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Community comment are the opinions of contributing users. These comment do not represent the opinions of Omaha Public Library.
Sep 02, 2012Urbano rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
This gripping novel explores our nostalgia for the unlived parts of our lives and the narcissistic Western tenancy to project our own fantasies onto other cultures, with devastating effect for all. Ellis Hock is a bored and passive 60 year old, disconnected from his family and disappointed by life. After his wife leaves him and his business fails, he decides to reinvent himself by returning to the last place he remembers being happy: the isolated Malawian village he lived in as a Peace Corp volunteer. His vision of the Edenic life he'll lead there begins to crumble before he even reaches the village, yet he clings to his fantasies. Arriving in the village, he finds not the noble, happy people he remembered (or imagined?) but people struggling to survive hunger, poverty, AIDS, drought and the corrosive effects of Western development programs. Everywhere he turns he encounters manipulation, indifference, fear and despair. And then he finds that he, like the villagers, has no way out. Ellis is quite a loathsome character: he is passive and content to sit back, bark orders and let others care for him & exploit him. He lusts after the 16 year old granddaughter of the villager he wanted to marry in his youth, having her dance naked for him to alleviate his boredom and despair. He seems to feel no compassion for the villagers' pain and hopelessness, spending all of his time in wallowing in narcissism, thinking about how all these terrible conditions affect him. Despite my dislike for him, I couldn't put the book down. This would have been a 5 star read except for the abrupt and rather ridiculous ending.”