PositiveThe Times (UK)There are maps in the book—and you will need them. It’s tricky at times to know where you are. His central point, however, is easy to grasp—the Magdalena is Colombia ... The book is a rallying cry to save the Magdalena from the destructive effects of industrialisation, but it also aims to reset our impressions of the country as a whole ... I won’t forget Wade’s account of the men Davis meets who, despite all the dangers—the guerillas forbade people from claiming bodies—retrieved countless bloated corpses from the river so they could be buried properly. It’s hard to read and all still so immediate ... At times Davis’s lyricism goes too far ... His passion for Colombia is better expressed in the depth of information he delivers—and the poetic way in which he captures its extraordinary landscape.
