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Abundance
Julia is an American medical doctor fleeing her own privileged background to find a new life delivering health care to African villages, where her skills can make a difference. Carl is also an American, whose very different experiences as a black man in the United States have driven him into exile in West Africa, where he is an international NGO expat. The two come together as colleagues (and then more) as Liberia is gripped in a brutal civil war. Child soldiers kidnap Julia on a remote jungle road, and Carl is evacuated against his will by U.S. Marines. Back in the United States he finds Julia’s mentor, Levin, a Rhode Island MD whose Sixties idealism has been hijacked by history. Then they meet the thief. Then they meet the smuggler. And the dangerous work of finding and rescuing Julia begins. An unforgettable thriller grounded in real events.
- GenresFiction
320 pages, Paperback
Published May 1, 2019
17 people are currently reading
56 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 29, 2020
I was intrigued by the subject of this book - Liberia and Rhode Island in 2003, with a story told from several perspectives, both expatriate and diaspora. I didn't have high expectations as I saw that this was the author's first novel, but I was incredibly impressed. There are a few awkward moments, such as describing what the characters looked like a bit after introducing them, but the book was written very well and I was carried along easily. I felt like I learned a lot about Liberia and I especially liked the way he wrote the Kreyol phrases and then had the translations right after. I thought this was done very smoothly and gave a taste of the language without leaving the reader totally lost as to what they were saying. The characters were believable and although parts of the story were a little fantastic, it was all pulled together nicely. I really enjoyed this book and hope to read Michael Fine's nonfiction book about the health care system.
November 25, 2019
As long as we have more than we need to live on, we will live to see both the good that is in us as people together and the evil that sits alongside it and that resides in each of us alone. In abundance, we see the good that has come from being together, the miracles we have made by learning from one another and working together. And out of that same abundance comes greed and violence, as some of us, the men who think themselves big, use what we have made together to try to realize their insane dreams, to satisfy insane lusts. [Abundance, p. 137]
Michael Fine's wonderful novel, Abundance takes place in Liberia and Providence, Rhode Island, around 2003 at the time of the Liberian Civil War.
Dr. Julia Richmond, thirty-two, serves in the hospital in Buchanan and bush clinics in Liberia. She is a gifted and compassionate physician and suffers from low self esteem.
Carl Goldman, twenty-seven, is an African-American man who endured an unhappy and troubled childhood. He finds redemption and solace working as an NGO in Liberia delivering and maintaining water filtering systems in towns and bush villages. He and Julia are friends who, perhaps, are beginning to come closer.
Teenager Terrance Evans-Smith is a one-time Liberian boy-soldier whose mother, living in Rhode Island, brings him out of his quasi-military existence to live with her. He is restless, caught between two worlds.
Dr. William Levin, in his mid-sixties, works in a Providence emergency room. He was once a mentor and is now a friend of Julia's. He is unfulfilled and melancholy.
When Carl is evacuated from Liberia by United States Marines during an escalation in the civil war, he discovers that Julia, kidnapped by boy soldiers, was left behind. Back in Providence, he, Terrance, and Bill form a team, determined to return to Liberia to find Julia and bring her home. On their journey, these three very different men find commonality and closeness. Their mission to rescue Julia is a riveting, seat-of-the-pants tale.
Fine's skill in creating complex, thoughtful characters, his sense of place, his unique way of telling the story make for a compelling book. Mix in thoughtful reflection on disparate societies and how they live make it unforgettable.
Rhode Islanders will recognize the many familiar venues that Fine describes. More, his description of the land, the people, the climate of Liberia, its cities and town and villages, are breath-taking.
Based on real events, Fine gives enough detail for the reader to grasp the historical context of the years surrounding President Charles Taylor's reign.
Fine has no easy answers. He has no answers at all, but much food for thought.
Highly recommended.
Michael Fine's wonderful novel, Abundance takes place in Liberia and Providence, Rhode Island, around 2003 at the time of the Liberian Civil War.
Dr. Julia Richmond, thirty-two, serves in the hospital in Buchanan and bush clinics in Liberia. She is a gifted and compassionate physician and suffers from low self esteem.
