Portrait of a Peace Corps Gringo [Paperback]

Paul Arfin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 5, 2009

The book describes the life of a Peace Corps volunteer in Colombia, South America during the 1960s. It traces the author’s childhood, growing social consciousness, and how Peace Corps service dramatically changed his personal and professional life. Through the recounting of many stories, (some humorous and embarrassing) the book candidly discusses the author’s successes, failures, and adventures as a husband, father, brother, and social worker.

Product Details

• Paperback: 378 pages
• Publisher: BookSurge Publishing (August 5, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439244693
• ISBN-13: 978-1439244692
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,455,727 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Portrait of a Peace Corps Gringo, December 11, 2009

By 

Rober J. Schechter (Atascadero, CA, US) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Portrait of a Peace Corps Gringo (Paperback)

As a peace corps member in Colombia in the late 1960s I was disapointed with the book. Very little about Colombia, and that part could be better. I gave up midway thru the book. It is fine maybe for his family to read.

2.0 out of 5 stars Not A Memoir for Many People, March 18, 2011

By 

WillfromSF (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Portrait of a Peace Corps Gringo (Paperback)

Paul Arfin seems to be a sincerely nice person who has lived a good and generous life. But this is primarily a book for people who know him personally and want to know every detail of his life in chronological order with no particular emphasis on the more interesting parts, not much of an overall story to tell. I only read about half of it, having read the first chapter, then realizing it was not the kind of book I wanted to read in its entirety. So I skimmed most of the rest of it. The title is a misnomer. The Peace Corps part represents about a quarter of the book and it is probably the most interesting of the parts I read. The first chapter which covers Paul's childhood is like you go into the attic and find a trunk full of old memorabilia. And then you read off a list of everything you find in the trunk with as much detail as you can muster to describe each item. He lists the names of everyone who was on his baseball team. It's not good reading, but he does get better in the later chapters. Paul is a very honest writer. He admits embarrassing things about himself and others but is never mean-spirited. He seems a bit naive about human nature and thus is disappointed by it often. His Peace Corps chapter comes alive, probably because it was the purpose behind his book.

I'm currently reading Keith Richards' memoir, "Life" - it too reels off most of his life in chronological order, no backstory, lots of details, no overall story structure. The difference is that Keith Richards (the Rolling Stones guitarist) is someone readers have known and followed the past 50 years and he lived life on the edge and his life and book are full of other famous people we have heard about. So the primary difference between the two books is one is by an unknown, one by a celebrity. You can get away with this type of memoir if you're a Keith Richards. A Paul Arfin, not so much.

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting insights, September 19, 2009

By 

GC (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Portrait of a Peace Corps Gringo (Paperback)

Paul Arfin's "Portrait of a Peace Corps Gringo" describes the mentality of an era
when we believed that we could create a better world. Perhaps if we had held on to the morals and values that were instilled in us during the early sixties, as the
Peace Corps was being formed, we would not be facing the problems that we must deal with today.

While reading Paul Arfin's auto-biography, which so succinctly describes the ideas and ambitions that we had then, I felt hope and pride again. Possibly we can recover these heartfelt feelings and realize that life is not all about money.

We still live in a magnificent Nation and even though there are extaordinary problems in our country and around the world, there are millions of people who have continued to work for the common good.

As Arfin's book exemplifies, our Nation was built by men and women who never lost sight of their goals, even though they were thwarted along the way.

For those who are still trying to create a better world, I believe this is a book of encouragement. I experienced sadness as I read the last page of this book, as I felt that I was about to lose a good friend.

G.C. Former Early Childhood and Elementary school teacher/Small busines owner