Whites

Rating:
Summary: The Perspective of a Former Peace Corps Volunteer
Review: I served in the Peace Corps while Norm Rush was Co-Director of Peace Corps/ Botswana. Norm's book is an excellent protrayal of volunteers and other expatriates. Moreover, it is a terrific read. Although it is "fiction," I recognized all the characters as being "real." Nevertheless, although the book does ring true, it is not a complete portrayal of Peace Corps Volunteers and volunteers from other countries. What Norm doesn't decribe, probably because they are less interesting from a novelist's perspective, are the many volunteers who did their best to learn Setswana (the national language), who did their best to succeed in the culture, and who worked hard every day. Norm's book is excellent, and although fiction, it is an accurate protrayal of expat/ volunteer life, but it is not their whole story.

Rating:
Summary: The Perspective of a Former Peace Corps Volunteer
Review: I served in the Peace Corps while Norm Rush was Co-Director of Peace Corps/ Botswana. Norm's book is an excellent protrayal of volunteers and other expatriates. Moreover, it is a terrific read. Although it is "fiction," I recognized all the characters as being "real." Nevertheless, although the book does ring true, it is not a complete portrayal of Peace Corps Volunteers and volunteers from other countries. What Norm doesn't decribe, probably because they are less interesting from a novelist's perspective, are the many volunteers who did their best to learn Setswana (the national language), who did their best to succeed in the culture, and who worked hard every day. Norm's book is excellent, and although fiction, it is an accurate protrayal of expat/ volunteer life, but it is not their whole story.

Rating:
Summary: Skip Mating... Read this
Review: I tried to read Mating when I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Botswana, but like everyone else I knew, had to put it down because it was such rubbish. When I came back to the US, I was amazed and enthralled with Whites, a collection of lucid and often funny short stories. Mating has little or no foundation in reality (even some of the Setswana words he uses are incorrect or don't exist). Whites is a telling portrayal of expatriate life in Gaborone as it was in the late seventies and early eighties. Even though I lived in Gaborone from '95-'97, some of the stories still rang true to me. Don't waste your time on Mating, this is the book to read.

Rating:
Summary: Great Stories of Expatriate Life
Review: Rush is an American who lived in Botswana for a number of years, and these stories about expatriate life there bear the ring the authenticity that can only come from personal experience. The stories are slightly linked through shared characters, characters who find themselves changed by Botswana in sometimes surprising ways. Funny and tender, this book is an excellent window into living abroad.