I learned a few good things from this read.
First, she impressed me by writing economically from the get go. The Intro gives us the background of the project. She makes a dramatic entrance, too: she takes a sip of kava at a feast and picks her teeth. It’s always important to make an entrance. And Ward proves my theory that humor is important. What’s most memorable about the book is the humor in the first few chapters. There’s the honesty, too. On page 62 she admits that she should have been doing one thing but does another. She does this later, as well. It shows an honest reflection. Later, she is honest another way: she reprints letters she wrote home at the time. This gives me the genuine feelings of the author that are hard to replicate years later when writing the book.
As she begins her follow-up, I get excited. It appears she will now reflect on her trip and how it affects her everyday life now. I applaud the idea, but it does not live up to expectations. Instead, she slips into her anthropological mode and loses me completely.
Which leads me to the elements that should not be repeated. In the Intro Ward says a few things that she intends to do in the book:
(3)"I wish to evoke images, a sense of immediacy, and the feeling that you are there with me - that you are a participant and observer. I hint at the realities between the dots of the painting and make no effort to analyze each dot. This is not an official ethnography or history. It is only a true story about the doing of fieldwork and the doing of anthropology."
She did not stick to the game plan: she tried to make us feel like we where there but failed (this goes along with comments I've made before - the best exposition can not make me feel it, but a good story can – plus, it’s best to keep it simple, with one or two ideas per sentence), she very much did make an effort to analyze each dot (giving us pages of analysis, especially at the end), and because of the analysis the book became an anthropological work instead of a story (with a few pages of exceptions). Moreover, this inaccurate intro is an example of what not to write: don't promise anything you can't deliver.
Another minus – she elected not to use any space breaks. I saw two problems with this. First, one idea ran into the next, confusing me as I tried to find the ties. Second, the continuous flow gives the reader no time to reflect. There was a certain scene where the lack of a break stood out – page 92, where her friend’s body is taken up a hill.
There’s the spouse issue, too. I was hopeful that I could get a good example of how to include my wife in my story, but Ward’s husband is less than a flat character – he’s little more than a name.
She does end with a nice line, though:
(119) "You who hear my tale should listen very carefully and straighten it out for yourself. Sometimes what I say is not straight."
That is, that's where it ended in the first edition.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Chapter 10 - It Takes an Outrigger to Float a Canoe
(150) I am confused and tired of this academic speech
Chapter 9 - You Cannot Hate with Kava in You
(130) Ward spends too much time on tiny details - hoping to "put us there" - instead I am confused and bored - much like public radio news, she should write with only one or two ideas per sentence.
(131) "Thanks to the Peace Corps of my generation, the water seal toilets there will work for hundreds of years..."
(134) "Pohnpiens are my model for raising my daughter."
(136) the evils of tourism - not yet there
(137) betel nut - she mentions it often now but it somehow escaped the first trip's account (138) she says they didn't chew until independence - though she fails to mention how she learned to chew it
(139-40) Ward chooses to spend much of this chapter giving data on the island - less on her own experience - she has become a true anthropologist
(131) "Thanks to the Peace Corps of my generation, the water seal toilets there will work for hundreds of years..."
(134) "Pohnpiens are my model for raising my daughter."
(136) the evils of tourism - not yet there
(137) betel nut - she mentions it often now but it somehow escaped the first trip's account (138) she says they didn't chew until independence - though she fails to mention how she learned to chew it
(139-40) Ward chooses to spend much of this chapter giving data on the island - less on her own experience - she has become a true anthropologist
Chapter 8 - Between Times
this seems a brilliant idea - she reflects on her story "in the now," in the present - "I ask - what would Pohnpeins do?"
(121) 'They also reported that after I had left, my adopted family gave a feast and ate my plump dog..."
(123) her work produced no published results -the project failed, at least partly
(123) "Between those two brackets of loss, I happened upon a space that was mine alone and decided to write this book."
she was there 1970-2, began writing in 1985, first published 1989 - yet it's so rich (up to this point) - good notes and good writing - perhaps distance equals productive, deep reflection that comes with age and experience
(121) 'They also reported that after I had left, my adopted family gave a feast and ate my plump dog..."
(123) her work produced no published results -the project failed, at least partly
(123) "Between those two brackets of loss, I happened upon a space that was mine alone and decided to write this book."
she was there 1970-2, began writing in 1985, first published 1989 - yet it's so rich (up to this point) - good notes and good writing - perhaps distance equals productive, deep reflection that comes with age and experience
Chapter 7 - The Core of a Mangrove Log
(105) "I could have questioned her about the techniques she was using, how had she learned them, what were the names of the fish she caught, what did women do that men did not and why. Instead, I helped."
thoughtful and it's a great way to explain yourself, your actions, which are not always easy to explain: "I don't know, I could have..."
small scenes mixed with exposition and reflection
Roger her husband has disappeared - less than flat
(119) "You who hear my tale should listen very carefully and straighten it out for yourself. Sometimes what I say is not straight." brilliant
thoughtful and it's a great way to explain yourself, your actions, which are not always easy to explain: "I don't know, I could have..."
small scenes mixed with exposition and reflection
Roger her husband has disappeared - less than flat
(119) "You who hear my tale should listen very carefully and straighten it out for yourself. Sometimes what I say is not straight." brilliant
Chapter 6 - The Ends of Canoes
(86) after attending to sick Sohn - "Late that night, I realized I had just celebrated my thirtieth birthday."
(86) "Following the impulse to which humans in pain and grief are prone, we decided to try anything."
(86-7) Sohn's lung cancer diagnosis - Ward goes right into the sorcery pursued by the family but skips over her feelings about her friend given a year to live - leaving this out makes it seem like it didn't happen - that she didn't feel - which makes this less a personal story
(89-90) goes over problems with the census, name changes, etc.
(91) since writers set to writing after the fact, they lose many of the genuine, particular feelings and must rely on general feelings or a distant version of a particularly strong emotion - Ward reprints letters which still capture the genuine feeling - "Remind them that formulas and computer programs look very different when your feet have turned permanently auburn and you are washing clothes on a rock."
(92) "My capacity for denial is immense, and no one had ever spoken to me like this." - on Sohn's deathbed, she feels now though I chided her for not doing it earlier
(91-2) beautifully crafted scene - Sohn taken up the mountain - though a space break would have been fitting
(86) "Following the impulse to which humans in pain and grief are prone, we decided to try anything."
(86-7) Sohn's lung cancer diagnosis - Ward goes right into the sorcery pursued by the family but skips over her feelings about her friend given a year to live - leaving this out makes it seem like it didn't happen - that she didn't feel - which makes this less a personal story
(89-90) goes over problems with the census, name changes, etc.
(91) since writers set to writing after the fact, they lose many of the genuine, particular feelings and must rely on general feelings or a distant version of a particularly strong emotion - Ward reprints letters which still capture the genuine feeling - "Remind them that formulas and computer programs look very different when your feet have turned permanently auburn and you are washing clothes on a rock."
(92) "My capacity for denial is immense, and no one had ever spoken to me like this." - on Sohn's deathbed, she feels now though I chided her for not doing it earlier
(91-2) beautifully crafted scene - Sohn taken up the mountain - though a space break would have been fitting
Chapter 5 - A Locked Box
(71-2) incest taboo researched
(76) Pohnpei religion - "Try telling Washington bureaucrats or statisticians that God creates the budgets for heart disease research."
(76) Pohnpei religion - "Try telling Washington bureaucrats or statisticians that God creates the budgets for heart disease research."
Chapter 4 - Smoke Follows the High People
(55) her lack of space breaks is a negative - one topics runs to the next; when I realize this I have to backtrack - breaks give the reader time to process
(61) "I should have written down what kind of leaf we used to carry our tribute; anthropologists are supposed to record details like that. But my mind was preoccupied..."
I like this frankness - I could have, should have, but didn't
(62) comparisons to US adoptions and young parents
(67) "How much good do [PCV's] do? But they are such committed, intelligent kids; in the main they make a great impression on the Micronesians and will be super citizens when they return home."
(61) "I should have written down what kind of leaf we used to carry our tribute; anthropologists are supposed to record details like that. But my mind was preoccupied..."
I like this frankness - I could have, should have, but didn't
(62) comparisons to US adoptions and young parents
(67) "How much good do [PCV's] do? But they are such committed, intelligent kids; in the main they make a great impression on the Micronesians and will be super citizens when they return home."
Chapter 3 - Water Running Under Boulders
settling into a new house - toilet story
(40) Sohn Alpet comes to teach them to speak respectfully
(42) delays - but they are resourceful
(45) a fest put on by Sohn - Ward hears that it was to clear a curse on them
(46) Ward begins to believe in the magic
(46) one problem - she refers to messages sent over the radio - what radio? she has left an important thing unsaid
ends all chapters with letters
(40) Sohn Alpet comes to teach them to speak respectfully
(42) delays - but they are resourceful
(45) a fest put on by Sohn - Ward hears that it was to clear a curse on them
(46) Ward begins to believe in the magic
(46) one problem - she refers to messages sent over the radio - what radio? she has left an important thing unsaid
ends all chapters with letters
Chapter 2 - Green Leaves on Stories
(23) open, honest, funny - "I dropped my fantasy life, vowed never to enter the open ocean again, and prayed to the gods who protect naive anthropologists. Ian reported that my pulse rate was climbing."
