African Visas: A Novella and Stories [Hardcover]

Maria Thomas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1991

“The sort of book friends press in your hands and say, ‘You must read this.’”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch
 
“Isak Dinesen . . . Rebecca West . . . Gertrude Stein and Edith Wharton. To this company, in the tradition of Hemingway and others, and in many ways as brilliant as the best of them, we must now add Maria Thomas.”—Marianne Wiggins, The New York Times Book Review
 
Chosen as a New York Times Notable Book when it was first published in 1991, this book collects a novella and six stories about Africa, particularly Ethiopia, and the lives of different women there.
 

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

An acclaimed, posthumously published novella and six stories set in Africa that tesify to the intractable problems of the continent.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In the tradition of Dinesen and Markham, Thomas writes about adventurous women in Africa, Ethiopia in particular. "Jiru Road," the novella in this collection, is a first-person account of Sarah's life in the Peace Corps. Sarah, or Shoulders as she comes to be called, is a young woman who wants "to avoid conscription into American life." Instead, she helps build a road to nowhere in the Horn of Africa, a road that helps the people of her village stave off hunger for a while longer. Thomas has an ear for dialog and a facility for capturing that sense of living between two worlds: life in a small African village, and life back in the United States. The stories also capture the wonderful feeling of Africa: the beauty--the villages with their conical roofs, the men with their lovely almond eyes--along with the horror: lepers and mangy dogs, and a continent on the verge of starvation. This book is being published posthumously; Thomas died on a relief mission to Ethiopia in 1988. Recommended for larger fiction collections.
- Doris Lynch, Oakland P.L., Cal.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 242 pages
• Publisher: Soho Press (September 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0939149540
• ISBN-13: 978-0939149544
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,940,711 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully written..., January 29, 1998

By 

Kathryn Touré ([e-mail]) (Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, West Africa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: African Visas: A Novella and Stories (Hardcover)

Was hesitant to read this book ... thinking it would be simplistic. Not at all. This former Peace Corps volunteer, who died in an airplane crash in Ethiopia while heading Congressional delegation led my Mickey Leland, writes wonderfully, shares insights about Africa and about living in countries that are not your own, and describes scenes that leave lasting images in your mind.

5.0 out of 5 stars If Jacque Pepin is to French Cooking. . ., July 15, 2008

By 

Daniel Tariku - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: African Visas: A Novella and Stories (Paperback)

Then Maria Thomas is to travel writing--agile, insightful, wise, and resourceful.

You don't have to be from Africa or even want to travel there to enjoy this book although it complements it nicely. Maria writes about the common thread that all humans share and the chasm that exists between cultures and peoples. African Visas is about the Peace Corps to be sure, but it's more than that. It is a story of yearning to do good--to make your life really mean something to you and others. It's about unconsummated love. Full of nuanced American humor, it made me laugh out loud a few times--travelling on the bus with strangers no less. As such the book transcends just travel writing about Ethiopia or the Peace Corps. The only qualm that I had about African Visas is that it is too short. It could (should) have been written as full length feature novel. When I learned she died in a tragic plane accident, my heart was broken as if my own sister had died.

4.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Read about Aftrica, February 16, 2006

By 

charles (petaluma, CA, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: African Visas (Paperback)

I have read stories about Africa before reading Thomas's collection, but I was very touched by her imagery and her autobiographical themes. Her writing reflects her creative use of language as well as creating rich images. At times, I felt like I was there with her. I would highly recommend this book if you have an interest in Aftrica and the mystique the Continent. I especially appreciated her writing about Ethiopia and the challenges facing the people. The writing flows.