I Finally Finished Reading Dark Star Safari After Nine Months
I battled to pick it up and carry on reading after my soulmate died
In early January, I’d mentioned to a travel writer on Medium that I was reading Paul Theroux’s book for a second time, little knowing then that I wouldn’t finish it until last week.
Neither did I know my soulmate would be dead 2 weeks later.
During our decades together, it was a bedtime ritual to settle down and read before going to sleep. It was difficult enough during the days and weeks after his passing for me to adjust to falling asleep in a half-empty bed, let alone read by myself.
As a result, it took me 2 months to pluck up the courage to read again in bed, but not THAT book. I became accustomed to reading alone. The stories transported me to another world; a welcome distraction from reality.
I can’t remember what Mr H was reading early January, but I continued with Dark Star Safari — Overland from Cairo to Cape Town, while he was away in hospital for 6 days.
I recall so vividly that fortnight before he left for the hospital. He never objected when I interrupted him to read a passage of Theroux’s prose aloud to him. He’d acknowledge its perfection, and we’d then return to our respective books.
