Book Review

Book Review: Acts of Faith by Philip Caputo

Philip Caputo’s novel “Acts of Faith” is a sweeping deep dive into the choices and culture of NGOs (non-government organizations) operating in the war-torn Sudan. The cover claims it is “required reading”. I had expected a novel on the scale of Orhan Pamuk’s “Snow”, which was a sweeping novel in terms of scope, breadth and detail.

The difference between “Acts of Faith” and “Snow”, is that the most of the central characters in the former are Western (American, Australian, Canadian) in a foreign land facing hard choices, while the later are Turkish in Turkey, facing hard choices. Caputo’s novel paints of portrait of people you might know and meet in your everyday life, who for various reasons, have found themselves in this particular corner of Africa. Once I accepted this, that only handful of main characters are actually African, I gave myself over to the journey Caputo wanted to take me on. It was no less ambitious than “Snow.”

The journey is not unlike many of the flights running the blockade into Dinka and Nuba lands, besieged by a waging genocide: uncomfortable and dangerous. The book highlights the murky line between non-profit work and business. The pilots running the government blockade to deliver aid to the besieged are both in it for the money and in it for the cause. I found myself very often asking myself what I would do in a given scenario. It is books like this that make me really miss my book club, because there is plenty material here for ethical and social debate.

The novel starts with a cast list, for which I was grateful. You are able to appreciate the slow descent into a quicksand of immorality if you can remember the character’s names. Much like in “Boomsday” the characters change more than the characters change the situation. However, for all the opportunity for failure and corruption, Caputo overall paints a positive portrait of NGOs- it’s easy to see the death count would be much higher without them.

Caputo’s main criticism of the Americans he meets is their mistaken morality, the “I am a good person, ergo everything I do is right” attitude. “So American in their narcissism, in their self-righteousness, in the blindness of their inner natures,” he writes. They don’t understand that “God and the Devil are the same in Africa” and “The choice in Africa is not between right and wrong, but in what is necessary and what isn’t.” I have not been to Africa so I can’t say, but I wonder how much of these sorts of insight are more a function of being in a war zone then a particular war zone.

After about 500 pages of living on the edge of war torn Sudan, you almost become numb to the danger and hardships your characters are under. Caputo isn’t going to let you leave his book unshaken, and saves the worst for last. The last few pages of the 669 page tome just wrapped up loose ends. You would have to have a heart of stone to finish the book unmoved. I am a better person for having read this book. Given the increased scope and power of NGOs, the scope of American’s involvements in foreign engagements and the nature of geopolitics in the modern age “Acts of Faith” is definitely required – if at times painful- reading.