Under
Chad’s Spell by
Michael Varga, Ebook, 2014.
This novel,
obviously set in Chad, is a complex tale of a group of Peace Corps Volunteers
who arrived there in seventies just before Chad fell apart in one of its
violent upheavals. New arrivals start their training in Ndjamena impacted by
the wonder of a new culture. Nonetheless the story progresses as they become
more accustomed to Africa and move off to their various posts. There is lots of dialogue and introspection
among the various characters as to why they are there in the first place and
what they intend to get out of the experience. The author throws in a good deal
of realistic interaction with locals as both the locals and the Americans try
to decipher the other’s culture and strange ways. Each of the various Americans
seem caught up in extremely narcistic extrapolations of their being, i.e. they
are at the center of it all and the experiences are so new and so
revelatory. A quest for relationships
and/or sex pervades much of the volunteer’s experiences as related in the
novel. I found that the story dragged on and on. Thankfully, ultimately it all
comes to an end as the PCVs are evacuated in face of the latest revolution.
They go their various ways, undoubtedly changed for the experience.
To give the
novel some credit, it does realistically describe volunteer situations and many
of the incidences are probably based on some real-life experience. The author
does not have much use for Peace Corps or embassy staff, nor really for
Chadians. Neither he nor his characters seem to see that the Peace Corps as an
idea made much sense in Chad. Teaching English or even other academic subjects
to youngsters who did not want to learn – and would never use the information –
was totally futile. The value in the effort, if there was one, was the impact
on the Americans themselves. They did begin to comprehend a bigger world,
although it remained unclear if it did them any good.
Only a
die-in-the wool RPCV or a Chadophile will find this book of great interest.
