Only A Book Apart discussion

Melis and I decided to announce a book every other month so that everyone has time to find and read and discuss!
Our upcoming book for January & February 2017 is Three Cups of Tea :D Read the "why' and lets get talking!

I think obviously overall it’s commendable that Greg was able to accomplish everything he has and also stay so persistent on the same project when he thought all hope was gone. There is certainly many more people aware of the development that can be done abroad, and the capacity people have to enact change among themselves for the better when they are empowered and are given some of the means of resources to build their sustainable future. I think from this you can also see such a powerful change come about with promoting gender equality and empowering girls to achieve their full potential.

For the sake of critical development I look at this novel more in depth and see the different factors that go into the development gap and also maybe even the reason for success. To start, the way this is presented is very much a single man’s journey- his hardships and his triumphs. He’s presented as someone who surmounted incredible feats, and granted, yes that is true. He put himself through college by enlisting in the military; he never had to kill anyway, but maybe the conversation should include the soldiers who had to shoot someone jumping the wall. It should include those who can’t put themselves through university. Those who can’t afford medical care either. Being a trauma nurse allowed him enough money to get to K2 when some will never live out their dreams of travelling. But like, yes, amazing job trying to get to the summit, and his love for his family is undying.
When he returns with promises to raise money to build a school… it becomes yet again another single man’s journey and story.
Has to sleep in a hallway? Cool, let’s talk about the homeless population all over the world; the unemployed, the over-worked.
where did the money come from in the end? A single donor, which is a testament to the faith we should put into ‘unrealistic’ sounding plans- but in the end, if people don’t think you’re losing it when you tell them your dreams, you’re not aiming high enough, am I right? Positionality wise too at that point, it probably helped that he was a physically fit (as it keeps mentioning), educated, white male. This could have been a very different story if that weren’t the case…
And who donates the money for the bridge? Same man; again, thankfully he did. It’s interesting the way that Greg’s marriage is portrayed as well; he was her hero, she let him be gone for months at a time- it would be interesting to hear about how she coped with two children at home while working full time.
And in the case of the village- he was a well respected man, he kept his promises and is bringing about change in a community that means a lot to him. That part when his wife is disrespected, it passes off as violence is justified in this case, but he came up again as a hero despite the man eventually being ostracized. Kind of ironic considering Greg’s wife is a psychologist.

With the rise of the Taliban and everything that entailed, the rights of girls was at stake, and so for Greg to keep fighting for that is an inspiration to readers because it shows us that fighting any obstacle shouldn’t put us down; but that together, we are able to accomplish so much more.