Timbuctoo

Robert Adams is the quintessential alpha male: he is tall, has broad shoulders, is possessed of a handsome, blonde face. Moreover, he is morally upright, has strong faith and values, and has the gift of being able to say it like it is. Adams find himself almost naked, skin searing from years in the Saharan desert, almost dead on a London street in wintertime. He is taken in by a family of London's gentry, to whom he recounts his nearly impossible tale. He was the first white Christian to have made it to Timbuctoo and made it out alive! He resists all temptations in a strong hearted attempt to make it back to his beloved, Christina. He eventually does. How he survived the intense trials and tribulations of seeing his friends drop dead in the desert, slavery, a solo trek through desert, and a conspiracy by Sir Geoffrey Caldecott to have him murdered, is a mystery. It must have been Adams' willpower, help from God, and his love for Christina. Mr. Tahir Shah's gift as a storyteller shines through in Timbuctoo. His ability to take storytelling to another level is evidenced by his attention to detail. Many lessons to be learned in Timbuctoo, for readers and writers alike.

Exceptional in every aspect, starting with selecting the subject and then presenting it. But what is exceptional for others, I just realized, is actually to be expected from Tahir Shah, considering how remarkable his other books are; and also other aspects of his life, his travels to places rarely visited by Westerners, his moving from London to Casablanca and restoring a historical mansion, his other activities, all accessible on his web page and described in his other books.The same can be said about the life and writings of other members of this eminent family who have brought us so much knowledge of important things to be found in places usually unsuspected in the West because we ordinarily think that anything worth knowing must come from our own cultural area. And if we ever got anything else from other places, it was long time ago and now we are the best. Shah demonstrates aspects of cultural exchanges and synthesis.To be a little more specific but without giving away details which might spoil the pleasure of reading this or other of his books, let us just say that in spite of being well-traveled and a well educated in the area of social sciences, I knew very little about most things presented here not only about the old Africa but also many aspects of life in England at that time. And then there are abundant and subtle observations about human nature in general, both in weakness and strengths which we normally are blind about.If you want to be captivated and also to learn, also about yourself, it is the book for you.Also, this is the limited edition, beautiful in every aspect, including many old maps, demonstrating what the most educated people thought about the world at that time. (BTW such maps are also included in Shah's "Scorpion Soup").And there is a web site for this book ([...] offering - inter alia - a challenge to break the Timbuctoo Code and locate the Treasure. So far, the solution eluded me - I must be more mechanical in my thinking than I am ready to admit to myself and to change. But that looks like a life-long quest in which this book certainly assists.

I love this book! Timbuctoo is, for me, a richly rewarding virtual time-travel voyage into the Regency Period (during the time of the "madness ofKing George"). Full of love, greed, loyalty, betrayal, redemption,and somany other of the finest and the worst of human qualities andcharacteristics, Timbuctoo has at its core the story of a great and truelove, sustaining all, through an amazing adventure.The author's writing style bursts with vitality, and the pages areloaded with fascinating historical and cultural detail, which inno way impedes the flow of the 'can't-put-it-down' quality of the story.The characters in the book are many and diverse, from the sublimeto the ridiculous, and most everything in between, marvelouslyfilled out and brought to life in the many stories-within-storiesin the tale. From the dregs of human degeneracy to the devotionof steadfast love, the many players tell their stories here.The author has managed a writing style where there is a senseof old-time prose, and yet it flows with great energy andreadability.From beginning to end I thoroughly enjoyed reading Timbuctoo on Kindle,and I can't wait to get my copy of the hard cover book!

