Go and Come Back

by Joan Abelove

When the two old white ladies come to live in the Peruvian jungle village of Poincushmana, everyone makes a fuss--everyone but Alicia, who is baffled by the reaction of her tribe, the Isabo. But as the days pass, she too is drawn in--because the ladies (who are really in their twenties, and anthropologists) are stingy, stupid, and fun to watch. They don't understand the Isabo. Someone needs to set them straight. And that someone, surprisingly, is Alicia.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Anthropology, Historical Fiction, Childrens, Cultural, Novels

177 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 15, 1998

About the author

Joan Abelove is an American writer of young adult novels. She attended Barnard College and has a Ph.D in cultural anthropology from the City University of New York. She spent two years in the jungles of Peru as part of her doctoral research and used the experience as background for her first novel, Go and Come Back (1998). Go and Come Back earned numerous awards and citations, including a "Best Books for Young Adults" selection of the American Library Association and "Book Prize Finalist" selection of the Los Angeles Times. she also wrote Saying it Out Loud. She is also in a critique group with Gail Carson Levine, writer of "Ella Enchanted" and "Writing Magic", a guide for child authors who wish to make their stories better. Joan Abelove now lives in New York city with her husband and son.

Reviews

[Jenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm no expert on YA lit, and I read this ages ago. But what I seem to remember that this book achieved is a level of complexity in its characterization in that the two "old white lady" (in their 20s) anthropologists are not depicted as simply dumb, culturally insensitive, colonizing, and coercive Westerners. Rather, they were depicted as what we'd think of as would-be "good" anthropologists, well-intentioned and striving to be culturally competent and do accurate research and be helpful and understanding -- but yet *still* coming up a bit short, because there is such a gulf between cultures and it's so difficult to truly know and understand one another!

I think this is such a wonderful lesson in humility: it's easy to criticize other people who just "don't get it" when it comes to cross-cultural understanding, but much more difficult to take a look at ourselves and admit that no matter how hard we try and want to and have trained to do so, WE still might not be truly "getting it" ourselves and we might still have blind spots or areas of ignorance or inflexibility of which we are unaware.


These anthropologists do have humility, and so the wonderful young protagonist and narrator, the Isabo girl Alicia, becomes their most important guide and teacher, as she recognizes their essential goodness but sees immediately that they are floundering and that they are in fact the culturally misunderstood and misguided ones in need of help. The anthropologists and Alicia are also able to form a strong bond of mutual respect and appreciation, despite the fact that true understanding remains a work in progress. This book is worth reading for the marvelous narrative voice of Alicia. The author did a great job of imagining Alicia's perspective and allowing her to relate the story of the researchers' project.

A "grown up" nonfiction counterpart to this book is the amazing case study about the Hmong people in the U.S. and their spiritual and cultural traditions in conflict with U.S. systems and institutions, Anne Fadiman's "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down." This book does a job like no other in illuminating the daunting complexity of effective cross-cultural relating, communicating, helping, and how even the best intentioned and informed efforts can fail in some way. The book is incredible precisely because there are no real "bad guys" who are easy to dismiss, just a bunch of pretty good guys unwittingly falling short in different ways.

[Gail Levine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish this book had been available when I was a teenager. I'm sure it would have changed my life, would have widened my perspective, made me better understand myself and my place in the world.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

2018
An engaging introduction to village life in the Peruvian jungle. References to sexual partnerships are woven throughout the story, so parents should read the book before recommending it to their kids. The story is told from the point-of-view of a girl who has 'bled three times.' She observes the anthropologists as closely as the anthropologists are viewing them.

Based on the author blurb, Abelove knows her subject:
She lived in the Amazon jungle for two years, with people much like those portrayed in this book. She has a doctorate in cultural anthropology.

2025
Promoted as a book for young adults, but would also be of interest to adult readers.

[Eileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Go and Come Back was a great read. Alicia’s perspective of our culture provided some very funny and true insights. I thought it was hysterical when Joanna pulls out floss to clean her teeth. Alicia notes “I couldn’t believe they were using such good, strong string to pull old pieces of food from their mouths.” Alicia and Marco realize this string could be put to much better use, such as fishing line or making bracelets. The villagers are also puzzled by the anthropologists’ definition of work. Alicia’s mother refers to them as lazy. Alicia is puzzled after talking to Joanna. “They were so strange. They called talking to people and writing things down work, and then said that everything her mother did was not work.” Joanna had just told Alicia that her own mother did not work. She stayed at home and cared for her child.

