First Comes Loves, Then Comes Malaria by Eve Brown-Waite
With a title like First Comes Loves, Then Comes Malaria: How a Peace Corps Poster Boy Won My Heart and a Third-World Adventure Changed My Life by Eve Brown-Waite I had no idea what I was expecting from this book. I had skimmed just enough of the reviews to know that other bloggers loved the book but I didn’t know if it was suppose to be a really serious book or a fun book. It ends up that First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria falls into the latter category. It’s a fun book.
Eve always wanted to join the Peace Corps but once she realized that she was all talk and that she wasn’t getting any younger, she finally arrives at the Peace Corps office only to find that her recruiter, John, is not only really cute but one heck of a nice guy too. As they arrange for her two years abroad, she secretly wishes that she could stay home instead and try to win John’s heart. So in a round about way she gives up her comfortable life in New York, leaves John behind, and heads to the jungles of Ecuador and hopes that this sentiment will be enough to prove to John that she’s the type of girl that he wants.
After living in Ecuador for a year and unable to recover from the now unburied memories that surfaced after her co-worker was raped, Eve returns to the busy and frantic States and finds herself overwhelmed just by shopping in the soup aisle. But she’s happy to have her cappuccino’s and other comforts of life back. John and Eve marry and it’s not long after that he get’s a job with CARE and they are packing for yet another adventure – this time to a remote outpost in Uganda.
I loved Eve’s experiences and the way in which she shared them with us. Having a background in AIDS education, Eve had visions of doing great work among the Africans but instead found herself without work and playing tennis everyday. The story got really good when Eve became pregnant but yet nobody could confirm the pregnancy. The Dr. asked her if she felt pregnant and if so, then yes! Eve joked around about needing to write a book about What You Need to Know When You’re Expecting In Africa because the only good that the American book did her in Africa was to smack all the bugs in the house.
The scene that will be most memorable to me is when she recounts that early in her pregnancy, she went to the bathroom, sat down and went about her business. When she was done, she looked down and there was a creature in the toilet! Not just any creature, but a rat! A rat that was in the toilet the whole time! I loved it when she said, ” . . . I knew I would never enjoy a leisurely sit on the toilet again.” Oh my goodness!
I loved Eve’s portrayal of all the people whom she met on her journey. I imagine that the highlight of traveling and living in different countries would be all the interesting people. I also loved how Eve showed that living abroad isn’t all fun and games but yet she had a lot of fun and played a lot of games. There are ups and downs and she wrote about them with not only a great deal of consideration but with a lot of sass. She’s fun and witty and the book was a real enjoyable read. I imagine that she’d be the life of the party wherever she goes.
Links of interest: Eve Brown-Waite website. Other blogger reviews.
Genre: Memoir
Publisher: Broadway. April 14, 2009
Hardcover, 320 pages. ISBN: 0767929357
First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.
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Tags: Africa, E-H Title, Ecuador, female author, Non-Fiction, published 2009, U-Z Author, Uganda
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Another blogger shared her copy of this book with me, and I can’t wait to read it. I’m glad to see you enjoyed it.
on July 21st, 2009 at 9:57 amLove the title, your review has me convinced..I’m adding it to the wish list!
on July 21st, 2009 at 10:57 amHow’s the language in the book? How graphic would you rate it? I’m always curious, but rarely find that info in reviews….would be helpful for someone who’s picky like me:-)
on July 21st, 2009 at 11:11 amThis sounds like an interesing read. The storyline sounds a bit too adult for me. Great review. I’ve never heard of this book before.
on July 21st, 2009 at 12:37 pmWow — that’s a serious adventure she embarked on! I can’t imagine living abroad or working with the Peace Corps… I’ve lived in the same town my whole life, though I do love to travel (but get home in a week or two!). Sounds like an interesting read!
on July 21st, 2009 at 2:52 pmThis sounds like such an interesting read. I have to add it to my TBR list. Great review and thanks for sharing
on July 21st, 2009 at 7:00 pmThanks to your review Natasha…I can’t wait to read this! : )
on July 21st, 2009 at 10:00 pmThe rat story was so funny, I had to read it out loud to Chris.
on July 22nd, 2009 at 5:19 pmI love books like this, and have heard really good things about this one. I need to remember to request this one from the library.
on July 23rd, 2009 at 10:39 amI didn’t know that this was a light read. Still sounds good, though!
on July 23rd, 2009 at 11:19 amSounds like a good one, yep!
on July 24th, 2009 at 8:09 pmThis sounds like a fun read! I have never been too interested in joining the Peace Corp, but I have a friend who really wants to do it. Its hard to imagine, but that must be quite the adventure, when no one can tell you for sure if you’re pregnant!
on July 25th, 2009 at 12:08 pm[...] First Comes Loves, Then Comes Malaria by Eve Brown-Waite [...]
on December 30th, 2009 at 9:28 pm