Rating: 
Summary: The tedious jungle.
Review: At half the length this book might have been a 5. But it wasn't, and it isn't
Rating: 
Summary: I laughed, I cried. I'm glad I wasn't there,
Review: but I am glad I read the book.I bought *No Mercy* based on reviews I read in Amazon.com. I was enticed by the notion of a travel writer-naturalist (if that is a label fitting O'Hanlon) traveling hundreds of miles on a months-long trip to one of the most remote and wildest spots on the globe, at the end of which was a chance to view the legendary cryptid critter of the Congo, Mokele-mbembe. I lap this stuff up-high adventure in the wilderness, extreme camping at its extremest. And O'Hanlon an informative and entertaining guide. But the book is about so much more. O'Hanlon is a travel writer by trade, and although there is a very remote possibility his readers would choose to travel upriver to the deepest part of Africa, it does make a fascinating read. So many aspects of life in Africa jump off the pages ---death on the river, traveling in an antique steamer up the Congo River, tense interactions with armed militiamen, the diet of the Congo, taro root and bushmeat (mostly monkeys), constant gift-giving and bribery, the politically volatile region, ready to explode at any minute---and you are as perplexed and exhausted as the travelers are, except you're reading in the comfort of your living room. I lent this book to my brother-in-law, Goog. He likes off beat stuff. But it wasn't his cup of tea. Perhaps it was the book's languid pace. Yes there are grim and ugly parts of the journey, but I, like O'Hanlon, kept slogging along in the hope of catching a glimpse of the mysterious Mokele-mbembe. No Mercy opened my eyes to what Africa suffers through as it creeps into the twenty-first century. I'd read other books by O'Hanlon, just for the joy of hearing his description of animal behavior while suffering unspeakable hardships and indignities
Rating:
Summary: I laughed, I cried. I'm glad I wasn't there,
Review: but I am glad I read the book. I bought *No Mercy* based on reviews I read in Amazon.com. I was enticed by the notion of a travel writer-naturalist (if that is a label fitting O'Hanlon) traveling hundreds of miles on a months-long trip to one of the most remote and wildest spots on the globe, at the end of which was a chance to view the legendary cryptid critter of the Congo, Mokele-mbembe. I lap this stuff up-high adventure in the wilderness, extreme camping at its extremest. And O'Hanlon an informative and entertaining guide. But the book is about so much more. O'Hanlon is a travel writer by trade, and although there is a very remote possibility his readers would choose to travel upriver to the deepest part of Africa, it does make a fascinating read. So many aspects of life in Africa jump off the pages ---death on the river, traveling in an antique steamer up the Congo River, tense interactions with armed militiamen, the diet of the Congo, taro root and bushmeat (mostly monkeys), constant gift-giving and bribery, the politically volatile region, ready to explode at any minute---and you are as perplexed and exhausted as the travelers are, except you're reading in the comfort of your living room. I lent this book to my brother-in-law, Goog. He likes off beat stuff. But it wasn't his cup of tea. Perhaps it was the book's languid pace. Yes there are grim and ugly parts of the journey, but I, like O'Hanlon, kept slogging along in the hope of catching a glimpse of the mysterious Mokele-mbembe. No Mercy opened my eyes to what Africa suffers through as it creeps into the twenty-first century. I'd read other books by O'Hanlon, just for the joy of hearing his description of animal behavior while suffering unspeakable hardships and indignities
Rating:
Summary: A throwback to a hallowed English tradition
Review: For all those readers and reviewers who loved this book (and you are obviously in the majority), I recommend the works of W. H. Hudson, a 19th Century version of O'Hanlon in South America. I particularly recommend Hudson's Green Mansions as a starting point. There are differences in the writers (100 years, and two different continents to start off with). Further, Hudson is the more poetic and better writer in my opinion, but that's something for each reader to decide on his or her own.-In any case, they both belong to that peculiar English tradition of intrepid, eccentric explorers bumbling about in foreign regions full of lethal flora, fauna and humanity all the while making endearing and heroic fools of themselves to the natives and the readers. O'Hanlon's quest is particularly baroque: searching for a reported dinosaur in Lake Tele in the Congo basin, and one is only surprised that O'Hanlon's American companion Lary didn't make him sign his release note a hundred pages earlier: "I, Redmond, declare that I am going to the Lake Tele deathtrap of my own free will and I hereby forgive Lary his escape." O'Hanlon's attachment to the gorillla Bobo is undoubtedly the most touching part of the book (and one of the exceedingly few parts where the title does not apply.) I would say that it shows O'Hanlon's essential "humanity" except that, after O'Hanlon's discourse on the similarity of our two species, I'm not at all sure it's the appropriate term-O'Hanlon informs us that the Western Bantu word for "hero" comes from the verb meaning "to enter oblivion, to be lost, to become a spirit."-O'Hanlon has certainly proved himself a hero in this sense! One is tempted to exclaim "Good Show!" at the end of the book if only for this reason.-I only gave the book 4 stars because, as I said, Hudson's just a notch above him in my opinion.
