A Journey to the Dark Heart of Nameless Unspeakable evila
This is an occasionally laugh out loud hilarious book about genocide and the mass kidnappings and rape of tens of thousands of Ugandan children If you re still with me after that description know that it s also about well intentioned but misguided Western governmental interference in African affairs a Useless Person learning how to become Useful and Ashton Kutcher Clearly it s a bit piecemeal a collage of assorted ideas with ragged edges sewn together But its main conceit is Jane Bussmann celebrity journalist can barely stop herself from committing suicide mid interview with Ashton Kutcher immensely idiotic but almost universally praised actor and thus decides to pursue real journalism She tricks her way to Uganda by pretending to be a foreign correspondent and not the author of Nicole Richie s Sexy Summer Bikini Bod and tries to blow the whistle on Joseph Kony the leader of a militant Ugandan rebel group that kidnaps children to serve as wives and soldiers before discovering that the situation is much complex than simply painting Kony as the Most Evil Man in the World. A journey to the dark heart of nameless unspeakable eviljohn Here s the thing Jane s background in humor writing and celebrity journalism both makes and breaks this story Jane is a self deprecating reader stand in She s just as unknowing as most of us on these topics just as shocked and just as horrified that she as well as nobody else is doing anything about it Her affable ignorance excuses our own ignorance while her visceral reaction against what she learns prods us to learn too But I think this book was also intended to be read as a decent expos of Kony and what the Ugandan government may or may not be doing to help prop his rebel regime up And as far as that goes Jane fails She lacks the geopolitical background to tell a cohesive narrative about how Kony came to power and how he s managed to stay in power so long She s able to identify a problem and say Hey hey That s not right than most people in the world who willfully or will lessly are content to be blind but she can t explain how it came to be problematic and possible solutions for it to no longer be problematic But honestly if reading about dreadful war crimes and the inefficient meddling of Western charities and governments combatting them was always this fun I think the general human population would be much informed about various atrocities occurring throughout the world And yeah yeah I hear ya being informed doesn t necessarily lead to meaningful change but it s a start We may live in what Jane calls The Golden Age of Stupid but I still believe that most of us are compassionate people Often things that are entertaining are considered unworthy of serious attention Yet Jane has written an entertaining book about a serious subject and it s an approach I d like to see of Jane Bussmann When I first read this irreverent eye opening memoir in 2009 it had a different and I think slightly better title The Worst Date Ever War Crimes Hollywood Heart Throbs and Other Abominations but after reading a review of it in the Sunday Times Literary Supplement I had to order my copy from . A journey to the dark heart of nameless unspeakable eviljohn UK because it wasn t out in the US Now with this revised title it s available stateside and after scan reading through an advanced review copy of the new version it looks like it s largely the same lively fantastic book The changes I saw are all minor a few chapter names are different there is an updated timeline at the end and a glossary has been included to explain Brit speak to us Yanks. A Journey to the Dark Heart of Nameless Unspeakable evilion sea Author Jane Bussmann is a comedian and it shows in her very witty writing but there is some grim material in here and Bussmann manages the quite amazing trick of being both tremendously funny and deadly serious at almost the same time. A journey to the dark heart of nameless unspeakable evila review As she tells it Bussmann got tired of hanging around Hollywood during 2003 2006 which she calls the Golden Age of Stupid interviewing mostly useless as she calls them celebrities Fed up she decides to radically change her life by following a peace negotiator who s really cute and certainly very useful to Uganda so she can write an article about him but after scraping together the money for a plane ticket he doesn t show up Not for a month or two anyway he s back in Hollywood Bussmann is left to kill time in a cheap Ugandan hostel so she decides to try doing some investigative fieldwork while she waits for the chance to interview and hopefully date her negotiator She teaches scriptwriting at an AIDs orphanage meets numbed victims of the warlord Joseph Kony and talks to anyone even very scary people who might be able to help her figure out why for 25 years the Ugandan army has been unable to prevent Kony from kidnapping children as young as four and forcing them to fight in his militia Being a celebrity journalist isn t completely wasted preparation for these adventures Both smug Hollywood stars and menacing army colonels become friendly and helpful after she asks them her two work saving Magic Questions You re in amazing shape what s your secret and We all know what you re famous for but how does it make you feel when you re not appreciated for your inner talents The peace negotiator eventually shows up but the interview date she hoped for doesn t work out the way she planned The resulting book however is a great success The humor verve and passion in this mind blowing account of traipsing around Africa kept me reading into the wee hours of the night and I m very glad this memoir is now being released on my side of the Atlantic I purchased my own UK copy of this book in 2009 and I read a free advanced review copy of of its updated version provided by the publisher through NetGalley Jane Bussmann I was reminded of Jim Rogers ultimate road trip book about traveling the world and noting the correlation between foreign aid and Mercedes dealerships In this book the author uncovers a disturbing symbiotic relationship between foreign aid murderous warlords NGOs the United Nations and charity groups Although well intentioned we ve created a billion dollar industry