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The Village of Waiting by: George Packer List Price: CDN$ 17.50 City Travel Guides Price: CDN$ 12.78 You Save: CDN$4.72 (27%)Prices subject to change. |
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Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 966.8104092 EAN: 9780374527808 ISBN: 0374527806 Label: Douglas & McIntyre / Not Applicable Manufacturer: Douglas & McIntyre / Not Applicable Number Of Pages: 336 Publication Date: August 01, 2001 Publisher: Douglas & McIntyre / Not Applicable Studio: Douglas & McIntyre / Not Applicable Sales Rank: 260459 Browse for similar items by category:
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 Rating: - The Village of WaitingThis beautifully written book that is set in Togo is an emotional account of a peace corps volunteer's experiences. Despite the reality of the place, the author found himself attached tothe soul of the people. He saw Togo from the angle of a lover of Africa. The writer is very descriptive and made it possible for the reader to relate to the story. This is the right book for those who have the desire to know about African life and the culture of the people. Coming from an outsider's view of an African country, one gets amazed by the insightful nature of it. You can also read The Usurper and Other Stories, Things Fall Apart, Disciples of Fortune,Triple Agent Double Cross, and Mango Elephants in the Sun. Rating: - Profound in its SimplicityGeorge Packer's ability to describe the lives of many who live in Togo make this piece of text a must-read for all, even for those who do not have an interest in serving in the Peace Corps. He writes with raw emotion and sincerity, without a tad of pretense. I'd say that Packer's foremost accomplishment in this text is that he makes no attempt to tell a story about how a superior white individual intervenes in a remote village and rids the residents of poverty and illiteracy. Rather, The Village of Waiting is a sincere account of his realization that sadly, some things just cannot be altered. I think Packer knew this from the outset, but it is interesting to read about he endures this realization during his 2-year service in Togo. Rating: - Togo: still crazy after all these yearsI read a tattered, much passed around copy of Village of Waiting in my Peace Corps house in a village not far from George Packer's. I just returned in October 2001. Hard to imagine that after nearly twenty years, so much of what Packer wrote about Togo has not changed very much. . . Togo still waits. When people ask me about Togo, I'm still not sure what to say. I imagine Packer is still unsure. All I can say is that it is easy to give up on Togo, quite another thing to give up on its people. Packer's reflections of life in Lavie provide a lot of insight into the life of a Peace Corps Volunteer. This is a book that many PCVs either love or hate. Although it must be said that they seem to hate it when they arrive in Togo, and love it if they ... Read More: Rating: - The ultimate book on life in the Peace CorpsThe Village Of Waiting is an incredible description of life in West Africa. It captures the essence of being a Peace Corps Volunteer in West Africa. Anyone who has ever been or thought about being a Peace Corps Volunteer should read this book. Rating: - This is exactly what life in Togo is like!I spent a semester of college in Togo about the same time the author was there. Five years later, I read this book. It was the most emotional book-reading experience I have ever had. Packer accurately describes all the emotions an American goes through when encountering life in West Africa. Ten years later, Packer wrote a moving addendum for the Boston Review, which is available online... Just find the Boston Review magazine website from Yahoo, and then do a search on George Packer. It's in the April/May 1994 Vol. XIX No. 2 edition of the Boston Review. |
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