Child of the Jungle

I was searching for another good book to read after Careless in Red. It's so disappointing to follow up a really good read with just a so-so book. Child of the Jungle had gotten good reviews and it looked unique. I like to read books that give you a view of other cultures and lifestyles.

The book is written very simply and the chapters are very short so Child of the Jungle is a very fast read. It deals with an area of the country and culture that I haven't read much about. Sabine Kuegler writes of living with her linguist-missionary parents in West Papua, Indonesia. They lived among the Fayu, a recently discovered, warmongering tribe untouched by modern civilization, most of whose members had never seen a white person before.

Sabine lived there from age 7 to 17. The death of a close native friend caused Sabine to make the decision to leave the jungle. She goes to a Swiss boarding school where she finds out how completely naive she is about life outside of the jungle. She ends up culture shocked and very confused about where she fits - the modern world or the jungle. She doesn't return to the jungle, where her parents still live, for 15 years. If you want to read more about her, check out this website http://www.telegraph.co.uk/global/main.jhtml?xml=/global/2005/09/20/hjungle20.xml or just do a google search of her name.

Susan