By Moritz Thomsen; Paperback 344 pages, Vintage Books USA; Reprint edition (July 1, 1989), ASIN: 039475994X

Reviewed by Brad Newsham

Fifteen years ago I came upon "The Farm on the River of Emeralds" by Moritz Thomsen. As far as I know, Thomsen wrote five books (I've read three) before he died in the late 1990s. Paul Theroux said the best book he ever read on the Peace Corps experience was Thomsen's "Living Poor". I too liked "Living Poor", but I consider "Farm" to be one of the best books I've ever read period, and if I've read a better travel book I can't recall it just now.

"Farm" chronicles Thomsen's four years immediately following his Peace Corps stint, when he tried, in partnership with an impoverished Ecuadorian Thomsen had befriended during his four years in the Peace Corps, to tame a large patch of Ecuadorian jungle. Parts of the book took my breath away, parts broke my heart, parts enraged me, and overall I came away with a towering respect for this man (before joining the Peace Corps Thomsen was a bomber pilot in World War II and flew, if memory serves me, something like 50 missions over Germany).

Reading "Farm" taught me things about the power of blending dialogue, place, characters, philosophy, and plot and how just about any story, well-told, can be fascinating. I had a postal correspondence with Thomsen during the early 90s, and often felt like I was dreaming when his aerograms from Ecuador showed up in my mailbox. He often groused, like all writers, about how little money he made from his writing and he'd be pleased, I'm sure, to see that used copies of "Farm" (several years out of print) sell for $30 and up on Amazon.

But I’m also a bit chagrined, as I loaned my one copy to someone years ago and never got it back. If you read "Farm" and don’t like it, please send it to me. I’ll give you ten bucks (hey, I'm an impoverished writer!), no matter its condition. And I promise not to sell it on Amazon