Buy Used
Used - Like New See details
$4.98 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
Fulfilled by Amazon

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
Jambo, Mama
 
 
Share your own customer images
Search inside another edition of this book
Tell the Publisher!
I’d like to read this book on Kindle

Don’t have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Jambo, Mama [Hardcover]

Melinda Atwood (Author)
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.


8 new from $6.65 18 used from $0.87

Formats

 Amazon Price New from Used from
Hardcover --   $6.65 $0.87
Paperback $12.71   $10.48 $12.69

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Facing the Lion: Growing Up Maasai on the African Savanna (National Geographic)

Facing the Lion: Growing Up Maasai on the African Savanna (National Geographic)

by Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton
4.8 out of 5 stars (44)  $6.95
Back from Africa

Back from Africa

by Corinne Hofmann
3.9 out of 5 stars (7)  $18.21
The White Masai: My Exotic Tale of Love and Adventure

The White Masai: My Exotic Tale of Love and Adventure

by Corinne Hofmann
3.0 out of 5 stars (21)  $10.19
Reunion in Barsaloi

Reunion in Barsaloi

by Corinne Hofmann
3.6 out of 5 stars (14) 
African Nights: True Stories from the Author of I Dreamed of Africa

African Nights: True Stories from the Author of I Dreamed of Africa

by Kuki Gallmann
3.7 out of 5 stars (18)  $11.90
› Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

Review

" A beguiling, frank and unpretentious memoir ..." --From Kirkus Reviews

Product Description

This ISBN is out of print. Please refer to ISBN 9781879384781 for the new paperback edition.
See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 311 pages
  • Publisher: Cypress House (October 1, 2001)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1879384388
  • ISBN-13: 978-1879384385
  • Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 1.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #890,538 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
    #46 in  Books > Travel > Africa > Kenya

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

More About the Author

Melinda Atwood
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

› Visit Amazon's Melinda Atwood Page
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:
Inside This Book (learn more)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Jambo, Mama
56% buy the item featured on this page:
Jambo, Mama by Melinda Atwood Hardcover 3.9 out of 5 stars (35)
Back from Africa
16% buy
Back from Africa by Corinne Hofmann Hardcover 3.9 out of 5 stars (7)
$18.21
Facing the Lion: Growing Up Maasai on the African Savanna (National Geographic)
12% buy
Facing the Lion: Growing Up Maasai on the African Savanna (National Geographic) by Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton Paperback 4.8 out of 5 stars (44)
$6.95
The White Masai: My Exotic Tale of Love and Adventure
9% buy
The White Masai: My Exotic Tale of Love and Adventure by Corinne Hofmann Paperback 3.0 out of 5 stars (21)
$10.19
› Explore similar items

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(1)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more
 

Customer Reviews

35 Reviews
5 star:
 (22)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:
 (6)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.9 out of 5 stars (35 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Review of Melinda Atwood's Jambo Mama, November 23, 2000
By Stian (Norway) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Jambo, Mama (Hardcover)
It was in search of information about Africa I first stumbled across the pages of a travel agency. Available on their pages was Jambo Mama. For free. Why not, I thought, and downloaded the piece. After I had read the three first chapters, I had to find out if the story was true or fiction, but the travel agency didn't provide much information about either author or the book itself. What was provided, though, was ms. Atwoods e-mail adress. Contacting her personally, I asked about the story's validity. She could confirm that all was taken from her own first-hand experiences of the country, people and culture of Kenya. Wow! Talk about a major adventure...

Her story is the story about a girl who, upon returning from a vacation in Kenya, finds that the easy, urban life of America is not satisfactory. A yearning for the warm African nights and all that goes with it builds to an irresistable urge to move for a longer period of time. She thinks things over, and decides to pack up her entire life and leave. She rents a house in suburban Nairobi and begins a life almost from scratch. It is the story of a girl who experienced African life up close. Some of the challenges she faces include surviving rough safari's (not designed for the average tourist), running a small-scale business (the African way) and maintaining a social life. As any good story, it also includes some good romance...