that has a vested interest in not solving problems. A journey to the dark heart of nameless unspeakable evillords Jane Bussmann is a British comedy writer celebrity journalist who after having a bit of crisis in her life decides to become a Useful Person and tries to follow human rights activist a very hot human rights activist John Prendergast to Uganda to write about his work She does this by not really knowing what she needs to do this She s never worked as a foreign correspondent I feel like this probably makes her the best person for the job. A journey to the dark heart of nameless unspeakable evilhand Ms Bussmann does a fantastic job of writing about the self centeredness of Hollywood and the incredibly devastating reality that is Uganda while adding piles and piles of hilarious self deprecation on top It doesn t seem right that reading a book about the horrors of 20000 children being kidnapped and forced to join a rebel army should be so entertaining I can t tell you how many times I laughed out loud I also can t tell you how many times I kept thinking My God is she TRYING to get killed But thank God she didn t die and thank God she did make this a funny entertaining story cos otherwise you d just want to curl up under a blanket and never get out of bed. A Journey to the Dark Heart of Nameless Unspeakable evilinnocence I sincerely hope she keeps being a Useful Person and continues to write about it Jane Bussmann Normally every book I read reminds me of a couple of others I ve read or have heard about This was not the case with A Journey to the Dark Heart of Nameless Unspeakable Evil It s hard to describe this book and I can t imagine which section you would find it in a bookstore Fortunately author Jane Bussmann tackles that problem towards the end of the book when she tells of trying to pitch the story as a Hollywood movie It s Romancing the Stone meets Bridget Jones s Diary meets Private Benjamin With a dash of Out of Africa And The Constant Gardener And The Devil Wears Prada. A journey to the dark heart of nameless unspeakable evilly book The book opens with Bussmann interviewing Ashton Kutcher As a Hollywood journalist she interviews celebrities and writes gossipy articles about them Increasingly dissatisfied with the Hollywood scene and her pointless career she sees an article about a conflict resolution expert named John Prendergast He negotiates with warlords twists arms in Washington and does all he can to end war in places like Uganda Bussmann finds this admirable and also notices that he is extremely good looking. A journey to the dark heart of nameless unspeakable evila review She wangles an assignment to interview him and thus begins her transformation from celebrity hack to important foreign correspondent The transformation is a bit rocky though and she often finds herself using her celebrity interviewing techniques on warlords diplomats and government officials The result is a combination of reporting on the horrific tragedy that is the war in Uganda interspersed with Bussmann s foul mouthed and hilarious experiences negotiating war torn Uganda and trying to sell her story to someone who cares. A Journey to the Dark Heart of Nameless Unspeakable evilboris It seems like a strange way to tell a story but I have to hand it to her it works There s little chance I would have read a long article about Ugandan atrocities let alone read a whole book about it But by the time I realized that s what I was reading I was hooked She wrote the book in 2009 under the U. A journey to the dark heart of nameless unspeakable evila review S State Department s page on Uganda and it s as bad as ever Jane Bussmann
So funny you almost feel guilty laughing Reuters The funniest thing we ve ever read InStyle Very funny Jane s got a death wish Matt Stone co creator of South Park This is one of the funniest books I ve read for a long while Sunday Times This book will change your life Mirror five stars After scriptwriter Jane Bussmann moves to Hollywood she realizes her day job interviewing celebrities sucks She goes to Africa in search of a dreamy activist and ends up uncovering Joseph Kony s crimes A Journey to the Dark Heart of Nameless Unspeakable Evil Charities Hollywood Joseph Kony and Other AbominationsFor full review scriptwriter Jane Bussmann moves to Hollywood she realizes her day job interviewing celebrities sucks She goes to Africa in search of a dreamy activist and ends up uncovering Joseph Kony s crimes goodreads I received this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review So my addiction to reading things about Africa is what drew me to request this book I had no idea who Jane Bussmann is Still don t I give this book 3 stars It was funny She is a very direct says what you are thinking but know you shouldn t actually say it out loud kind of person Basically she is a journalist who writes for gossip magazines and she wants better for her self So after seeing how hunky a social activist person who fights against Kony is she decides well why not She goes to Uganda and starts getting the inside scoop on what is actually happening over there.
A journey to the dark heart of nameless unspeakable evilart Jane has no idea what to expect and she goes into it with a I want to save the world attitude and potentially gain a lover idea with her brilliance The book all in all was a decent read It however seemed to drag on a bit to much for my liking and I really just wanted her to leave Uganda and get her article published or something However she turned it into a TV show I get that her article wouldn t change the outcome but it couldn t hurt I did like the beginning part better too I think it was hilarious to read about Ashton Kutcher and everything Maybe this makes me not as deep as I think I am 3 stars Would recommend it as there are some hilarious one liners but I got the feeling that it downplayed a bit of the seriousness of Kony and all that is happening in Uganda So if you want an easy comical lesson of what is goign on then pick it up Jane Bussmann I had originally became interested in this book when the author did an interview on MSNBC s Morning Joe a fixture in my morning routine and was very excited to receive a digital copy from Netgalley for review Unfortunately my enthusiasm for the book ends there.
