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A review by candacesiegle_greedyreader
Missionaries by Phil Klay
5.0
There are all sorts of missionaries in this excellent novel. The first are a group of Americans who build a school in a rural Colombian town to teach reading, math, and about a personal Jesus. When the guerilla came, followed by the paracos, they vanished. Killed? Fled? The other missionaries are those. of justice, technology, survival, all of which leave the people of Santander del Norte terrified and praying for the missionary who brings peace, no matter what that means.
Colombia is the "good war," one where there is belief that good is conquoring evil. For journalist Lisette, weary of covering the hopeless war in Afganistan, it doesn't turn out to be that way. Nor for Mason, an army medic in Afganistan who becomes a liaison with the Colombian special forces. His Colombian counterpart, Juan Pablo, faces reality with a pragmatic attitude, but none of them is on the front line as solidly as Abel, whose family was slaughtered by one faction and ends up serving that same group.
The first sections of the book that include Mason are too full of acronyms, like some kind of deadly secret boys' club. It makes it hard for non-military readers to be part of the story. This distancing from the reader may be intentional, with the endless fighting and death deflected in an alphabet soup. This dehumanizing way of waging war has spread across the globe, and no one knows this better than Mason.
As with any novel with several points of view, you'll be more invested in some than others. This is true of "Missionaries." But all of these points of view are needed to make the story complete. It's a devastating tale, worth telling.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for access to this title.
4.5 stars.
``Candace Siegle, Greedy Reader
Colombia is the "good war," one where there is belief that good is conquoring evil. For journalist Lisette, weary of covering the hopeless war in Afganistan, it doesn't turn out to be that way. Nor for Mason, an army medic in Afganistan who becomes a liaison with the Colombian special forces. His Colombian counterpart, Juan Pablo, faces reality with a pragmatic attitude, but none of them is on the front line as solidly as Abel, whose family was slaughtered by one faction and ends up serving that same group.
The first sections of the book that include Mason are too full of acronyms, like some kind of deadly secret boys' club. It makes it hard for non-military readers to be part of the story. This distancing from the reader may be intentional, with the endless fighting and death deflected in an alphabet soup. This dehumanizing way of waging war has spread across the globe, and no one knows this better than Mason.
As with any novel with several points of view, you'll be more invested in some than others. This is true of "Missionaries." But all of these points of view are needed to make the story complete. It's a devastating tale, worth telling.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for access to this title.
4.5 stars.
``Candace Siegle, Greedy Reader