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Running in Flip-flops: a fictionalized memoir of Peace Corps service in Senegal
Fresh out of college, Shannon Wheaton signs up for two years in the Peace Corps and gets exactly what she expects: a mud hut, a boisterous host family, no running water or electricity, and endless days of shelling peanuts. What she didn’t expect was to clash so intensely with Wolof culture. In her rural village in Senegal, West Africa, Shannon is challenged in ways she never could have imagined. She finds herself riding an emotional roller coaster. Moments of wonder and of frustration, tiny successes and multiple failures, American friends and village neighbors, all shape Shannon’s new world - and her with it. Her story is an earnest chronicle of Peace Corps service, with the enduring question familiar to all volunteers: What does it mean to make a difference?
This eBook version has been specially formatted for Kindle.
This eBook version has been specially formatted for Kindle.
- GenresAfrica
300 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 20, 2011
4 people are currently reading
32 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 10, 2015
Shannon Wheaton is a Peace Corps volunteer doing a 2 year post in Senegal, West Africa. Her new home is a mud hut in Keur Souleye, a village with no electricity, running water or paved roads. Follow Shannon through the highs and lows of her job in this remarkable story.
Running in Flip-flops is a first person narrative written in the style of a workplace blog. Most employers are furious when employees write a blog about their day job and hate any negative comments being put into the public domain. Shannon speaks frankly about her 2 years working as a volunteer for Peace Corps as she details all that is wrong with her post in Senegal.
Rather than a rose tinted picture of good work with the natives, Shannon tells it how it is. This story is full of realism and lists all the pitfalls of living a very basic life in a village within a third world country. This story is full of emotion as to how Shannon actually feels, day in, day out. It is a great story to read during your rest break at work because it gives such contrast between your day job and life with Shannon’s.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Running in Flip-flops because of how real this story felt as though you were one of Shannon’s co-workers sharing a gripe about the job. This novel has that vibrancy that workplace blogs have and you really feel that you are in the loop. Shannon is such an open character and you learn not just what she does but how it all feels inside. You go through the constant mood swings with her and understand how rough she feels spending her time in the village.
The decision by Abigail to write this story as a first person narrative/workplace blog was correct. This focus made you feel you were getting the inside track and Shannon was speaking to you in confidence. You felt as though she was not supposed to be saying these things but she trusted you. It was all cleverly done and I felt as though I was living the part. The fact that Shannon was a girl and I am a middle aged man made no difference to my enjoyment of this book. We all dress, eat, sleep, work and even go to the toilet, making small changes depending on where we are.
This book gave a lot of information about the culture and language of Senegal. It really gave the reader the feel of the place in the way the story was told. As Shannon grew to understand the culture and logistics of the region, as a reader I felt the same. The atmosphere within the story was great and I felt I was sharing the mud hut in Keur Souleye with Shannon. Her tale was so easy to relate to that I now have to hold back a smile when I handle black African passengers on my coach at London Heathrow Airport!
The ending of this book is good and it is like when you come home from a holiday. A period of your life has passed, you take away memories but know that the people in that location carry on their parallel lives. Shannon has these same feelings about Senegal and the last chapter puts it all into perspective for her. I finished the book and thought that was nice for her, finding it hard to believe Shannon was not a real person but a fictional character.
I am really glad I stumbled across Running in Flip-flops. I thought it was a great novel that explored a very different world to mine. It was a pleasure to read and I found it very interesting and refreshing. It has all the success of reality television but in a book. It is great to get such an insight into peoples’ lives and work away from the sparkling holiday travel brochures and corporate publicity material. Running in Flip-flops is a very good read and I will vote it the top score of 5 stars. Well done Abigail for writing such a convincing book, I imagined I was there!
Running in Flip-flops is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook and was written in 2011.
Running in Flip-flops is a first person narrative written in the style of a workplace blog. Most employers are furious when employees write a blog about their day job and hate any negative comments being put into the public domain. Shannon speaks frankly about her 2 years working as a volunteer for Peace Corps as she details all that is wrong with her post in Senegal.
Rather than a rose tinted picture of good work with the natives, Shannon tells it how it is. This story is full of realism and lists all the pitfalls of living a very basic life in a village within a third world country. This story is full of emotion as to how Shannon actually feels, day in, day out. It is a great story to read during your rest break at work because it gives such contrast between your day job and life with Shannon’s.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Running in Flip-flops because of how real this story felt as though you were one of Shannon’s co-workers sharing a gripe about the job. This novel has that vibrancy that workplace blogs have and you really feel that you are in the loop. Shannon is such an open character and you learn not just what she does but how it all feels inside. You go through the constant mood swings with her and understand how rough she feels spending her time in the village.