A journey to the dark heart of nameless unspeakable evildoers The author of the book Jane Bussman is was a celebrity journalist who develops a crush on well respected peace activist John Pendergrast aka Former Director of African Affairs for the National Security Council In an attempt to fulfill her crush fantasies Jane begins a series of plots reminiscent of hair brained schemes used in I Love Lucy to arrange to writing a story about John and his work Finally she is successful in arranging to follow John around Uganda as he works on peace talks which is quite a feat considering she has no experience in news media and even less experience in reading or understating anything about any African nations Once Jane gets to Uganda she receives word from John that he will be detained on another project and is unsure when he will be arrivingthis leads to the 1 3 of the Book that I actually enjoyed reading While stranded in Uganda Jane is able to shed light on tragic circumstances that are not always seen by mainstream media sources since not being attached to one of these sources she is privy to unfiltered responses from subjects and able to get information from the local people she is forced to seek help from on everyday matters.
A journey to the dark heart of nameless unspeakable eviljohn I had difficulty getting through the first half of the book that is how long it took for Jane to get stranded and alnost quit several times The narrative style is a non stop inner monologue which comes across as flighty and catty Throughout her time in Uganda that cattiness is transformed into sarcasm fueled by riteous indignation a tone which I found interesting to read and highly relatable If this could have been the narrative tone for the entire book I feel like it would have been enjoyable Jane Bussmann I probably should have figured out I wasn t going to love this when I read the blurb on the front cover that boldy declares The funniest thing we ve ever read sic InStyle UK Ahhh so people who either a usually read nothing thicker than the September issue of Vogue or b have probably worked with the author think it s hilarious Why it MUST BE SO.
A Journey to the Dark Heart of Nameless Unspeakable evilangelist album So the author starts off as an appropriately self loathing celebrity journalist This job basically consists of making shit up paying other people to write stories for her glorifying wretched people and seemingly not having any redeeming qualities whatsoever But lo Bussmann realizes how empty her life is gets involved in real journalism in Uganda all the while panting over a Fabio looking peace activist and changes the world or something.
A journey to the dark heart of nameless unspeakable evila pdf I don t know what happens in the end because this book was so poorly written that I couldn t finish it Well actually I do know what happened in the end because I follow real journalism In any case I think Bussman should have spent less time paying grad students to write articles for her and working on screenplays and time taking a basic English grammar class down at the Learning Annex I was really excited about reading this and think it probably works a lot better when she does it as spoken word but this book was straight up bad Jane Bussmann Titles are so very important to me as are covers of books I expect to learn a lot about the story by the title that the author and or publisher has chosen Well this title has absolutely nothing to do with author Jane Bussmann s memoir At least as far as I can tell I didn t finish this book and really didn t get much further than Chapter 12 Memoirs can be entertaining and enlightening unfortunately that wasn t the case with this book Bussman rubbed elbows with many famous people during her stint as a celebrity journalist Actors like Mischa Barton and Ashton Kutcher Lucy Liu and Nicole Ritchie Lindsey Lohan and Tara Reid You would imagine that she would have terrific stories to tell but that wasn t the case She only mentions these celebs during her diatribes about Hollywood dieting drugs and the crazy Americans Bussmann wasn t impressed by the morals and lives of the beautiful people I get it The way the rich live is sometimes unbelievable But to write a book about how much one dislikes these people seemed like a big waste of time to me I simply couldn t get into the book Jane Bussmann Jane Bussmann a dispirited celebrity reporter with an irreverent sense of humor decides to become one of the useful people after an encounter with Ashton Kutcher and his lawyer She discovers a tireless human rights activist John Prendergast and doggedly pursues ventures that would allow her to write about his efforts in Africa During her trip to Uganda she discovers that the links between government despotic rebel leaders and aid agencies are a bit complicated and crooked than she ever imagined This book contains tough descriptions of child kidnapping sex slaves and violence but the overall tone remains that of a tragic comedy Jane Bussmann remains searingly honest about the situation and I found myself laughing at her observations not an easy feat with such a desperate subject This is one of the best books that I have read about the contradictions of aid agencies in developing countries and I appreciate the author s approach to writing about the situation I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review Jane Bussmann
..
A journey to the dark heart of nameless unspeakable eviljar The book is also very funny Jane Bussmann Get this book and put it in your face,
A Journey to the Dark Heart of Nameless Unspeakable evilcraft mod K title The Worst Date Ever and is now releasing it in the States under a new title But nothing has changed in Uganda I looked at the U
