December 11, 2003 - Amazon: Reviews of The Village of Waiting by Togo RPCV George Packer

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Togo: Peace Corps Togo : The Peace Corps in Togo: December 11, 2003 - Amazon: Reviews of The Village of Waiting by Togo RPCV George Packer

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Reviews of The Village of Waiting by Togo RPCV George Packer



Reviews of The Village of Waiting by Togo RPCV George Packer

In 1982-83, Packer worked for the Peace Corps as an English teacher in the village of Lavie in Togo, West Africa, and here recounts his occasionally comic, more often poignant, and frequently tragic experiences in sharp, descriptive prose. He does not romanticize Africa or Africans, but writes with an honest sense of realism and the perspective of an outsider who nevertheless cares very deeply for his subject: "The struggle to stay afloat took on endless variations in Togo. And the white foreigner who'd come on an enlightened mission, and once there managed to keep his eyes open, quickly lost his bearings in the face of it." A great deal of his passion and frustration is directed at an educational system that is impoverished, archaic and based in equal parts on rote and beatings. For Packer, Togo's educational system is a symbol of its present condition, the enduring product of a colonial legacy that has fostered both a chronic national economic crisis and a deep sense of personal inferiority among many of the Africans whom he met. The author presents a full view of Togolese customs and society, exploring such topics as work, medical care, marriage and sex, politics, drought and tourists. He is at his best when he writes about people, including himself, because he treats them not as simple characters or types, but as complex personalities, revealing their histories and psychologies with great sympathy and care.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


From Library Journal
Peace Corps volunteer Packer evokes both sympathy and amusement, while pointing out the dilemmas of contemporary African society in this tale of his experiences as an English teacher in a southern Togolese village in the early 1980s. He observes the political charades, the stalled development, and the resigned indifference of villagers, and also stands back for a wry look at himself in situations he could hardly have imagined as an undergraduate at Yale. He draws portraits of a few Togolese who are poignantly caught in a cultural and economic limbo, and in the end finds himself in a kind of psychic limbo. Recommended. Janet Stanley, Smithsonian Inst. Lib., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


Review
"Lovely in its feeling for the people and realistic in its assessment of the African situations, this is a first-rate piece of social reportage." --Irving Howe

"[A] fond and angry account. . . . An impressively unself-righteous and questioning work of intimate introduction, in which each dislocation of hope and breakdown of sense matters. Truthful throughout." --The New Yorker

"Glowing. . . . A masterful book." --New York Times Book Review


From the Publisher
"This is a first-rate piece of social reportage...Lovely in its feeling for the people and realistic in its assessment of the African situations."--Irving Howe --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


About the Author
George Packer's journalism and essays have appeared in Harper's; The New York Times; the 1997 Pushcart Prize anthology, The Art of the Essay; and elsewhere. His latest book is Blood of the Liberals. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.


Book Description
Now restored to print with a new Foreword by Philip Gourevitch and an Afterword by the author, this book is a frank, moving, and vivid account of contemporary life in West Africa. Stationed as a Peace Corps instructor in the village of Lavié (the name means "wait a little more") in tiny and underdeveloped Togo, Packer reveals his own schooling at the hands of an unforgettable array of townspeople--peasants, chiefs, charlatans, children, market women, cripples, crazies, and those who, having lost or given up much of their traditional identity and fastened their hopes on "development," find themselves trapped between the familiar repetitions of rural life and the chafing monotony of waiting for change.


Profound in its Simplicity, September 14, 2003
Reviewer: jjdash23 from San Diego, CA United States
George 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.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Incredible, December 20, 2002
Reviewer: A reader from Durham, NC United States
Haunting--this book is raw and hontest. I can't get it off my mind. Will be visiting friends doing VSO in northern Ghana soon and am trying to get a copy for them as well. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

Togo: still crazy after all these years, April 18, 2002
Reviewer: garnerwoodall from Washington, DC United States
I 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 or re-read it later, especially after leaving Togo. Many PCVs have complained that he was too soft, and couldn't handle it, but it is my impression that Packer really understood his reality and that is what made it so hard for him to handle it everyday. He understood the absurdity and hardship, and did not romanticize it. It made him angry. I know how he felt. I often wondered about the characters in Packer's book, as I zoomed through Lavie on my way up-country. Luckily, this new print has some follow-up on the many characters of his village.

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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

A moving, intelligent and insightful masterpiece, August 28, 2000
Reviewer: Lance J. Klass from Chatham, Massachusetts
For the longest time after reading this amazing and wonderful book I worried about George Packer - how he had gotten on, if he was successful, where he had gone, and if he had written more in the same lucid and painfully honest style he used in this autobiographical essay on his years in Togo as a Peace Corps volunteer. So it was with special joy today that I discovered not only that he's just written a major work (on American liberalism) that has been reviewed by the NY Times quite favorably, but that's he's written other works as well. Truly, Packer has an intellectual honesty that is extremely rare, coupled with an innate ability to put in words the deepest and most sincere and heartfelt feelings of Peace Corps volunteer and of those who have share the volunteer experience, particularly those among us who were blessed with service in Africa. The Village of Waiting is a "travel narrative", you might call it, that transcends the genre. Highly recommended. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

The ultimate book on life in the Peace Corps, August 18, 1999
Reviewer: A reader
The 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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

This is exactly what life in Togo is like!, July 31, 1999
Reviewer: A reader from Sunnyvale, CA USA
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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

The absolute best book on the Peace Corps in West Africa !, May 6, 1998
Reviewer: A reader
I read the Village of Waiting before I left for the peace corps in Benin, West Africa, and then again and again while I was there. It is the most accurate description of Peace Corps service in Togo, Benin, and other West African countries that exists. This book is an absolute MUST READ for all present, past, and future Peace Corps Volunteers of West Africa. I re-read this book whenever I want to get the essence of my experience in Benin back. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title

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One of the best Peace Corps travelogues ever written, March 12, 1998
Reviewer: A reader
This book gets at the heart of being a Peace Corps volunteer in a third world country. I've read it several times, and am trying to get another copy for a friend who will be working in Africa. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title


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