Peace Corps writers

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pages $25.95 (paperback), $7.99 (Kindle) Reviewed by Tom Coyne (Morocco 1981–83) • What to say about a debut novel, unpublished until about a quarter century after it was written?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 . . .

Three Hundred Cups of Tea and The Toughest Job: Riding the Peace Corps Rollercoaster in Mali, West Africa A Side-by-Side Memoir by Asifa Kanji and David Drury (both: Mali 2011–12; PCResponse Ghana 2012–13; PCResponse South Africa 2013) CreateSpace May, 2015 290 pages $14.95 (paperback), $5.99 (Kindle) .Reviewed by Wayne and Laurie Kessler (Ethiopia 1964–66) • I love bath time — the feel of cool water drizzling down my sweaty back is absolutely delicious. I don’t even dry myself. I let the breeze cool me down. It feels sooooo good. My village life is so simple, it is beautiful. Asifa Kanji expresses delight in this Peace Corps memoir. But it’s more than a memoir. It’s a splendid read with insights into Asifa and David’s views on life, and glimpses of their earlier adventures in East and South Africa, India, Eritrea, and Norway. These adventures provided a base for understanding and interpretation . . .

Love & Ordinary Creatures Gwyn Hyman Rubio (Costa Rica 1971–73) Ashland Creek Press October 2014 306 pages $17.95 (paperback), $9.99 (Kindle) Reviewed by Bob Arias (Colombia 1964–66) • “Caruso!” she calls out annoyed. A beautiful “love story” about two individuals that are strong in character, passionate, full of life, and sad at times . . .. Caruso is a parrot, a sulphur-crested cockatoo with a speck of humanness in his birdness heart. Clarissa McCarty is his owner, but Caruso sees her as a red-headed eclectus hen . . . “Claaa-risss-a,” he shouts to get her attention. They have each other as they are searching for affection from one another on this island off of North Carolina and far from his home of Australia. Caruso has developed a keen mind, and a vocabulary that can challenge any human . . . but he talks to himself and only briefly has words for us humans. Caruso loves the . . .

AJAR Contemporaries a division of PFP Publications announces the reissue of Roland Merullo’s memoir/travelogue The Italian Summer: Golf, Food, and Family at Lake Como. First published in 2009, The Italian Summer has been called “a colorful, affectionate tour of Italian landscape and food” by Kirkus Magazine and “simply a wonderful read” byBookReporter, it is a charming narrative of a glorious summer of golfing, eating, and learning how to slow down and enjoy life. The best-selling author of Breakfast with Buddha, Golfing with God, Revere Beach Boulevard and others, combines two of his greatest passions – travel and golf – in this humorous and poignant look at Mediterranean life. Feeling a little burnt out by the frantic pace of life in the United States, Merullo decided to rent an Italian villa near the shore of Lake Como in a small town called Mezzegra. He arrived in Italy with his wife and two young daughters determined to . . .

King of the Gypsies: Stories by Lenore Myka (Romania 1994–96) BkMk Press, University of Missouri-Kansas City 2015 215 pages $15.95 (paperback) Review by Leita Kaldi Davis (Senegal 1993–96) • Lenore Myka writes astonishing stories of the Romany people (Gypsies), sex-trafficking, inter-cultural relationships, adoption of Romanian children, all with the deep, often disturbing understanding that comes with living in a particular place with people who define your life for a significant period of time, as would a Peace Corps Volunteer. But this is not a Peace Corps memoir; in fact, Myka’s service in Romania is mentioned only in passing. The narratives are mysteriously linked. In the title story, we meet a Romany child, Dragoş, an orphan who counters bullies by puffing himself up, pounding his chest and proclaiming himself “King of the Gypsies.” His search for his parents is heart-breaking, as is his brutal confrontation with a dog. In another story, . . .

Africa’s Heart: The Journey Ends in Kansas by Mark Wentling (PCV Honduras, 1967–69, Togo 1970–73; PC Staff/Togo, Gabon, Niger, 1973–77) A Peace Corps Writers Book, 2015 522 pages $ 16.07 (paperback); $8.99 (Kindle) Review by Leita Kaldi Davis (Senegal 1993–96) • AFRICA’S HEART: The Journey Ends in Kansas is the last book in a trilogy by Mark Wentling; the first is Africa’s Embrace, followed by Africa’s Release: The Journey Continues. Mark Wentley’s stories revolve around David Peterson, a Peace Corps Volunteer in the imaginary country of Kotoku. The villagers call him Bobovovi and, when they see him ride a moonbeam one magical night, they believe he can commune with their ancestors, but when Bobo disappears into a giant baobab tree they view him as a great spirit. To honor him, they work hard to fulfill Bobo’s many schemes for economic development, and they begin to prosper. Bobo had fallen in . . .

Ad Nauseam: How Advertising And Public Relations Changed Everything by Jeff  Koob (Jamaica 1991–93) iUniverse March 2015 196 pages $16.95 (paperback), $3.99 (Kindle) Reviewed by Gerald Karey (Turkey 1965–67) • “If you read no other book this year, read Jeff Koob’s Ad Nauseam. It will change your life.” There you have it: the hyperbole and the promise to make you a better you, a claim I can’t possibly substantiate. It’s advertising. It’s propaganda. “Propagandists use emotion and unfounded assertions rather than logic and fact, selecting emotionally loaded words and images to create a desired feeling, or combining facts and half-truths or outright lies — with emotional triggers,” Koob writes. “Many ads are unburdened by anything resembling truth.” Most Americans, if asked, would say propaganda is something that happens elsewhere, Koob writes. “We’re so steeped in propaganda techniques that most of us don’t notice them in advertising and public relations campaigns.” . . .