The importance of women in the village is pleasantly unexpected. “The old man had been bragging, of course. He had seven daughters and only one son – a powerful man, a man to be reckoned with, a man who had seven sons-in-law to work for him and only one child he had to give away to work for someone else.” The relationship among people is always described in terms of women. Alicia is described by Nonti as “my sister’s husband’s sister’s daughter.

At the beginning of the book, a villager notes of Joanna and Margarita “They are just incredibly ignorant”. And that they are, but they come to appreciate and understand the ways of the Isabo.

[Jenny Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Isabo teenaged girl named Alicia takes readers into a hidden world deep in the heart of the Amazonian jungle of Peru. There is no Isabo word for “goodbye.” Instead, when two people part, they say “catanhue,” which translates as go and come back—and which gives this novel its title. Alicia is not so sure about the “two old white ladies” from “the New York” who have come to study her tightly knit village. They come with so many possessions and ask for an empty house. “Whoever heard of a house no one was using?” Alicia thinks. “It takes a long time and a lot of people to build a house.” Through Alicia’s narrative, teens gain another perspective on how to live and to reevaluate the things they take for granted.

Full review:
http://www.twentybyjenny.com/teenBook...

[Lee Bullitt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't really learn anything, except that apparently white me Americans are stingy, and as long as they aren't stingy, they can hang out in a Peruvian jungle with an unknown tribe and cry all the time without being made fun of.

[Jamie Dacyczyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this several times in high school, and recently found it again at Goodwill. It's a short, quick read. Told from the point of view of a girl from an Amazonian tribe that is being visited by two women anthropologists. The two women stay with the tribe for about a year (which apparently the author did herself), and basically baffle the tribe with their ignorance and strange ways.

Lightly amusing, touching, and just generally engaging.

[Bex · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you work or interact with immigrants, please read this amusing little book. We have many stories - of varying quality - available about the trials of immigrants moving to western cultures, but I haven't come across many that successfully point out just how ridiculous we can seem when westerners go abroad. It isn't written as a "lesson," but you'll be gently reminded just the same.

[Allison · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two white ladies who don't understand that, as anthropologists, they aren't supposed to interfere with the culture they are studying, go and interfere with the culture they are studying.

And yet no one really mentions that.

[AJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting idea and decent execution. Too heavy handed at times. Not sure who I'd recommend it for, as the language is simple enough for middle grades, but there's pretty frank sex talk that might be inappropriate.

[Carla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although this is a Young Adult book, it affected me in a very positive way. It made me think! I highly recommend it.

[PB · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be honest, I was a little bemused about a cultural anthropologist writing satirically against her own profession - cultural anthropologists usually come out of the classroom with many pre-conceived ideas and notions about the people they are "studying". Not only does it set up hierarchical ideas and notions about various communities, but cultural anthropologists DO often have heavy impacts on the communities they are writing about. Because of the racist foundations of anthropology itself, many anthropologists still do feed into many orientalist and colonialist ideas about various native, indigenous or otherwise non-Anglo communities.

The story itself was a little lacking. The narrator was Isabo, yet no real plot line about her or her community really existed. The entire plot was about the American anthropologists. The book was good in the sense that it mocked anthropologist and various Orientalist ways of thinking, but I don't think the story should have simply stopped there. We did go over soldiers coming to forcibly recruit indigenous men, and about the idiotics that Christian missionaries like to enforce on indigenous communities, but other than that, the book had no real substance. I suppose it is a good read for young adults if you want them to understand that a Euro-centric world is NOT the only way, and NOT the perfect way, and to shake up some preconceived ideas about indigenous communities ("they are patriarchal and savage") but other than that, I would have liked to see more substance in the book.

For her first attempt at fiction, I think it was a good one. It was an easy and quick read.

[lucem · Rating 5 out of 5]

CIP: Alicia, a young tribeswoman living in a village in the Amazonian jungle of Peru, tells about the two American women anthropologists who arrive to study her people’s way of life.

