A young catholic, Irish priest is experiencing personal difficulties that make him question humans and humanity. Are we by nature good or bad? What had gone wrong? What had become of us?
When he reads an article on that matter, he decides to travel to Africa without any hesitation. Among academic professionals, Dawid keeps asking questions while opening himself to new experiences and ideas. While in Africa things aren´t exactly going as Dawid was hoping and after only two weeks he comes back to Ireland.
This is not a book about Christianity or priesthood. It´s not about Africa or primal societies. It´s more about asking questions and coming back to our true selves, listening to primal instincts.
The story itself is somehow interesting, especially at the very end, after an almost tragic event (no spoilers, for now, don´t worry). Yet, I found it slow, the semi-philosophical dialogues unnatural and boring so much, I actually skipped quite a few pages. One part specifically is very odd... tbc...

SPOILER

... there is a scene where a member of a team is being murdered, found with a dagger stuck in his back. What I found absolutely shocking and unbelievable is the way people are reacting to this tragic event. One person is screaming, crying, and lamenting. The rest suppress their emotions and have a reasonable, logically intact conversation as who might be the killer and why. Then... after an hour, everybody is going to sleep. A few hours later, in the morning the police arrive, and only then we can observe some emotions. What on earth? seriously.

I didn´t enjoy this book as much as I hoped to. The ending in my opinion is the best part of the book, although, I must say I had guessed what will happen.

I received an ARC and I am reviewing this book voluntarily.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4440585636

Initially, I wanted to read the book because it is set in Africa and has lots of interesting facts about the local San tribe, which was as intriguing as I had wished for. However, I was smitten by this profound and unpretentious investigation into one man’s complex search for meaning. I also found it easy to read and really enjoyed the playful way the author built a handful of strong and memorable characters. All in all, a heartfelt, sensitive, and philosophically enticing novel in tune with contemporary issues.

I loved the premise of this book and the blurb. I devour anything based in Africa (a continent that I love) and read a lot of spiritual fiction. But the book was quite different from what I expected. I found it incredibly slow moving and nothing really happened outside of the main character's philosophical musings. It's well written and there are some spiritual nuggets there, but overall I did not enjoy this book and DNF at 75%.