Review
A poignant memoir or author's self-therapy? This autobiography has trouble deciding which it wants to be. As an "MK" (missionary's kid), Seaman grew up in Pakistan, attending a Christian boarding school for missionary children. The first third of the book contains Seaman's tender, humorous, and troubled recollection of school life in an exotic town in the foothills of the Himalayas. For ten years, from age five to 15, he attended the Murree Christian School, rarely seeing his parents who worked at a mission station down on the hot, dusty plains. Games, lessons, mischief, pranks, travel and schoolboy adventures cannot overcome young Seaman's feelings of insecurity, loneliness, and sense of abandonment during those crucial years of growing up. The book's middle third is devoted to Seaman's candid self-analysis of his estrangement from his father which worsens as the youngster enters adulthood. Even as an adult, Seaman considers himself a "global nomad," and he admits his life is aimless, restless, searching. His relationship with his father is bittersweet at best, dark and harmful at worst, but Seaman clearly needs someone to blame. Despite the obvious circumstances and good intentions, Dad and the boarding school are the fall-guys here. The final third contain the unrelated reminiscences of other boarding school alumni - tales which add nothing to Seaman's story. His boarding school years were really quite innocent, growing up in an insular, religious environment without scandal, danger, or the temptations facing today's youth. From his own words it is hard to imagine how his life could have been a marvelous "coming of age" story. -- From Independent Publisher
Richard L. Morgan, author of Remembering Your Story: Guide to Spiritual Autobiography says, "Paper Airplanes in the Himalayas has prodded me to again look at my life, to find in the small details, as Seaman has so expertly done here, the emotional core that connects past experiences to our present relationships...Seaman has taken on this task with rare candor and deep insight." -- Publisher Comments
Richard L. Morgan, author of Remembering Your Story: Guide to Spiritual Autobiography says, "Paper Airplanes in the Himalayas has prodded me to again look at my life, to find in the small details, as Seaman has so expertly done here, the emotional core that connects past experiences to our present relationships...Seaman has taken on this task with rare candor and deep insight." -- Publisher Comments
About the Author
Paul Seaman works in Washington, D.C. helping missionary organizations of Christian denominations.
