Child of the Jungle: The True Story of a Girl Caught Between Two Worlds (Hardcover)

by Sabine Kuegler (Author)
Key Phrases: Chief Baou, Danau Bira, Chief Kologwoi (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In 1980, when Kuegler was seven, she accompanied her German linguist parents into the Papuan (New Guinea) jungle to live with the Fayu, a Stone Age tribe of naked people with bones through their noses. She felt immediately at home and by her own account had an idyllic childhood till she was 17, even though the Fayu were split into four mutually hostile subtribes in a culture of "hate, fear and tribal war," where children "knew no security or innocence" and had "little love, no forgiveness and no peace." After years of close friendship with Fayu children, eventually Kuegler was sent to boarding school in Switzerland, had a baby shortly after she graduated, married, divorced, sank into depression and attempted suicide. Young readers, and anthropologists, too, will find this account of a most unusual childhood engrossing and will root for the survival of the Fayu. (Mar. 2)
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From Booklist
Kuegler, who has resided in the "modern world" for only 15 years, begins her extraordinary memoir in 1980, when at age 8 she and her German family moved to the "Lost Valley" in Indonesia's interior, home of the primitive Fayu tribe. Despite the difficult living conditions--boiled river water for baths, a kerosene stove for cooking, an abundance of insects, snakes, and plate-sized spiders--Sabine always feels at home there, living "a life without stress in midst of nature, untouched by modern civilization." She and her siblings teach the native children soccer and hide-and-seek; in return they learn how to survive in the jungle. Kuegler's family gradually teaches its hosts to break the cycle of revenge and murder that has ruled their behavior for centuries, causing the Fayu to live in constant fear, never sure of a viable future. Eventually Kuegler forsakes this world, returning to Germany to pursue traditional education and marriage, but she never forgets the tranquility and comfort she derived from her years in the jungle. Deborah Donovan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (March 2, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446579068
• ISBN-13: 978-0446579063
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #569,051 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Longing for Paradise Lost, May 1, 2007

By	Jeff Stebbins "Giap" (ColoSprings, CO USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

G.K. Chesterton said, "the things common to all men are more important than the things peculiar to any men." Keugler writes of peculiar circumstances, but the deep, underlying story is one common to all: a deep, unfulfilled (yet) longing for Home. And because she clearly does not (yet) know where to turn to fulfill those longings, the book ends sadly with Sabine still lost: she does not belong in Germany, or among the Fayu, or anywhere. Yet.

But Kuegler's circumstances are familiar to some. I married a `child of the jungle'--same island, same jungle, different tribe. We know some of her places, and the book is especially interesting to us because we (both missionary kids) share some of her memories: jungles, multilingualism, cannibals, crocodiles, insects, intimate friendships with `natives,' helicopters, wars, boarding schools, and a traumatic transition to being westerners lost in the West--a poignant combination of comedy and tragedy.

Kuegler's childhood, like that of many `third culture kids,' was lived in snippets--little chunks of interrupted time (like her 2-4 page chapters): a few weeks or months in the village, then a trip `out' to Jayapura, then back to the village, then a semester at boarding school, then back to the village for Christmas vacation. Her book of short chapters is a skillfully interwoven (not disconnected), almost impressionistic, collection of topics and incidents.

The second half of Kuegler's book is pierced by a wistful, powerful `Sehnsucht' (a German word she does not use)--a deep longing for something she has difficulty describing, or even identifying. As she writes of death, of separation from family and Fayu friends, of feeling misfit among her `own kind,' readers can sense her longing to belong. She mourns paradise lost and fears there is none to be regained. In "Surprised by Joy," C. S. Lewis' life is also pervaded by this Sehnsucht, and then by the joy of its fulfillment. Kuegler, hopefully, will (like Lewis and Chesterton) look again to the `good Spirit' she briefly mentions in chapters 3, 30, and 45. This longing is His gift to prod us into finding our Home (Heb. 11:13-16). I hope then to read a more joyful sequel to Kuegler's delightful first book.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating life of a german girl in New Guinea, March 31, 2007

By	Andres C. Salama (Buenos Aires, Argentina) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A fascinating autobiography of Sabine Kuegler, who in 1980, when she was seven, accompanied her missionary parents to Irian Jaya (the Indonesian part of the Island of New Guinea) to live with the Fayu, a previously uncontacted tribe, living in the Stone Age (and by Stone Age, I refer to the Fayu technology, withholding any value judgement). Despite the difficult living conditions, she felt immediately at home with the Fayu, and she provides a fascinating account of their lives (and her life with them). Kuegler's parents, at the same time, gradually taught the Fayu to live peacefully, breaking the cycle of revenge and murder that has ruled their behavior for centuries, causing the Fayu to live in constant fear. Sabine fit in so well to life on the New Guinea jungle, that she felt totally confused and out of her element when she returned to Europe, at 17. Living initially in a boarding school in Switzerland, her culture shock manifested itself in having in a short time a baby out of wedlock, married, divorced, sank into depression and attempted suicide. At the end of the book, she has sort of settled in, though she never forgets what she sees as her idyllic years in the jungle. All in all, a fascinating book. By the way, Sabine's parents appears unnamed (as "a courageous husband and wife missionary couple") in Jared Diamond's book "Gun, Germs and Steel", at the beginning of the chapter From Egalitarianism to Kleptocracy.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, August 21, 2008

By	Falcon_01 "Chris" (Huntsville, Al) - See all my reviews

This was an amazing journey to share. I enjoyed learning more about another world... When I was a child I remember meeting missionaries who had returned from Papua and showed finger necklaces (cut off during mourning). Different from the Fayu's practices, though relatively close. I was filled with joy at Sabine's adventures and exciting stories, and filled with sadness as she lost friends.

I'm looking forward to the translation of the next book, as this one did seem to end abruptly... but it's definitely an eye opening experience and there is much to be learned from it though it's a very fast read.

I'm saddened that her introduction into the western world wasn't the loving and caring one it should have been- I hope she's finding peace and joy in her life now.