Book Review

An Ice-Cream War
by William Boyd

This book concerns the sub-Saharan African campaign between the British and the Germans during WWI, and has a large cast of characters. The two main characters are Felix and Gabriel Cobb, brothers from Kent who, despite very different interests and personalities, both end up serving in Africa. Boyd makes great use of both droll humor and senseless tragedy to illustrate the absurdities and pointlessness of war. Boyd also does a great job of maintaining narrative coherency while telling the story of people whose lives are increasingly fragmented and disheveled by the war.