Learning to Play With a Lion's Testicles: Unexpected Gifts from the Animals of Africa

Description

The cheeky title of Melissa Haynes's story of adventure in Africa, Learning to Play with a Lion's Testicles , earned the book some big publicity on NBC-TV/Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on September 4,2013 where it topped the show's list of "Titles Not to Read" for September 2013. Melissa's book was also a big smash on the March 11, 2014 Ellen Show , where Ellen and guest Ricky Gervais highlighted the book throughout the entire hour. Playing with a lion’s testicles: An African saying that means to take foolhardy chances. For the reader who has ever dreamed of going to Africa or knows the pain of loss and guilt, Learning to Play with a Lion's Testicles will fill your soul. Melissa, an exhausted executive from the city seeks meaning and purpose from her work volunteers for a Big Five conservation project in South Africa. Her boss, an over-zealous ranger, nicknamed the Drill Sergeant, has no patience for city folk, especially if they're women. He tries to send her packing on day one, but Melissa stands her ground with grit and determination, however shaky it may be. Conflict soon sets the pace with a cast filled with predatory cats and violent elephants, an on-going battle of wits with the Drill Sergeant. Even Mother Nature pounds the reserve with the worst storm in a century. But the most enduring and profound conflict is the internal battle going on within Melissa, as she tries to come to terms with the guilt surrounding her mother's death. When death grips the game reserve, it is the very animals Melissa has come to save that end up saving her. Review: Just for the Title? - Ok yes I did get it for the title and to shock the mother in law. However my wife is now reading it and states that it is a very easy read, which is good because it is my turn next. Review: A Walk in the Park - Melissa Haynes, “Learning to Play with a Lion’s Testicles” is a must read for anyone who loves animals, has turmoil in their family lives or likes nice writing. Haynes has brilliantly interwoven the great themes of life and literature—fear, love, guilt and passion—in her personal journey through her mother’s death and her volunteer expedition to Africa where she is forced to look eye to eye with gorgeous and deadly animals daily. In this expedition cum memoir Haynes guides the reader without pushing, quite like the Drill Sargeant who masquerades as a ranger in his daily life, toward the center of her darkness and the beauty of her breakthrough—a slaughter. “I am covered in blood”….she tells us… but her triumph appears complete. The circle, she writes “is finally closing”. Funny, even though we take a personal safari and meet our demons every day, after struggling with Haynes through hers, she makes confrontation feel like a walk in the park.