Rating: 
Summary: exceptional, revelatory
Review: I wished the book were twice as long. Compassion evident throughout, sitting inside Mr O'Hanlon as he rendered any conversation. Not often do we find a book that can teach us new things about being human. Thank heaven or the ancestors for this man's nerve, especially for taking interior journeys into, say, capacity for nurturing. I hope he found a job for Marcellin.
Rating: 
Summary: Eccentricity by Design - Don't be Fooled
Review: It took me a while to figure out that this book is largely fictitious. Redmond O'Hanlon's style is to create a character by the same name and then have him talk and act in a humorous, quirky manner, seemingly oblivious to how he is perceived. It is an act that wears thin after the first 100 pages or so.For example, why would an educated man criticize Muslims and Christians as "weak-minded" while on his way to a Congolese witch doctor to spend part of his life savings on a protective charm? Why would the same person sleep with a monkey (platonically, of course) and then record the comic disgust that ensues? It is "eccentricity by design" - carefully scripting off-beat behavior while pretending to be unaware of its effect. The chapter in which he "loses his mind" to drugs is laughable in that he manages to note, in exquisite detail, every conversation and event that occurs to him while supposedly passing through the various stages of incoherence. So what actually happened during his trip to the Congo? Did he really complain about the cost of a service, then announce, with perfect timing, "it's a bargain" as he felt a spear against his back? Unlikely. Even if one takes the charade at face value, the last 200 pages are so mundane that it becomes a chore just to finish.
Rating:
Summary: Eccentricity by Design - Don't be Fooled
Review: It took me a while to figure out that this book is largely fictitious. Redmond O'Hanlon's style is to create a character by the same name and then have him talk and act in a humorous, quirky manner, seemingly oblivious to how he is perceived. It is an act that wears thin after the first 100 pages or so. For example, why would an educated man criticize Muslims and Christians as "weak-minded" while on his way to a Congolese witch doctor to spend part of his life savings on a protective charm? Why would the same person sleep with a monkey (platonically, of course) and then record the comic disgust that ensues? It is "eccentricity by design" - carefully scripting off-beat behavior while pretending to be unaware of its effect. The chapter in which he "loses his mind" to drugs is laughable in that he manages to note, in exquisite detail, every conversation and event that occurs to him while supposedly passing through the various stages of incoherence. So what actually happened during his trip to the Congo? Did he really complain about the cost of a service, then announce, with perfect timing, "it's a bargain" as he felt a spear against his back? Unlikely. Even if one takes the charade at face value, the last 200 pages are so mundane that it becomes a chore just to finish.
Rating:
Summary: Exceptional journy into the heart of man, nature & history
Review: O'Hanlons book - in his own great tradition and the tradition of travel and soul writer Bruce Chattwick - is a splendid piece of Art. The book is a travelor's impression, a natural science description of flora & fauna of the Congolese jungle, an ethnographic description of tribes, traditions and beliefs, a political opinion on the communist state-form in Africa, it is also a fascinating plot and adventure story - but it is, above all, more than all these parts: the vivid, humorous, spell-binding and exact description provides the reader with an all encompassing inside into the human nature - ours and theirs - the fragility of life, and the exteme span of priorities the peoples populating this earth pursue. Even though one might guess the actual outcome of the trip as such, I read the entire book in one spell-bound session, laughing at times, having shivers running up my spine at others - this book sticks in your memory, and deepens the understanding of the world. Above all because O'Hanlon does not teach, preach or offers opinions: almost all is written in direct speech, and where not, like a diary - the reader travels with the author, is experiencing all his adventures looking over his shoulder. Therefore the impact is strikingly direct. Also, I'd say, it is a must read for all who work in or for-, or are interested in central Afrika - and to others who wonder why things seem to happen differently, and according to different agendas, in that part of the world.
Rating:
Summary: This is one weird book.
Review: Ok, I'll admit it.I enjoy arm chair travel books to places I would never,ever go to in real life. "No Mercy"-- about Lake Tele in the Congo-- seemed to fit the bill. Wrong. It's not that its badly written but...well, its more along the line of J. Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" then it is a travel book. Its full of angst, and sturn und drag, and soul searching, the author against nature, the author against himself (he carefully chronicles his brushes with madness...I mean, toward the end he was THIS close to falling off his perch, if you know what I mean.) A mental health professional who also enjoys travel books would doubtless enjoy this "Heart of Darkness" type mode, but for the ordinary arm chair traveler-- like your's truly-- forget it!
Rating:
Summary: Worth The Trip
Review: Redmond manages to find humor in difficult circumstances without ridiculing or belittling those around him. Yes, the book is long, but well worth it. His ostensible reason for the trip is just a thin excuse, disappointing and surprising no one when it isn't "successful." The ending, I found entirely appropriate for a journey of this nature.
Rating:
Summary: The real-life Indiana Jones' best adventure to date
Review: Redmond O'Hanlon is a living throwback to the nineteenth-century explorer-scientist, who plunges into the midst of impenetrable jungles carrying heavy scientific tomes so that he can instantly identify the bizarre fauna he spots. He is also a wild man, very funny as he describes his day-by-day adventures with the wild and with local tribespeople. The English edition, published first, attracted rave reviews in the leading papers (with some criticism of him as the examplar of the "mine is bigger than yours" school of travel writing.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant, Disturbing, Hilarious
Review: Redmond O'Hanlon's book is stunning. As funny as it is penetrating, he offers so much more than an incredible physical journey. He is expert at evoking the feel of the claustrophobic jungle of the Congo, plunging the reader knee deep in vines and choking on the smell of 3rd rate 3rd world motels. But more importantly, he credibly takes us into the minds of his Congolese guides and travlling companions. It is O'Hanlon's own struggle with his thoughts and fears as he undertakes his journey that provides the real meat of this narrative. And the writing here is distrubing and seductive. By recreating the hardship of life in the jungle for the reader, he effortlessly takes us into the head of someone faced with those experiences. The result is nothing less than mind altering. An incredible journey into a dangerous country and a slippery mind. Amazing.
Rating:
Summary: More than travel writing - a literary jem
Review: Redmond O'Hanlon, who already pleased us with Into the Heart of Borneo and In Trouble Again, has achieved with Congo Journey what he was, with hindsight, aiming for with the two previous works. He has created a modern literary travel masterpiece. For those of us who might have thought there was nothing left in the world to discover, O'Hanlon has recreated the nineteenth century feeling of excitement and trepidation. His book reminds us that, global village or not, the world has much mystery left in store. And he has done so with humor, depth and poetry.
Rating: 
Summary: A grim look at modern Africa
Review: The author travels to the Congo, down tributaries of the Ubangi, to Lake Télé in search of Mokélé-Mbebé, possibly a living sauropod atavism. Accompanied by pragmatic, homesick Lary, an American; educated Marcellin, a government employee, torn between his Western education and the supernatural spirit world of Africa whose power he fears; gentle Manou; and wild-eyed, hard-drinking Nzé, he chronicles all he sees. This allows for observations of much flora and fauna, especially birds and apes, as well as meditations on human behavior. The Africa O'Hanlon "discovers" is a world of sorcerers, fetishes and tribal rivalries, where slavery exists in fact, diseases ravage whole tribes, and pragmatic Western ideas like gutters and medicines are absurdities rather than possibilities. It's a great book, full of humor and learning, equal parts natural history and the kind of insight into the foreign mind that the best travel writing can offer. It's a bit grim to think how mired in ignorance and the supernatural Africa still is, but funny scenes like one with a clingy baby gorilla keep the reader enthralled with O'Hanlon's trek.
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