(24) brief though engaging scene - ghosts on a path
(26) "Preserved breadfruit tastes like exotic, very ripe cheese and will never replace Hershey bars."
(27-8) "They kept repeating the question until I gave them a satisfactory answer.
'My mother is watching my pig.'" - funny
(29-30) thorough description of sexual relations in Pohnpei - (31-2) uses PC stories for examples
(34) I've noticed that Ward included herself here and there - spending many pages on this and that custom/description, history. she may have hit upon a nice balance of the two - while she herself has not done much yet (arrived, sat in on ceremonies, travelled to the other side of the isle by boat) - it is not her story as such that is the focus
(24) brief though engaging scene - ghosts on a path
(26) "Preserved breadfruit tastes like exotic, very ripe cheese and will never replace Hershey bars."
(27-8) "They kept repeating the question until I gave them a satisfactory answer.
'My mother is watching my pig.'" - funny
(29-30) thorough description of sexual relations in Pohnpei - (31-2) uses PC stories for examples
(34) I've noticed that Ward included herself here and there - spending many pages on this and that custom/description, history. she may have hit upon a nice balance of the two - while she herself has not done much yet (arrived, sat in on ceremonies, travelled to the other side of the isle by boat) - it is not her story as such that is the focus
Chapter 1 - Fruit in the Hands of the Gods
(5) creation story
(6) first we see of the author (after the intro) - she drinks kava and then picks her teeth - a grand entrance, I like that
(6) compares the kava drinking to communion - I get it - nice work, economic, descriptive
(7) nice - she admits she must have Western surroundings to be comfortable
(8) culture shock explained - examples
(11) "The beginning of the 1970's was neither the time nor the place to be proud of being an American." Vietnam, Kent State
(13-4) her domesticity
(14-5) Floyd is a strange character - "I am not sure we convinced Floyd that just as people choose to trace decent through their father's line, they can equally choose to trace it through their mother's line. But I did succeed in keeping clan membership in the questionnaire."
(19) ends with a letter home
a sort of random chapter - covered many topics - abrupt changes - though all about adjusting
(6) first we see of the author (after the intro) - she drinks kava and then picks her teeth - a grand entrance, I like that
(6) compares the kava drinking to communion - I get it - nice work, economic, descriptive
(7) nice - she admits she must have Western surroundings to be comfortable
(8) culture shock explained - examples
(11) "The beginning of the 1970's was neither the time nor the place to be proud of being an American." Vietnam, Kent State
(13-4) her domesticity
(14-5) Floyd is a strange character - "I am not sure we convinced Floyd that just as people choose to trace decent through their father's line, they can equally choose to trace it through their mother's line. But I did succeed in keeping clan membership in the questionnaire."
(19) ends with a letter home
a sort of random chapter - covered many topics - abrupt changes - though all about adjusting
Ward's Nest - Intro
(I have decided to read Nest in the Wind instead of finishing The Spirit Catches You because of the near-absence of the author as a character. This was too different from Peace Corps memoir to compare.)
(2) background economically written
(3)"I wish to evoke images, a sense of immediacy, and the feeling that you are there with me - that you are a participant and observer. I hint at the realities between the dots of the painting and make no effort to analyze each dot. This is not an official ethnography or history. It is only a true story about the doing of fieldwork and the doing of anthropology."
She wrote the above but did not stick to the game plan: she tried to make us feel like we where there but failed (this goes along with comments I've made before - the best exposition can not make me feel it, but a good story can), she very much did make an effort to analyze each dot (giving us pages of analysis, especially at the end), and because of the analysis the book became an anthropological work instead of a story (with a few pages of exceptions).
Moreover, this inaccurate intro is an example of what not to write: don't promise anything you can't deliver.
I want to add, though, that I enjoyed the book for the most part and would recommend emulating parts.
(2) background economically written
(3)"I wish to evoke images, a sense of immediacy, and the feeling that you are there with me - that you are a participant and observer. I hint at the realities between the dots of the painting and make no effort to analyze each dot. This is not an official ethnography or history. It is only a true story about the doing of fieldwork and the doing of anthropology."
She wrote the above but did not stick to the game plan: she tried to make us feel like we where there but failed (this goes along with comments I've made before - the best exposition can not make me feel it, but a good story can), she very much did make an effort to analyze each dot (giving us pages of analysis, especially at the end), and because of the analysis the book became an anthropological work instead of a story (with a few pages of exceptions).
Moreover, this inaccurate intro is an example of what not to write: don't promise anything you can't deliver.
I want to add, though, that I enjoyed the book for the most part and would recommend emulating parts.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
4 - Do Doctor's Eat Brains?
(33-4) covers misconceptions on both sides
tale of failed and successful programs in Hmong refugee camp hospitals
tale of failed and successful programs in Hmong refugee camp hospitals
3 - The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
(21) Hmong with epilepsy often made healers: "The fact that they have been ill themselves gives them an intuitive sympathy for the suffering of others and lends them emotional credibility as healers."
(21-2) Fadiman has found many accounts of people - missionaries, ethnographers, anthropologists - studying the Hmong, a hidden-away people. On pgs 18-9 she even quotes what sounds like a hard-to-find text
(22) only one person at the hospital - a social worker - asked the Lees what they thought - they said the spirit caused it
(26) after recapping the hospital story and interpreter problems - we begin with Lia's first emergency room visit - a misdiagnosis
(26 Dr.'s "interest still exceeds his knowledge."
(21-2) Fadiman has found many accounts of people - missionaries, ethnographers, anthropologists - studying the Hmong, a hidden-away people. On pgs 18-9 she even quotes what sounds like a hard-to-find text
(22) only one person at the hospital - a social worker - asked the Lees what they thought - they said the spirit caused it
(26) after recapping the hospital story and interpreter problems - we begin with Lia's first emergency room visit - a misdiagnosis
(26 Dr.'s "interest still exceeds his knowledge."
2 - Fish Soup
History of Hmong people - begins by saying all Hmong stories are long, uses an example of a French class speech about Fish Soup
*But I wonder how this is auto-ethnography -I don't see the author yet
the point here seems to be connecting ideas - where PC memoirs are chronological tales
Chapter is a thorough history - successfully demonstrates the independent streak of the Hmong
*But I wonder how this is auto-ethnography -I don't see the author yet
the point here seems to be connecting ideas - where PC memoirs are chronological tales
Chapter is a thorough history - successfully demonstrates the independent streak of the Hmong
1 - Birth
(3) I'm captivated already
(3-5) wonderful, well-researched account of Hmong cultural beliefs about birthing
(19) Fadiman has provided much detail as to the Hmong traditions at childbirth - and how a few Hmong adapted in America [for example, she says Foua ate a post-partum soup "with five special post-partum herbs (which the Lees had grown for this purpose on the edge of the parking lot behind their apartment building)."]
(3-5) wonderful, well-researched account of Hmong cultural beliefs about birthing
(19) Fadiman has provided much detail as to the Hmong traditions at childbirth - and how a few Hmong adapted in America [for example, she says Foua ate a post-partum soup "with five special post-partum herbs (which the Lees had grown for this purpose on the edge of the parking lot behind their apartment building)."]
Fadiman's The Spirit Catches You
Preface - nice use of a frame story (about cassette tapes)
there's a note on Hmong orthography in the back, plus notes on sources
there's a note on Hmong orthography in the back, plus notes on sources
Holloway - Some good stuff, some falling short
This was a little different. It was short – 200 pages – and it focused more on another character, namely Monique. I noticed a few good things and a few bad.
She begins by receiving the invite and then giving a history of the country, Mali. This works. Starting from the beginning is a good thing. Giving us some background is very good. The earlier the better, I think.
I made this note in chapter one about character development:
“I could be wrong, but it seems so important to describe the main character of a story early on (in this case Holloway herself and then Monique) - or else the reader must make it up - going on the little provided - for example all I know of Holloway is she's 22, from Ohio, this is her first birth, she's a PCV in Mali and she's nervous - it annoys me that I have only a vague idea of what the writers look like - Tidwell, Packer, Erdman, Thubron, Theroux and now Holloway) - I write this thinking of characters in fiction”
Holloway introduces John, a fellow PCV who she has some interest in. I liked this. For the first time, we get to hear about fellow volunteers. Others may not understand this problem I have with this, but as a Returned PCV I know how key the relationships with fellow volunteers was to survival. They kept you sane. Holloway mentions many PCVs marry fellow PCVs, but what about the inevitability that the volunteer stationed nearest you becomes your best friend, even if you’d never have gotten along otherwise.
This is small, but I’m glad Holloway takes time, in chapter three, to describe being sick. I think all the others do this as well, but like the friendships, the illness is key to the story. PCVs are sick and scared all the time. This is truth.
I have two notes in chapter four I ‘d like to cover. One good, one bad. The bad is when Holloway, out of nowhere, “zooms in” on a scene and we suddenly get her spilling coffee, being clumsy. This is a good thing, actually, if done more often. But on its own it only brought questions as to why she chose to do that (it happens once more in chapter six when John gets on his bike).
The good is where she is honest with her feelings about death. She goes to a funeral and flashes back to her Granny’ funeral. The feelings of helplessness at the dead person’s side is honest. This reaching back into her memory, to make sense of things out of what she knows, is a flash of brilliance. A small flash. This should be done more, as well, actually.
