Book Review : Dear Exile

by Hilary Liftin and Kate Montgomery
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

This book was definitely engaging. The letters between the two friends in Kenya and NYC were witty and insightful, but I had a really hard time believing that they were written in so formal a style. I like a well-written letter, but these letters included descriptive narrative that seems a bit too planned out to be spontaneous.

Having said that, whether the authenticity of the writing is plausible or not, the book is a great read....offering insights into both the world of impoverished Africa and a corrupt school system and, at the same time, into the life of a single woman living in NYC.

The women's banter is overtly affectionate, almost to the point of excess, so it is interesting to note that the book ends at a place where they live in the same city and yet have never taken the opportunity to sit down and really talk after Kate's return from Africa. This also made the letters seem forced.

I enjoyed the insights of their individual lives much more than considering the central them of the book to be their friendship.

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