The Farm on the River of Emeralds,
by Moritz Thomsen, tells the story of a 53 year-old Peace Corps
volunteer
that buys and runs a farm jointly with a poor black
Ecuadorian. The book provides a vivid depiction of the rural
Ecuadorian in the 1970s and intense human insight into what it means
to be poor. Martin, the author, and Ramon, his partner, embark on a
tumultuous adventure when they decide to etch a living out of the
jungle.
The story is based around
different characters that involve themselves with the farm: the relatives of
Ramon that cling to his recent prosperity, the workers and their
struggles with life, and members of Male''s society. Ramon plays a
big role in telling the story and one can almost sense the words
coming out of his mouth as Thomsen relates different happenings, in
addition to
conversations the two have. Poverty is the most
important theme, and even Thomsen relates the poverty he drove
himself into as a pig farmer in California. Souls rot from poverty
just as the jungle eats through home and belongings.
Although the reader can wrestle
optimism from the book, Thomsen generally writes from a negative
place. There''s a hopelessness about his writing, a sense that it is
futile to intervene in the impending personal and societal disaster.
It seems to come from the heart of a writer meant to record rather
than change his surroundings.
The novel starts out slow in an attempt
to relate the history of area. There isn''t much written history on
the area. As a result, Thomsen delves to far into an abstract
concept of history. His intricate descriptions of different
personalities make up the backbone of the book. After Thomsen
introduces himself and Ramon, the first character to be described in
depth is Dalmiro. Dalmiro is sort of the town begger from Rioverde,
Ramon''s home town. The chapter describes the old man''s quest for
love. Another character Santo, is described as a lover of females,
who treats and makes each one feel like a goddess. Alejandro steals
from the farm, and Ramon hacks him up with a machete in an attempt to
get him to the police station. Victor also steals, but he is
charming, and Martin and Ramon attempt to lift him out of poverty
before they finally decide to fire him. The final chapters of the
book contain philosophical conversations between Ramon and Martin,
before Martin finally decides to leave Ramon to run the farm on his
own.
This book is perfect for the individual
intent on making change amongst an alien group of individuals.
Martin confronts the very real problems of empowering without
patronizing, and of imposing his reality on a different reality.
Martin had illusions of being a technological guru with intelligent
insights, but his years of farming in the U.S. prove useless and he
is humbled and eventually overwhelmed by Ramon. I especially like
one of the final conversations Ramon and Martin have where the two of
them delve exceptionally deep into various issues.
Ramon talks of the need to be set free
from Martin, his benefactor. Ramon says he wants to run the farm
like a business rather than a charity. They discuss how to treat
workers. They discuss the option of shooting thieves to deter them
from stealing, but the savagery of the solution and the possibility
of revenge loom over the measure. They discuss many things before
Ramon finally reflects on how he has escaped from the cage of poverty
only to observe how it is changing the people he left behind into
animals. He wonders why no one is around to help. He asks how the
world can allow this situation to continue.