Sunday, December 18, 2011

We Wait You - A Book Review

We Wait YouWe Wait You by Taryn R. Hutchison
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Taryn Hutchinson goes to Eastern Europe after the fall of communism with Campus Crusade for Christ. In this memoir she recounts her life there over a period of ten years. Ultimately, what began as a short one year mission trip became a life choice that changed her outlook on life and her feeling of belonging in the world.

Hutchinson began her life as a foreign missionary in Eastern Europe in Romania as a "college student" studying the Romanian language. She and her colleagues ministered to the other college students. As Romania became more open, they were able to be more forthcoming about their intentions in the country and openly minister to students and their neighbors. She does an excellent job describing the living conditions in this newly free country and the openness of the people there.

After a couple of years in Romania and in Hungary, Hutchinson takes on a more supervisory role and begins to work with staff and volunteers in the other Eastern European countries. She weaves in information about the history of the region, the living conditions in each country, the varying receptions they received from the people, as well as more personal information. She doesn't shy away from describing her own difficulties in dealing with the lack of basic necessities or the spiritual struggles she experienced.

At the end of 10 years there with only short trips home to see family and connect with sponsors, she returns to live in the US. The transition is not an easy one. Life in Eastern Europe has changed her. Returning in 2000, she has missed the 1990s and has to adjust to many new things. Most of the people she knows don't understand her perspective, and she often feels like she doesn't belong in either world. She takes the reader on this personal journey of reintegrating into life in the US.

This book is on the recommended reading list for the United Methodist Women for 2012. I picked it up because I have always been interested in Eastern Europe. I was not disappointed. The book is funny, sad, sometimes a little scary, and very informative. I would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in the area or in mission work.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

A Jerusalem Memoir - A Book Review

It's Easier to Reach Heaven Than the End of the Street: A Jerusalem MemoirIt's Easier to Reach Heaven Than the End of the Street: A Jerusalem Memoir by Emma Williams

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Emma Williams' memoir of her time living in Israel is an important book to read if you want to understand the nuances of the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Williams and her family moved to Israel just prior to the beginning of the second Intifada in August, 2000. Her husband works for the UN; she is a doctor who tries to work and provide some normalcy for her 3 children and a 4th born in Bethlehem. They live in Jerusalem in a village with one Jewish family and an extended Palestinian family.

Throughout the book Williams weaves personal stories and events with the bigger picture of the struggle between Jews and Palestinians. She is in a unique position to develop friends and colleagues on both sides of the issue and tries to convey the fears, desires, and attempts to maintain daily life on both sides. She is also open about her own attempts to understand and how difficult it is at times to face the reality. She quotes frequently from conversations with journalists, soldiers, politicians, and ordinary people. Keeping close and frequent communications with friends and family in the US and Britain, she is also able to compare what appears in the press in those countries with what is happening in the country. We definitely don't see the entire picture here.

The Williams lived in Israel until 2003, just before the invasion of Iraq, when her husband was transferred to another country. She continued to visit frequently through 2006 when the book was first published in Britain. The edition I read was an updated edition published in the United States in 2010.

It isn't necessarily an easy book to read. It's beautifully written, but the reality is harsh. As with any emotion packed issue, there are people on both sides of the issue who have extreme views, but also people on both sides who above all else want peace. I get the feeling that this is a situation that is almost impossible to understand unless you've lived with it. For that reason, this is an important book to read, especially if you think that you understand the issues you owe it to yourself to read this. It might give you a different perspective or at least a more in depth understanding of the situation.

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