|
|
|
|
|
|
HomeShop at BookSurgeTravelGeneral |
|
|  |
| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review:
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 I Agree with CGB! This book is a mess. Apr 12, 2008
I too bought this book and agree with CGB's review. I have visited Honduras over 25 times over the last 15 years and looked forward to a book filled with insights about my personal favorite country. Instead I got an amateurish, typo ridden and gramatically flawed book filled with insipid stories about the author's cat. Her take on local culture and the Honduran people is simple-minded at best, and patently offesive in its patronizing approach at times. Then there is her almost complete lack of comprehension of spanish (which she admits in the book) made all the worse by her attempts, nonetheless, to not only use the language (univerally incorrectly) but to translate it for her english speaking readers (equally incorrectly). God only knows what the gardener made of her completely incoherent gibberish in her spanish birthday note which she somehow manages to convince herself actually means something in english. And, of course, anyone who has spent five minutes in Honduras knows that Honduraños are the citizens of Honduras not "Honduraneos" as she consistentely calls them in her book. I feel somewhat bad in even writing this review, as I imagine that Malana is a sweet, kind person, and probably means well. But this book is so bad, so in need of an editor, and so patronizing and offensive in its take on a people and country that I love, that I couldn't refrain from this review. Read the book if you choose to, but please do not think that you know any more of Honduras or her lovely people for having done so.
0 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Powerful book for anyone. Mar 29, 2008
Gringos in Paradise:Our Honduras Odyssey is a powerful book for anyone contemplating a move to another country or any other transition in life. Dr. Ashlie clearly, yet humorously, share the challenges she and her husband met in choosing to leave the country of their birth and immerse themselves into a foreign culture. The honesty in which she shares the process of her personal and spiritual growth as a result of these experiences make this a must have for every bookshelf and bedside table. Gringos...will inspire readers to take action and not let anything or anyone still your dreams.
Rev. Oscar A. Reconco, host of the metaphysical television program:
"INFINITE kNOWLEDGE".
0 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Insightful Mar 19, 2008
I have visited Honduras over 20 times in the past 35 years and found this book to provide meaningful insight into Honduran culture and way of life. The author and her husband approached their move to Honduras with open minds and hearts, and obviously with a perspective that cultural differences should be embraced and understood, rather than viewed as "bad" simply because they are different from the way things are done in the U.S.
The book is really a series of short stories that range in time from the couple's initial decision to move to paradise (somewhere), to the decision that Honduras was the paradise they sought to their day-to-day experiences - many of which are quite funny - after the move to their new home on the Honduran coast. What made the book particularly appealing was the depth of emotion and thought that went into the couple's leaving their old life and friends, interacting with new neighbors, local workers, and even their cat, who had to endure the move from the old paradise (Hawai'i) to the new.
I recommend this book to anyone who is thinking about visiting or moving to Honduras, as well as to anyone who wants insight as to how to approach cultural differences with an attitude of understanding and sensitivity.
0 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Must read book for anyone dreaming of life in another culture! Jan 06, 2008
Gringos in Paradise is a hilarious, yet image provoking tale of life in a third world country. I personally lived in Puerto Rico and Mexico for many years, and as I read of the struggles this couple went through to relocate, it conjured images and memories of my own struggles. This helps to motivate those that are overwhelmed by obstacles in any setting, whether domestically or overseas, and it is heartwarming to see how the lemons were turned into lemonade during the day to day challenges this couple faced. I recommend that everybody read this if only to feel gratitude towards their life.
1 of 2 found the following review helpful:
There's so much to enjoy about "Gringos in Paradise!" Dec 23, 2007
There's so much to enjoy about "Gringos in Paradise!" It describes
with verve the trials and tribulations of an American couple who
decide to relocate from Hawai'i to Honduras with their cat. Why
Honduras, of which they know close to nothing at all? They don't even
speak a word of Spanish! As the author Malana Ashlie says, "call it
synchronicity or divine order"....
In a lively, funny way, she invites us to peek into their
multifaceted adventure....
This is a tale of courage, of respectful discovery as they draw upon
their humanity and capacity to resonate with their environment to
merge with a world so alien to theirs that they need to find an
interpreter to go to the hardware store.... Life as an adventure in
consciousness, written with feelings and with plenty of heart; Malana
Ashlie is not afraid to laugh at herself, meanwhile telling us about
her joys as well as her worries, fears and self-doubts. Unlike so
many "gringos," she strives for a sense of peace, of harmony that can
only be found through reaching inward to little-known parts of
oneself, risking one's soul, previous knowledge and comfort zones. We
partake in her wonderment, as she endeavors to tread lightly, to walk
in balance with nature and people.
Peace is fragile and yet holds so much power....
There's so much to enjoy about "Gringos in Paradise!"
Viviane Lerner (client review)
|
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