In chapter six I noticed something new. The other memoirs may have had this though I missed it, but Holloway, perhaps inadvertently, uses an almost imperceptible time marker – the growth of Monique’s baby Basil. Holloway will give brief descriptions of Basil chapter after chapter. And somehow this grounds the reader – like milestones. It seems these are key. If I am to see the writer grow and change, I need these milestones to measure. I think this is important.
Two things in chapter eight. I thought Holloway failed to make John a round character, though I think he should have been. Second, she brings up a hilarious anecdote about a donkey, and though it made me laugh I then became depressed because I realized that was all I was going to get. In case I haven’t mentioned this before, I feel strongly that PC memoirs should have much, much more humor. Each book had a tad – mostly embarrassing things – but, damn, I know that humor was one of the other keys to survival (food, drink, clothing, shelter, PC friends and laughter being the list). Times were hard, man. The highs were high and the lows were low. And if you didn’t laugh, you went crazy or went home, many times both.
Chapter ten was Holloway leaving. Though she mused over what she’d miss, the feelings didn’t come through. This stood in stark contrast to the last chapter, in which a seemingly older, more mature writer emerges and writes honestly of her feelings:
"I thought, desperately, selfishly, that if only she had stayed with me in the States, and had never some back to Mali, she might be alive today." (194)
I got the feeling that Holloway wrote most of the book when she was still young and the last chapter when she finally went to get it published, seven years later. Whatever the reason, this is good stuff.
Recapping: good is grounding the reader (with background info, with milestones along the way), fleshing out/developing the main characters, being truthful and thorough (acknowledge the illness, the friendships/bonds with Fellow PCVs, making sense of the world based on past experiences); bad was ‘zooming in’ on a scene randomly (do it all the time or not at all – find the balance or something), leaving out the humor (don’t make the thing too serious – you’re no saint), failing to convey your feelings.
She begins by receiving the invite and then giving a history of the country, Mali. This works. Starting from the beginning is a good thing. Giving us some background is very good. The earlier the better, I think.
I made this note in chapter one about character development:
“I could be wrong, but it seems so important to describe the main character of a story early on (in this case Holloway herself and then Monique) - or else the reader must make it up - going on the little provided - for example all I know of Holloway is she's 22, from Ohio, this is her first birth, she's a PCV in Mali and she's nervous - it annoys me that I have only a vague idea of what the writers look like - Tidwell, Packer, Erdman, Thubron, Theroux and now Holloway) - I write this thinking of characters in fiction”
Holloway introduces John, a fellow PCV who she has some interest in. I liked this. For the first time, we get to hear about fellow volunteers. Others may not understand this problem I have with this, but as a Returned PCV I know how key the relationships with fellow volunteers was to survival. They kept you sane. Holloway mentions many PCVs marry fellow PCVs, but what about the inevitability that the volunteer stationed nearest you becomes your best friend, even if you’d never have gotten along otherwise.
This is small, but I’m glad Holloway takes time, in chapter three, to describe being sick. I think all the others do this as well, but like the friendships, the illness is key to the story. PCVs are sick and scared all the time. This is truth.
I have two notes in chapter four I ‘d like to cover. One good, one bad. The bad is when Holloway, out of nowhere, “zooms in” on a scene and we suddenly get her spilling coffee, being clumsy. This is a good thing, actually, if done more often. But on its own it only brought questions as to why she chose to do that (it happens once more in chapter six when John gets on his bike).
The good is where she is honest with her feelings about death. She goes to a funeral and flashes back to her Granny’ funeral. The feelings of helplessness at the dead person’s side is honest. This reaching back into her memory, to make sense of things out of what she knows, is a flash of brilliance. A small flash. This should be done more, as well, actually.
In chapter six I noticed something new. The other memoirs may have had this though I missed it, but Holloway, perhaps inadvertently, uses an almost imperceptible time marker – the growth of Monique’s baby Basil. Holloway will give brief descriptions of Basil chapter after chapter. And somehow this grounds the reader – like milestones. It seems these are key. If I am to see the writer grow and change, I need these milestones to measure. I think this is important.
Two things in chapter eight. I thought Holloway failed to make John a round character, though I think he should have been. Second, she brings up a hilarious anecdote about a donkey, and though it made me laugh I then became depressed because I realized that was all I was going to get. In case I haven’t mentioned this before, I feel strongly that PC memoirs should have much, much more humor. Each book had a tad – mostly embarrassing things – but, damn, I know that humor was one of the other keys to survival (food, drink, clothing, shelter, PC friends and laughter being the list). Times were hard, man. The highs were high and the lows were low. And if you didn’t laugh, you went crazy or went home, many times both.
Chapter ten was Holloway leaving. Though she mused over what she’d miss, the feelings didn’t come through. This stood in stark contrast to the last chapter, in which a seemingly older, more mature writer emerges and writes honestly of her feelings:
"I thought, desperately, selfishly, that if only she had stayed with me in the States, and had never some back to Mali, she might be alive today." (194)
I got the feeling that Holloway wrote most of the book when she was still young and the last chapter when she finally went to get it published, seven years later. Whatever the reason, this is good stuff.
Recapping: good is grounding the reader (with background info, with milestones along the way), fleshing out/developing the main characters, being truthful and thorough (acknowledge the illness, the friendships/bonds with Fellow PCVs, making sense of the world based on past experiences); bad was ‘zooming in’ on a scene randomly (do it all the time or not at all – find the balance or something), leaving out the humor (don’t make the thing too serious – you’re no saint), failing to convey your feelings.
11 - Return
(181) "I saw my world through her eyes." M in America
(184-5) H gets the letter - 9 years later - she decided to reprint to letter in the book without reflection - I liked it, actually (she reflects some afterwards, on her visit)
(185) somehow it seems her writing has matured in this chapter, most notably after the break on page 185 - thoughtful musings and small scenes and motions weave together
this is by far her best work
(194) an example of deep reflection - "I thought, desperately, selfishly, that if only she had stayed with me in the States, and had never some back to Mali, she might be alive today."
(199) now M is round, complete
(184-5) H gets the letter - 9 years later - she decided to reprint to letter in the book without reflection - I liked it, actually (she reflects some afterwards, on her visit)
(185) somehow it seems her writing has matured in this chapter, most notably after the break on page 185 - thoughtful musings and small scenes and motions weave together
this is by far her best work
(194) an example of deep reflection - "I thought, desperately, selfishly, that if only she had stayed with me in the States, and had never some back to Mali, she might be alive today."
(199) now M is round, complete
10 - My Feet are Dancing
(165-6) H reflects on her favorite things in Mali - "where you spent time greeting and joking rather than avoiding others because of a busy schedule."
H and John plan to take M to the US
(167-8) M thought she rode on the outside of the plane and feared going
(170) I still think John is two-dimensional at best - while it is important to describe characters, the most important characters need to be round
(170-3) M's boss comes in one night to tell the village M should receive her own money - this was due to H's pressure - M is happy but i still feel the objective of making M a real person who I should care about falls just short, barely
(175) Packer: "A tinge of jealousy whipped through me and I thought of someone else working with Monique."
(180) "I savored the feeling of being here, of knowing this place" REWRITE - I knew this place, I thought. I will miss it.
H and John plan to take M to the US
(167-8) M thought she rode on the outside of the plane and feared going
(170) I still think John is two-dimensional at best - while it is important to describe characters, the most important characters need to be round
(170-3) M's boss comes in one night to tell the village M should receive her own money - this was due to H's pressure - M is happy but i still feel the objective of making M a real person who I should care about falls just short, barely
(175) Packer: "A tinge of jealousy whipped through me and I thought of someone else working with Monique."
(180) "I savored the feeling of being here, of knowing this place" REWRITE - I knew this place, I thought. I will miss it.
9 - The Work is Good
(162-3) birthing house progress - now that M has taken a little vacation, 'le gar' visits the clinic and tells H he is building a kitchen for M - this is good drama (H believes le gar is afraid of losing M)
8 - Cool Resting Place
(139) John. for example, is a perfect man - though not real - sure he's scared of scorpions but he's devoid of feelings - I want him fleshed out more
(141) a hilarious anecdote - more of these, please (donkey trouble)
(152-3) sad, M's friend was killed, she bawled
(141) a hilarious anecdote - more of these, please (donkey trouble)
(152-3) sad, M's friend was killed, she bawled
7 - Coup d'Etat
(125-6) A woman comes in for a treatment for gonorrhea (STD) - M is angry because she doesn't pay and the man won't treat himself
(126-7) Project slows - workers want food and beer
(127-9) H received info on circumcision - gives the horrid side effects, including a 'false vagina'
(130-1) circumcision talk turns to pleasure and sex - M admits she was raped and so does H - but she does not take the opportunity to explain, purge
(132) evacuation looms
(135) H and M trim down the budget to make it possible to buy food
(136-7) H reflects on her vegetarianism and how her ideas have changed
(137-8) they plan to ask their family back home to help with money
this differs from other PC memoirs in that H focuses on one person - M - much more that the others - this it is more an ethnography -a memoir, by definition, is a person's own story
(126-7) Project slows - workers want food and beer
(127-9) H received info on circumcision - gives the horrid side effects, including a 'false vagina'
(130-1) circumcision talk turns to pleasure and sex - M admits she was raped and so does H - but she does not take the opportunity to explain, purge
(132) evacuation looms
(135) H and M trim down the budget to make it possible to buy food
(136-7) H reflects on her vegetarianism and how her ideas have changed
(137-8) they plan to ask their family back home to help with money
this differs from other PC memoirs in that H focuses on one person - M - much more that the others - this it is more an ethnography -a memoir, by definition, is a person's own story
6 - Cutting
(107) "I was used to depending on Monique, and now I saw that she, too, had come to depend on me." - M is in a bind and only H can know about it - they are close
(107-11) a detailed account of H's friend Korotun's birthing
(112-4) H had not been aware that all the women were circumcised - but she finds out when talking to M, who admits circumcision makes birthing harder (the opening is smaller) and M thought every woman in the world was circumcised until H told her otherwise
i just realized that Erdman's midwife also secretly takes birth control pills - and both she and M have well-spaces and healthy children
(115) H has used an almost imperceptible time marker - M's baby Basil - who we can see growing - on M's back, then walking
(120) Once again H zooms in, in close detail - this time as she gets on a motorbike with John - but why here and why now?