The decision by Abigail to write this story as a first person narrative/workplace blog was correct. This focus made you feel you were getting the inside track and Shannon was speaking to you in confidence. You felt as though she was not supposed to be saying these things but she trusted you. It was all cleverly done and I felt as though I was living the part. The fact that Shannon was a girl and I am a middle aged man made no difference to my enjoyment of this book. We all dress, eat, sleep, work and even go to the toilet, making small changes depending on where we are.
This book gave a lot of information about the culture and language of Senegal. It really gave the reader the feel of the place in the way the story was told. As Shannon grew to understand the culture and logistics of the region, as a reader I felt the same. The atmosphere within the story was great and I felt I was sharing the mud hut in Keur Souleye with Shannon. Her tale was so easy to relate to that I now have to hold back a smile when I handle black African passengers on my coach at London Heathrow Airport!
The ending of this book is good and it is like when you come home from a holiday. A period of your life has passed, you take away memories but know that the people in that location carry on their parallel lives. Shannon has these same feelings about Senegal and the last chapter puts it all into perspective for her. I finished the book and thought that was nice for her, finding it hard to believe Shannon was not a real person but a fictional character.
I am really glad I stumbled across Running in Flip-flops. I thought it was a great novel that explored a very different world to mine. It was a pleasure to read and I found it very interesting and refreshing. It has all the success of reality television but in a book. It is great to get such an insight into peoples’ lives and work away from the sparkling holiday travel brochures and corporate publicity material. Running in Flip-flops is a very good read and I will vote it the top score of 5 stars. Well done Abigail for writing such a convincing book, I imagined I was there!
Running in Flip-flops is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook and was written in 2011.
February 25, 2016
kindle - A good story about Shannon, a peace Corps volunteer, who is sent to a small village in Senegal, in Western Africa. It talks about the trials and tribulations of her experience. She is sent to the village as an agricultural volunteer, right out of college, something Shannon really knows nothing about, Her story is an earnest chronicle of Peace Corps service, learning a new language, trying to get community involved in projects and the frustrations of missing home and the familiar. The Author was also a volunteer in the peace Corps in Senegal, and I am sure she has incorporated a lot of her feelings and happenings into this story.
May 18, 2018
This fictionalized story of a Peace Corps volunteer provided a good overview of the realities of service work. The author balanced the high points with the frustrations, which I appreciated.
June 19, 2023
Good development and culture of peace corps
November 6, 2015
“Running in Flip Flops” is an eye-opening novel by Abigail Fay about a Peace Corps volunteer who is trying to make a difference in the people of Senegal’s lives. The novel follows the day to day trials and triumphs of Shannon Wheaton, a fresh faced volunteer, who lands in Senegal with her grasp of the French language and little or no knowledge of the people she will be living with for the next two years. Ms. Fay takes her readers on an incredible journey by describing the sights and sounds in such a way that you feel if you are on the same journey as Shannon Wheaton. I was given this book to read by the author in return for a fair and honest review.
July 14, 2016
Reminded me of when we were on holiday in The Gambia. We asked a local taxi driver to take us to Dakar, in Senegal,for three days.
He happily obliged. It was an eye opening journey to say the least.
When we arrived at the hotel we were covered from head to toe in sand/dust. We opened our case and our clothes were caked in it too.
We enjoyed the market though.
He happily obliged. It was an eye opening journey to say the least.
When we arrived at the hotel we were covered from head to toe in sand/dust. We opened our case and our clothes were caked in it too.
We enjoyed the market though.
January 13, 2017
Peacecorp volunteers
The book was an entertaining read putting a bright light on the habits of a culture. I felt embarrassed by the holiday carousing, drinking and sex. I hate to think peace corps volunteers actually behave like that.
The book was an entertaining read putting a bright light on the habits of a culture. I felt embarrassed by the holiday carousing, drinking and sex. I hate to think peace corps volunteers actually behave like that.
September 14, 2015
Great
Awesome read......a little slow at first but I found myself not wanting to put it down....late night reading....makes you think
Awesome read......a little slow at first but I found myself not wanting to put it down....late night reading....makes you think
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews