No Mercy: A Journey to the Heart of the Congo

by Redmond O'Hanlon

Book Overview

Lit with humor, full of African birdsong and told with great narrative force, No Mercy is the magnum opus of "probably the finest writer of travel books in the English language," as Bill Bryson wrote... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679406557
• ISBN13: 9780679406556
• Release Date: May 1997
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
• Length: 461 Pages
• Weight: 1.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 6.7" x 9.7"

Customer Reviews

dark, troubling, unforgettable

This is an extraordinary book. Beautifully written, funny, excruciatingly honest, it does indeed show no mercy. I've read it twice so far, and am troubled and haunted by it. Redmond goes too far in for comfort; he shows more than one can know and still rest easy. This is a truly great book.

For anyone who has ever dreamed of adventure

This is the first O'Hanlon adventure I have read. I certainly will read his others. The book is a swirling, mesmerizing account of his trek through the swamp forest in search of a legendary dinosaur, of the natural wonders of the Congo and of his fears, thoughts and dreams. I found myself totally emersed in the vivid detail provided while telling his tale. I could see, hear and sense what he did. It had me dreaming of adventure and of writing so well about it! An awesome adventure and recounting of it!

powerful and moving

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.