Foreign Correspondence: A Pen Pal's Journey from Down Under to All Over

As a child growing up in a lower middle class neighborhood on a street actually called "Bland Street", she yearned for a larger world. And so she developed pen pals. There was a girl from New Jersey, another one from France, and even one from an upper class neighborhood just a few towns away. And then there were two Israeli boys, one an Arab and one a Jew. As an adult, she found these old letters in her father's basement and, now more than twenty years later, she decided to look up each of these people. What follows is the result of her quest and some wonderful insights into world events from a personal one-on-one perspective. It was fascinating.

As a teenager in the early seventies she was aware of the new consciousness developing, even reaching her in her protective Catholic school. She had an active imagination and the gift of using words well. It's not surprising that she developed pen pals and that they influenced her life so much. Her gift of words certainly reached me too. I shared her sense of wonder and enthusiasm as she looked forward to each letter. I felt her straining to break the bonds of her loving but restrictive world. I felt her hopes and dreams and frustrations. And then, later, I shared her discoveries as she searched out the people who had meant so much to her early life. She writes with a clear voice, painting a picture with details, taking me on her quest to discover the world and eventually to discover herself. The book is short, a mere 210 pages but she sure does pack a lot into it. It's a wonderful read. Highly recommended.



A wonderful book!   May 29, 2000
TexasGirl (Central Texas)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful

I, too, am an Australian now living in the USA. I found many parallels between the author and myself. As a child growing up in Sydney, I had many, many penpals from the USA and Europe - I still remember the excitement of receiving letters from places far away (In fact, two of my penpals were at my American wedding and we are still in contact 2 decades later.) The book perfectly captures the essence of growing up in Australia and the sense of isolation one feels being so far from other countries. The author made me truly miss my homeland. I highly recommend this book to anyone who would like to learn more about Australia and what makes its people tick - this book is a wonderful read.


Great one for book clubs!   August 13, 2002
B. Bauer (Kabul, Afghanistan)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful

I bought this as an "airplane read" but couldn't put it down. Geraldine Brooks has done us a great favor by not only illuminating the process of finding one's long lost penpals, but also by educating many folks about Australia in the process. It's fascinating to see her perceptions of the world, and particularly America, based on the letters that come in her mailbox each month.

While I read this one on my own, I have since leant this book to several friends and we've engaged in some interesting discussions about our own penpal experiences, so I recommend it for book clubs.


Great book   August 28, 2000
book lover (Philadelphiia, PA)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

I read this book in one day - it is beautifully, intelligently written with well developed characters and a true story that reads like fiction. It is a rare gem of literature that provides insight into the dreams of a young girl that many people can identify with - male or female. I have read a lot of books lately, but this was one of the finest books I've come across in a while.


Lots to identify with   July 18, 1998
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

I too grew up in Sydney and had many penpals, so I connected with the basic premise (by the way, one of the initial blurbs calls it 'provincial Australia - hardly! - suburban might be a better description).

Although purchasing the "Australian" edition, I found the most irritating aspect was that it obviously hadn't been re-edited for an Australian audience. The book is chock-a-block full of Americanisms, which clang and grate.

Page 1 - Australian houses don't have basements. Page 5 - we fly in aeroplanes, not airplanes Page 10 - we would never be born or live 'on' a street, it's 'in' Bland Street, and the suburban 'lots' are 'blocks' Page 17 - no Aussie would organise a 'closetful' of paperwork, more like a cypboard or wardrobe.

It goes on and on.

Cheap production and marketing, especially seeing as the Australian edition doesn't have the photos. A good reason to buy from Amazon!

Overall, I liked it. I thought her exploration was sensitive and moving! . It could have been an excrutiatingly linear account, but as in the best autobiographical work there is an examination of wider themes and connections.

Obviously written for a North American audience, so it is a bit dislocated from its puported setting by the jarring use of language.(I don't have a problem with American English per se,just that it doesn't ever sound as if its written in an Australian voice)