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First Comes Love, then Comes Malaria: How a Peace Corps Poster Boy Won My Heart and a Third World Adventure Changed My Life [Paperback]

Eve Brown-Waite
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (67 customer reviews)

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Book Description

April 13, 2010
“Eve Brown-Waite writes as she lives – with verve and humor and a fine sense of the absurd.”  --  Martin Troost, author of Lost on Planet China
 
   Eve Brown’s dream is to join the Peace Corps … and maybe solve world hunger and win a Nobel Peace Prize along the way. But she secretly fears she isn’t tough enough to survive the bug-infested jungle, much less life without toilet paper and decaf cappuccino.  Then she falls head-over-little-black-heels in love with John--a dashing Peace Corps recruiter whose do-gooder passions outshine her own. She becomes more determined than ever to get into the Peace Corps – and to win John’s heart in the process.             

   Assigned to Ecuador, she yearns for warm showers and cold beers (instead of the other way around!) .  And though she occasionally  finds herself overwhelmed  by her work  reuniting homeless children with their families,  she  learns to delight in small successes.  But a year into her service, a tragedy befalls one of her fellow volunteers which unearths troubling memories from Eve’s past and causes her to return, rather unceremoniously, to the US.   Back home, Eve attempts to settle down with John and get reacquainted with the joys of sushi and supermarkets.  But faster than she can say “pass the malaria pills,” John accepts a job with CARE in a remote corner of Africa and Eve gets a second chance to test her mettle in the Third World. 

   With uproarious wit and candor, Eve Brown-Waite details the (mis)adventures that ensue.  From intestinal parasites and guerrilla warfare, to culture clashes, and unexpected friendships, First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria captures the thrills and absurdities of global humanitarian life in a story any globetrotter - armchair or otherwise - will love.   

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First Comes Love, then Comes Malaria: How a Peace Corps Poster Boy Won My Heart and a Third World Adventure Changed My Life + Mango Elephants in the Sun: How Life in an African Village Let Me Be in My Skin
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Editorial Reviews

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More from First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria

Click on thumbnails for larger images

Arua neighbors gather for John and Eve's farewell party
CARE's headquarters in Arua, Uganda
Eve, John, and Sierra going on safari in Kenya
Eve, John, and Sierra on safari at the Nile River in Uganda
Typical northwest Ugandan houses



--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

College graduate Eve is looking for a meaningful endeavor and settles on the Peace Corps. Though she’s not sure a life without creature comforts is for her, she is certain of one thing: John, the Peace Corps recruiter, is the guy for her. The couple faces a two-year separation when Eve receives a placement in Ecuador. Reluctantly, Eve leaves John and heads to South America where, after a time, she finds her niche reuniting lost children with their families—until a coworker’s rape brings up traumatic memories for her and she’s sent back home. Though her stint in the Peace Corps is over, a future with John means a life less ordinary, and soon after their marriage he accepts a job with CARE in Uganda. Once there, Eve finds the people welcoming but the lack of amenities—the power is turned on for only three hours at night—and the persistent insect population daunting. With an appealing, down-to-earth voice, Brown-Waite chronicles her adventures abroad in an accessible, humorous tone sure to appeal to armchair travelers. --Kristine Huntley --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Broadway (April 13, 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0767929365
  • ISBN-13: 978-0767929363
  • Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.7 x 8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (67 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #568,468 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
29 of 32 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars The Toughest Book You'll Ever Not Love January 20, 2010
By Kalynne
Format:Hardcover
I had high hopes for this book as a fun and informative read. What I got was a whiny, annoying run-on narrative that left me shaking my head in disappointment. I found it very insulting that the author felt it necessary to dedicate so much wordspace to the fact that her oh-so-sensitive nose could hardly stand the fact that she found most if not all Ugandans too "smelly" for her and that their "BO" made life so difficult for her. Poor baby. She even found it necessary to say this was the first thing she smelled getting off the plane in Uganda. I'm sure they would be thrilled to hear this glowing assessment of their culture from her and that she thinks of their country as one big latrine. And speaking of overusing wordspace, this book could have been ten pages shorter (and better off for it) if she would have left out all the minute details about her two cats, which added absolutely nothing to the story. I found myself yelling at the pages "who cares about the cats,move on!!" Her insults about the clothing choices of Ugandan women came off trite and childish. And a word about her anxiety attacks that got her discharged from the Peace Corps herself after one year - I'm not totally knocking it, because I personally have been there and know how awful they can be, however, to say you are envious of a woman who has a brain tumor and wishing you had that issue instead of panic attacks, that's pretty harsh and unbelievable in my opinion. And I do have to agree with another reviewer who said "how convenient that her panic attacks suddenly ended after she got sent home from Peace Corps." It did appear that Eve just wanted to get home to her boyfriend and make him her husband ASAP. The big love story between them that was supposed to be the theme of the book according to the title escaped me and apparently many other readers as well; this was All About Eve. Hey, that would've been a better title. I found her letters to friends and family annoying and too self-depricating, and the "I'll keep you posted" signature line seriously grated on my nerves after the second usage. Her comment about a Ugandan man having 6 wives seemed exaggerated for story effect; even Muslim men in African countries are only allowed to have 4 wives maximum. I almost threw the book away when she commented on not knowing how to light a kerosene lantern, and this was AFTER a year in Ecuador and a year in Uganda - really?? C'mon. Princess indeed. And her comment about not being able to remain a vegetarian in a third world country was not accurate either. I know this, because I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Burkina Faso several years ago (yes the same one her husband John served in during his tour of duty), and not only did I go a vegetarian and remain one without problem the whole time, but I also learned to light a lantern the first week there; got my water every day myself in a 20 gallon jug on the back of my own bike, swept my own house, and cooked my own meals (all without "servants"); and used a latrine the entire two years in addition to building them for the village I was in. There were no flush toilets in sight, unlike for lucky Eve. There were a very few points in which I give the author kudos and credit for getting right: hiding your personal trash so the local kids don't go through it; the painfully slow mail service; and the "please send" parts of her letters asking friends and family to send chocolate, among other things. I don't know, I just found this story lacking in appreciation and humility I guess, having been there done that. I haven't written a book about my experience, and I'm sure it's not easy, so kudos for giving it a try.
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Emotionally Authentic April 11, 2009
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
The promotional blurb for this book promises that it will make readers laugh, and while there are definitely funny sections I didn't laugh out loud. I did, however, tear up at the end, when the author describes leaving the village in northern Uganda where she, her husband, and eventually their baby, had spent three years working for CARE. (The Africa assignment followed a year-long stint in Ecuador for the Peace Corps.)

