The Last King of Scotland

No, we're not talking Bonnie Prince Charlie here. The title character of Giles Foden's debut novel, The Last King of Scotland, is none other than Idi Amin, the former dictator of Uganda. Told from the viewpoint of Nicholas Garrigan, Amin's personal physician, the novel chronicles the hell that was Uganda in the 1970s. Garrigan, the only son of a Scots Presbyterian minister, finds himself far away from Fossiemuir when he accepts a post with the Ministry of Health in Uganda. His arrival in Kampala coincides with the coup that leads to President Obote's overthrow and Idi Amin Dada's ascendancy to power. Garrigan spends only a few days in the capital city, however, before heading out to his assignment in the bush. But a freak traffic accident involving Amin's sports car and a cow eventually brings the good doctor into the dictator's orbit; a few months later, Garrigan is recalled from his rural hospital and named personal physician to the president. Soon enough, Garrigan finds himself caught between his duty to his patient and growing pressure from his own government to help them control Amin.

From Nicholas Garrigan's catbird seat, Foden guides us through the horrors of Amin's Uganda. It would be simple enough to make the dictator merely monstrous, but Foden defies expectation, rendering him appealing even as he terrifies. The doctor "couldn't help feeling awed by the sheer size of him and the way, even in those unelevated circumstances, he radiated a barely restrained energy...I felt--far from being the healer--that some kind of elemental force was seeping into me." And Garrigan makes a fine stand-in for Conrad's Marlow as he travels up a river of blood from Naiveté to horrified recognition of his own complicity. As if this weren't enough, Foden also treats us to a finely drawn portrait of Africa in all its natural, political and social complexity. The Last King of Scotland makes for dark but compelling reading. --Alix Wilber, Amazon.com

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Favourite book this year - Rated
This book sat in my 'to read' pile for ages, and then once i'd opened it i couldn't put it down. By page 17 I had decided it would be my book of the year!

What I loved about it was how well the author knows Uganda. It is absolutely spot on, the dialogue, the description, everything. I was completely transported and transfixed.

I had seen the film already - and do really like the film - but the book was a whole other level. For anyone who has ever been to Uganda, a must read.

Scary and Macabre - a must read - Rated
A slow start perhaps, but for me that worked well. We were not straight into the thick of the Amin regime but Foder works on the charcater development of the Dr and how he becomes entwined with the Amin Regime. This for me worked well; it gave an insight into the mind and make up of the Dr and how this perhaps left him still involved with Amin right up until his downfall.
The brutality of the dictator was well scripted and is proof again that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutly.
It loses a star for me only in at times I was struggling to understand why the Dr stayed to the end when he had seen so much and heard so many brutal stories, but perhaps this was in the make up of the man and just fear for himself. He was perhaps a coward.
A worthy read.

not a patch on the amazing screen version. - Rated
i watched the movie before the Oscar glory as i judged its trailer to be promising enough. and god it was , a lot more than that.
therefore, i safely bought the book on a good price to boost, but from the beginning i could sense that the affection and attraction i once felt for the character on screen wasn't happening with the original writing. what a shame. the book simply was too detailed when it came to description of africa which i don't care for, and dr carrighan is just not that enthrilling a chap. the relationship he seemed to have really had with Idi was more intense/stronger in the movie, which was what made it a lot more compealling.
i forced my self to read til the end, just in case...... well, you know what i am going to say....

Fantastic book, I was gripped from the first page - Rated
I enjoyed this book so much I've just gone out and bought all Giles Foden's other books which I plan to read in the coming weeks. Last King of Scotland had a bit of everything in it - history, suspense, horror, romance, comedy and was an extremely well written book. I read it in one night refusing to go to sleep until I got to the end and it was totally worth losing sleep over. Foden sets the scene really well, you can hear, taste and smell Uganda on every page, wonderful stuff! I want more though, why did the book have to end?!

FILM - Rated
For anyone who is interested: I was in Uganda July 05 and a British film crew were making a film of this book near Jinja.