The Last King of Scotland
Categories : Africa, Personal, Uganda, books |
Just finished reading this fascinating book by Giles Foden the other day. The Last King of Scotland is a novel which blurs the line between history and fiction. It tells the tale of Dr Nicholas Garrigan, a Scottish doctor who is sent to work in 
rural Uganda immediately before the rise to power of the infamous dictator Idi Amin. A freak accident involving Amin’s Maserati and a cow results in Dr Garrigan being called to treat Amin’s injuries, which results in him being given the dubious honour of being appointed as Idi Amin’s personal physician.
The novel intertwines Garrigan’s story with the historical events taking place in Uganda at the time, and the doctor is thrust into the thick of the historical action, playing a role in events including the 1976 PLO hijacking of an Air France Airbus and the subsequent Israeli commando raid on Entebbe airport to free the hostages. He also becomes involved in the action as the Tanzanian army invades Uganda in 1979 and liberates the capital Kampala from Amin’s rule.
Most fascinating though, are the plentiful scenes in which Garrigan gets up close and personal with Idi Amin. The enigmatic character of Amin is painted in detail by Foden, with a quasi-comic mix of sympathy and revulsion. Like Dr Garrigan, it is difficult for the reader to see Amin in simple black and white terms. At times Amin is quite beguilung and amusing, and at other times down right horrific. We are drawn into the struggle of Dr Garrigan to process and deal with the situation in which he finds himself immersed - his conflicted and ambivalent feelings provide a gripping demonstration of the mixed response of an ordinary man to evil.
This was Foden’s first book, but it is masterfully written. Certainly the best novel set in “recent history” that I can remember reading, and all the more fascinating to me given my current interest in Africa in general, and Uganda more specifically.
