “white girl” living in of the villages, whose parents are Bashilele r head hunters. Pierre does not believe that is possible. When his girlfriend and missionary, Amanda Brown hears the news, she instantly wants to pay a visit to the village. What she learns about Ugly Eyes will be more shocking than a white girl being raised by headhunters.
The Headhunter’s Daughter is the first book I have read by author, Tamar Myers. While I did find this story fascinating, I never really connected with the characters. While I did like Ugly Eyes, I thought there was a mystery about her that was intriguing and the fact that she seemed so wiser. It was Amanda that had to warm up to. While I did appreciated her coming and trying to save Ugly Eyes, I felt that Ugly Eyes and the rest of the tribe should not have had interference from the “white people”. Amanda’s approach was just a little too pushy. As the story progressed, I was drawn into what was happened and could not wait to learn about where Ugly Eyes came from. You could by Mrs. Myer’s writing that she did have detailed knowledge of the Congo being raised there. Overall, I did think that this was a good read. The Headhunter’s Daughter did peak my interest. I think I may check out Mrs. Myers’s The Witch Doctor’s Wife. -
I thought there was the backbone of an interesting story here, but it just didn't work for me. I enjoy stories set in Africa, but did not get a sense of the place nor connect with the characters.
The part of the book I found fascinating was at the end of the novel which adds the author's description of her childhood in the Belgian Congo. She was born there in 1948 and grew up there. Her parents were missionaries who worked with a tribe of headhunters. She learned their language and describes the tribe's customs, her long travels to school and the dangers after independence. I would definitely read her autobiography. -
The Headhunter's Daughter takes place in the Belgian congo. An abandoned white infant is found and raised by a tribe of headhunters despite the color of her skin. The story discusses the differences between whites and blacks as well as the differences between tribes. Sometimes the book was hard to follow because Myers has different people narrating the story. I wasn't always sure at first who was talking. By the end of the story we learn the mystery surrounding the kidnapping of the infant. The book is a lesson that the color of one's skin does not make the person.
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Really enjoy it! The writing is fresh, the story is funny and interesting. Would love to read more books in the series.
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The story begins in the Belgian Congo in 1945 when the Mastermind’s plans to kidnap a baby are foiled after the servant doing the deed is bitten by a deadly snake. The child is snatched up by a young warrior from the Bashilele headhunting tribe. He brings the pale infant to the tribe where she is adopted by the headhunter’s wife and raised as a part of the tribe. Because her eyes are blue, she is known as Ugly Eyes. There is a mission within this territory as well as a Belgian company intent on exploiting the territory for its diamonds. There is also a police detail stationed in the area. The young white missionary, Amanda Brown hears about a white child living with the headhunters. She goes on a mission to rescue her. An older missionary couple, who are on their way to the United States having served their missionary time, are also involved. Ugly Eyes is now thirteen. The tribe is her only home and the other white people are as strange to her as they are to the natives, Several mysteries are resolved in the conclusion of the story. The reader learns the identity of the mastermind and the identity of Ugly Eyes. However, the strength of the story lies in observing the different worlds and how they misunderstand each other. The author was born in the Belgian Congo and depicts the physical and social setting with clarity. The whites are the least sympathetic since exploitation of the region and the people seems natural to the whites.
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Curious little tale. A baby is stolen, somewhat accidentally, by a member of a remote tribe in the Belgian Congo, in 1945. Years later a young missionary hears rumors of a white child in the jungle, and ultimately the two meet.
"Ugly Eyes", the white child, is now thirteen and upset at the tribe's custom of marrying off girls at her age. She wants out. At the same time, she has been raised by a loving family and knows no other life. So when she is confronted with white missionaries she holds her ground.
The young missionary, Amanda Brown, tries to make things right. But there is only so much that can be made right at this point.
Told with a lot of wit (not all of which I appreciated) and simplicity, the story gives us some understanding of those days of separation of white and black. And give us some knowledge about these remote tribes. I always appreciate these glimpses into lives I will never know. -
Although I see this referred to as a mystery, it didn't strike me as a mystery, but just a good novel full of fascinating facts about the culture of the Belgian Congo of the fifties. The author has written another series (maybe more?) of mysteries set among the Amish, but the insights in this book goes back to her childhood as the daughter of missionaries living in this setting. I found it interesting to read, and loved the interplay between the different cultures, both tribal and racial. Now that I know it is the second in a series, I'll have to go back and read the first one for context.
