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  • Blood River

  • By: Tim Butcher
  • Narrated by: Tim Butcher
  • Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (310 ratings)
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Blood River

By: Tim Butcher
Narrated by: Tim Butcher
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Summary

Shortlisted for the British Book Awards, Richard and Judy Best Read of the Year, 2008.
A Richard and Judy Book Club selection.

When Daily Telegraph correspondent Tim Butcher was sent to cover Africa in 2000, he quickly became obsessed with the idea of recreating H. M. Stanley's famous expedition - and travelling alone. Despite warnings that his plan was suicidal, Butcher set out for the Congo's eastern border with just a rucksack and a few thousand dollars hidden in his boots.

Making his way in an assortment of vessels including a motorbike and a dugout canoe, and helped along by a cast of characters from UN aid workers to a campaigning pygmy, he followed in the footsteps of the great Victorian adventurers. Butcher's journey was a remarkable feat, but the story of the Congo, is more remarkable still.

©2007 Tim Butcher (P)2008 W F Howes Ltd

Critic reviews

A Richard and Judy Book Club selection.

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What listeners say about Blood River

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Africa's Broken Heart - a September 11th every day

I first bought 'Blood River' in paperback a couple of years ago. It impressed me then and was/is a riveting read. I must confess I never managed to finish the last quarter due to the hectic pace of life, but I listened to the entire audiobook and was enthralled.

Tim Butcher is obviously a knowledgeable author, but it is the nuances and subtleties in his descriptions of time and place that make this such a pleasure.

I have never been to 'the heart of darkness', instead I have skirted round it, following Livingstone, not Stanley around the Lake Tanganyika region, but nonetheless the descriptions in 'Blood River' are eerily reminiscent of the stories I heard emanating out of the DRC when I was on the border a few years after Tim.

Blood River emphasises the horrific point that the Democratic Republic of the Congo is in a state of continual decay, decline and backwardness, unlike anywhere else on Planet Earth. Why? We begin to see here...

The most depressing fact for me that comes from Tim's account, is that 1200 are murdered every day in the forests of the DRC, that's one September 11th every single day of the year and it continues yesterday, today and tomorrow... no one cares.

Ben Waddams

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18 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • R
  • 08-09-08

fantastic and addictive

I thought this book was brilliant,so well written and totally compulsive listening.The author told it how is is,and I felt it was one of the best audiobooks I have ever listened to.Also I looked up and read extensively about the Congo afterwards,it was as gripping as any thriller.
This is not normally the type of book/audiobook I would buy,but I was going on a long holiday and though it would pass some time on the beach.But how wrong was I.
I still think of the authors experiences and the people of the Congo and how good we get it here in the UK.
My older teenage children listened to parts of this book and found it brilliant and asked the question,why do people live like that in 2008? I hope the next generation will be able to change the world.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Blood, sweat and tears

From the very beginning of this nail-biting adventure the listener is gripped and walking step by frustrating step with Daily Telegraph Africa reporter Tim Butcher who, poor man, feels a need to follow in the footsteps of Stanley (also a Daily Telegraph reporter) down the Congo River.

Not only does Tim Butcher takes us back to the days of the beginning of Europe's contact with the Congo but through its more glorious past to the ruined infrastructure of today and the suffering of its peoples. A sad tale, compassionately told of a country gone to rack and ruin, filled with people who have learnt to survive every cruelty imaginable. Remarkable, but scarey to feel the compulsion that drove Tim Butcher to follow his dream of following Stanley down the Congo River.

Although it is a good travel story and Tim Butcher is a good reader it was perhaps read a little too fast for someone (like me) unfamiliar with the names of these people and places.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

the guy reads too fast... fascinating nevertheless

very interesting story even though already 14 years old. one thing I kept wondering about was what the purpose of the trip was! the book is a beautiful result and tells an important story, but somehow I felt the need for a purpose beyond that of solely following Stanley's trail.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Excellent book, poorly narrated

I really enjoyed this book but it's a testimony to the writing that I persevered to the end because I found his narration rather annoying and difficult to listen to. There was a lot of misplaced emphasis, a strange cadence and rhythym to the reading and it sounded as though he was bored and just wanted to get the reading over and done with as quickly as possible.

That said, the actual account was really fascinating and well written. It was quite shocking to hear how the Congo appears to be moving backwards in terms of its development and structure and the impact that has on the lives of the people that live there. I was able to conjure up strong images of what it must be like from the author's description.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Well worth a listen

I found this both interesting and informative. Tim Butcher really manages to convey a sense of the beauty, danger and sheer remoteness of the Congo. I found it hard to stop listening at times and was often shocked and saddened by descriptions of the extreme poverty and political corruption. Definately worth a listen.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

The premise is better than the story

I found this to be highly anecdotal. This felt like the majority of the book consisted of Congolese history and Congolese accounts of daily life from the people he had met. Despite being entertaining in part by the sheer feat of travelling along the Congo river, the same message is reiterated throughout - The Congo is the only place in the world where conditions are worse in the 21st century than the middle of the 20th

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great book but please slow down!

This is actually a great read for anyone wanting to understand Africa, and why it is what it is. I just wish the narrator would slow down and pause for breath. Sometimes he was talking SO fast that I actually missed what he said.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

An Enjoyable Book

I have enjoyed listening to this book and Tims enthusiasum for the book is unquestionable. My only problem was the speed in which it was read, causing me to check if I had changed the reading speed in the settings, I hadn't!

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

should have been brilliant.

... only it didn't quite work for me. not sure why. it's well written but i found that it didn't hold my concentration. also, it's quite downbeat - sounds like a ridiculous comment, but the subject matter is the terrible harsh lives of the people who live and die in the congo. a terrifying place by this account.

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2 people found this helpful