An Ice-Cream War

An Ice Cream War, by William Boyd, is a wonderfully crafted novel. Boyd really soars as a writer, not only in his stylish and artful prose, but also in a story line that would, with many authors, be too much to write on without the inevitable choppiness that plot can create. Boyd is an author many, I here-to-for included, don't know. That should change for justice to be done for this gifted writer. An Ice Cream War, originally published some twenty four years ago, is a must read for both those who love rather old fashioned novels, with real and raw human emotion, and those who simply derive pleasure from the beauty of the written word. Boyd is going right up there with Norris, Stegner, Oates and Wharton (among others) that I think are absolute must reads. Treat yourself to some real art - read this novel.

A wonderful work on the absurdities of war at home and abroad. A classic piece of historical fiction.

While billed as a novel about the First World War, "An Ice Cream War" is really about the oftentimes tragic randomness of life and how we as humans really have very little control over our individual destinies.This book could be subtitled "When Terrible Things Happen to Essentially Good People". It tells the story of two brothers, Felix and Gabriel Cobb; Charis, Gabriel's wife; Walter Smith, an American plantation owner in British East Africa; Colonel Von Bishop, Walter's neighbor, nemesis, and colonel in the German army; and Liesl Von Bishop, the colonel's bored and lonely wife. The War brings these people together from the far corners of the Earth and forces them into an interaction with tragic consequences.The characters are never short of involving. The plot clips along at a breathless pace and there are at least two or three set pieces that are staggering examples of narrative brilliance. One of the author's greatest triumphs here is his ability to capture the environment and pervading atmosphere of sub-Saharan Africa during the War. When he speaks of swarms of black flies hovering over and resting on a corpse baking in the desert sun, the reader really feels it. The author is equally successful at capturing the aristocratic tone and manner of an English country house as well as a seedy, bohemian nightclub in London.There is hope at the end, but a dubious kind of hope. There is the possibility for renewal but not necessarily redemption.Boyd's images will linger long after the reader has turned the final page, haunting and insistent.

"An Ice-Cream War" is the story of American, German, and British lives in Eastern Africa turned upside down by World War I. European and American settlers in Eastern Africa, once friendly neighbors, reluctantly turned to enemies. World War I battles in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the history of pre-WWI German colonization in Africa (more-or-less present day Rwanda, Burundi, and mainland Tanzania, Cameroon, Togo, and Namibia), are today mostly forgotten. The background of the novel is the amazing success of German lieutenant colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck (not much portrayed in the story), who commanded Germany's tiny, undersupplied African force (mostly African soldiers). He inflicted embarrassing losses on British forces at Tanga, and tied down Allied forces that outnumbered his own by at least 10 to 1 for the duration of the war. Against this fascinating and little-known history, "An Ice-Cream War" is an engaging novel of war, love, and revenge. Boyd's comedy of diplomacy in Africa "A Good Man in Africa" is also recommended.