Book Reviews

    Between Inca Walls: A Peace Corps Memoir By Evelyn Kohl La Torre (Peru 1964-66) She Writes Press 256 pages August 2020 $16.95 (paperback); $8.99 (kindle)   Reviewed by Mark D. Walker (Guatemala 1971-73) • The book is well written as the president of the National Association of Memoir Writers Linda Joy Myers describes, “Evelyn LaTorre creates a masterful portrait of place — from the Montana hills to the peaks of Perú — and illustrates how place shapes us. The many lovely metaphors and descriptions throughout the book invite the reader to see through the eyes of an innocent girl as she discovers exotic, lively cultures; absorbs the colors, sounds, passion, and intensity of that new world; and allows it to change her life path.” One scene in Cusco, Peru provides a myriad of details which gave a real sense of this exotic community, Scores of small dark, leather-skinned . . .

  The Death of Idealism: Development and Anti-Politics in the Peace Corps by Meghan Elizabeth Kallman (NPCV) Columbia University Press 293 pages April 2020 $28.00 (paperback); $15.39 (kindle); $110.00 (hardback) • ONE RPCVs VIEW Marnie Mueller (Ecuador 1963-65) As I read Meghan Elizabeth Kallman’s book, THE DEATH OF IDEALISM: Development and Anti-Politics in the Peace Corps, all I could think was, of course, idealism was challenged by the experience of being in the Peace Corps. It should have been, if you accept the definition of Idealism as: the practice of forming or pursuing an ideal unrealistically, as in the idealism of youth. Kallman’s book is an erudite, complex treatise on the many ways that idealism was “killed” in Peace Corps Volunteers over the organization’s six-decade history. I’m afraid I can only speak for myself and a few others of my early 1960s cohort in this review, a microcosm in relation to . . .

    What Some Would Call Lies: Novellas Robert G. Davidson (Eastern Caribbean—Grenada, West Indies 1990-92) Five Oaks Press July 2018 177 pages $16.99 (paperback), $9.99 (Kindle) Review by: D.W. Jefferson (El Salvador 1974–76), (Costa Rica 1976–77) • In the interest of full disclosure, I must report that I read and thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Davidson’s previous book, Spectators (Flash Fictions). The two novellas that comprise What Some Would Call Lies showcase Rob Davidson’s profound insight into the minds and thought processes of human beings, and his ability to bring sympathetic characters to life, causing us to feel what they feel, or at least recall and reflect upon similar experiences of our own. Davidson teaches creative writing. These novellas are great examples of the craft. The title What Some Would Call Lies derives from the idea that, even when writing nonfiction, a writer often includes experiences that are not literally true. . . .

    Posthumous (Children: age range: 7–12 years, grade level: 2–6) by Paul Aertker (Mauritania 1988–89) Flying Solo Press 202 pages May 2018 $12.97 (paperback), $6.41 (Kindle) Reviewed by Thomas L. Weck (Ethiopia 1965–67)  • Posthumous begins by revealing the resolution of the principal event of the story — the slow death of 12-years old Ellie’s mother, Etta, from cancer. Rather than focusing on the “suspense” of whether the Etta will live or die, it centers on the gamut of emotions that Ellie and her father, Calvert, experience as they watch Etta fight bravely against the inevitable. It is written with powerful emotion and compassion. It is almost impossible not to tear up on some of the truly magnificent prose that permeates the story. The bravery that Ellie and Calvert exhibit as witnesses to this tragic event mirrors the bravery of Etta’s fight against it. For any child who must bear . . .

    All the Days Past, All the Days to Come Mildred D. Taylor (Ethiopia 1965-67) Viking Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House L.L.C January 7, 2020 483 pages $19.99 (Hardcover), $10.99 (Kindle)   Reviewed by Marnie Mueller (Ecuador 1963-65) • Mildred D. Taylor’s ALL THE DAYS PAST, ALL THE DAYS TO COME is a young adult novel, the final book in a ten volume series for which Taylor has won innumerable awards, among them a Newbery Medal, four Coretta Scott King Awards, a Boston Globe—Horn Book Award, a L.A. Times Book Prize and the PEN Award for Children’s Literature. I have never before read a young adult novel as I have no children and during my teens so many decades ago, they didn’t call them by that name. When I was asked to review the novel, I Googled Taylor, and up came effusive accolades on literary sites followed by reader comments that . . .