An extraordinarily honest, swiftly paced, powerful book, filled with sharp observations on the realities of life in this sad corner of Zambia and the awkward, and at times bitterly hilarious, failure of East and West (or West and South) to understand each other… Mr. Swiller is a fine writer, terse and funny, at once reserved and revealing.”—Los Angeles Times
“Josh Swiller rewrites the familiar African narrative with a purity that makes the tragic beauty of that devastated continent a stunning novelty for readers.”—The New York Observer
“[Swiller's] appealing, intelligent narrative serves both as a coming of age story and as a penetrating light into one corner of a tormented continent.”—Washington Post
“I thought I knew about the Peace Corps until I read Josh Swiller’s hilarious, troubling, and at times frightening recreation of his time in Zambia. His wit spares no one—least of all himself—and his generosity of spirit encompasses nearly everyone. His experiences in Africa transformed him, and this book will transform readers.”—Laurence Bergreen, author of Over the Edge of the World: Magellan’s Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe
“I was riveted by this book from page one. Swiller shouldn’t have lived to tell this tale, much less been sent to a village in deepest Africa that the locals called ‘Gomorrah.’ But he did, and he’s returned with something priceless: a story suffused with humor and love about a place where corruption and death were regular visitors. Swiller hears the rhythms of language and life far better than most people with two normal ears.”—Michael Chorost, author of Rebuilt: How Becoming Part Computer Made Me More Human
“As my mother used to say, ‘You got your listening ears on, bub?’ This is not gimp chic, nor misery memoir, but a book as deserving, funny and brave as a deaf man digging wells in hardest Africa. Hoo boy. And I thought being blind at the bus depot was harrowing. Yeesh.”—Ryan Knighton, author of Cockeyed: A Memoir
“Swiller’s deafness is a good backstory, and compelling, but it’s not the heart of “The Unheard.” What makes it great is Swiller’s spare writing, his raw honesty and his embrace of all the pain and generosity and laughter and loss he found in his time under the surface of a small corner of Zambia.”—Frank Bures, Worldhum.com
“This is a wonderfully written, often frightening, story of one Volunteer’s service in Zambia. Not many in the RPCV community will have experienced anything like it — how many have seen a man deliberately dragged to his death? This is not a recruiting manual for the Peace Corps; but it is beautifully told with appeal to a wide audience.”—Don Beil, PeaceCorpsWriters.org
“The subject of deafness is not the reason to read this first-class memoir of two years with the Peace Corps in Zambia, a place with unsettling echoes of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.”—Henry Kisor, HenryKisor.com
