Journal Entry 1 by Makari from Siilinjärvi, Pohjois-Savo Finland on Sunday, March 13, 2005

'We will all melt like ice-cream in the sun!' British soldier, East Africa, October 1914.

As millions are slaughtered on Western Front, a ridiculous and little-reported campaign is being waged in East Africa - a war they continued after the Armistice because no one told them to stop.

Primarily a gripping story of the men and women swept up by the passion of love and battle, Willian Boyd's magnificently entertaining novel also elicits the cruel futility and tragedy of it all.


The book was good, but the war is cruel.

...

Kirja lähti 28.3.2005 Helsinkiin dotdotille, sen jälkeen olisi menossa tintille ja sitten ilmeisesti kotiin. ... eipäs vaan pieni rinki:

Dotdot
Tintti
Droidy (Vantaa)
Ritao (Hämeenlinna)

ja mielellään muitakin, mutta ringin jälkeen minulle 

Journal Entry 2 by dotdot from Helsinki, Uusimaa Finland on Friday, April 01, 2005

I got the book today. Thanks, Makari and his courier. 

Journal Entry 3 by dotdot from Helsinki, Uusimaa Finland on Sunday, May 15, 2005

The undertone of this book was sadder than the one of A Good Man in Africa. The stupidity of Europeans in Africa was in a gigantic scale. Stupid people totally lost. I liked the way Boyd wrote about the First World War in Africa like it had been separate from the politics and war in Europe and only a series of brutal irrelevant fights and killing in some godforsaken places. Perhaps it was. For Africans at least. The description of these poor people's sexual repression was quite illustrative. They really were totally lost, poor bastards.

Felix was only forty something when the next war in Europe began.

I'm really glad that I read An Ice-cream War. Tintti gets to read it next. I'll send it to her by mail on the 17th of May. 

Journal Entry 4 by Tintti from Jyväskylä, Keski-Suomi Finland on Wednesday, May 18, 2005

The book arrived today. It looks interesting - I'll start reading it soon. 

Journal Entry 5 by Tintti from Jyväskylä, Keski-Suomi Finland on Sunday, June 12, 2005

I found the book a bit boring - after the first part I thought about giving it up. I decided to go on reading anyway, mostly because of Felix. He was the most interesting character in the book, or actually the only even slightly interesting one. Especially the few women characters were very shallow.

Sending this off to Droidy soon. 

Journal Entry 6 by Droidy from Vantaa, Uusimaa Finland on Thursday, June 16, 2005

Got the book in mail from another Finn. I have fallen a bit behind with my reading, hopefully train rides Seinäjoki-Helsinki-Seinäjoki on Saturday will improve things a bit. (Slightly insane yes, but it's Provinssirock and yet I must be in Helsinki on Saturday).

[September 1] Finally sent the book to the next reader... talk about snail-paced reading. I enjoyed reading the book. 

Journal Entry 7 by ritao from Helsinki, Uusimaa Finland on Sunday, September 04, 2005

Got the book from Droidy last Friday, thank you! Thank you also for Makari for organizing this ring. I'm afraid that it will take a while for me to get to read this book, but don't you worry, I'll get there. :)

20.10.2005

Finally read it! (So don't worry Droidy, you're not the only slow one... ;D) I really liked the way the story was told from different point-of-views and how it got the plot forward. It became very clear that war is no picnic...very cruel indeed. For some reason I found the parts of the book situated in England and not the "front" more interesting and appealing. Could be just that I'm not so into all that army stuff and don't know much about Africa. But overall the book is a decent read and an interesting description of the war-time.

Should I send the book back to Makari or is there more interest? 

Journal Entry 8 by ritao from Helsinki, Uusimaa Finland on Saturday, November 05, 2005

Löytyi vielä pari kiinnostunutta, eli tämmöinen minirinki ainakin kirjalle tiedossa:

* tirppis
* Annelis

Edelleenkin varmaan voi ilmoittautua, jos Ice Cream War kiinnostaa. 

Journal Entry 9 by tirppis on Monday, November 21, 2005

Got this in the mail while abroad. I have a few other books to finish before this one, I hope it doesn't take me too long. 

Journal Entry 10 by tirppis on Saturday, April 22, 2006

I finally read the book, and I guess the main problem in getting it finished were the characters that didn't seem all that interesting. It looked like it was starting to get interesting when Felix started his affair with his brother's wife, but instead of developing the interesting set-up and making the characters face the consequences of their acts, the writer just killed most of them off. The rest of the book I read just to know if Felix could finally find his brother or not. I don't think that I'll read more work of Boyd as I was so dissappointed how he could not use and develop the initial interesting themes and set-up at all. 

Journal Entry 11 by Annelis from Kerava, Uusimaa Finland on Saturday, May 13, 2006

Kirja tuli, mutta nyt lähden Vladimiriin kolmeksi viikoksi. Luen kirjan sitten. Kiitos kirjan kierrättäjille jo etukäteen! 

Journal Entry 12 by Annelis at Kerava, Uusimaa Finland on Tuesday, December 28, 2010

I started to read the book, but left it unfinished at the first time.
The second time was more successful. I read the book some time ago, but somehow forgot to journal it.
Parts of the book were very interesting and some parts less so. The book was well worth reading. Thank you, Makari!

This is my #94 (100) in "REDUCE MOUNT TBR 2010" Challenge arranged by DoveiLibri.