The Ombu Tree

Rating:
Summary: Making Argentina real
Review: A captivating story at many levels. One comes away with a breathless sense of hard work, the pampas, and the added complexities of dealing with a handicapped child in a very foreign country forty years ago. And underlying other themes is a fascination and puzzlement - sometimes fear - of the superstition and mystery of a place that is rural Argentina. If you're interested in travel and history and life, read it.

Rating:
Summary: The Ombu Tree
Review: Visiting a foreign place can never match the depths of understanding that come from living there. And beautiful, mysterious Argentina forty years ago was certainly foreign to most Brits and Americans. But the author's personal experiences in a superstitious, fearful and harshly different set of cultural circumstances, find voices in the complex set of characters who live through seasons, earning a living by cooperating with and competing with nature and bureaucracies at all levels. Another story line of family courage and sadness of raising a physically impaired child in this environment weaves together with the land and the mysteries to make for a gripping and informative tale - well told.