September 29, 2015 – Peace Corps Worldwide

Review — Far Away in the Sky by David L. Koren (Nigeria 1965–66)

Sep 29 2015

Far Away in the Sky: A Memoir of the Biafran Airlift by David L. Koren (Nigeria 1964–66) CreateSpace April 2012 332 pages $17.99 (paperback), $8.60 (Kindle) Reviewed by Don Schlenger (Ethiopia 1966–68) • David Koren was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Eastern Nigeria from January 1964 through December 1965. At the end of his two-year service, after a brief return to the States, he re-enlisted, or ‘extended’ his service, as it was called at the time, and returned to Nigeria in January 1966, during a coup led by army officers. Many of these officers, who were from the Igbo tribal group, were Christian and their home was the eastern district of Nigeria, where Koren served as an English teacher. They overthrew the ruling Hausa leaders who were Muslim and mostly from northern Nigeria. In June and July 1966, another coup ousted the Igbo officers and led to the slaughter of . . .

Review — The Unspoken by Christopher Conlon (Botswana 1988–90)

Sep 29 2015

The Unspoken: The Lost Novel by Christopher Conlon (Botswana 1988–90) CreateSpace January 2015 776 pages $25.95 (paperback), $7.99 (Kindle) Reviewed by Tom Coyne (Morocco 1981–83) • What to say about a debut novel, unpublished until about a quarter century after it was written? First, The Unspoken: The Lost Novel was not really lost. Over a six-year period, author Christopher Conlon started this novel in college, continued writing it in Peace Corps (Botswana), and finished it in several other locales. Then, it languished on paper and floppy disks until this year. Second, Conlon was apparently loath to cut any bit of it. At 750+ pages, The Unspoken is a behemoth. Third, to use the author’s favored character description, this is a very glum story. Conlon is now an established writer — a winner of awards.* In his informative new introduction to the book, he observes: The Unspoken is a young man’s . . .

Archive - September 29, 2015