This is a brave and interesting book. And more than being about one man's venture into farming, or even into Ecuador, it is about poverty, about clashing cultures, and about coming to grips with one's own delusions and prejudices. And, at the same time, it is beautiful, horrifying, and humorous--in many cases, all in the same moment.

Although Thomsen's voice might sometimes cause readers to cringe at his nonchalant admissions of prejudice and expectation, the book is both a product of its times and all the more worthwhile because of these same moments. The author's struggle to not only survive in Ecuador as a farmer, but to enmesh himself in the surrounding culture and to understand the poverty and people surrounding him, is a study in identity and helplessness--and ultimately, it's a window into the difficulty of reconciling clashing cultures, totally divergent backgrounds, and separate value systems.

The reader who is first brought to the book by adventure and the beauty of Ecuador's landscape will appreciate it for these things, but find themselves tortured along with Thomsen by the heartbreaking poverty and, even more so, the men and women trapped within it. And yet, then, there is the beauty of the appreciation for a single moment--because the present and any joy it can bring is so much more valuable than what is certain to be a painful future--and this single-minded focus, this ability to focus on what Is good in a world that seems mostly bad, allows for a book which is itself split between optimism and cynicism, and which is all the more worthwhile because of it.

Absolutely recommended. ( )

Moritz Thomsen nous fait part de sa propre expérience de fermier à Esmeraldas, province de l’Équateur. C'est du vécu, c'est du brut. L'auteur arrive à prendre du recul vis-à-vis de cette expérience de plusieurs années et le moindre que l'on puisse dire est qu'il faut savoir relativiser tant ses désillusions ont été nombreuses : la jungle, les débouchés commerciaux, les intempéries et surtout, les gens. Moritz Thomsen met dans sa poche sa mentalité d'occidental sur laquelle il avait déjà un sens critique particulièrement développé car ce qu'il vit au contact de la population est hors norme de son point de vue et c'est souvent la pauvreté qui rend les choses hors normes dans les comportements. La pauvreté qui irrigue tout, qui gangrène tout, qui fait que les personnes s'élèvent un petit peu puis s'écroulent à nouveau face aux difficultés, aux jalousies, à la méconnaissance des mécanismes économiques. pourtant, face à l'adversité, l'auteur ne critique pas, est souvent surpris mais est très respectueux des personnes. Son livre est une succession de portraits attachants, superbement écrit. ( )