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Farewell, Fred Voodoo: A Letter From Haiti (2013)

by Amy Wilentz(Favorite Author)

3.86 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1451643977 (ISBN13: 9781451643978)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Simon & Schuster

review 1: Took forever to read this and I'm still not sure I should have. Headed to Haiti as part of the medical team of a church group who needed a nurse. Already wondering how one nurse for one week will make a dent in the suffering, this book gave me a feeling of hopelessness. At least I'm going as medical, the only aid group excepted from her criticism of motives. I did learn some history and useful information about culture. It does seem she bashes on groups or individuals there for aid but then does a summary at end of each diatribe excusing all she's just criticized. Odd and difficult to follow.
review 2: What first piqued my interest about 'Farewell, Fred Voodoo' was its bright yellow cover and the curious title. I later heard that two of my acquaintance ... morefriends from my Haiti trip were featured/interviewed by the author, so that was additional incentive to read this book over the many other tomes that have come out in recent years about post-earthquake Haiti. I had never read Wilentz's writing before, but found her to be engaging and insightful in her straight forward approach to sharing her on-the-ground experiences in and around Port-au-Prince during relief and reconstruction. She is not shy about critiquing the efforts of the government, of NGOs, of the UN, and sometimes her voice gets overly insistent or accusatory about the "evils" of the "system." But overall, I found her indepth knowledge of the country and the people over her many years of reporting to be quite valuable. She is also a big fan of Dr. Megan Coffee, one of the aforementioned acquaintance friends who has been doing some amazing and humble work with TB patients - and as I am a fan of her as well, I approve. less

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