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Cozy Mystery writer Tamar Myers grew up in Africa. Now she takes us all along for the journey in a mystery series set in the Belgian Congo in the mid-twentieth century. She uses her knowledge of the land and the people to describe the culture and the every day life. This adventure unfolds with the mystery of an abandoned white infant raised by a tribe of headhunters.
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It's my first book to read regarding life in the Congo. After recently visiting Africa for the first time I found it an enlightening culturally relevant book. The fictional story is filled with nuances of cultural realities faced by African's difficult history. The story itself is intriguing--a page turner. Some of the storytelling is choppier than I prefer, but the pace kept me reading.
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I'm not sure I'd really call this series mystery, but the descriptions of the country, racial conflicts and politics are very interesting. I like the characters a little better than I did in The Witch Doctor's Wife but the mystery part feels a little weak.
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A great informative read!
I chose this rating because although I ENJOYED IT VERY MUCH , the thriller element that I love in a book just wasn't there as much as I like. I still would recommend this book as a great read. -
The first book in the series was much better. This one dragged a bit and had an ending that felt a bit too tidy.
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The intercultural dialogue is hilarious
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This book is such an incredible look into tribal and colonial life in the Belgian Congo. Loving this series.
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Fun read told by someone who grew up in Colonial Africa. Amazing how much the world has changed!
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I loved the first book in this series and liked this one equally well. It's a really interesting story. Part of what makes it so interesting and satisfying is that it doesn't present the headhunters as ignorant savages. It doesn't have the short factual information on animals and other features of the Congo at the beginning of each chapter like the first book did.
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First Line: The gravel pits had been haunted for the past six years, ever since the first white woman drowned.
In 1945 an infant was left out by the gravel pits as a result of a botched kidnapping plot. The baby girl is found by a young Bashilele tribesman on his quest to claim the head of an enemy. The young boy takes the baby back to his tribe where she is raised as a member of his family-- even though her pale skin, straw-like hair and strange blue eyes mark her as being very different from the rest.
Thirteen years later, young missionary Amanda Brown hears the stories of a white girl living among the Bashilele headhunters. She enlists the help of the local police chief, Captain Pierre Jardin, and brings along the witch doctor's wife, Cripple, to act as translator. They find the young girl (now called "Ugly Eyes") and bring her back to the Missionary Rest House and "civilization". But the young white girl no longer belongs in Amanda Brown's world, and the secrets surrounding her birth and disappearance prove to be very deadly indeed.
Author Tamar Myers was born and raised in the Congo, so this is very familiar territory to her. (When reading the book, don't skip The Author Answers Some of Your Questions section at the end of the book where Myers talks about her life in Africa.)
The plot is well-paced and the mystery very intriguing. I didn't figure out the mastermind behind everything and did an "of course!" eye roll at the reveal.
Amanda is a good blend of strength and naivete. She truly wants to do the right thing even if that right thing doesn't coincide with what her judgmental elders believe-- and she has the delightful habit of speaking her mind before she can stop herself.
The book really shines in the setting and the clashing cultures. Myers delves a bit deeper into the Congo's tortured past as a colony under the rule of King Leopold II of Belgium and what the whites believe will happen when the Congo becomes independent in a couple of years.
The clashing cultures show to best advantage when Amanda's servants at the guest house try to decipher white behavior and dress. The scene where Cripple and Protruding Navel try to figure out how to put a bra on the young white girl is hilarious.
Returning to "civilization" after so many years, the young white girl probably has the best sense of the difference between the cultures:
"The laughter of women as they set about doing their daily chores. Next to her mother, that is what Ugly Eyes had missed the most about village life. White people were so serious, their mouths perpetually pulled down at the corners, their foreheads so quick to pucker. Ugly Eyes did not know of a single village woman who bore vertical creases between her eyes, yet almost every woman at the party the night before had at least the beginnings of one."
I enjoy this series for its truthfulness, gentleness, humor and unpredictability. There is more than meets the eye between their covers. The lasting image of the books for me is the resident gargantuan crocodile who lives at the bottom of the ravine next to the Missionary Rest House. Seldom ever seen, the crocodile is well fed, since the rest house throws its garbage down there. In addition, there have been times that the unwary human has stumbled at the edge and fallen... never to be seen again. -
A white baby is found, by a bizarre and harrowing twist of fate, and delivered into the midst of a feared African tribe. Adopted by the tribe’s headhunter, the blond-haired, blue-eyed girl grows almost to puberty among the tribe, loved by her adoptive parents, until she is rescued.
Cripple is a servant in the Missionary Rest House and is the only person able to communicate with the young white girl after she is recovered; taken from her adopted tribe.
