Two Women, Two Worlds [Paperback]

Audrey McCollum (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1999

Story of a remarkable friendship between a US psychotherapist-writer adrift in a personal crisis, and a courageous mountain woman in Papua New Guinea who struggles to lead traditional women into the modern world. Probes complexities and rewards in cross-cultural relationships, and shows how efforts to understand the other leads to deeper understanding of the self. Also explores impact of Westernization on developing countries.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

From 1983 to 1995, McCollum, a psychotherapist and writer (The Trauma of Moving), and her husband made seven extensive trips to Papua New Guinea. This memoir focuses on a friendship she formed with Pirip Kuru, a highland tribal woman who was president of the South Wahgi Valley Women's Association, an organization dedicated to helping women become more independent by modernizing their skills. Although Pirip did not, at first, speak English, she and the author were able to communicate through interpreters and to exchange letters (excerpted here) with the assistance of others. McCollum vividly describes a society where erotic "courting parties" bind a woman to a man, who must pay a bride price, which may include several pigs, to the bride's family. The new wives are wed for life to their husbands, who are permitted to marry several times. The author did not discover until her last visit that Pirip had once been stabbed and that one of her children had been killed by her husband's fifth wife; her husband did nothing to help Pirip or to stop the violence. Although the author's depiction of tribal life is even-handed, occasionally she draws forced parallels between social problems in the U.S. and Papua New Guinea that add little to this otherwise well-wrought account. Color photo insert not seen by PW. (June)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Psychotherapist McCollum's journey of discovery with Pirip Kuru, founder of a Papua, New Guinea, women's rights organization, began in 1983 during McCollum's vacation. For thirteen years, the women, who communicated through interpreters, exchanged information Kuru hoped would help improve conditions for rural women. McCollum's style is ingenuous, and although it sometimes vacillates from naiveteto condescension, she seems sincere in her quest to find why "women are so dreaded, why masculinity must be so staunchly defended." Her efforts reveal startling parallels between Western and folk cultures (anxiety over female sexual and political autonomy, the use of religion to bolster a "toxic machismo," and connections for men between war, sports, rape, and domestic violence). McCollum worried whether economic equality and "progress" might save New Guinea or destroy it, but her ironic lectures to locals on ecology (to eschew use of plastic grocery bags) elicit the observation, "We want to be like you, and you want to be like us!" A percentage of proceeds from the book goes to literacy education in New Guinea. Dale Edwyna Smith

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Hillwinds Pr; 1st edition (June 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0966689607
• ISBN-13: 978-0966689600
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,540,612 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #63 in Books > Travel > Australia & South Pacific > Papua New Guinea

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Tale of Two Women, April 9, 2001

By 

Helen Mac Lam (Norwich, VT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Two Women, Two Worlds (Paperback)

Written with insight and humor, Audrey McCollum's thoughtful work reflects the struggle of a group of women of color to attain personal and economic power. It also chronicles the growth of an extraordinary friendship between McCollum, a white American psychotherapist, and Pirip Kuru, a remarkable Papuan woman whose persistance, despite limited education and virtually no resources, has changed the lives of many others in Papua New Guinea. Equally important is the author's personal story, intertwined with Pirip Kuru's, which reveals not only the deepening of McCollum's understanding of Pirip's life and circumstances, but of her own life as well. Brief but useful bibliography; glossary; index. A valuable resource for general readers and students of anthropology and women's studies.

4.0 out of 5 stars Miles Apart But Not So Different, May 4, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Two Women, Two Worlds (Paperback)

Two Women Two Worlds by Audrey McCollum is a very enjoyable read. It made me smile, made me sad, it held my interest. The geographical descriptions along with wonderful photos let me see a part of the world I know I will never see in person.

5.0 out of 5 stars Informative and a great read!, July 25, 1999

By 

Nancy Randall [e-mail] (Woodstock, Vermont) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Two Women, Two Worlds (Paperback)

One might expect "Two Women, Two Worlds" to be informative and enlightening, and it is. I was unprepared for it to be so thoroughly entertaining. The story, stitching through several visits by the author to Papua New Guinea over more than a decade, is a page- turner.

Life in the high country of Papua New Guinea is unimaginable to those of us who inhabit the Western World. Brilliantly described by Audrey McCollum, the people and their lifestyle become vivid and close. What a revelation to find that Pirip, a woman from a primitive culture half way around the world, has many of the same priorities that I do, both in terms of sense of self and quality of life.

The author, a highly educated and sophisticated woman, generously shares with Pirip, and with us, her readers, her own difficult human experiences. In fact, Audrey's challenges seem to help her relate to Pirip's uphill struggle, as she tries to effect change in her male dominated society.

Let me hasten to say, however, that this is not just a "women's book." My husband picked it up and couldn't put it down. "Two Women, Two Worlds" is well worth reading. There's enjoyment on every page, and a great deal to be learned along the way.