This quick read chapter book would be great for anyone interested in traveling, studying abroad and learning about other cultures! Easy reading level and enjoyable storyline put it at a 5th-8th grade read, but I think up through high school would enjoy it. It won numerous awards including ALA's best read for the college bound.

Reviewed in Booklist (Nov 15, 2000) and Publishers Weekly (Aug 9, 1999).


BELOW HERE IS AN ANNOTATION NOT FOR LIS 565 CLASS!!
Abelove, Joan. Go and Come Back. New York: DK, 1998. 176 pgs. ****

(annotated for parents)

Are you helping to prepare your son or daughter for college? How about a quick read before they leave home? Librarians highly recommend Go and Come Back by Joan Abelove for the college bound. It is well suited for young adults heading off to another part of the country or even to study abroad. In this novel, two young white women from New York travel to the Peruvian jungle to live in a village and study the culture. It is told from the point of view of Peruvian natives who comment on the “bad manners” that the women have. In actuality, the women are living as Americans would, but according to Peruvian culture they are offending others. Even well traveled folks will take something away from this book.

[Mayra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a peruvian girl, who is indigenous.When to old ladies come to her village she is not surprised by them.She thinks they are to skinny and need to get fat.their customs are so different then ours.Being fat is good and shows health, being skinny is ugly because it shows how week you are. Being fat gives you a greater possibility to marry someone of status.Then the old ladies decide to stay and learn about their culture.Everything these women do is strange to her.They call work, sitting and asking dumb questions.When the girl is giving a baby to take care.She takes care of the baby and observes the women. She learnes that they are so abnormal.When the old ladies go she thinks they won't come back yet they do and they supply the village with medicine and other objects.She learnes about the womens life in new york and thinks it's weird how they live.They exchange information and learn they are differnt in some ways but have some similarities.The seasons come and go and tradegy awaits.Yet this girl learns about life outside her village and learns to love the two old ladies that observe her and her village and call it work.

[Audra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Borrowed this from Emily, with Carie's inscription in the front that reads: "This was the book Gail Carson Levine recommended. You can read it first. Love, Carie" (sorry, Carie, I think I read it first... probably it goes back to emily now or soon will find its way back to you!)

What's neat about this is that Abelove has a doctorate in cultural anthropology, so it has this nice undercurrent that explores the ethical and cultural dilemmas of anthropology, as well as how differences are constructed and overcome. Would be neat with middle schoolers coming to think of themselves as students of world cultures. The shift in perspective is nice too - the narrator describes the cultural oddities of to old white women who run around the village, not working, and writing in their notebooks all the time. I'm curious what Abelove did after this one (dated 1998).

[Elysha · Rating 5 out of 5]

After living two years in a Peruvian village "with people much like those portrayed in this book," with another anthropologist, Margarita, Joan Abelove wrote this book from the perspective of an adolescent village girl, Alicia. There is a compelling immediacy inherent in this way of presenting of an anthropological project. The knowledge that the narrator takes for granted is the culture of the village, and it is the anthropologists' culture that is portrayed as often incomprehensible. Although only in their twenties, they are called "old women," and often they behave in ways that are considered stingy and stupid. The book includes an account of how the Margarita's life is saved by nonwestern, shamanistic medicine. I appreciated how this kind of story-telling vehicle could handle the obstacles that typically surround the communication of anthropological insights. And it's a great story.

[H · Rating 3 out of 5]

If a reader wants to peek into the lives of a world they do not know, like a village in the Peruvian jungle, this book fits the bill. Told from the perspective of a young girl from the village, Alicia recounts the visit to her village by two female anthropologists. Worlds, customs, and beliefs that are vastly different and confusing for all involved unfold as the "old ladies" learn to adapt to the village as they study it. It was not what I expected and left me feeling a little flat. That being said I appreciate the author's looking at the culture clash of women set in the Peruvian jungle backdrop.

[Joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Told from the perspective of a young indigenous woman observing the American anthropologists who come to study her village, this book does a nice job of revealing cultural difference without judgement. The story is compelling, too!

Lexile: 620

[Susan Chapek]

Brilliant.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for Popsugar: A book with antonyms in the title

Gail Carson Levine recommended this book and I'm pretty sure that's how it ended up on my TBR. It's a quick read, and definitely one that challenges your assumptions. The author spent 2 years living in the Amazon with people similar to our narrator. It was really interesting to read from her perspective, and to see our anthropologists learn to adapt to the local way of doing things.

