The Camel Bookmobile

by Masha Hamilton | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 0061173487 Global Overview for this book
Registered by wingGoryDetailswing of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 11/9/2014
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1 journaler for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by wingGoryDetailswing from Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Sunday, November 9, 2014
I found this good-condition hardcover at the Amherst NH transfer-station book-swap hut. It's a novel about a woman who wants to set up a traveling library in northeastern Kenya.

We meet Taban, aka "Scar Boy", a village youth who was mauled by a hyena as a baby and suffers hideous scars and impediments as a result; Kanika, a village girl who's an avid reader; Matani, the village teacher, who finds the book program enticing; and Fiona, the American woman whose restlessness leads her to join the camel bookmobile program, taking her to some of the tiniest and most remote villages in Kenya.

The story shows us the villagers' reactions to the books, many of which feature settings and societies that seem totally alien to the readers, leading to some very interesting interpretations - some very funny, some poignant. We see the disagreements within the village as to the value - or danger - of the books; Matani's wife Jwahir, for one, believes that the young people should not be reading about things so alien to their own culture. (One example: a colorful cookbook, which to Jwahir is a ridiculous waste of edibles and of time. And given the difficult, subsistence-level existence in the village, I can see her point, though I'd like to think that people could acquire new ideas without automatically discarding the old ways.)

Even Fiona recognizes some of the more oddball books in the collection, a book on avalanche survival, for example. Then again, I love reading about places and experiences I'll never know in person, and I was charmed to see which books - some quite unlkely - the villagers liked best.

One major conflict in the story has to do with the bookmobile's firm policy on late or lost books: if any of the borrowed books are not returned on time, the ENTIRE VILLAGE is written off of the schedule! Apparently this was deemed essential to keep the book collection from dwindling, but it seems overly harsh, and in the story it drives an escalating conflict that has long-term consequences for the villagers.

Fiona learns at least as much from the villagers as they do from the books, gaining a keen insight into the harsh realities of their lives - and also seeing the beauty in their stark surroundings. But when she's faced with some of those realities herself, whether the cost of her attempts to be generous about the books or of her fling with a local man.

I admit that I couldn't get as attached to Fiona as I like to do with a main character, and while I could sympathize with some of her choices, she still seemed unnecessarily naive in many respects. But there's a poetry to the story that I love, even though it wound up rather heart-breaking...

Journal Entry 2 by wingGoryDetailswing at Little Free Library, South St. in Milford, New Hampshire USA on Friday, September 4, 2015

Released 8 yrs ago (9/4/2015 UTC) at Little Free Library, South St. in Milford, New Hampshire USA

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

I left this book in the Little Free Library at around 2:30 or so; hope the finder enjoys it!

*** Released as part of the 2015 You're Such an Animal release challenge. ***

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