Dear Exile: The Story of a Friendship Separated (for a Year) by an Ocean

This is about as perfect as a book can be. I won't recap the concept; plenty of other reviewers have summed it up. But I want to express my unbounded admiration for this book. I would never have imagined that a set of letters between friends could make for fascinating, hard-to-put-down reading, but this set of letters does. In spades. These women's lives are just plain interesting--Kate's, in part, because she's in a situation most of us know little or nothing about and Hilary's, in part, because she's in a situation most of us know all too well. There's more going on here, though, than just the fact of being interesting. The friendship between these two comes alive on the page; the insights about the world and about each other that the women reveal are meaningful; the wit each writer possesses is sharp and on target. I loved the book. I'm giving it to everyone I know for Christmas because they're all going to love it, too.

In an age of cell phones and e-mail and instant access, a pair of people who write long, detailed letters and mail them (with stamps!) seems unusual. And what letters! These are no slapdash, catty-chatty constructions, but rather articulate, vivid, thoughtful epistles between two people living very different lives in the 1990s.The letters are real; they are the products of former Yale roommates Kate Montgomery and Hilary Liftin. Kate, recently married, moves to Kenya with her husband to teach English for the Peace Corps. Her narrative of life in Africa begins with stunned delight (giraffes walk by!). Increasingly, though, her letters begin to detail the awful conditions and debasement of the people there. We learn of rampant disease (Kate seems to catch every one of them), polluted water, and unsanitary schools where students are beaten mercilessly. Hilary, from the other side of the ocean, relates her experience as a single woman looking for love, satisfying work, and a decent apartment in New York City. Her stories are funny, poignant, sometimes heartbreaking, and just as interesting as Kate's.The best story of all, though, is that of the friendship that sustains and enriches these two passionate women across the miles.

I never wanted it to end! After I finished reading "Dear Exile", I just sat and stared into a far away memory of my own girlhood in Nicaragua. The juxtaposition of two female lives was truly awesome. I laughed and I cried. I am giving this to every woman friend I cherish.

This books sheds light on the different realities of two cultures and reveals the easy manner with which two friends communicate. The letters were well edited and so allowed this reader to enter into their relationship. Any "you had to be there stories" were wisely taken out. Kate Montgomery's accounts of teaching and living in Kenya were disturbing and honest. I hope that her stories of the lack of bathing, poisonous water and insect infestations would make any potential volunteer think twice about what he or she is about to enter into. This is a quick, entertaining and enlightening read.

I read Dear Exile in one continous session--I couldn't put it down. It is funny, interesting, sad (the sections about teaching in poor Kenyan schools are heartbreaking) and just all around great. This book is going to appeal to a lot of people, I think. With people communicating so much by e-mail, one of the wonderful aspects of the book is fact that the authors actually wrote each other real letters-- long, thoughtful ones. Pretty amazing. Anyone who has ever stuggled to find the right job and the right mate and the right life will relate to Hilary's story, while anyone who has ever dreamed of running off and joining the Peace Corps will appreciate Kate's story. I highly recommend this book.