Dear Exile

Dear Exile (I can’t remember the names of the authors) is a compilation of letters between two friends “separated for one year by an ocean.” One went off with her new husband to be a Peace Corps teacher in Kenya, and the other struggled through the post-college-but-still-pre-adult stage of life in New York City.

I found the book very relatable. The Peace Corps side of the story felt exactly like what I am going through – struggling to move from strange to familiar in a new village, learning how to make local foods by way of local traditions, making mistakes with language, and trying to do something at school. Her water problems were probably a bit worse than mine because her water constantly made her sick, and she was also living with her husband, so there was somebody there to blunt the impact of the Peace Corps experience, but otherwise, it felt familiar. Similarly, the letters from the friend in New York were just as relatable for anyone living anything remotely resembling a regular life in the States. Embarking on the journey of adulthood, she needed her own apartment, she was just beginning a new job in the city, and she muddled through the endearing and heartbreaking relationships of a tattered family and always finding Mr. Not-so-right on the search for Mr. Right

I don’t have much more to say about the book. It is a quick and engaging read because it is a compilation of letters; it’s the guilty pleasure of reading somebody else’s mail.