Nell, an anthropologist, describes the first moment she gets
“a handle” on a new place she is studying (no matter how elusory that
understanding may turn out to be) thus, “But at that moment the place feels
entirely yours. It’s the briefest,
purest euphoria.” The character of Nell is
based on the early life of famed anthropologist Margaret Mead, who’s Coming of age in Samoa was published in
1928 and remains influential and controversial to this day.
The novel is set in New Guinea in the early 1930’s and loosely based on
real events and relationships from that period in Mead’s life. It is an intense and gripping read with an
alternative history ending. It made me
want to go back and reread Mead’s Blackberry
winter, but not necessarily Coming of
age in Samoa.255 pp.
No comments:
Post a Comment