Melinda Atwood writes with an easy language that is full of life. Even though you won't find the most profound metaphors in her all over elegant sentences, you start imagining yourself in her situation after a couple of paragraphs. Her book gives a great description of the many moods of that which lies under the African sun. You can even expect to pick up a couple of phrases in Swahili. I can recommend Jambo Mama to everyone who wants to know more about Africa, and especially Kenya, but also to anyone who enjoy a good story. If you, after reading this review and others, find the book unworthy your time and money: pole sana! (don`t understand? read the book)

Reviewed by Stian Rein Andresen and Øystein Tøsse Larsen

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


 
25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars ~Helped me dream of Africa~, March 25, 2002
This review is from: Jambo, Mama (Hardcover)
Just finished reading this wonderful book this week-end! It's about a middle-aged woman with a dream to throw herself into "once-in-lifetime" adventure and fulfill a long time fantasy.....to live in Africa. I found her descriptions of Kenya and the other places she visited via Safari, to be informative and insightful yet at the same frightening and exciting. She describes her day-to-day life struggling to live out her dream. There are the cultural differences, language barriers, dangers, and the ever present lonliness but when she looks out at the vast beauty that is Africa, it is all worth it. She embraces each challenge with dogged determination to prove to herself that she can overcome the sometimes seeming insurmountable obstacles. I've never been to Africa and don't know if I'll ever get there in view of the dangers surrounding travel outside this country, but I was able to live vicariously through this magical memoir and dream.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


 
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Refreshingly honest, March 13, 2002
By Dkbonnell "Denise" (Mission Viejo, CA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Jambo, Mama (Hardcover)
I thorougly enjoyed reading this book! Melinda is a wonderful and entertaining writer whose description of her life in Kenya was written with complete honesty and candor. I am afraid vanity would not have allowed me to be quite so honest. Her detailed accounts of her trials and triumphs kept me turning the pages. Since I have visited Kenya several times, and especially the Masai Mara Game Reserve, I felt as if I were right there with her. She wrote with compassion towards the people she knew and loved there, and best of all, she wrote with a sharp wit and an incredible sense of humor. I found myself laughing out loud often. It wasn't an easy thing she did, moving to Africa by herself for an extended period of time, for Africa and New York are as different as night and day. Melinda did, however, what so many others only think of doing...she followed her dream. For the reader who wants to learn more about modern Kenya, this book is for you. For the reader who wants a fun, interesting, informative, romantic, and heartfelt book to read, then don't miss this one. I highly recommend "Jambo Mama."
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Jambo, Mama -- A New York Diva Goes on an Extended Safari in Kenya!
Speaking first from a technical standpoint, I found Atwood's story to be mediocre at best. There wasn't much meat or substance to it, she had no distinct style to speak of and,... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Contessa

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful adventure
I received Jambo Mama as a gift from Melinda Atwood herself. It was several years ago where I worked at a Calif. destination resort. Melinda was a guest there. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Tammie Suppipat

1.0 out of 5 stars Living in Kenya, but avoiding Kenyans
I live in Kenya for 6 months out of each year. My experiences there are both wonderful and difficult, and I am always looking for books written by other foreigners who have lived... Read more
Published on June 8, 2007 by J. O'Leary

5.0 out of 5 stars AMERICAN REALITY IN KENYA
AFTER TRAVELING IN KENYA ON TWO SEPERATE OCCASIONS, THERE WAS ALWAYS A DREAM IN THE BACK OF MY MIND--"WOULDN'T IT BE WONDERFUL TO LIVE HERE" THIS IS A STORY ABOUT AN AMERICAN... Read more
Published on January 3, 2007 by AFRICAN TRAVELER

5.0 out of 5 stars Throughly enjoyable! I didn't want it to end!
I really enjoyed this book from the first page through the last. It took me on an incredible journey of life in Kenya, Africa with all it's mishaps, adventures, safaris, and real... Read more
Published on June 27, 2006 by J. Roggow

3.0 out of 5 stars As We Evolve
Allured by the introductory chapters accessible on the net, I was enticed by the backbone of her solo mission to a place with an almost contrary rhythm to the West. Read more
Published on July 11, 2005 by Zihan Kassam

1.0 out of 5 stars not convincing...
although descriptions of her native carpet factory employees were interesting, much more of the book is devoted to the author's many personal problems: a discordant sibling... Read more
Published on July 11, 2005 by K. Villard

3.0 out of 5 stars Self-absorbed memoir
Having read the mostly favourable reviews of Melinda Atwood's "Jambo Mamma" I decided to buy it. There is only one reviewer with whose opinion I would concur, that of "Reader"... Read more
Published on July 7, 2005 by Pandora

5.0 out of 5 stars The book to read...
This was a wonderful book. This book tells an amazing story about life in Africa for an American woman. The writer is truly gifted. Read more
Published on April 10, 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars Jambo Mama
This book has 23 reviews already.

Where are they?

Melinda Atwood

Published on November 19, 2002 by Melinda Atwood

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   


Look for Similar Items by Category

Look for Similar Items by Subject

Search Books by subject:














i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...
 

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
 Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide?

Your comments can help make our site better for everyone.



Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.