Rating: 
Summary: A breathtaking tale of a journey into a strange land.
Review: Good travel writing ain't easy. Too often, I've started a trip within a book only to quickly grow bored with my host (the author) or the landscape or the itinerary.
Mr. O'Hanlon will never bore you. He recounts his journeys as excursions into the soul, through fantastic, lethal, horrifying environs. Though fears run legion through his tales, he never cedes to them--there is no drug, no act, no notion he will abjure for the sake of safety. This is the third of Mr. O'Hanlon's travel books I've read, and his finest. It crosses over to another realm, deep and penetrating and funny and tragic. It circles around and around the truth of the world, nearly settles there, then pulls away. We, the readers, are left with a glimpse of this truth. We cannot ask for more than that from artists; when we receive it, we should fall to our knees in benediction, and carry the image in our brains forever.
There is an impossibly huge world out there, the vast sum of which we shall never see. Mr. O'Hanlon brings a most exotic part of it alive for us, and he then ventures with us into the unexplored territories of our hearts.
Rating:
Summary: A brilliant and accurate description of life in the Congo
Review: Having lived in the Congo for ten years, I believe this is the first book I've read that accurately describes what life there is actually like, both for foreigners and for the Congolese. It makes you feel that you are there: the difficulty of daily living, the despair, fear of sorcery, unfailing good humor, poverty, and strong family obligations of the Congolese come through clearly and are on target. O'Hanlon is a quick learner - many foreigners stay there for years and never leave the European lifestyle; he depicts the side of life that is seen only by living with the people. If you want a taste of what life in Congo is like without actually going there, this is the book.
Rating:
Summary: Loved it!!!!
Review: I found this book so interesting and humouroslyinformative ,that halfway through it I ordered O'Hanlons "Borneo" book online! I felt I was with O'Hanlon and crew in the Congo and after finishing this book I know longer take lifes little pleasures for granted.
Rating:
Summary: powerful and moving
Review: I had read Redmond O'Hanlon's previous books and I expected more of the same- hapless Englishman out of his depth in the tropics having real jungle adventures, but with a strong comic element. And indeed at the beginning, the book seems to follow that formula. But by the end, there is little comedy and the reader is faced directly with some of the deepest issues of human life. It is a shattering conclusion and there is indeed no mercy for anyone, possibly no mercy anywhere in this world. It is a long book and maybe has a few too many descriptions of birds and such, yet it is a classic travel memoir, a journey both physically and to the deepest part of one man's mind. And to a place outside the comfortable civilized rational view of life, to someplace completely more scary, that may very well be inside all of us. A unique and thought provoking journey.
Rating:
Summary: WOW!
Review: I loved this book, redmond is great at describing the sounds and sights(colors!) of the congo and all the creatures within it. Don't forget your FETISH
Rating:
Summary: Journey into the Heart of Darkness
Review: I sat down expecting to read an entertaining travelogue of a trip into a difficult place, and got exactly what I was looking for- and more. O'Hanlon obviously thrives on going to those places in the world most inaccessible to foreigners, and forging his way through, taking down detailed and humorous observations as he goes along. Having spent some time in the former Zaire (thought not the Congo) I cringed at the memory of some of my own hairy moments and chuckled about hilarious misunderstandings. O'Hanlon's goal is the visit the remote and shunned Lake Tele to try to catch a glimpse of a monster; an excellent impetus for a journey which will surely hold many more surprises and possibly not offer up the monster in question. The story is told from the wry and baffled standpoint of a stranger in a strange land and, as the journey takes him deeper and deeper into the unfamiliar, an overall sense of perspective becomes more confused and he questions his own fixed western beliefs. One thing I greatly admired in O'Hanlon's writing was how he didn't hesitate to portray himself as the fool he appeared to be and probably was to the African eye, and he was admirably able to avoid any patronizing western judgments on the mysteries of the Congo. The only area which left me a little at loose ends was the abrupt ending. It almost seemed as if he was tired out from the journey and just wanted to finish the book as soon as possible. Otherwise, this is a thoroughly riveting book that allows the reader to vicariously live through the adventure.
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