Review includes mentions of su1cid3, depression, and drug use.
I'm on a quest to find female travelogues that don't center around looking for companio Review includes mentions of su1cid3, depression, and drug use.
I'm on a quest to find female travelogues that don't center around looking for companionship. Pike's narrative was one I was looking forward to because it came from a perspective I'd never seen in the travel memoir genre, which is the Indigenous perspective and a returning Peace Corps volunteer.
With this in mind, I went in excited to read a story full of Pike's adventures in Bolivia and was excited up until the last third of the story. Having Pike go from searching for a viable Peace Corp volunteer project to becoming depressed and actively attempting su1cd3 because she's lonely then jumping into her being a willing participant in an affair was a large leap. Not because the first two things are so outlandish, but because Pike seems to gloss overall things (e.g., casual cocaine use by Peace Corp volunteers at a party and her decision to never use the drug after the first time and then her suicide) I as a reader wanted to hear more exploration behind and instead focuses on her relationship with a married man. For example, I wanted to know how Pike felt about the fact that so many of her fellow white Peace Corps volunteers, like her long time friend, Daniel, come on their trips and are lauded for their work and efforts while she struggled mentally, emotionally, and professionally to find a way to fit into a community that she was so sure would accept her because she was Indigenous too. I kept waiting for Pike to draw a solid conclusion between her work and Daniel's celebrated work, but it never came.
Instead, there was extensive mention about her dating life and her desire to fill the void with anyone. Based on her casual mention of how the other participants also frequently dated and hooked up with Bolivians during their tenure with Peace Corps, I did wish Pike delved more into the power imbalance here if she was going to spend so much time on the relationship aspect of her volunteer time. (view spoiler)[I especially felt this way since for most of her relationship with Fernando, it appeared from her retelling as if he was trying to win her affection only to possibly get a Green Card and a one way trip to American since he knew she was leaving. This observation and casual mention by his wife about if Fernando was leaving (hide spoiler)]with her when she confronts Pike along with the disjointed nature of the relationship in the ending section makes me curious if her editors decided that Pike’s Peace Corp experience wasn’t interesting enough and made her mine the relationship with Fernando as a climatic moment in her two year journey in Bolivia.
In the end, I really wish this relationship hadn’t been so centered in Pike's narrative because her story and the interactions she had with the Bolivians, especially the Chulita community, was so much more interesting than her pining for a married man for that last chunk of the book....more
This collection would’ve worked better in another format, like a podcast or web series. After the first twenty essays, the book felt like overkill. ThThis collection would’ve worked better in another format, like a podcast or web series. After the first twenty essays, the book felt like overkill. This is especially true when the book starts listing things out. There was good info throughout the book in pieces....more
That was sad. but, I really enjoyed the storytelling element and how the author blended her reading Review contains mentions of attempted su1cid3.
That was sad. but, I really enjoyed the storytelling element and how the author blended her reading habit with explaining a particular life event leading up to her attempted su1cid3....more
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