(121) rumors of evacuation
(128) an example of inadequacy: "I felt an uncontrollable change coming. Like we had inadvertently fallen into something bigger than ourselves. Something unpredictable." This is a vague description that does not evoke any emotion from me - just cliche
(107-11) a detailed account of H's friend Korotun's birthing
(112-4) H had not been aware that all the women were circumcised - but she finds out when talking to M, who admits circumcision makes birthing harder (the opening is smaller) and M thought every woman in the world was circumcised until H told her otherwise
i just realized that Erdman's midwife also secretly takes birth control pills - and both she and M have well-spaces and healthy children
(115) H has used an almost imperceptible time marker - M's baby Basil - who we can see growing - on M's back, then walking
(120) Once again H zooms in, in close detail - this time as she gets on a motorbike with John - but why here and why now?
(121) rumors of evacuation
(128) an example of inadequacy: "I felt an uncontrollable change coming. Like we had inadvertently fallen into something bigger than ourselves. Something unpredictable." This is a vague description that does not evoke any emotion from me - just cliche
5 - A Coming Storm
I still wonder: what makes this any different from a PC Memoir?
(86-8) prenatal visits, M tells H a mother died the night before in childbirth
(88-9) H questions Am. birthing practices (we find out later she has her two boys later in life with midwives)
(91) another nice African rain description
(96-7) birth control discussed
(86-8) prenatal visits, M tells H a mother died the night before in childbirth
(88-9) H questions Am. birthing practices (we find out later she has her two boys later in life with midwives)
(91) another nice African rain description
(96-7) birth control discussed
4 - The Old Friend
(67) novel-like feel here all of a sudden - she focuses attention on her clumsiness - trying to shoo a fly while spilling coffee on herself - while M talks - I think this would have been a good thing to use throughout the book
(64-7) good - H goes to a funeral where the deceased lays on the ground, dressed up - H then recalls the recent funeral of her grandmother - why is this good She is opening up - no cliches or generalizations, simply "I remembered standing on front of the casket during viewing hours, wanting to make some special gesture of parting, but I couldn't lay a hand on Granny. I could look at death, in a sky blue dress, but could not touch it." (66) - honesty, no matter how naive, is best
(67) more - she danced with the mourners
(79) attends a Catholic mass: "It appeared that Catholicism had picked up a distinct Malian flavor."
(81-3) M's salary taken by father-in-law
(64-7) good - H goes to a funeral where the deceased lays on the ground, dressed up - H then recalls the recent funeral of her grandmother - why is this good She is opening up - no cliches or generalizations, simply "I remembered standing on front of the casket during viewing hours, wanting to make some special gesture of parting, but I couldn't lay a hand on Granny. I could look at death, in a sky blue dress, but could not touch it." (66) - honesty, no matter how naive, is best
(67) more - she danced with the mourners
(79) attends a Catholic mass: "It appeared that Catholicism had picked up a distinct Malian flavor."
(81-3) M's salary taken by father-in-law
3 - Behind Korotun's Scarf
(48) a man will not let his wife rest after labor and other abuse
(55) as Holloway's house is built, she and M talk to chief about rebuilding the birth house with USAID money
(58-9) Giardia - she zooms in on a scene where she deals with her illness, the actions and the fatigue, embarrassment
(55) as Holloway's house is built, she and M talk to chief about rebuilding the birth house with USAID money
(58-9) Giardia - she zooms in on a scene where she deals with her illness, the actions and the fatigue, embarrassment
2 - Weighing Babies and Eating Dogs
(25-7) she picks chickpeas and cotton with the chief
*someone told me anthropology stems from travel writing
(29) baby weighing at clinic - Monique: "I told her and the other mothers about the importance of not weaning abruptly, and about the importance of putting more time between their pregnancies. They are very, very common problems here." - Holloway uses M's voice to explain
(33-35) language faux pax and bra incentive for a woman to weigh her child
(35-6) John visits and she battles with her feelings for him
*is this nothing more than a PC Memoir?
(38-41) John returns - I am happy to see another PCV - the real PC as I know it - and the romance (so basic a need out there, some lovin')
(44) briefly mentions Monique can tell when her baby on her back needs to 'go'
*someone told me anthropology stems from travel writing
(29) baby weighing at clinic - Monique: "I told her and the other mothers about the importance of not weaning abruptly, and about the importance of putting more time between their pregnancies. They are very, very common problems here." - Holloway uses M's voice to explain
(33-35) language faux pax and bra incentive for a woman to weigh her child
(35-6) John visits and she battles with her feelings for him
*is this nothing more than a PC Memoir?
(38-41) John returns - I am happy to see another PCV - the real PC as I know it - and the romance (so basic a need out there, some lovin')
(44) briefly mentions Monique can tell when her baby on her back needs to 'go'
1- Woman's Birthing House
sensory details - smell of birthing house (6)
describes the bare, simple room, adds, "So this was childbirth in rural Mali in the late 20th Century." (7)
decent description of birth (7-8) - the woman's pushing, Monique's urging, the baby coming, Holloway in shock
fatigued, thinking of maternity death rate (8-9)
"It may be good for the village, and good for the baby. But was it good for the mother?" (10) she asks about the high birth rate
names the child! (10)
* I could be wrong, but it seems so important to describe the main character of a story early on (in this case Holloway herself and then Monique) - or else the reader must make it up - going on the little provided - for example all I know of Holloway is she's 22, from Ohio, this is her first birth, she's a PCV in Mali and she's nervous - it annoys me that I have only a vague idea of what the writers look like - Tidwell, Packer, Erdman, Thubron, Theroux and now Holloway) - I write this thinking of characters in fiction
Brief bio sketch - overview (11)
like The Ethnographic I, this book is written by an untrained writer - and I cringe (11)
her bathing routine - will she discover how the women deal with menstruation? pagnes! (14)
Monique describes how she became the town's midwife and health worker and Holloway stresses the town's luck (17)
a bit of culture - religion, families - Holloway asks to help cook (21)
Monique mentions her marriage is bad (24)
describes the bare, simple room, adds, "So this was childbirth in rural Mali in the late 20th Century." (7)
decent description of birth (7-8) - the woman's pushing, Monique's urging, the baby coming, Holloway in shock
fatigued, thinking of maternity death rate (8-9)
"It may be good for the village, and good for the baby. But was it good for the mother?" (10) she asks about the high birth rate
names the child! (10)
* I could be wrong, but it seems so important to describe the main character of a story early on (in this case Holloway herself and then Monique) - or else the reader must make it up - going on the little provided - for example all I know of Holloway is she's 22, from Ohio, this is her first birth, she's a PCV in Mali and she's nervous - it annoys me that I have only a vague idea of what the writers look like - Tidwell, Packer, Erdman, Thubron, Theroux and now Holloway) - I write this thinking of characters in fiction
Brief bio sketch - overview (11)
like The Ethnographic I, this book is written by an untrained writer - and I cringe (11)
her bathing routine - will she discover how the women deal with menstruation? pagnes! (14)
Monique describes how she became the town's midwife and health worker and Holloway stresses the town's luck (17)
a bit of culture - religion, families - Holloway asks to help cook (21)
Monique mentions her marriage is bad (24)
Holloway's Monique - Intro
Begins with Mali's history, present condition (poor)
says she knew some of this before but not all the friends and experiences she would have: "I couldn't have known any of this, for all I had was a slip of paper, an invitation to join, a sliver of promise." (3)
says she knew some of this before but not all the friends and experiences she would have: "I couldn't have known any of this, for all I had was a slip of paper, an invitation to join, a sliver of promise." (3)
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Theroux, Oi, Such a Writer!
I’ll begin like this: I was unfulfilled by this book and there are not many things I can say a Peace Corps Memoir (or any book, for that matter) should emulate.
To start, he gives a poor reason for taking the trip. He says, “I wanted the pleasure of being in Africa again.” (1) But should a PC memoir do this? The reason should be there, but I think it should be better than Theroux’s. And if it isn’t – I knew a few PCVs who just wanted a break from the “real world” – make me believe it. I didn’t believe Theroux, ever, which was part of the problem.
