jenmat1197's review against another edition
4.0
This is the author's own story of the time he lived in Togo with the Peace Corps. He was there for 18 months in the early 1980s. He was stationed in a village called Lavie as an English Teacher. What he finds is the desperately poor, who pin all of their hopes on the people who are sent to help them. He gets to know a wide variety of people while he is there - the villagers, the chiefs, the children at his school, and tries to figure out how he fits into their world. He comes to care for the people in the village and wants to help so badly. But knows that he will never make enough difference. That he will never be able to catch up with how much they all need.
This was a good book. I thought it was very, very well written. The story was engaging, and George tells a lot of stories about his time there and the people, and he expresses his frustrations well. When you first start this book you will wonder to yourself "wow George - what were you even doing there? You seem to just be focusing on the negative". BUT - as the story goes along, it becomes more well rounded and you start to understand his frustration. And you come to realize that we would probably all feel that way - especially growing up in middle class America. You would feel helpless in what would look like a hopeless situation.
I encourage you to read this book. It gave me a really good look into the village life in Togo.
This was a good book. I thought it was very, very well written. The story was engaging, and George tells a lot of stories about his time there and the people, and he expresses his frustrations well. When you first start this book you will wonder to yourself "wow George - what were you even doing there? You seem to just be focusing on the negative". BUT - as the story goes along, it becomes more well rounded and you start to understand his frustration. And you come to realize that we would probably all feel that way - especially growing up in middle class America. You would feel helpless in what would look like a hopeless situation.
I encourage you to read this book. It gave me a really good look into the village life in Togo.
dlberglund's review against another edition
4.0
This book sat on my to-read list for almost a decade before I finally prioritized it on my library hold list, and committed to reading it. Packer is a great writer who made me *think* all the way through the book. I have repeatedly described this book as "thoughtful". At times, that made for some dense prose; not a quick read, for sure. But it was reflective, history-minded, and thoughtful without being didactic. He doesn't wash his Peace Corps experience in sepia tones, or give in to easy characterizations of himself or the other people he meets. He tries to show the tightrope walk of development work, of colonization history and its repercussions, of economic colonialism, or misguided altruism, fatalism, and self-centered youth. Best of all, he shows a realistic picture of himself that is neither self-mocking nor self-aggrandizing.
I was a Peace Corps volunteer in East Africa, removed from Packer's experience by 15 years and more than 2000 miles. Though the colonial and atrocity history in "my" country was very different, it amazed me how much of his experience translated to what I experienced. He put to words things I had wondered about, noticed in my periphery, and he posed the kinds of questions that did not ever quite materialize for me.
Though there are other light, fun and funny, meaningful Peace Corps memoirs out there, this was the best balanced and reflective look at the tricky nature of volunteer "development" work. It is well worth the read.
I was a Peace Corps volunteer in East Africa, removed from Packer's experience by 15 years and more than 2000 miles. Though the colonial and atrocity history in "my" country was very different, it amazed me how much of his experience translated to what I experienced. He put to words things I had wondered about, noticed in my periphery, and he posed the kinds of questions that did not ever quite materialize for me.
Though there are other light, fun and funny, meaningful Peace Corps memoirs out there, this was the best balanced and reflective look at the tricky nature of volunteer "development" work. It is well worth the read.
dkrane's review against another edition
4.0
Very well written, and really resonates with me about spending a year (or two for him) volunteering abroad in a different culture. Interesting and some cool observations about Togo and Africa. That said, it was written 30 years ago, so I'm unsure how relevant those observations are to Africa today.
ellevh's review against another edition
5.0
I'd picked up a bunch of Peace Corp books about a month ago to research some short stories, but I had no idea I'd be so very enthralled. My current conversational limits are centered around Togo, Africa. Interesting and engaging.
emurph09's review against another edition
dark
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.5
Chills at the end. I’ve been looking for this type of memoir that interludes personal reflections of time spent in Togo with history and political analysis. This book personalizes the reverberations of colonization in Togo, and emphasis how the world continues to fail newly liberated countries. This book is now 40 years old, so I’m curious what has changed.
niceread's review against another edition
3.0
The author paints a very dismal portrait of an incredibly poor, drought-stricken country. I wonder how much has changed in Togo since the author served in the Peace Corps there in 1982-83. I hope things have gotten better.
therealnani's review
4.0
I withheld a star because I'm mad at George Packer. He disappointed me in the end and the irony is not lost on me. The recurring motif in this memoir is that of the Whites as a false hope in Africa, and this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy for our author. But it is easy for me to feel righteous from where I sit, in American comfort with no real concept of what it is like to spend almost two years in a poor West African village, peeling back the layers of the ill effects of European colonialism. As disappointed as I am, I also recognize that I have an unfair expectation of Fo Georgie, that as the story progressed, I made him nobler in my mind than any human probably should be.
This memoir is the most clear, understandable, and practical analysis of the complicated, fraught and dysfunctional relationship between Africans and non-Africans I've read.
This memoir is the most clear, understandable, and practical analysis of the complicated, fraught and dysfunctional relationship between Africans and non-Africans I've read.
More...