Carl Goldman, twenty-seven, is an African-American man who endured an unhappy and troubled childhood. He finds redemption and solace working as an NGO in Liberia delivering and maintaining water filtering systems in towns and bush villages. He and Julia are friends who, perhaps, are beginning to come closer.
Teenager Terrance Evans-Smith is a one-time Liberian boy-soldier whose mother, living in Rhode Island, brings him out of his quasi-military existence to live with her. He is restless, caught between two worlds.
Dr. William Levin, in his mid-sixties, works in a Providence emergency room. He was once a mentor and is now a friend of Julia's. He is unfulfilled and melancholy.
When Carl is evacuated from Liberia by United States Marines during an escalation in the civil war, he discovers that Julia, kidnapped by boy soldiers, was left behind. Back in Providence, he, Terrance, and Bill form a team, determined to return to Liberia to find Julia and bring her home. On their journey, these three very different men find commonality and closeness. Their mission to rescue Julia is a riveting, seat-of-the-pants tale.
Fine's skill in creating complex, thoughtful characters, his sense of place, his unique way of telling the story make for a compelling book. Mix in thoughtful reflection on disparate societies and how they live make it unforgettable.
Rhode Islanders will recognize the many familiar venues that Fine describes. More, his description of the land, the people, the climate of Liberia, its cities and town and villages, are breath-taking.
Based on real events, Fine gives enough detail for the reader to grasp the historical context of the years surrounding President Charles Taylor's reign.
Fine has no easy answers. He has no answers at all, but much food for thought.
Highly recommended.
May 16, 2019
Dr Michael Fine was my mother's doctor and when I saw this book, I had to read it! Abundance is an intensive, historical novel. Julia is a doctor from Rhode Island who is working in Liberia. Carl is also American working in Liberia. They both are working in the midst of a brutal civil war. When the US Marines arrive to evacuate Americans, Carl keeps telling anyone who listens that Julia has been kidnapped. From that moment on, Carl makes it his mission to rescue the good doctor. . . The book is well-written and easy to follow. It is a great read for those seeking adventure as well as the history buff!
June 22, 2021
I really enjoyed this book. It was a captivating way to learn about the Liberian Civil Wars in the context of a fictional story. As a new RI resident, it was enjoyable to read a story that had some parts take place in Rhode Island. While it was important that the story had devastation occur, I was nevertheless sad that there wasn’t a happy ending, as the story did a great job of making you want the best for all the characters. I definitely recommend!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 28, 2024
Local author and picked up with no expectations. In some ways, this read as several different potential books: a nonfiction work about Liberia, Sierra Leone, Charles Taylor, and Doctors Without Borders and a fiction story that was absorbing and surprising. Some 'old haunts' in Rhode Island are mentioned, so that was fun; but the depiction of the state overall from someone who knows it well was a depressing one.
April 15, 2020
Compelling, eye-opening, and heart-breaking. A wonderful story of the various tragedies, adventures, and dead ends of lives in Liberia torn apart by civil war; focusing on NGO workers, medical and civil engineering, with added Liberian stories. Grounded in Providence, this story compares lives and tragedies in both countries. I've found Dave Eggers' 'The Parade' a timely companionpiece.
January 28, 2020
Slow yet interesting read. A little too much background with limited relevance to the story or the character's actions. The same car thief stealing the same guys car, a little too coincidental. Not bad overall, but helped having personal knowledge of the Rhode Island landscape.
March 6, 2020
In spite of the writing being a little clumsy, I found this book to be engaging. I always love stories that take me to a different time and place, and this one certainly did. I liked the characters, and how many of them evolved.
December 2, 2021
I liked this book but Carl was gone too early. I don’t believe anyone wanting to rescue someone in Julia’s situation would take a ship that took 4 weeks. Not enough about Jonathan and I got romantic ish overtones. The end from Carl on was disappointing. I guess bc it’s a novel w little truth?
March 31, 2023
Amazing book! It sucks you in from page one with action and it keeps pulling you along on an amazing journey the entire time. A top favorite for me.