Throughout, Theroux likes to talk about his writing. This is the only thing I think a PC memoir should copy. He starts, on the first page, “Such a paragraph needs some explanation – at least a book; this book perhaps.” The meta-lit is an old technique. I’ve seen it in old traveler’s tales. I actually like it. It’s engaging at times. I’ve noted that meta-lit should be part of PC memoir because it’s part of the story. It’s a large part, one that is too large to ignore, so large that if left out it leaves a gaping hole.
I made a note around page 285: “Harasses aid workers again – this and the topic that Africa can take care of itself is repeated over and over as if it is new.” Sometimes repeating something is a good thing, but it seemed to me Theroux made one draft of this book and didn’t reread it. It feels like Theroux is forcing a theme –the stupidity of aid-workers or the belief in self-reliance – here and there (over and over), but the real theme is that there is no theme. He’s just taking a trip. And unlike other respected works of literature, this book lacks an overall, obvious theme. And a theme is needed to grab and ground the reader, to impress and inspire the reader.
I made a note about honest writing while reading the fourteenth chapter: “This is the chapter where he feels the most, puts forth the most emotion - perhaps why I was annoyed with the read at other times: he's just a passerby, little attachment, just an observer – but can a travel writer do otherwise? Thubron didn't get emotional much either, but his book was good. Perhaps it was his genuine interest in the people, the culture, the history - he felt a need to understand and the reader could tell. Theroux did have a sort of bond with the continent, too, though he showed it by being, well, a wiener.”
By “wiener” I mean he was mean to people. Whereas Thubron truly took interest in the people he wrote about, a feature which drew me in to the text, Theroux instead jokes and berates them. Perhaps it’s just me, but that turned me right off. Confrontations, belittling, these things are unfavorable in reading as well as in real life – I don’t want to be around it.
I made this note in chapter 19: “ ‘How nice it would be, I thought, if someone reading the narrative of my African trip felt...it was the next best thing to being there.’ (406) I find myself tired of this journey, anxious for its end - I know he wants the reader to feel "as if they were there," but I don't think this reader-fatigue was what he had in mind.”
It’s something to strive for, though, right? I’m not so sure, if he means engaging the senses. I’m thinking of great books: Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls and Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. I didn’t feel I was in Spain or at Tinker Creek, but I was swept up in the story of the one and the musings of the other. The next best thing is reading a great story. Which might even be a better thing.
(Theroux would hate to read that I compared his work to Hemingway's - he makes a point to berate Hemingway's depiction of "safari Africa.")
I made a note, as I read this first chapter, “This seems to be quite the ambitious travel book – 500 pages – can he keep my interest for so long?” But I did not enjoy myself at the end. I just wanted to finish. Perhaps that’s why I enjoyed chapter 21 so little: “Unlike Thubron, who does not describe every detail of his journey, Theroux does, though in general terms: ‘Maputo appeared as a succession of outlying shanty towns and soon we were traveling from one district to another, with not much improvement in the look of things.’ (440-1) - perhaps that's why it's 500 pgs. . . flirts and debates with a pretty missionary on an antique Mozambican train for 7 pages - too long.”
I felt he was taunting me by writing about this girl for so long. I could not believe he kept going. These two notes I will remember: detailing everything gets tiresome and chatting with one person so very uninteresting for too long at the end of the book is bad.
So: giving unbelievable reasons for going, pushing unbelievable themes, repressing your true feelings, being unapologetically mean, trying too hard to make the reader “feel they were there,” and cramming in too many details, thus dragging the reader along too many pages – all bad things.
Good thing: talk about your writing.
Because my comments have been mostly negative, I want to add something. I know Theroux is a respected and award-winning writer who deserves our respect. I want to be clear that I respect him for these things. My above comments are not meant to belittle Theroux the man, or author. They are merely a graduate student's observations.
To start, he gives a poor reason for taking the trip. He says, “I wanted the pleasure of being in Africa again.” (1) But should a PC memoir do this? The reason should be there, but I think it should be better than Theroux’s. And if it isn’t – I knew a few PCVs who just wanted a break from the “real world” – make me believe it. I didn’t believe Theroux, ever, which was part of the problem.
Throughout, Theroux likes to talk about his writing. This is the only thing I think a PC memoir should copy. He starts, on the first page, “Such a paragraph needs some explanation – at least a book; this book perhaps.” The meta-lit is an old technique. I’ve seen it in old traveler’s tales. I actually like it. It’s engaging at times. I’ve noted that meta-lit should be part of PC memoir because it’s part of the story. It’s a large part, one that is too large to ignore, so large that if left out it leaves a gaping hole.
I made a note around page 285: “Harasses aid workers again – this and the topic that Africa can take care of itself is repeated over and over as if it is new.” Sometimes repeating something is a good thing, but it seemed to me Theroux made one draft of this book and didn’t reread it. It feels like Theroux is forcing a theme –the stupidity of aid-workers or the belief in self-reliance – here and there (over and over), but the real theme is that there is no theme. He’s just taking a trip. And unlike other respected works of literature, this book lacks an overall, obvious theme. And a theme is needed to grab and ground the reader, to impress and inspire the reader.
I made a note about honest writing while reading the fourteenth chapter: “This is the chapter where he feels the most, puts forth the most emotion - perhaps why I was annoyed with the read at other times: he's just a passerby, little attachment, just an observer – but can a travel writer do otherwise? Thubron didn't get emotional much either, but his book was good. Perhaps it was his genuine interest in the people, the culture, the history - he felt a need to understand and the reader could tell. Theroux did have a sort of bond with the continent, too, though he showed it by being, well, a wiener.”
By “wiener” I mean he was mean to people. Whereas Thubron truly took interest in the people he wrote about, a feature which drew me in to the text, Theroux instead jokes and berates them. Perhaps it’s just me, but that turned me right off. Confrontations, belittling, these things are unfavorable in reading as well as in real life – I don’t want to be around it.
I made this note in chapter 19: “ ‘How nice it would be, I thought, if someone reading the narrative of my African trip felt...it was the next best thing to being there.’ (406) I find myself tired of this journey, anxious for its end - I know he wants the reader to feel "as if they were there," but I don't think this reader-fatigue was what he had in mind.”
It’s something to strive for, though, right? I’m not so sure, if he means engaging the senses. I’m thinking of great books: Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls and Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. I didn’t feel I was in Spain or at Tinker Creek, but I was swept up in the story of the one and the musings of the other. The next best thing is reading a great story. Which might even be a better thing.
(Theroux would hate to read that I compared his work to Hemingway's - he makes a point to berate Hemingway's depiction of "safari Africa.")
I made a note, as I read this first chapter, “This seems to be quite the ambitious travel book – 500 pages – can he keep my interest for so long?” But I did not enjoy myself at the end. I just wanted to finish. Perhaps that’s why I enjoyed chapter 21 so little: “Unlike Thubron, who does not describe every detail of his journey, Theroux does, though in general terms: ‘Maputo appeared as a succession of outlying shanty towns and soon we were traveling from one district to another, with not much improvement in the look of things.’ (440-1) - perhaps that's why it's 500 pgs. . . flirts and debates with a pretty missionary on an antique Mozambican train for 7 pages - too long.”
I felt he was taunting me by writing about this girl for so long. I could not believe he kept going. These two notes I will remember: detailing everything gets tiresome and chatting with one person so very uninteresting for too long at the end of the book is bad.
So: giving unbelievable reasons for going, pushing unbelievable themes, repressing your true feelings, being unapologetically mean, trying too hard to make the reader “feel they were there,” and cramming in too many details, thus dragging the reader along too many pages – all bad things.
Good thing: talk about your writing.
Because my comments have been mostly negative, I want to add something. I know Theroux is a respected and award-winning writer who deserves our respect. I want to be clear that I respect him for these things. My above comments are not meant to belittle Theroux the man, or author. They are merely a graduate student's observations.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
23 - Blue Train Blues
"I was clinging to Africa because I had not wanted it to end." (493)
he loses everything but the notes for this book in a theft
ends with a reflective paragraph: "The kindest Africans had not changed at all and even after all these years the best of them are bare-assed." (494)
he loses everything but the notes for this book in a theft
ends with a reflective paragraph: "The kindest Africans had not changed at all and even after all these years the best of them are bare-assed." (494)
22 - The Trans-Karoo Express to Cape Town
finds Gordimer's novel July's People has been black-listed: "it does not encourage good grammatical practice." cited (460) - Theroux wrote to the paper
pg 461: he reflects again on his trip to procrastinate the end - but the reflection is a mere list of the people he met, and I couldn't remember most
goes to a squatter camp though warned against it; begins by telling story of Am. girl killed there and how her parents forgave the killers - but this moving, heartbreaking story has been overshadowed by Theroux's blatant, flagrant disregard for safety; why does he stress how dangerous squatter camps are just to go, without explanation; he swears off minibuses and stays in at night and avoids "bad people," but here he makes an exception, blatantly - I am not happy
meets with a former resident of a peaceful, multi-racial, French Quarter0like community called District Six - it was taken over during apartheid
walked to sea and sees a sign that says "end of trail"
pg 461: he reflects again on his trip to procrastinate the end - but the reflection is a mere list of the people he met, and I couldn't remember most
goes to a squatter camp though warned against it; begins by telling story of Am. girl killed there and how her parents forgave the killers - but this moving, heartbreaking story has been overshadowed by Theroux's blatant, flagrant disregard for safety; why does he stress how dangerous squatter camps are just to go, without explanation; he swears off minibuses and stays in at night and avoids "bad people," but here he makes an exception, blatantly - I am not happy
meets with a former resident of a peaceful, multi-racial, French Quarter0like community called District Six - it was taken over during apartheid
walked to sea and sees a sign that says "end of trail"
21 - Faith, Hope and Charity on the Limpopo Line
funny bus ride to Mozambique - watching the movie Jack he gets emotional - I enjoy the seeing the cracks in his armor
unlike Thubron, who does not describe every detail of his journey, Theroux does, though in general terms: "Maputo appeared as a succession of outlying shanty towns and soon we were traveling from one district to another, with not much improvement in the look of things." (440-1) - perhaps that's why it's 500 pgs
flirts and debates with a pretty missionary on an antique Mozambican train for 7 pages - too long
unlike Thubron, who does not describe every detail of his journey, Theroux does, though in general terms: "Maputo appeared as a succession of outlying shanty towns and soon we were traveling from one district to another, with not much improvement in the look of things." (440-1) - perhaps that's why it's 500 pgs
flirts and debates with a pretty missionary on an antique Mozambican train for 7 pages - too long
20 - The Wild Things at Mala Mala
says the most dangerous animals he saw were bandits ans the most exotic hookers
he goes on a safari after berating those who go on them the entire book
continues to compare humans to wild animals, prey and predator
met up with Mike Rattray, Mala Mala Reserve's owner
"It was hardly Africa." (438)
he goes on a safari after berating those who go on them the entire book
continues to compare humans to wild animals, prey and predator
met up with Mike Rattray, Mala Mala Reserve's owner
"It was hardly Africa." (438)
19 - The Hominids of Johannesburg
"I felt smaller and more disoriented here in this huge city than I had in the Elephant Marsh...athwart a dugout canoe and slapping my paddle at the water hyacinths." (397)
begins reflecting on trip - "it seems to me a safari that had been worth taking, an ideal picnic." (398)
pg 405: Nadine Gordimer's bio - he meets up with her
"how nice it would be, I thought, if someone reading the narrative of my African trip felt...it was the next best thing to being there." (406)
I find myself tired of this journey, anxious for its end - I know he wants the reader to feel "as if they were there," but I don't think this reader-fatigue was what he had in mind
pg 412: he almost goes to a soccer match but instead talks to another ex-prisoner - I wanted the soccer match! and I could hardly pay attention afterward, regretting his decision! (though there was a riot there, he finds later)
history of Robben Island - prison and prisoners
runs across some paleontologists - including Lee Berger (In the Footsteps of Eve) who theorizes humans first existed and survived as cooperative fishermen - perhaps the most intriguing person Theroux met, to me
begins reflecting on trip - "it seems to me a safari that had been worth taking, an ideal picnic." (398)
pg 405: Nadine Gordimer's bio - he meets up with her
"how nice it would be, I thought, if someone reading the narrative of my African trip felt...it was the next best thing to being there." (406)
I find myself tired of this journey, anxious for its end - I know he wants the reader to feel "as if they were there," but I don't think this reader-fatigue was what he had in mind
pg 412: he almost goes to a soccer match but instead talks to another ex-prisoner - I wanted the soccer match! and I could hardly pay attention afterward, regretting his decision! (though there was a riot there, he finds later)
history of Robben Island - prison and prisoners
runs across some paleontologists - including Lee Berger (In the Footsteps of Eve) who theorizes humans first existed and survived as cooperative fishermen - perhaps the most intriguing person Theroux met, to me
17 - Invading Drummand's Farm
notes the crazed president Mugabe
met Minister of Tourism and asked about the farm invasions - Minister asks Theroux to "portray the positive aspects of life here." (379)
Theroux bravely meets with some land invaders
met Minister of Tourism and asked about the farm invasions - Minister asks Theroux to "portray the positive aspects of life here." (379)
Theroux bravely meets with some land invaders
16 - River Safari to the Coast
pg 344: "In my weakened state I felt irritable and contrary and persecuted."
pg 345: aid workers "...a maintenance crew on a power trip."
now comes the adventure: paddling down a river
pg 350: this is Theroux's style - he maintains a wide view, never really zooming in (Thubron did this more, focused in on a scene) - for example, he breezes through the paddling trip prep and even the trip itself
pg 353: Portuguese Mozambique - a little history (sertanejos took over) - plus he mentions Livingstone a lot
pg 356: "No hyenas, lots of ghosts!" someone says
AND: "Do you ever think about the president?"
"No. Because he never thinks about me," he said.
pg 358: "And I thought: In countries where all the crooked politicians wear pin-striped suits, the best people are bare-assed." (repeated at end)
- funny, he compares his 'men' with another white man's
history of Portuguese-Mozambican relationship - wars and civil wars - landmines
pg 345: aid workers "...a maintenance crew on a power trip."
now comes the adventure: paddling down a river
pg 350: this is Theroux's style - he maintains a wide view, never really zooming in (Thubron did this more, focused in on a scene) - for example, he breezes through the paddling trip prep and even the trip itself
pg 353: Portuguese Mozambique - a little history (sertanejos took over) - plus he mentions Livingstone a lot
pg 356: "No hyenas, lots of ghosts!" someone says
AND: "Do you ever think about the president?"
"No. Because he never thinks about me," he said.
pg 358: "And I thought: In countries where all the crooked politicians wear pin-striped suits, the best people are bare-assed." (repeated at end)
- funny, he compares his 'men' with another white man's
history of Portuguese-Mozambican relationship - wars and civil wars - landmines
Saturday, July 12, 2008
15 - The Road Back to Soche Hill School
pg 321: reveals what got him kicked out of PC (he adds that the complete story is in his essay "The Killing of Hastings Banda" in Sunrise with Seamonsters.
pg 322: a former student now teaches - "That had been on of my more modest goals." exactly
of his youth in Malawi - pg 324: "I had learned what many others had discovered before me, that Africa for all its perils represented wilderness and possibility. Not only did I have freedom to write in Africa, I had something new to write about."
pg 325: compares aid workers to safari-tourists
he joined PC to avoid the draft
he liked the rawness, the possibility
pg 326: "I liked the sweet somnolence of rural Africa, which I regarded with a sense of safety."
pg 328: "Aid is one of the main reasons for underdevelopment in Africa." - Dr. Jonathan Banda
pg 330: visits his old school and home - both in bad shape
* I think if we returned to Timor any time soon the family would shout and jump and run to meet us
he has been forgotten, compares himself to a ghost, and that may have just pissed him off, though he doesn't admit it
pg 335: "You're planting a seed! some people had said. But the seed had not sprouted and now it was decayed and probably moribund."
pg 336: "I did not know the answer, I didn't even know the question." - he feels he had clarity that only "Africans could fix their problems."
he ends by feeling physically sick
pg 322: a former student now teaches - "That had been on of my more modest goals." exactly
of his youth in Malawi - pg 324: "I had learned what many others had discovered before me, that Africa for all its perils represented wilderness and possibility. Not only did I have freedom to write in Africa, I had something new to write about."
pg 325: compares aid workers to safari-tourists
he joined PC to avoid the draft
he liked the rawness, the possibility
pg 326: "I liked the sweet somnolence of rural Africa, which I regarded with a sense of safety."
pg 328: "Aid is one of the main reasons for underdevelopment in Africa." - Dr. Jonathan Banda
pg 330: visits his old school and home - both in bad shape
* I think if we returned to Timor any time soon the family would shout and jump and run to meet us
he has been forgotten, compares himself to a ghost, and that may have just pissed him off, though he doesn't admit it
pg 335: "You're planting a seed! some people had said. But the seed had not sprouted and now it was decayed and probably moribund."
pg 336: "I did not know the answer, I didn't even know the question." - he feels he had clarity that only "Africans could fix their problems."
he ends by feeling physically sick
14 - Through the Outposts of the Plateau
ribbing of man who calls him "white man"
Malawi was where he served as a PCV and got the clap, apparently
he wants to spend his 60th b-day teaching at his old school
vows never to ride small buses again (299)
pg 300: potholes are speed bumps - but on good roads, they speed - vans are overstuffed (301)
pg 306: realizes his "teaching gift" to Malawi "was nothing special." like the charity vehicles he passed
pg 310: Theroux complains about the rain and an African says that's because he's a Westerner; Africans love the rain - Theroux decides: "This seemed to me a pretty fair assessment of cultural difference." - funny
pg 311: meets a long time aid worker - Theroux asks her what will happen when she leaves: "They'll just die," she says. Perhaps this is the core chapter...
pg 315: "What went wrong here?' - "In other countries I was a detached observer, but absurd as it seemed, I took the Malawian situation personally."
