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The Village of Waiting | 
 enlarge | Author: George Packer
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
Buy New: $8.90
You Save: $7.10 (44%)
New (23) Used (13) from $6.50
Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 255368
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 6.2 x 0.9
ISBN: 0374527806
Dewey Decimal Number: 966.8104092
EAN: 9780374527808
ASIN: 0374527806
Publication Date: August 1, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Now restored to print with a new Foreword by Philip Gourevitch and an Afterword by the author, this book is a frank, moving, and vivid account of contemporary life in West Africa. Stationed as a Peace Corps instructor in the village of Lavie (the name means "wait a little more") in tiny and underdeveloped Togo, Packer reveals his own schooling at the hands of an unforgettable array of townspeople--peasants, chiefs, charlatans, children, market women, cripples, crazies, and those who, having lost or given up much of their traditional identity and fastened their hopes on "development," find themselves trapped between the familiar repetitions of rural life and the chafing monotony of waiting for change.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 One of the best PC books ever written February 28, 2007
If you want to cast moral judgement on George Packer, don't read this book. If you want to read the best Peace Corps book ever written, at least about life in Africa, then pick up this book. I lived in Guinea in the mid-90s, while Packer was in Togo in the early 80s. Yet I felt like he was describing my own village, my own frustrations, my own thoughts and feelings (save the prostitute). This was the book that convinced me not to write a book about my own experience. He did it, only better.
Must read for World Savers December 5, 2005
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
I spent 6 months in Africa while in college and was seriously considering joining the Peace Corps when I came across Packer's book. I was very realistic about the comic grind that is day-to-day life in Africa and the maze of paperwork, mind-numbing waiting for mundane administrative tasks to be accomplished and pervasive acceptance of inefficiency. However, Packer's book really brought home to me the toll of isolation takes on your ability to cope with these realities. Early on, Packer states that Peace Corps volunteers fall into 2 categories, the world savers and the folks that just to try to help in a small way and enjoy the experience. Packer recognizes he falls into the second category and even the detachment humor and a bit of cynicism can not protect him from the inequities and pain of life in pre-AIDS ridden Africa. I thought the book was honest and is on my list of 'must reads' for those thinking about committing full time to any volunteer group.
 A book of little inherent value. August 29, 2005
16 out of 35 found this review helpful
I have to disagree with every review written about this book thusfar. It is not well written, for one. The style is amateurish, and it has little substance.
But that's not what really bothers me about this book. What really bothers me is that he writes about soliciting a prostitute that he describes as having a "twelve-year-old's body." Another thing that bothered me was that George Packer dropped out of the Peace Corps without even telling his so-called friends in the village that he was leaving. He wasted the opportunity that was given to him, wrote a mediocre book about it, and yet reviewers come on Amazon.com and laud it.
Want some free advice? Read any other book about Africa, Togo, or the Peace Corps instead. This one is not very good.
Profound in its Simplicity September 15, 2003
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
George Packer's ability to describe the lives of many who live in Togo make this piece of text a must-read for all, even for those who do not have an interest in serving in the Peace Corps. He writes with raw emotion and sincerity, without a tad of pretense. I'd say that Packer's foremost accomplishment in this text is that he makes no attempt to tell a story about how a superior white individual intervenes in a remote village and rids the residents of poverty and illiteracy. Rather, The Village of Waiting is a sincere account of his realization that sadly, some things just cannot be altered. I think Packer knew this from the outset, but it is interesting to read about he endures this realization during his 2-year service in Togo.
Incredible December 20, 2002
4 out of 7 found this review helpful
Haunting--this book is raw and hontest. I can't get it off my mind. Will be visiting friends doing VSO in northern Ghana soon and am trying to get a copy for them as well.
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