Dear Exile : The True Story of Two Friends Separated (for a Year) by an Ocean by Hilary Liftin and Kate MontgomeryBook 12 of 100 for the 100+ Reading Challenge
rating: 2 of 5 stars
This book contains real-life letters between best friends. Hilary is single in NYC and Kate is a newly-married Peace Corp volunteer in Kenya.
rating: 2 of 5 stars
This book contains real-life letters between best friends. Hilary is single in NYC and Kate is a newly-married Peace Corp volunteer in Kenya.
I have a hard time trashing the characters here, because they are real people with real feelings. But, if you are going to publish your private correspondence for all the world to see, I guess you open yourself up to a lot of scrutiny. So, let's just say that Hilary and I would never be friends.
Kate is so genuine and heartfelt in her letters. You can feel her inner struggles to do the right thing and her desire to change the world. Her letters are long and meaningful, rich in detail of her life in Kenya. But Hilary's letters were mostly about her sexual exploits, her lousy luck in love, a job she hates and her apartment woes. I will give Hilary humor points though. She had me laughing out loud a couple of times.
Pick it up if you have a penchant for Africa or travel memoirs. It was a quick read, but really just OK for me in the end.
5 comments:
I suppose I'll pass on this one. I have a penchant for travel memoirs, but not for shallow people. :)
I love travel memoirs, but this one would be hard to get into for me. The shallow topics of the letters would drive me nuts!
Hmm, the premise would have me picking up the book as well - too bad it was disappointing.
I haven't read a lot of memoirs. I'll have to try some out. I may have to pass on this one though...
Yeah, I read this one year before last, I think. I had had this on my TBR list for ages and was so excited to finally read it, and...meh. It was dry, and I was bored by it. Didn't impress me at all either. Two out of five stars is about right.
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