Whiteman
by Tony D'Souza
Sign in to Goodreads to see your friends' reviews of this book.
discuss this book
friend reviews (0)
To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
lists with this book
Where's the love? Add this book to your favorite list.
other reviews (showing 1-20 of 129)
Read in November, 2007
This novel seemed too detailed to be based on research and imagination alone; I felt it had to be written by someone with more personal knowledge gained from first-hand experience. The book jacket and acknowledgments didn't give any indication, so I looked up a bio of the author online. Sure enough, he had been a Peace Corps volunteer who spent more than two years with the Dioula, a Muslim people who live in northern Ivory Coast. Just like the protagonist of his book.
This left me wonderin...more
This left me wonderin...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
I would be charmed by this book for long stretches of time, then become suddenly and intensely agitated by it, then just as quickly become charmed again. There's a lot of valid things to be agitated by. Structurally, it's one of those novels cobbled together out of what you get the sense were initially seperate short stories, and while the segmentation works well in some places, it feels incoherent in others, because things get dropped or don't add up. The book is so invested in the tragedy of t...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
recommends it for:
international health workers
Peace Corps stints in far off villages often make good fodder for books. Like "Whiteman." Tony D'Souza is a good and honest writer. The opening chapter, when he tells of riots on the streets of Cote D'Ivoire, and slamming the door in a tormented monkey's face, actually was a great metaphor, I thought, for how international workers often deal with Africa's sad realities. When push comes to shove, the international worker retreats to safe gardens. He's not sympathetic, trying to jus...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Like D'Souza, I am also a returned Peace Corps volunteer (RPCV) from francophone Africa. Many of the settings and situations he talks about in this book struck a very familiar chord with me - as they probably would with RPCVs from anywhere. If you aren't an RPCV (or other aid worker), you'll probably still find this book interesting at least - I think he's a great writer and the anecdotes he tells are awfully fun to follow. Just keep in mind that the large majority of this is fiction.
D'Souza...more
D'Souza...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in June, 2008
I really liked this one by a RPCV author. He can actually write - well. No offense to all the RPCV authors I've read. I like every one for sharing an experience to which I can relate. I liked that Whteman was fiction, though clearly coming from real experience. Somehow, in literature, it captured the experience far better for someone else. I just read a somehow similar memoir and I was left feeling like he didn't quite convey what I wanted to get out of it. This one didn't leave me feelin...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2007
recommends it for:
anyone interested in Africa
This is a very impressive first book. The writing / style is incredible. The sentences and dialogue flow into each other seemlessly. D'Souza is a very talented writer, and one who I think will be generating national attention soon. This is another Africa book told from the perspective of a white American aid worker, struggling to connect with the foreign world in which he has been dropped. D'Souza does an excellent job of putting the reader in the middle of the African village, completely i...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
I didn't hate this book as much as I thought I would, though I'm not sure what kind of endorsement that is. It's written by a former peace corps volunteer from my writing workshop this summer, who is very up-and-coming in the writing world. Very smart guy, very charismatic, etc.
The book is more of a series of episodes than a novel--a collection of characters from Africa. The transitions from one chapter to the next aren't terribly smooth. That said, the images, the scenes, held my attention an...more
The book is more of a series of episodes than a novel--a collection of characters from Africa. The transitions from one chapter to the next aren't terribly smooth. That said, the images, the scenes, held my attention an...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in February, 2008
It sounds like the author took out the word "Peace Corps" and put in "International la la la NGO Water Woo".
I don't know of any NGO that makes you live at the level of the community, much less puts you in the real boonies, and the consolidation passage reminds me a lot of what we're told to do here.
Most interesting to me was the parts about unprotected sex - at least one idea why maaaaybe people would put themselves at such risk, although I saw it as a rather flimsy one.
I don't know of any NGO that makes you live at the level of the community, much less puts you in the real boonies, and the consolidation passage reminds me a lot of what we're told to do here.
Most interesting to me was the parts about unprotected sex - at least one idea why maaaaybe people would put themselves at such risk, although I saw it as a rather flimsy one.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
A young man joins the peace corps and travels to West Africa during a time of political strife. In real life the author does experience much of this story (though it is officially fiction). He was an instructor at the Community College where I work and visits annually to present inspiring guest lectures to aspiring student writers.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in June, 2008
I've read some other books that purport to be about the psychology of young americans discovering themselves abroad, but this is the first to not feel cheap, to seem true to experience, and -- most importantly -- to use this platform as a means to address greater issues. that is, to be literature. this book does a pretty good job.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
I was utterly under-whelmed by this novel. Topic-wise, this is dull and so stuffed with simpleton white-guilt it makes a mockery of all those people actually doing goodwork. Aesthetically, D'Souza writes some shitty, shitty sentences, is a master of forced dialogue, and has no real sense of structure.
Like this review?
yes
2 comments
Read in September, 2008
A frustrating read, because you don´t know when he´s telling his actual experience and when he´s making it up. His stark transparency is interesting, but also reveals a morally depraved individual who doesn´t do much to justify his actions but say, ¨Hey, I´m human what do you expect.¨
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in February, 2008
i thought this book was an interesting reflection on what's seen as normal/not normal between differing cultures. it makes you think about what the 'american' culture is and what's really necessary in life for one to be happy. also makes you think of what we sometimes take for granted
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
I will go to Africa soon to volunteer, this is fiction, but the author did go and live in the bush, so its a very funny and scary insight on The Land of the Sun, for now Im just wearing my GAP RED shirt to support the motherland.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
This book is about a peace corps type guy's experience in Africa. A lot of his experiences hit home but a lot did not - they were highly disturbing. An interesting book for anyone who has traveled or lived in Africa.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in November, 2006
An interesting look at Cote d'Ivoire as the crisis broke out, but through a novel (that wasn't about child soldiers!). Lots of parts that I felt that I could relate to, other than the speaking Mandingo part.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in September, 2008
It reminded me a lot of White Man's Grave by R. Dooling. Pretty funny reminder that our EPCOT mentality of right way of doing things doesn't necessarily hold water outside our shiny happy lands.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in April, 2006
Just because Tony is Jason's cousin doesn't mean I'm biased. It's really an excellent book, and will definitely be interesting to anyone who has done volunteer work abroad or considered it.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in October, 2007
He is very honest and I really appreciate that. I love him and I hate him. I believe his story is identifiable in one context or another to any outsider that has lived in Africa.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in April, 2008
This book is fantastic, highly recommend it. I liked "The Konkans" so I got this, and "Whiteman," it turns out, is even better--more complex, richer and better writing!
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