The power of this memoir is its apparent emotional authenticity and the effortless yet deeply felt language through which Eve Brown-Waite tells her story. By the time I had read through the book's 300 or so pages I shared a bit of her attachment to Uganda and the people she met there. What's more, I could perfectly understand the decision of the author and her husband to remain "in country" for an extended term of service, even though Uganda offered plenty of hardships, especially for Brown-Waite when she was pregnant with her first child. Not only was she ill with bacterial dysentery much of the time, but she also contracted malaria; hence the book's title.

Near the end of her narrative, the author writes that, like malaria, Uganda will remain in her blood for the rest of her life, and you firmly believe her. This is an absorbing story about an idealistic young couple that wanted to make the world a better place. Not so remarkable, except that these two actually went off and did it.

Don't miss First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria. And please do make a contribution to fight that disease, as the author suggests. She lists several good organizations to which you can donate in the Author's Note at the beginning of the book.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Fun April 14, 2009
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
A funny thing happens at Eve Brown's interview for the Peace Corps - she falls in love with John, her recruiter. And after her time in Ecuador, she comes home and marries him. Of course, she never dreamed of the unlikely direction her life will take with him! Soon after their marriage he gets a job with CARE and is assigned to Uganda!

And that's where the book really gets interesting. Uganda is certainly not the honeymoon capitol in the world now and it sure wasn't then. Electricity 3 hours a day (if they were lucky), no telephone, rebel bombings around the corner are just a few of the things they encounter. Shopping for food in an open air market takes some skill. Hint: you're better off to take the beef (its unwrapped, of course) with flies all over it and there's a very good reason for that.

Along with all this,she goes through a very difficult pregnancy. Just getting the diagnosis was an achievement.

There are funny parts (she has been compared in reviews to Erma Bombeck but I think Uganda would have tested even Erma's humor) such as her efforts to get a package before the Post Office closed. Let me tell you, it wasn't easy.

And there are frightening parts such as when the police officer who was guarding their house went berserk and threatened them and their dinner party guests with an AK-47!

Eve Brown-Waite has a great website with pictures. She is definitely a person worth reading about. I hope she is writing a book about their next posting which was to be Uzbekistan.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars I like it.. . Just don't love it
I have "mixed emotions" about this book. On the one hand, there are certainly parts which are funny and interesting. . . Read more
Published 18 days ago by G. Hearn
3.0 out of 5 stars Good as chick-lit, too light for a travelogue
I really wanted to love this book. I really undo I enjoy humorous stories of traveling, and the idea of reading about a woman who joined the Peace Corps was super appealing. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Gen of North Coast Gardening
4.0 out of 5 stars Funny and honest memoir.
I wasn't sure what to expect going into this book but I was pleasantly surprised.
Eve's tales are humorous, horrifying, humorous, sad, humorous, honest, humorous, and... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Lisa
2.0 out of 5 stars How to try to sell a book by mentioning the Peace Corps
It is more than a little disheartening to realize that for those of us who have always had that thought about what life would have been like if we went in the peace corps this... Read more
Published 14 months ago by City Mom
3.0 out of 5 stars 3.5 stars
This book is in the same vein as Maarten Troost's "Sex Lives of Cannibals" and "Getting Stoned with Savages. Read more
Published 14 months ago by WingsandRings
4.0 out of 5 stars Love her sense of humor
I was given this book by a parent in my class because she said when she read it, I reminded her of Eve Waite Browns sense of humor. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Page Girl
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, funny account of life in a foreign land
I found this to be a very fast, fun read that made me both laugh and shed a few tears. The author has a great way of retelling true events in a humorous way while drawing a clear... Read more
Published 20 months ago by A. Miriani
4.0 out of 5 stars Keep It Simple
This was a fast enjoyable read. Eve's story illustrates that perhaps the biggest impact of The Peace Corps is the change in world view the Peace Corps volunteers come home... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Patricia Kramer
4.0 out of 5 stars charming, humorous
this book caught my eye because of the title and I'm so glad I gave it a chance. it had me laughing out loud and thinking deeply about the environment, government, and world... Read more
Published on May 12, 2011 by Kimberly Lynn Farley
3.0 out of 5 stars I liked it in the end, but the first part left me wondering who cares?
I've been interested in the Peace Corps for several years, so I did not require a lot of convincing to read this book. Read more
Published on December 26, 2010 by K.W.
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