Reviews for Anthropology and the Peace Corps

The average rating for Anthropology and the Peace Corps based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-09-15 00:00:00 Christina Summa Arthur Slade is one of my favorite children's/teen authors. His books are imaginative, unique and always a great read. I read my first Slade book when Dust won the Governor General's Literary Award back in 2001. I loved it so much I picked up this one, and was not disappointed. This is the story of Percy Montmount Jr. and his friend Elissa who are in their final year of high school. Percy, whose father was an anthropologist, examines the social environment of high school through the eyes and methods of an anthropologist. The names of the tribes, and the social commentary associated with them, is hilarious. Some of the tribes are: The Busybody Tribe The Logo Tribe - exists to only wear name brands. The Digerati Tribe - Worships bytes and silicon Chips. The Lipstick/Hairspray Tribe The Gee-The-Seventies-Were-Great-Even-Though-I Wasn't-Born-Yet Tribe The Hockey Tribe - Subdivided into Canadians, Oilers, Rangers and 32 sub clans. The Jesus Freaks The Madonna Tribe (But in decline and near extinct) Join Percy and Elissa as they navigate their senior year, and as Percy must come to grips with his own anthropological reality. This is a great fun and very enjoyable read. Note: This review was written in 2009. Read the review on my blog Book Reviews and More and reviews of other books by Arthur Slade. As well as author profile and interview with Art.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-07-11 00:00:00 Donald Dunner I am going to start out with a minor problem that bugged me, but that may be due to the translation, not the actual original writing. The swear words given into Elissa's mouth were really childish and girlie, as opposed to her description as a free spirit... But otherwise, a stellar book, especially in its own genre. Well, I have been debating with myself, whether I can actually find some books, where I don't necessarily like the main character / I don't see them as perfect, yet I like the book. Tribes is a prime example for that kind of book. Perk isn't a character I hated, but I did find him annoying and flawed. But: 1) he was not put on a pedestal, 2)there was a complete world built up behind his erratic behaviour, psychological motives and such. These two things save these types of books and characters, at least for me. It was amazing how Slade could write a book in a first person singular point of view, but could actually make us feel that not all of the people whom he looks down on or whom he finds silly are mean or stupid. I love its psychological aspects. It was written down beautifully, in an understandable way for youngsters, how a maniac could be born, and how a maniac works and sees the world. Someone who puts his wicked ideas before anything else, even his companions, someone who makes a huge thing out of something little, something extraordinary. I mean, all he did, was just labeling kids at school. But in his eyes, it's more, it's almost sacred. Especially since he started doing this as something to take his mind off of something he did not want to think about. I didn't find the ending too abrupt, either. Or at least not in the bad sense of the word. I believe that, if a maniac gives up their obsession, it CAN happen like this, so fast...