Souleymane Coulibaly Coulibaly itibaren Keran, Togo itibaren Keran, Togo

Rarely have I disliked a book or author as much. Into the Heart would be better titled Out of the Ego. It's the tale of an incredibly arrogant white man who goes to the Amazon to study the Yanomami (spelled Yanomama in the edition I read). This Humbert-of-the-Jungle becomes fixated on a particular female child and proceeds to claim her as a "wife." The book that results is a sickening, infuriating combination of Lolita and the worst aspects of Three Cups of Tea. The book is a long, tedious recounting of the narrator's many trips up and down the Amazon and the many ways he asserts his ownership of the unfortunate child Yarima. "Author" Kenneth Good (who, despite his academic credentials required co-writer David Chanoff) paints himself at every turn as the hapless victim of other people's incompetence. Never is anything his fault or responsibility, even though his actions directly cause his wife/rape victim to be repeatedly abandoned, gang raped, left alone to fend for herself in the jungle, separated from her closest family and ultimately, transplanted to alien cultures. If you want insight into the Yanomami, I don't know that I'd trust this author to provide it. If you want insight into white privilege, patriarchy, and complete self-involvement, then this is the book for you. Postscript: After hearing more about this book and author at a book discussion group and learning a bit more from snippets of the documentary Secrets of the Tribe, I'm even more repulsed by the attitude of this author.

interesting