Thrilling, heartbreaking, and, at times, absurdly funny, The Last Resort is a remarkable true story about one family in a country under siege and a testament to the love, perseverance, and resilience of the human spirit. Born and raised in Zimbabwe, Douglas Rogers is the son of white farmers living through that country’s long and tense transition from postcolonial rule. He escaped the dull future … escaped the dull future mapped out for him by his parents for one of adventure and excitement in Europe and the United States. But when Zimbabwe’s president Robert Mugabe launched his violent program to reclaim white-owned land and Rogers’s parents were caught in the cross fire, everything changed. Lyn and Ros, the owners of Drifters–a famous game farm and backpacker lodge in the eastern mountains that was one of the most popular budget resorts in the country–found their home and resort under siege, their friends and neighbors expelled, and their lives in danger. But instead of leaving, as their son pleads with them to do, they haul out a shotgun and decide to stay.
On returning to the country of his birth, Rogers finds his once orderly and progressive home transformed into something resembling a Marx Brothers romp crossed with Heart of Darkness: pot has supplanted maize in the fields; hookers have replaced college kids as guests; and soldiers, spies, and teenage diamond dealers guzzle beer at the bar.
And yet, in spite of it all, Rogers’s parents–with the help of friends, farmworkers, lodge guests, and residents–among them black political dissidents and white refugee farmers–continue to hold on. But can they survive to the end?
In the midst of a nation stuck between its stubborn past and an impatient future, Rogers soon begins to see his parents in a new light: unbowed, with passions and purpose renewed, even heroic. And, in the process, he learns that the “big story” he had relentlessly pursued his entire adult life as a roving journalist and travel writer was actually happening in his own backyard.
Evoking elements of The Tender Bar and Absurdistan, The Last Resort is an inspiring, coming-of-age tale about home, love, hope, responsibility, and redemption. An edgy, roller-coaster adventure, it is also a deeply moving story about how to survive a corrupt Third World dictatorship with a little innovation, humor, bribery, and brothel management.
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This book is a true account of the author’s parents’ lives in Zimbabwe in the early 2000’s, a time of turmoil and tragedy throughout the country, yet strangely filled with hope as both black and white Africans worked to overthrow Mugabe.
A riveting book, the people depicted are both inspiring and unforgettable. I love reading every page and felt …
This was a great read!!!
Interesting.
Dull
Interesting account of surviving the Mugabe regime. At times amusing, at times frightening, it’s a good introduction to Zimbabwe’s recent history.
Good book but very abrupt ending.
I really enjoyed reading this book. I learned a lot about Zimbabwe/Rhodesia, especially what happened when it gained independence. Too bad the country has fallen to thugs.
A personal look at the struggles of one family to survive in tumultuous times in Zimbabwe.
Truth is stranger than fiction. There is no other explanation for The Last Resort, Douglas Rogers’s chronicle of his parents trials and tribulations in Zimbabwe during the first decade of the current century. Zimbabwe’s troubles are well known, of course: the country’s name nearly synonymous with hyperinflation and bad government. As Rogers …
Born and raised in Zimbabwe, the author tells the story of his parents life on their property in the eastern mountains of Zimbabwe, on a piece of land that they had turned into a famous game farm and backpacker lodge called Drifters. The family had moved around the country while the author and his siblings grew up, but each of them left to pursue …