GLEN [Paperback]

Richard Fordyce (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 7, 2008

GLEN:long journey to Africa. This novel is the tale of a Vietnam veteran's journey from the 1960s middle-class wealth of the Pacific NW, to an undeveloped village in 1970s West Africa, his final home with the Peace Corps.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Richard Fordyce taught high school math and English in Ghana, West Africa, in the late 1970s. He has been previously published in Crab Creek Review, and placed third in the 2006 White Eagle Press International Long Fiction Contest. He lives in Seattle and Cape Cod.

Product Details

• Paperback: 316 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse (November 7, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595497675
• ISBN-13: 978-0595497676
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,526,140 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars BUY THIS BOOK!, June 28, 2010

By 

Lawrence F. Lihosit - See all my reviews

This review is from: GLEN (Paperback)

The Peace Corps has no library. Even the Washington office does not have a single book shelf to treasure the work of its dedicated staff and volunteers who returned home to fulfill the Peace Corps' third goal, to educate. There are some one thousand known examples, yet not one official collection, not even in the Library of Congress!

So, buy Richard Fordyce's historical novel while it is available. Do not wait to check out a library copy because there is no Peace Corps library. Buy it now. Don't steal it. Like William Somerset Maugham's Razor's Edge , the author explores an era (1950-1980) by using a confused war veteran as the protagonist. In Maugham's book set during an eleven year lull between world wars, the protagonist journeys east where he meets a spiritual teacher who counsels that enlightenment may come through knowledge, service, or prayer. Maugham's protagonist chooses knowledge and achieves his goal while many of his materialistic American friends falter. Unlike Maugham's book which focuses on the struggle to find meaning in life, Fordyce's book portrays a young man caught so thoroughly in American society's web that personal enlightenment as a goal to be sought seems impossible. The protagonist wanders aimlessly through a life dictated by others without reflection. Contrary to Maugham's conception of Americans as an energetic people in constant search (whether it be for social eminence or enlightenment), Fordyce portrays Americans as burned-out reactionaries, victims of social forces beyond their control, men and women who measure their lives with hair styles, popular music, dress, brand names, and of course, television programs. While Maugham's book deals with personal decisions despite the world's insanity, Fordyce's book portrays a time when personal decisions seem impossible. It is as if an evil cloud has descended and made personal choice a series of accidents set in motion by outside forces. When describing the war, there is no discussion about ideas or empires, just dread. Likewise after the war the author describes "a great shadow (which) seemed to descend over Glen and Julie and the people they knew."

Whereas Maugham's protagonist and war veteran sets out to see the world alone, Glen (Fordyce's protagonist) joins the Peace Corps. "It couldn't be any worse than what I was doing in Vietnam. Might even make up for some of it." During my service (about the same time as Fordyce's) the country that I served in also included several Vietnam War veterans. They were generally silent about their war experiences, sometimes even evasive which gave the impression of penance.

This is an unusual book. The author has no desire to relive his own Peace Corps experience, explain perceived mistakes or lampoon those who were perceived as doing him wrong. Rather, he has created a literary construct to describe a people. This is an intriguing time capsule. Buy it!

Once you have purchased and read Glen, write to your U.S. Representatives, Senators, and new President to demand that they urge the Librarian of the Library of Congress to immediately begin a Peace Corps Special Collection of fiction and non-fiction. Books like Glen will serve future researchers armed with questions.