- this is the chapter where he feels the most, puts forth the most emotion - perhaps why I was annoyed with the read at other times: he's just a passerby, little attachment, just an observer (but can a travel writer do otherwise? Thubron didn't get emotional much either, but his book was good. Perhaps it was his interest in the people, the culture, the history - he felt a need to understand and the reader could tell. Theroux did have a sort of bond with the continent, too, though he showed it by being, well, a wiener
met with ambassador - he did not like Theroux's passionate jabs
Malawi was where he served as a PCV and got the clap, apparently
he wants to spend his 60th b-day teaching at his old school
vows never to ride small buses again (299)
pg 300: potholes are speed bumps - but on good roads, they speed - vans are overstuffed (301)
pg 306: realizes his "teaching gift" to Malawi "was nothing special." like the charity vehicles he passed
pg 310: Theroux complains about the rain and an African says that's because he's a Westerner; Africans love the rain - Theroux decides: "This seemed to me a pretty fair assessment of cultural difference." - funny
pg 311: meets a long time aid worker - Theroux asks her what will happen when she leaves: "They'll just die," she says. Perhaps this is the core chapter...
pg 315: "What went wrong here?' - "In other countries I was a detached observer, but absurd as it seemed, I took the Malawian situation personally."
- this is the chapter where he feels the most, puts forth the most emotion - perhaps why I was annoyed with the read at other times: he's just a passerby, little attachment, just an observer (but can a travel writer do otherwise? Thubron didn't get emotional much either, but his book was good. Perhaps it was his interest in the people, the culture, the history - he felt a need to understand and the reader could tell. Theroux did have a sort of bond with the continent, too, though he showed it by being, well, a wiener
met with ambassador - he did not like Theroux's passionate jabs
13 - The Kilaminjaro Express to Mbaya
he boards another train - its Chinese history - and a woman reading one of his books
the woman and her husband and a Finnish friend drink with him - the Finnish woman has a memorable scene where she says that her mission to alleviate AIDS has failed
pg 285: harasses aid workers again - this and the topic that Africa can take care of itself is repeated over and over as if it is new
pg 286-7: "...dark star image in my mind, in which everyone existed as a sort of shadow-counterpart of someone in the brighter world."
sense of danger as he rides a minivan to town - then takes a taxi to the Malawi border, where he walks through
the woman and her husband and a Finnish friend drink with him - the Finnish woman has a memorable scene where she says that her mission to alleviate AIDS has failed
pg 285: harasses aid workers again - this and the topic that Africa can take care of itself is repeated over and over as if it is new
pg 286-7: "...dark star image in my mind, in which everyone existed as a sort of shadow-counterpart of someone in the brighter world."
sense of danger as he rides a minivan to town - then takes a taxi to the Malawi border, where he walks through
12 - The Bush Train to Dar es Salam
pg 252: in Tanzania "This was another haunted border post...that the safari-going tourists who flew into the international airport at Arusha would never see."
*the water - Bill said even the bottled water that wasn't Aque Se was not to be trusted
watched pick up soccer kids pg 153-4
*when I go to write about soccer in Timor - Rainbow Field, the girls, the Ministry game - I should include why I love the sport, how easily I am drawn to it, participate in it - should I start by writing this chapter?
Theroux put it nicely: "By any reckoning, these children were playing and laughing in one of the more desperate provinces of a semi-derelict country."
pg 261: Heart of Darkness put forth the wide-spread belief that Africans were cannibals - not true, Theroux says
*the water - Bill said even the bottled water that wasn't Aque Se was not to be trusted
watched pick up soccer kids pg 153-4
*when I go to write about soccer in Timor - Rainbow Field, the girls, the Ministry game - I should include why I love the sport, how easily I am drawn to it, participate in it - should I start by writing this chapter?
Theroux put it nicely: "By any reckoning, these children were playing and laughing in one of the more desperate provinces of a semi-derelict country."
pg 261: Heart of Darkness put forth the wide-spread belief that Africans were cannibals - not true, Theroux says
11 - The MV Umoja Across Lake Victoria
lots of dialogue and scenes
his most memorable scene becomes mine, a man studying in the ferry boat's engine room "to boost his academic qualifications" (246-7) - I can see this is an essay on its own - one lasting image that embodies the trip
his most memorable scene becomes mine, a man studying in the ferry boat's engine room "to boost his academic qualifications" (246-7) - I can see this is an essay on its own - one lasting image that embodies the trip
10 - Old Friends in Bat Valley
pg 206: in Uganda "I reflected that a person who has not crossed an African border on foot has not really entered the country, for the airport in the capital is no more than a confidence trick; the distant border, what appears to be the edge, is the country's central reality."
* Thubron and Theroux are experienced, wizened old travelers - the PCVs are green and naive, seeing things for the first time - this should be stressed in the writing
I thought today that my book is my reflection on the events today, including my life as it is and the writing process, sorting out feelings as I relive scenes, etc.
compares his age to Africans - "In Africa no one's lifetime was long enough to accomplish anything substantial" (208)
"The older traveler knows it best: in our hearts we are youthful and we are insulted to be treated as old men and burdens, for we have to come to know that the years have made us more powerful and certainly streetwise. Years are not an affliction - old age is strength." (208-9)
Uganda was where he taught in college - so we we get his memories (210)
pg 211: grasshoppers taste "better than white ants." according to a native
prostitution followed aid workers (212)
*PCVs - how powerful yet weak, how brave yet frightened - I was somewhere in the middle
pg 222-3: he buys beers and fries for three prostitutes and chats with them - he loves mingling with the "real people"
he is emotionally invested in Africa (235)
* Thubron and Theroux are experienced, wizened old travelers - the PCVs are green and naive, seeing things for the first time - this should be stressed in the writing
I thought today that my book is my reflection on the events today, including my life as it is and the writing process, sorting out feelings as I relive scenes, etc.
compares his age to Africans - "In Africa no one's lifetime was long enough to accomplish anything substantial" (208)
"The older traveler knows it best: in our hearts we are youthful and we are insulted to be treated as old men and burdens, for we have to come to know that the years have made us more powerful and certainly streetwise. Years are not an affliction - old age is strength." (208-9)
Uganda was where he taught in college - so we we get his memories (210)
pg 211: grasshoppers taste "better than white ants." according to a native
prostitution followed aid workers (212)
*PCVs - how powerful yet weak, how brave yet frightened - I was somewhere in the middle
pg 222-3: he buys beers and fries for three prostitutes and chats with them - he loves mingling with the "real people"
he is emotionally invested in Africa (235)
9 - Rift Valley Days
modern day tales of horror - murder and theft - as opposed to Thubron's telling of past Chinese horrors
compares Nairobi today to Dickens' London (186)
scorns "Tourist Africa" and "sentimental memoirists" including Hemingway (190-1)
meets a Kenyan writer, ex prisoner
on a bus he passes a town where there once lived a priest who tried to reveal the government's crimes - (200) - "Tourists would see only those lovely birds and know nothing of Father Kaiser or the dark forces in Kenya that had undone him."
*I think that is the theme here - correcting misconceptions, getting to the heart of the continent, the truth of the matter - he wants to see it for himself, but we get to see it too
history/geography of volcanoes, fault lines
the places he revisits - "the sparsely inhabited bush had become populous and visibly nasty." (201)
"I wondered...why had so little progress been made?" (202)
books on poor aid work: Graham Hancock's The Lords of Poverty, a book by Michael Maren, Sergio Polizzotti and Daniele Fanciulacci
coffin-making and happiness (204)
would I call his writing unapologetic?
I did some quick research and found Theroux wrote of traveling through China more once - and once while Thubron was there - would be interesting to compare
compares Nairobi today to Dickens' London (186)
scorns "Tourist Africa" and "sentimental memoirists" including Hemingway (190-1)
meets a Kenyan writer, ex prisoner
on a bus he passes a town where there once lived a priest who tried to reveal the government's crimes - (200) - "Tourists would see only those lovely birds and know nothing of Father Kaiser or the dark forces in Kenya that had undone him."
*I think that is the theme here - correcting misconceptions, getting to the heart of the continent, the truth of the matter - he wants to see it for himself, but we get to see it too
history/geography of volcanoes, fault lines
the places he revisits - "the sparsely inhabited bush had become populous and visibly nasty." (201)
"I wondered...why had so little progress been made?" (202)
books on poor aid work: Graham Hancock's The Lords of Poverty, a book by Michael Maren, Sergio Polizzotti and Daniele Fanciulacci
coffin-making and happiness (204)
would I call his writing unapologetic?
I did some quick research and found Theroux wrote of traveling through China more once - and once while Thubron was there - would be interesting to compare
8 - Figawi Safari on the Bandit Road
Northern Kenya on the road South: "Buses did not operate on this north-south road." (157)
a description of the ride and roads that I can relate to (158)
after a flat tire, he rides an the top of a truck
"He said in English, 'They do not want your life, bwana, they want your shoes.'" (163)
he meets two young aid workers - berates them, though he admits he shouldn't have (165-6)
he begins a trip with some English tour guides and their Western crew - I know this will be bad (168)
pg 172: interesting: Theroux likes to get Biblical with people - does so with a "missionary of the Full Gospel Church" - a Kikuyu woman who makes them dinner - he speaks Swahili - a good thing, like Thubron's Mandarin
pg 176: hates Westerners - American aid workers won't give him a lift - he curses them
pg 179: decides to leave tour group - "I had seen items in travel magazines all the time advertising 'Overland Africa - Experience the Adventure.' And now I knew what this adventure entailed." - "After months of trucking in Africa everyone on board has the dull torpid smile and brain-damaged look of a cultist."
a description of the ride and roads that I can relate to (158)
after a flat tire, he rides an the top of a truck
"He said in English, 'They do not want your life, bwana, they want your shoes.'" (163)
he meets two young aid workers - berates them, though he admits he shouldn't have (165-6)
he begins a trip with some English tour guides and their Western crew - I know this will be bad (168)
pg 172: interesting: Theroux likes to get Biblical with people - does so with a "missionary of the Full Gospel Church" - a Kikuyu woman who makes them dinner - he speaks Swahili - a good thing, like Thubron's Mandarin
pg 176: hates Westerners - American aid workers won't give him a lift - he curses them
pg 179: decides to leave tour group - "I had seen items in travel magazines all the time advertising 'Overland Africa - Experience the Adventure.' And now I knew what this adventure entailed." - "After months of trucking in Africa everyone on board has the dull torpid smile and brain-damaged look of a cultist."
