| Title | : | A Wilderness Called Peace |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0440393760 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780440393764 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Mass Market Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 368 |
| Publication | : | Published June 1, 1987 |
A Wilderness Called Peace Reviews
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This novel by poet and translator Edmund Keeley was inspired by his own father's experience as a senior staffer at the US Embassy in Phnom Penh in 1975, and in Thailand during later years. It begins well, with the journal of a Eurasian woman who has decided to stay in the city and take her chances with the Khmer Rouge. She writes to her American lover who has been forced to flee. The story jumps back and forth and all around, adopting the points of view of a variety of characters, and very quickly the prose deteriorates to a plodding, monotonous academic mumble, which combines with a lifeless story line to create one of the most boring books I have ever read. All of the characters have essentially the same professorial tone, and the use of journal entries as a means of describing events soon becomes maddeningly implausible. Even the author seems to be struggling to get through it, and ties up loose plot ends hastily at the end so that we can all get on with our lives. Not recommended to anyone.