The two recent The New Yorker magazines (August 31st & September 7th) contain articles by George Packer (Togo 1982-84), both worth reading. In the August issue is a long, long piece entitled “The Other France” that is subtitled, Are the suburbs of Paris incubators of terrorism? The article goes onto saying that “Although the alienated, impoverished immigrant communities outside Paris are increasingly prone to anti-Semitism, the profiles of French jihadists don’t track closely with class. Many of them have come from bourgeois families.” The second piece is a short The Talk of the Town comment entitled “The Populists” that begins with a 1910 quote from Thomas E. Watson, a populist from Georgia, who had a long demagogic career in American politics. Packer writes that Watson “ended his career, as a U.S. senator, whipping up white-Protestant enmity against blacks, Catholics, and Jews.” (Does this sound like someone we know today?) Watson . . .

To purchase any of these books from Amazon.com, click on the book cover, the bold book title, or the publishing format you would like — and Peace Corps Worldwide, an Amazon Associate, will receive a small remittance that will help support the site and the annual Peace Corps Writers awards. • Autobiography of a Black Sheep Eddie James Girdner (India 1968–70) CreateSpace August, 2015 482 pages $16.95 (paperback) . • Historical Ecology of Malaria in Ethiopia: Deposing the Spirits James C. McCann (Ethiopia 1973–75) Ohio University Press June 2015 216 pages $75.00 (hard cover), $26.40 (paperback), $14.39 (Kindle) . • Travel Tales of a Feisty Fifty-something: All Roads Lead Home Joanne  Nussbaum (Mongolia 2010–12) BookBaby January 2015 116 pages $3.99 (Kindle) . • How to Write a Novel (a novel) Melanie Sumner (Senegal 1988–90) Vintage August, 2015 304 pages $14.95 (paperback), $7.99 (Kindle), $29.95 (MP3 CD) • The Peace Corps, . . .

The editor and publisher of Peace Corps Worldwide have decided to narrow the focus of this blog, and limit articles to only those pertaining to the written works by PCVs and RPCVs, and those about the Peace Corps itself — much as was the case in the past when we began producing the newsletter RPCV Writers & Readers in 1989, and subsequently the website Peace Corps Writers. This decision is based on the fact that with 50+ years of the Peace Corps, numerous books and other works are being published by RPCV writers, and we are overwhelmed with material, need to sharpen our attention, and bring the purpose of the site back to our original efforts to fulfill the Third Goal. We especially appreciate, and thank, all of those RPCVs who have written blogs for Peace Corps Worldwide outside these criteria that we have discontinued, but it is time for . . .

There is a long, long section in the Sept/Oct 2015 issue of Poets & Writers that focuses on MFA programs for creative writing. In an article entitled “The Mature MFA Going Back to School as an Older Student”  written by Shannon Reed, she mentions Michael Meyer (China 1995-97), author of The Last Days of Old Beijing (2008), and writes that “Everyone I interviewed for this article emphasized that it’s especially important for older students to be clear about their intentions.” She then quotes Michael, “In your personal statement, tell us who you are and why you want to earn an MFA . . .. Wanting a fresh start after a terrible breakup is not a compelling reason. Join the Peace Corps instead.” [Com’on, Mike, you know better than that. If you went to Manchuria or Walli Jalla, Senegal, you could write a novel about that lost love, publish it, and be ahead of . . .

Peter Lefcourt (Togo 1962–64), winner of the 2006 Maria Thomas Award in 2006 for his novel The Manhattan Beach Project, has a new novel out this August entitled, Purgatory Garden. In the novel Sammy Dee is a mid-level Long Island mafioso in witness protection. Didier Onyekachukwu was the corrupt minister of finance of the former Upper Volta. Both men find themselves in middle age, living in the Southern California version of genteel poverty in a down-market condo complex called Paradise Gardens. Enter Marcy Gray, a “mature” actress barely getting by on a meager SAG pension. She is looking for a guy to help her through the duration and, frankly, at this point her standards are not as high as they should be; she’d settle for someone who doesn’t pick his teeth at the table and who drives at night. Occasional sex and some travel wouldn’t hurt. Her search has narrowed to . . .

A Writer Writes My Freedom Summer Peace Corps Novel by Simone Zelitch (Hungary 1991-93) Over twenty years after my time in Peace Corps Hungary, I’ve finally published my Peace Corps novel.  No, it doesn’t take place at the University of Veszprem in 1991; it’s set in Mississippi. Waveland (The Head and the Hand, 2015) centers on a hapless, earnest, white volunteer during Freedom Summer. The book is about good intentions, culture shock, and eventual maturity. It’s about the stupid mistakes all outsiders make when we jump into deep water without knowing how to swim. In the summer of 1964, when the Freedom Movement decided to invite white volunteers to Mississippi, some called it a “domestic Peace Corps”. These young people from the North would staff libraries and daycare centers, teach literacy classes, and join on-going voter-registration drives in a campaign that culminated in a challenge to the all-white Mississippi delegation . . .