Last Moon Dancing: A Memoir of Love and Real Life in Africa

by Monique Maria Schmidt

From Goodreads: Amidst the pulse of voodoo drums, the gift of a dinner rat, chants of machete wielding students, and choking heat inside a mosquito net, Monique Maria Schmidt gives us this searingly... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0962863238
• ISBN13: 9780962863233
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Clover Park Press
• Length: 227 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.

Customer Reviews

I brought this book everywhere with me this summer!

I highly recommend Last Moon Dancing, a memoir of a Peace Corps Volunteer's experience in Africa, by Monique Maria Schmidt. Schmidt's plan was to teach, sacrifice and contribute to an African village. She soon realizes, however, that she has brought more to Africa than planned. Woven into her journey are the memories of her own childhood on a farm in a Mennonite community in South Dakota. Schmidt humorously tries to make sense of it all and soon realizes she is surrounded by love. Schmidt's writing style is engaging and ranges from poetic & profound to blunt & to the point.

Enlightening!!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading "Last Moon Dancing." The author's candid descriptions about her experiences in an African village while serving in the Peace Corps keep this book interesting and fresh. I enjoyed the "Dear Angela" letters the most. My favorite letter was "Dear Angela, If you want to know what kind of day I've had, smell me." Schmidt's ability to find humor in the day-to-day stress of her African experience makes one marvel at the strength and tenacity of the human spirit. A definite Must-Read!!

OVERWHELMING EMOTION

Once I started reading Last Moon Dancing I could not put it down. I felt all emotions from desperate to amused but the most dominate thing I felt was pride. I am proud that young people have the courage and ambition to commite themselves to the aid and education of those with less. It is an awe inspiring story and one that is so fantastic it couldn't be anything but admired

Insightful!

I just finished reading this book and was touched by Monique Schmidt's brutal honesty and self-evaluation. Schmidt bares her innermost thoughts to the reader. I found myself laughing out loud and, at times, crying. A very touching book about life, love and her Peace Corps experiences!

Unique and honest reading

I loved Monique Schmidt's memoir. Her honest,straight-forward account of her years in the Peace Corps in Africa is brutal, beautiful and witty. Woven through her African experience are connections to her childhood and early adulthood, but not always in the usual prose format. There may be a poem or an anecdote. Some of the revelations will anger the reader; some will shock, but throughout, you know Schmidt's telling it exactly as she sees and experiences life.