Review: Married to Amazement, by Kathleen Coskran (Ethiopia, 1965-67)

Christine Herbert (Zambia, 2004-06) reviews Kathleen Coskran’s Married to Amazement. This memoir is available on Amazon and Bookshop.org.

Married to Amazement: A Memoir

Title: Married to Amazement: A Memoir

Author: Kathleen Coskran (Ethiopia, 1965-67)

Published: Apr 24, 2025 (Peace Corps Worldwide)

Review by Christine Herbert (Zambia, 2004-06)

When Coskran’s memoir kicks off by disclosing to her readers she’s not just old, but old old (81 years), we can’t help but be drawn in by her humor and candor. She doesn’t claim to offer any pearls of wisdom, but instead offers up memories of moments that have brought her into a state of utter amazement and profound gratitude. To this end, she offers a collection of short stories—little snippets of wonder—to offer us glimpses of her extraordinary life experience. This book is an invitation to examine life’s gifts and mysteries through her eyes. That is to say, she offers us not pearls, but absolute gems.

She opens with her first grand cross-cultural adventure, a crash course in amazement, when she accepts a Peace Corps assignment in 1965 teaching English and algebra in Ethiopia. Anyone who has served in a similar capacity will immediately feel a connection to Coskran’s experience, the challenges and uncomfortable revelations of the privileges of the American, as she steps into her new identity as a ferengi, a foreigner.

Her time in Ethiopia kickstarts a life full of open-hearted service and courage. From the U.S. heartland, to Kenya, Nepal, Colombia, Spain, China, and back again, Coskran leads us through adventures both large and small as she journeys to find meaning through vocation, pilgrimage, partnership, motherhood, and beyond.

Each short story explores the dynamics of what it means to live in relationship with others. As a Montessori guide, she discovers how the roles of student and teacher can become interchangeable. As a mother, of both her own children and those she adopts from around the globe, she expands her understanding of family ties and how to belong to one another. Other facets of her identity are explored in ways that bring delight and heartbreak to the reader: spouse, daughter, sister, friend. Coskran’s stories remind us that whether we click instantly, rub along together for many years, or engage in unceasing debate (such as her mother and her long-time hairdresser), we explore our world through communicating—and communing—with other human beings, and this exploration drives us deeper into the mystery of life.

A philosophical principle, one that underpins Buddhism and other practices in mindfulness, asserts that if you deeply observe, everything in your life becomes your teacher. Coskran deftly explores that principle by allowing the other characters in her narrative to shine and impart life lessons: Dying loved ones who face their mortality with humor and grace, a prisoner who struggles against the injustices of his incarceration, an orphan who endeavors to waste not even a single grain of rice.

Other non-human teachers offer lessons when attention is given to them: the survival instincts of plants, the emotional depth of animals, the cryptic call of poetry, the rhythm of routine as one walks the Camino—day after day after day. The subtle gifts these teachers bear are often strange fruit; life’s takeaways are rarely the lessons you thought you’d learn.

A cardinal rule of engaging storytelling is “show, don’t tell.” At this, Coskran proves to be a master. Whether she is traveling to new and exotic lands or sitting at her parent’s kitchen table, her “showing” takes the reader on a journey of the soul, rich with experience and meaning. The exploration of love and the interconnectivity of life forms the bedrock of each story she shares. In Coskran’s words, “We are all a miracle of love as is every other creature in the universe if you can define love as a connection, as possibility, as belief in life, as faith in what comes next.”

In short: this is a stunner of a memoir. For those that enjoy short stories and poetry, this is a treasure you’ll find yourself turning to time and again. Married to Amazement is an affirmation of life, a font of pure wonder, 81 years in the making.

Christine Herbert (Zambia 2004-2006), is the author of the multi-award-winning book The Color of the Elephant: Memoir of a Muzungu as well as several children’s books in the Once Upon a Dance series. Christine is a part-time writer, part-time bodyworker, and full-time space cadet living in the Pacific Northwest. She served as a health educator in Peace Corps Zambia, and later as a health care professional in the U.S. and abroad. Christine considers her service in the Peace Corps to be the highlight of both her personal and professional life.