There are people even today who are unsure about whether Timbuctu exists or whether the word is just a metaphor for somewhere really remote. In early nineteenth century England Timbuctoo signified a city of great wealth where anything that could be fashioned from gold was. By the time a destitute Robert Adams was found close to death near Covent garden, the Royal Committee for Africa was planning a major expedition to find and plunder the fabled city. The revelation that Adams had been to Timbuctoo was not received with unalloyed joy but, since a naval blocade prevented his return to his native America, it was decided that he recite his story in the presence of Simon Cochran, Secretary to the Committee.The story Robert Adams tells, of his shipwreck and involuntary, nightmarish journey through the Sahara weaves like a timeless thread through the rest of the narrative. He is a Christian Odysseus at the mercy of the Dark Continent rather than the Wine-dark Sea, where endurance of privation, brutality, loneliness, terror and temptation is only possible because he manages to keep alive the hope of reaching home and being reunited with his Penelope, his dearly beloved wife, Christina.As Adams waits for the war between England and America to end and for a ship to take him home, we are drawn deeper and deeper into the life of Regency London, meeting the rich and powerful with no conception of work, the numerous servants upon whom they rely but who are considered unworthy of notice, the scientific and literary elite represented by Sir Joseph Banks, George Byron and Jane Austen, and others who earn their living independently in unorthodox ways. We even find ourselves inside the doors of some of the grim institutions of the day, Bedlam, the Marshalsea and prison ships anchored on the Thames.'Timbuctoo' has all the ingredients of a great story: unpredictable events, vivid description, unforgettable characters, humour, mystery. Like Homer's 'Odyssey' it is rich in symbolism, but its unexpected twists and turns defeat the attempts of a rational mind to analyse it. This is a book to be enjoyed while its wisdom is allowed to surface in its own good time. Suspend disbelief as characters from history lose their inhibitions and behave with increasing bizarreness until an immensely satisfying, but outrageous climax is reached. We have been brought to another world where buffoons rule and demons scheme, but where kindly spirits also exist. At least one other world lies beyond, but to reach it, as Robert Adams, who has within him the essence of Christianity, knows from experience there are no alternatives to love and endurance.

I received a free copy of this ebook from the "Cave ab homine unius libri (Beware the man who owns just one book)" web-site: [...] (and I also bought the hard-back edition).I have read most of Tahir Shah's alternative travel books and enjoyed them very much, so I was very much looking forward to this book - his first novel. It definitely lived up to my expectations.Here Shah succeeds in transporting the reader back to this interesting period in history (the British Regency era, 1811--1820, where the Prince of Wales - or the Prince Regent as he was known - ruled in place of his father King George III who was deemed mentally unfit to carry out his role).It tells the tale (based on a true story) of Robert Adams, an American who was taken slave by Moors after a shipwreck off the coast of Africa, how he reached the mythical city of Timbuctoo, and then managed to escape his captors and come to London where he recounts his story to the corrupt Royal African Committee who have just sent out an expedition in the hope of seizing the legendary gold of Timbuctoo.Shah uses short 2/3 page chapters (very cunningly for the current generation's short attention span) to gradually build up the suspense, describe a range of colourful characters and paint an interesting picture of this period of British history: its customs, obsessions, persecutions and inequalities.Highly recommended.See this and other reviews / my own writing on my blog: [...]

Coaches and horses hurtle through the snow in regency London. An audience grows daily at the African Committee where Robert Adams, having been found destitute and freezing, relates his recent experiences; of lost love, shipwreck, enslavement and a visit to the golden city of Timbuctoo as guest of the capricious and sadistic King Woolo.As implications of his story begin to reverberate, investments are being made in a British military expedition to the golden city; a secret society is plotting and scheming; the Prince Regent toys with an impressive collection of stuffed animals; famous writers, poets and dandies leap from the pages; grave robbers are digging, hangmen are hanging; and... they are all connected.It's a love story about a man who, hurled by life into dire circumstances, prevails against all odds. The more one reads it the more inspiring it becomes.

Tahoe Shah is an expert storyteller .... only not in this book. I would heartily recommend his other books but the conceit used here in writing in a 19th century persona is just really annoying. Potentially great story ruined.

I think this is Tahir Shahs first novel and he maintains his excellence as an author as he changes from travel and writings on Morocco to an adventure/historical novel with a stream of well known historical characters. I found myself addicted to the story and finished the Kindle edition within a couple of days and have recommended it to my friends. The quality of resilience and the power of a single minded faith fuelled by love shine throughout the story and the horrors of slavery it describes.The parallels between the despotic ruler of Timbuctoo and the equally despotic rulers of Regency England are well brought out. Rather than read the reviews go and read the book.