
In Mukurob: How Far Would You Go For Your Life Purpose? Author Andre Costa takes us on a philosophical journey back to the roots of mankind – the cradle of humanity and the San people of the Kalahari, in Namibia. When Father David Callaghan, a Catholic priest in a small Irish town, discovers his childhood friend has been brutally murdered by extremists, he begins to question how mankind has ended up in the mess they seem to be in. To try to discover where it all went so terribly wrong, David takes a sabbatical from the priesthood to travel to Namibia where he volunteers to help on an anthropological experiment with the people believed to be the oldest humans on earth – the San people. David wants to know how hunter/gatherers like the San somehow took humanity on its journey to where it finds itself today. Living in the middle of the Kalahari with an eclectic bunch of scientists he finds many of his concepts about life and about faith, challenged and he will be profoundly changed by his experiences.
It’s a while since I’ve read a novel that attempted to describe such a broad analysis of humanity and the philosophy of life, in the context of a fictional story. Author Andre Costa does an excellent job of managing to embody such deep and enduring religious, philosophical and scientific arguments within what is essentially an adventure story. The character of David Callaghan is beautifully drawn, with his underlying angst about his profession, his faith, and the purpose of life. Yet, despite that, he had an enduring desire to find the answers, an innate kindness, a rare humanity, and a preparedness to do what is necessary to find the answers. I think David is a character that many of us can identify with, especially those of us who feel dissatisfied with the stories we have been told from our youth and our inability to find an alternative that has both meaning and logic. Mukurob: How Far Would You Go For Your Life Purpose certainly achieves what its author probably set out to do – to make his readers think and to question what they may well have always seen as immutable truths. That he was able to do this and still entertain with an interesting adventure into the Kalahari Desert, is a credit to his writing abilities. If you like a challenging read that makes you think and question your beliefs, while still providing a jolly good yarn, then this is definitely the book for you.
