Foreign Correspondence [Hardcover]

Geraldine BROOKS (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Anchor Books (1998)
• ISBN-10: 0868246891
• ISBN-13: 978-0868246895
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,678,706 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Geraldine Brooks is the author of People of the Book, March and Year of Wonders and the nonfiction works Nine Parts of Desire and Foreign Correspondence. Previously, Brooks was a correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, stationed in Bosnia, Somalia, and the Middle East. She lives in rural Virginia with her husband, author Tony Horowitz, and their son.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A quest to discover the world as well as discover herself, September 16, 2001

By 

Linda Linguvic (New York City) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Foreign Correspondence: A Pen Pal's Journey from Down Under to All Over (Paperback)

Australian born Geraldine Brooks spent many years as a foreign correspondent covering the Middle East. I loved her book, "Nine Parts of Desire" which was about Muslim women, and I have followed her life somewhat as she is often mentioned by her husband, Tony Horwitz, in his books "Confederates in the Attic", "Baghdad Without a Map," and "One for the Road." I find her an excellent reporter and in this memoir, "Foreign Correspondence," she turns the spotlight on herself.

As a child growing up in a lower middle class neighborhood on a street actually called "Bland Street", she yearned for a larger world. And so she developed pen pals. There was a girl from New Jersey, another one from France, and even one from an upper class neighborhood just a few towns away. And then there were two Israeli boys, one an Arab and one a Jew. As an adult, she found these old letters in her father's basement and, now more than twenty years later, she decided to look up each of these people. What follows is the result of her quest and some wonderful insights into world events from a personal one-on-one perspective. It was fascinating.

As a teenager in the early seventies she was aware of the new consciousness developing, even reaching her in her protective Catholic school. She had an active imagination and the gift of using words well. It's not surprising that she developed pen pals and that they influenced her life so much. Her gift of words certainly reached me too. I shared her sense of wonder and enthusiasm as she looked forward to each letter. I felt her straining to break the bonds of her loving but restrictive world. I felt her hopes and dreams and frustrations. And then, later, I shared her discoveries as she searched out the people who had meant so much to her early life. She writes with a clear voice, painting a picture with details, taking me on her quest to discover the world and eventually to discover herself. The book is short, a mere 210 pages but she sure does pack a lot into it. It's a wonderful read. Highly recommended.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful book!, May 29, 2000

By 

TexasGirl (Central Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Foreign Correspondence: A Pen Pal's Journey from Down Under to All Over (Paperback)

I, too, am an Australian now living in the USA. I found many parallels between the author and myself. As a child growing up in Sydney, I had many, many penpals from the USA and Europe - I still remember the excitement of receiving letters from places far away (In fact, two of my penpals were at my American wedding and we are still in contact 2 decades later.) The book perfectly captures the essence of growing up in Australia and the sense of isolation one feels being so far from other countries. The author made me truly miss my homeland. I highly recommend this book to anyone who would like to learn more about Australia and what makes its people tick - this book is a wonderful read.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great one for book clubs!, August 13, 2002

By 

B. Bauer "Brandita" (Somewhere on the 38th parallel N) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Foreign Correspondence: A Pen Pal's Journey from Down Under to All Over (Paperback)

I bought this as an "airplane read" but couldn't put it down. Geraldine Brooks has done us a great favor by not only illuminating the process of finding one's long lost penpals, but also by educating many folks about Australia in the process. It's fascinating to see her perceptions of the world, and particularly America, based on the letters that come in her mailbox each month.

While I read this one on my own, I have since leant this book to several friends and we've engaged in some interesting discussions about our own penpal experiences, so I recommend it for book clubs.