Two years hence, Belgium rule in the Congo will end and the natives will become independent. The political climate is tense as many blacks have sworn reprisals against their white oppressors, following a century of debasement and mistreatment. A white girl child living bare-breasted with the black heathens causes additional dissention. The well-meaning woman, Amanda, who initially helped instigate the girl’s rescue finds out life in the Congo is not so black and white.
Step back in history. Be prepared to embrace a culture and attitude vastly different from your own. The Congo of the 1940’s and 1950’s holds a dark fascination that will alternately repel and excite. Under Belgium rule, the European attitudes and beliefs clashed frequently with indigenous practices. There are passages within this book that astounded me; descriptions of encounters with the ferocious Driver ants that chilled me; and humor that left me reeling, ruefully shaking my head. For me, the odd voice in this book took awhile to get into, but I gradually adapted to the cadence, and the distinctive flow of the sentences. Reading this book, I felt the almost sedate ebb and tide of life and death in the jungle. Culture shock was immediate, but as the mystery unraveled I found myself becoming entranced, almost against my will, in the unfolding drama of this ultimately uniquely mesmerizing narrative.
Laurie
Reviewer for
Coffee Time Romance & More -
I've long been a fan of Tamar Myers's Pennsylvania Dutch Magdalena Yoder series. After all, I've traveled some of those Pennsylvania roads and Yoder is such a common name among the people. All that said, what surprise to find Tamar Myers writing about Africa - the Congo...
For me, the Headhunter series just fits right in there.
The series is wonderful. It's clearly written from the anglo, missionary perspective - somewhat fearful, somewhat idealized - and that's just fine. A white person trying hard to be fair, to act without prejudice and baggage in a country that's been invaded by colonialism.
Finding out that Myers was a missionary child stationed in the Congo makes it all so real. In the reader's guide to this work, Myers writes of her family's isolation and the troubles after the liberation "But," Daddy, said, "there's that nook there above your bedroom door, where we store the suitcases. Stay in your room, and don't come out, no matter what you hear. Just climb into that nook and pull that big suitcase in front of you. Your mommy and I might be killed, but if you survive maybe you can slip down to the river unseen. Just follow theriver south. Then keep going until you reach Angola."
If you've read Myers's Yoder series, you owe it to yourself to read the Headhunter series. You'll be charmed, alarmed and enchanted. There's little of the cozy sugar that characterize the Yoder series, and lots of Africa - the Congo. Why did it take Myers so long? Was it the repressed memory of these fearful experiences?
-Ashland Mystery -
The Headhunter's Daughter takes place in the Congo during the 1950's while still under Belgium rule. The rumor that there is a white girl living with the Bashilele headhunters reaches the ears of the Police Captain. Could she be the same girl that went missing as an infant thirteen years ago?
The mystery untangles after the girl, now known as Ugly Eyes, comes to live in the mission house with the American Protestant missionaries and specifically young missionary Amanda Brown. Who was responsible for kidnapping the girl in the first place and will she be able to assimilate into white society after being raised and loved by bushmen? These are the questions that unfold during this tale.
The story was interesting and the plot held a lot of promise. When the mystery unravels at the end, it seems almost anti-climatic.
I actually had trouble really enjoying this novel. The writing style is unique. The author, telling the story with complete omniscience, skips so quickly from one person's thoughts to the next that I regularly had to go back and reread a paragraph to see where I had missed the change.
The setting of the Congo is, as always, fascinating and rich. Describing the landscape, the wildlife and the indigenous people is definitely Myers's strong point. Myers, who grew up in the Congo with her missionary parents, clearly knows and loves the land. But I'd hoped for more. This is certainly no Poisonwood Bible. -
A white child is discovered living with headhunter parents in remote Africa. For headhunters, it is considered a right of passage to kill a person from another tribe and use their skull as a mug. So how could a child outsider survive not just the culture but the wilderness? 'The Headhunter's Daughter' is a sequel to the first in this series, 'The Witch Doctor's Wife'. I have not read the first book, but though some of the plot of the first book is mentioned in the sequel and the same characters are here, it isn't necessary to read the first book. The story keeps moving between many characters point of view, which keeps it quick. The ending is unexpected which is nice, but at the same time, may be a bit of a stretch to make the ending unguessable. And there seems to be some loose ends that will be resolved in the next book of the series. The Headhunter's Daughter would be a perfect fit for many readers. It's a nice change of pace for readers of mystery but it also has other elements in it that readers that usually avoid mysteries would love. Its a bit more than just murder! I only read Sherlock Holmes in the mystery genre, so I would know it isn't just for mystery fans! But if this series sounds like your kind of thing, why not go for it?
