Journal Entry 1 by BlackGryphon from Calgary, Alberta Canada on Saturday, October 01, 2011

Spoiler Alert: Do not browse through the colour pictures in the middle of this book (even if you are half way through the story)!! It's a total spoiler! Resist the temptation! You owe it to yourself and the cute Nepalese children!

Conor Grennan was a speaker at the University of Calgary's Orientation Week this year so all students were encouraged to read his book. Initially I didn't enjoy Grennan's attitude because he goes to great lengths to explain how he never intended on saving the children, but rather just wanted to volunteer at an orphanage to impress his friends and women in bars. I appreciate his honesty, but in his explicit effort not to be preachy, I felt he stressed this point way too much.

This book presents a perspective of life in Nepal, highlighting a lot of the corruption and revealing the resilience of children with their ingenuity and ability to bounce back from hardships. Grennan is not afraid to bring his perspective into the story and tells of his personal experience and growth alongside the story of his work in Nepal. It was a good story, but I feel a little mislead by the cover jacket promotional material. The blurb on the back of the book highlights the crux of the danger and adventure in the story, but this was only a very small plot line in the book. Grennan's big dangerous adventure was told in just a few chapters. I went into the story expecting something different, so I was a little disappointed -but- the stories about the antics of the children were very enjoyable and made up for it. 

Journal Entry 2 by BlackGryphon at Calgary, Alberta Canada on Tuesday, October 04, 2011

Released 1 yr ago (10/4/2011 UTC) at Calgary, Alberta Canada

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Selected for the Canada Bookbox hosted by AwesomeAud, mathgirl40, and sharpquilter. Happy reading! 

Journal Entry 3 by mrsgaskell at Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada on Thursday, November 10, 2011

I selected this book from the Canada Bookbox that gypsysmom brought to tonight's Winnipeg bookcrossing meeting. It was a lot of fun going through all these books! I've never taken part in a bookbox before. Thanks BlackGryphon for including this book. It's been on my library hold list for some time. And thanks for the spoiler alert. Gypsysmom was also interested in this one so will pass it on to her when I'm done reading. 

Journal Entry 4 by mrsgaskell at Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada on Sunday, January 29, 2012

Perhaps I'm getting cynical in my old age... In 2004, after working for a public policy think tank for eight years in Brussels and Prague, Conor Grennan was bored and got the urge to travel. He decided to take his savings and spend a year traveling around the world. But when he told his friends and family, they didn't seem impressed, seemed to think that he was being self-indulgent. Hoping to make a better impression on them, and particularly on any women that he met, he decided to start the year off by volunteering for two months in an orphanage in war-torn Nepal. He had no experience with children and also seemed to have done little research on conditions in Nepal. He came across to me as immature and self-centred as well as somewhat naive, although honest. When he discovered that most of the children in the orphanage were not in fact orphans, he set out to reunite them with their families. In most cases, their parents had paid child traffickers large sums of money to take the children to Kathmandu, where they were promised the children would be safe from the Maoist rebels, and provided with an education. In fact, in many cases the children were set to begging, or abandoned. I don't deny that the author carried out some humanitarian work, and he created a non-profit organization, Next Generation Nepal, but I could never quite shake the feeling that he was still trying to make an impression and set himself up as a hero. The book seemed too much about him, particularly once he was making treks between remote villages with a bad knee, and trying to get back to Kathmandu in time to meet a young woman he'd been e-mailing. His "conversion" to Christianity didn't come across as sincere, it seemed to happen so quickly, and as the result of falling for someone. I'm not sure it was even relevant to the story. I was also surprised that Grennan chose to live offsite in a three bedroom apartment when Dhaulagiri House was established by Next Generation Nepal for the "orphans". This was easy to read, and I did learn something about Nepal, but I'm afraid I didn't find it a particulary inspiring read. As I said initially, perhaps I'm just getting cynical in my old age...

Still I'm happy I had the opportunity to read this - thanks very much BlackGryphon for including this in the book box. 

Journal Entry 5 by mrsgaskell at Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada on Sunday, January 29, 2012

Released 1 yr ago (1/28/2012 UTC) at Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada

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Gypsysmom came over for tea this morning and we had a nice visit! I took the opprotunity to pass this book along. Hope you'll enjoy it!