Illiterati: Gen X Book Club will meet at FUSION on Sunday, June 28, from 11 AM–1 PM. This month’s book club is on Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller.

Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight is Alexandra Fuller's unflinching memoir of growing up white in Africa during the final, violent decades of colonial rule—spanning Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Zambia, and Malawi in the 1970s and 80s. Fuller recounts her unconventional, often dangerous childhood with remarkable candor: a mercurial, hard-drinking mother, a father who farmed land soaked in the blood of civil war, and a family held together by stubbornness and love even as the world around them collapsed.

What makes the book extraordinary is Fuller's refusal to sentimentalize or condemn. She writes about white settler life—its privileges, its blindness, its strange tenderness—with the clear eyes of someone who has had decades to reckon with what she witnessed. The result is a portrait of place and family that is brutal, funny, and deeply human.

Click here for a book review:

Click here for an interview with the author.

There is also a 2024 film adaptation available on Netflix.

Illiterati: Gen X Book Club is a media-positive book group. Audiobookers and Podcasters are welcome too. Prepare yourself for lively, non-disrespectful discussion. BYO snacks and drinks!

This book club is FREE and open to the public!