7 - The Longest Road in Africa
history of rail from Nairobi to Cape Town - he still had to get to Nairobi
runs across illegal ivory - hears that diplomats buy it
pg 132: amazing story of an Ethiopian who translated Gone with the Wind while in jail - other stories follow
finds a ride with traders
stops in Shashemene, Rasta capital
pg 149: pineapple in Amharic and Italian AND tetum: ananas
maybe this isn't so bad, just different
mentions meningitis scare
lost appetite: "being among so many hungry people had killed my appetite." (152) - ate one meal a day
in the borderlands "artful dodgers" (154)
Unlike, Thubron, Theroux is seeking out danger - doing it the hard way, and proud of it - Sure, Thubron traveled on trains and buses and boats and stayed in crappy hotels, ate the food, slept outdoors, hikes alone - but Africa is a lion and China a tortoise in comparison
touching connection with Tadelle and Wolde, Wolde cries at departure - not sure how Theroux felt
runs across illegal ivory - hears that diplomats buy it
pg 132: amazing story of an Ethiopian who translated Gone with the Wind while in jail - other stories follow
finds a ride with traders
stops in Shashemene, Rasta capital
pg 149: pineapple in Amharic and Italian AND tetum: ananas
maybe this isn't so bad, just different
mentions meningitis scare
lost appetite: "being among so many hungry people had killed my appetite." (152) - ate one meal a day
in the borderlands "artful dodgers" (154)
Unlike, Thubron, Theroux is seeking out danger - doing it the hard way, and proud of it - Sure, Thubron traveled on trains and buses and boats and stayed in crappy hotels, ate the food, slept outdoors, hikes alone - but Africa is a lion and China a tortoise in comparison
touching connection with Tadelle and Wolde, Wolde cries at departure - not sure how Theroux felt
6 - The Djibouti Line to Harar
off to Harar, Ethiopia, because Rimbaud, a man who forsook the West, once lived there
history of area
hitched with nun, gets her story
Hararis distrusted foreigners - superstitious
pg 111: begins a tale - though confusing as to whether it's his or not - then we see it's Rimbaud's
he wanders in the town, sees a Sheik in a house, chews with him, visits the nun, meets a Red Cross worker
pg 121-2: Harar - hyena relationship
pg 124: he calls Harar the Anti-west - "nothing of home here" - he liked that: "Being in Africa was like being on a dark star."
history of area
hitched with nun, gets her story
Hararis distrusted foreigners - superstitious
pg 111: begins a tale - though confusing as to whether it's his or not - then we see it's Rimbaud's
he wanders in the town, sees a Sheik in a house, chews with him, visits the nun, meets a Red Cross worker
pg 121-2: Harar - hyena relationship
pg 124: he calls Harar the Anti-west - "nothing of home here" - he liked that: "Being in Africa was like being on a dark star."
5 - The Osama Road to Nubia
perhaps more engaging scene -he is in a tent, naked, in the desert and an unexpected rain appears - why can't he do this more often and in more interesting experiences?
Osama bin Laden discussed, history
where Thubron made a point to converse with strangers, Theroux just jokes with them (pgs 76-7), an anti-American man curses American presidents and Theroux gives him a soda
visits an empty school and a well
pg 81: "The greatest part of my satisfaction was animal pleasure..." being alone outdoors
explores pyramids - history of dynamite-tomb raider
invited to meet a VIP - late-night conversations give Theroux good feelings
Osama bin Laden discussed, history
where Thubron made a point to converse with strangers, Theroux just jokes with them (pgs 76-7), an anti-American man curses American presidents and Theroux gives him a soda
visits an empty school and a well
pg 81: "The greatest part of my satisfaction was animal pleasure..." being alone outdoors
explores pyramids - history of dynamite-tomb raider
invited to meet a VIP - late-night conversations give Theroux good feelings
4 - The Dervishes of Omdurman
talks to Ihab on plane - about female circumcision - Ihab thinks it's sexy
talks to 20 year olds about war - American/Sudanese/Afghani and Sudan's civil war
met a landmine expert - notes all the aid workers in his hotel - pg 63: "Charities and aid programs seemed to turn African problems into permanent conditions that were bigger and messier."
he is turned on by a veiled woman who shows some henna-laced leg as she bends over, pg 64: "That sight made the day seem hotter." The near-tastelessness of the comment mixed with the cliche turned me off, cooled me down
history of British-Sudanese war relations - Winston Churchill was a journalist there
witnesses dancing dervishes - "revivalist prayer meeting" meets "village exorcism"
talks to 20 year olds about war - American/Sudanese/Afghani and Sudan's civil war
met a landmine expert - notes all the aid workers in his hotel - pg 63: "Charities and aid programs seemed to turn African problems into permanent conditions that were bigger and messier."
he is turned on by a veiled woman who shows some henna-laced leg as she bends over, pg 64: "That sight made the day seem hotter." The near-tastelessness of the comment mixed with the cliche turned me off, cooled me down
history of British-Sudanese war relations - Winston Churchill was a journalist there
witnesses dancing dervishes - "revivalist prayer meeting" meets "village exorcism"
3 - Up and Down the Nile
cruises down Nile, visits defaced ruins
Moses and Jews questions
says Flaubert, who he quotes often, is his model
he talks about writing often - gives the read both a conversational and condescending tone
interesting - he considers the tourists on his boat part of the Egyptian experience - good eye, pg 50
pg 51: "A travel narrative [is] the story of There and Back." he reflects on his slow travel
moves from memory to memory
pg 54: "Travel is at best accidental, and you can't explain improvisation."
visa to Sudan - American consul general warns him that an American was kidnapped and mock-executed
Moses and Jews questions
says Flaubert, who he quotes often, is his model
he talks about writing often - gives the read both a conversational and condescending tone
interesting - he considers the tourists on his boat part of the Egyptian experience - good eye, pg 50
pg 51: "A travel narrative [is] the story of There and Back." he reflects on his slow travel
moves from memory to memory
pg 54: "Travel is at best accidental, and you can't explain improvisation."
visa to Sudan - American consul general warns him that an American was kidnapped and mock-executed
2 - The Mother of the World
starts with odd weather forecast: Dust - and goes straight into Egyptian history - focusing on how its obelisks and ruins have been stolen and used by foreigners for centuries
"It was obvious they were hoping to make a buck but at least they had the grace to do it with a smile." (7)
attempts at humor, pg 8
pgs 8-9: seems to belittle his tour guide - who is pestering him for money - though I find I don't despise the guide as much as Theroux
big on history - sphinx's real Egyptian names, pg 10
pg 11: "the Internet and out age of information has destroyed the pleasure of discovery in travel." - grumpy bugger
at a dinner party everyone talked bad of the continent
focused chapter on his time-passing - going to a salon, museums
"It was obvious they were hoping to make a buck but at least they had the grace to do it with a smile." (7)
attempts at humor, pg 8
pgs 8-9: seems to belittle his tour guide - who is pestering him for money - though I find I don't despise the guide as much as Theroux
big on history - sphinx's real Egyptian names, pg 10
pg 11: "the Internet and out age of information has destroyed the pleasure of discovery in travel." - grumpy bugger
at a dinner party everyone talked bad of the continent
focused chapter on his time-passing - going to a salon, museums
1 - Lighting Out
(I took 17 pages of notes - here goes...)
begins by telling us why he made the trip: "I wanted the pleasure of being in Africa again." and that he sat down to write it a year later - sums it all up and says, "Such a paragraph needs some explanation - at least a book; this book perhaps." (1)
this seems to be quite the ambitious travel book - 500 pages - can he keep my interest for so long?
Africa's gotten worse - imagines his old Africa in the upheaval of the 90's
pg 3: "The wish to disappear sends many travellers away..." He wants to escape cell phones and emails - curious reason but understandable
pg 4: best and pettiest reasons to go: discovery and escape
begins by telling us why he made the trip: "I wanted the pleasure of being in Africa again." and that he sat down to write it a year later - sums it all up and says, "Such a paragraph needs some explanation - at least a book; this book perhaps." (1)
this seems to be quite the ambitious travel book - 500 pages - can he keep my interest for so long?
Africa's gotten worse - imagines his old Africa in the upheaval of the 90's
pg 3: "The wish to disappear sends many travellers away..." He wants to escape cell phones and emails - curious reason but understandable
pg 4: best and pettiest reasons to go: discovery and escape
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