[Devanne Goodall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started off really great but took me a lil loner to finish, still a quick read at less than 200 pages. Was about a remote village in the Amazon and two foreigners who visit and live amongst them for awhile. Learning about their customs and seeing the differences among their way of life was great. They did everything different, eat, sleep, dress, fuck, marry, die. Good read.

[Ariana · Rating 3 out of 5]

so I read this one 10 years ago. And I remembered it being good. Searched for it everywhere. But when I reread it, idk it just isn't what I remembered. I don't understand why the ladies never just said we don't share like that in our country. And why exactly did the baby die??

[Classy Cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

simple and fun!

[Mile Brzović · Rating 1 out of 5]

i hate this book so much

[AS · Rating 4 out of 5]

-This book takes place in Peru and is one of the books representing South America for my list "Seven Continents of Books 2021"-

This was suggested to me by a fellow Goodreads member when I asked for recommendations : )

This was a quick read, definitely thought-provoking. It’s told from the point of view of an indigenous person being observed by anthropologists, which I thought made it very impactful. It made me wonder about the real-life situations it was based on. I'd love to know more about the author's own experience.
This is a book that I have thought back to often since I read it, and I would definitely recommend it.

One big pet peeve, though- after about the first couple of chapters, I wanted to scream every time I saw the word "stingy" (which was, no exaggeration, about twice on EVERY SINGLE PAGE!!) Also, as others have noted, it's kind of unclear who the intended audience is, since the reading level is about junior high, but with the constant sex talk, I would say it's better suited for high school or older.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

One day two old white ladies from NY show up in Alicia's village in the Amazon jungle. They are there to study the villagers' way of life: their agriculture and babies. Alicia and the villagers think these ladies are selfish, stupid, rude and funny, but after Alicia saves and adopts a baby girl whose father doesn't want her and threatens to kill her, she begins to get to know the American ladies a bit better. This book illustrates the unconscious biases that enter into our judgements about other people before we have taken the time to get to know them or to try to understand them. There are misjudgements on both sides in this story, but the tone is humorous and compassionate rather than preachy. This would be a good multicultural discussion book.

[KelliK · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt a bit like I was reading a report on culture. If that's the purpose of the novel, it's okay. It just wasn't a very exciting story for me, and it took a little while to get into. It definitely makes me more curious about the native people in South America, but I'm not sure this novel was the way to portray that information.

Alicia's character was pretty well portrayed because she was the narrator. I enjoyed hearing about her mother, even to the point of wanting to meet her. I am very curious about the names used, because they sound very European. Perhaps it was more of an artistic license.

It talks much about sex and the different viewpoints from different cultures. Interesting, but not for the youngest of eyes.
No other language or violence.

[Jon-michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

so i finished this book yesterday and I cried near the end of the book....It was sad how Cami died and it also got to me how hard she tried to keep Cami alive and all the fun times they went through.....but in all the cook was about a native girl from a village called Ibo....Their are two white old ladies, 'Johanna and Margarita', and they travel to their little native group. They end up learning alot form these people and lets just say that things didn't really go as planed when they first got their....the Ibo people consider them as stingy people lol....



It was a fast read and i think many will like it....I would say more but i don't really want to ruin the book for many...

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was written at one of the lowest reading levels acceptable for a young adult book. This made it a very quick read, but to me, the only worthwhile thing in this book was the view into the culture of the natives. I can't even decide if this was a good thing, since none of the characters were likable, and though I learned a lot about this village in South America, I did NOT understand it. There was little explanation of their motives, personal feelings, etc. Very on-the-surface in a weird way. This book inspired me to learn more about these people than it itself offered.

It wasn't terrible, but I don't understand why the author wrote it at all.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fascinating young adult novel about another culture--the Peruvian Isabo tribe. It is narrated by a young teenage girl who is a member of the Isabo tribe. Her village is visited one day by two white women anthropologists who have come to study the culture of the Isabos. The book has wonderful stories about the collision between Isabo culture and Western culture. It is an eye-opener to realize how much our culture informs our worldview and how arrogant it is to assume that we (Westerners) have all the answers.