September 11, 2019
Superb first effort from Michael Fine, a medical professional well-known to me and many in Rhode Island for his political activism and high-level progressive work in the medical field -- in the RI community, with refugees living in RI, in RI prisons, and for a Nicaraguan sister-city medical clinic.
The story gives the reader a visceral sense of Liberia during the tail end of its wars, from the perspective of Julia, an American doctor who has devoted her life to help people in war-torn, third world countries; Levin, an American doctor; Carl, an American doing NGO work in Liberia; and Terrance, a young man who had grown up in war-torn Liberia and been only half-willingly rescued to the U.S. by his mother. All of the characters, except Levin, have sad and traumatic childhoods they are trying to forget. All are struggling to find meaning in their lives. All find that meaning, at least superficially and temporarily, in the desperately poor and anarchically violent context of Liberia.
I was somewhat frustrated by the point of view bouncing between each of the main characters and also several secondary characters. As a reader, this made it somewhat more difficult to become wholly involved with anyone's story and emotional changes over the course of the book. The book could have used a solid proofread (I read the digital version). There were many glaring mistakes. For one, it was surprising in such a book to see the country of Colombia misspelled as "Columbia." Also, the last few chapters all felt like an extended epilogue -- interesting and satisfying, but too drawn out.
That said, the book is absorbing from the very beginning and throughout. Characters are complex, each with their own complicated psychology, motivations, struggles. The ending is satisfyingly unpredictable.
At least to me, the book conveyed the inevitable disappointment of hiding from life, one's own complicated life, by burrowing so thoroughly into the problems of an entirely different country/culture/language/etc. While it is satisfying to give one's skills where there is such great need, it is no more likely to lead one to find life's meaning or find peace within than many other paths. To Levin, the American doctor who felt that all his meetings and activities in the U.S. were ultimately meaningless, I would suggest that this feeling is representative of the human condition -- it is rare that one person can see real change as a result of her/his efforts because it is such a small piece of the whole. And yet, change does happen, and each person plays a small but important role. The character Levin may or may not have understood this after his traumatic forays to Liberia.
The story gives the reader a visceral sense of Liberia during the tail end of its wars, from the perspective of Julia, an American doctor who has devoted her life to help people in war-torn, third world countries; Levin, an American doctor; Carl, an American doing NGO work in Liberia; and Terrance, a young man who had grown up in war-torn Liberia and been only half-willingly rescued to the U.S. by his mother. All of the characters, except Levin, have sad and traumatic childhoods they are trying to forget. All are struggling to find meaning in their lives. All find that meaning, at least superficially and temporarily, in the desperately poor and anarchically violent context of Liberia.
I was somewhat frustrated by the point of view bouncing between each of the main characters and also several secondary characters. As a reader, this made it somewhat more difficult to become wholly involved with anyone's story and emotional changes over the course of the book. The book could have used a solid proofread (I read the digital version). There were many glaring mistakes. For one, it was surprising in such a book to see the country of Colombia misspelled as "Columbia." Also, the last few chapters all felt like an extended epilogue -- interesting and satisfying, but too drawn out.
That said, the book is absorbing from the very beginning and throughout. Characters are complex, each with their own complicated psychology, motivations, struggles. The ending is satisfyingly unpredictable.
At least to me, the book conveyed the inevitable disappointment of hiding from life, one's own complicated life, by burrowing so thoroughly into the problems of an entirely different country/culture/language/etc. While it is satisfying to give one's skills where there is such great need, it is no more likely to lead one to find life's meaning or find peace within than many other paths. To Levin, the American doctor who felt that all his meetings and activities in the U.S. were ultimately meaningless, I would suggest that this feeling is representative of the human condition -- it is rare that one person can see real change as a result of her/his efforts because it is such a small piece of the whole. And yet, change does happen, and each person plays a small but important role. The character Levin may or may not have understood this after his traumatic forays to Liberia.
January 10, 2020
I picked this up at the LA Times Festival of Books on a recommendation from the publisher. And I enjoyed it -- the setting, characters and intermingling of worlds and cultures.
Follows NGO workers in African country during upheaval, and their counterparts back in the US.
Follows NGO workers in African country during upheaval, and their counterparts back in the US.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews