Dodging Machetes: How I Survived Forbidden Love, Bad Behavior, and the Peace Corps in Fiji

Although I was born a few years after the events in this book took place and had no side-benefit of reliving a piece of my own storied past as some readers undoubtably thoroughly enjoyed, I had a fantastic time along for the ride in this unique and adventurous book. Dodging Machetes is a personal account of the untrodden path in so many ways, and all of them told with the highest degree of wit (the best when of the self-deprecating kind) and a velocity that only true adventurers pushing the edge of their comfort zones can convey: Mr. Lutwick was among the first Peace Corps volunteers in Fiji long before today's touristy version was packaged up for those in my generation to consume, and he was the first to buck all common sense of self-preservation to pursue a then unheard-of Judeo-Hindu love affair. His skilled writing takes you on such a fun and interesting journey that reminded me of a strange but wonderful cross between Dave Eggars and Woody Allen (tho Lutwick is much taller). I learned a lot from this book about a very unique time and place, and it made me appreciate how far we've come as a society especially on inter-racial/religious/culture relationships in large part due to the bravery of folks like Mr. Lutwick. A great and fun read. Recommend it to anyone!

I don't usually finish books I start. BUT, I just finished reading Dodging Machetes! The book takes you on an unexpected adventure with various twists and turns, ups and downs. Toward the end I could not put the book down and was asking myself if this is for real? Will does a great job of sharing pieces of his childhood while focusing on his crazy adventure in Fiji. I felt as though I was able to connect with the characters, laugh out loud at times, and hang on for the wild ride. This was both a fun and enlightening read!

It's good. It's not great literature, but it's enjoyable and full of recognizable impressions of Fiji (I lived there for nine months 1993-4). There's real dearth of books on Fiji, and if you're looking to get some flavor of what the country was like right around its transition away from British colony to independence, along with a sense of how insular the Fijian vs. Indo-Fijian populations were, this is a very interesting, readable, likable book.

The easiest way describe Dodging Machetes is to talk about it in terms of movies: I would compare the book to romantic comedies written by men--movies like Woody Allen's Annie Hall, for example, which look at romance from a decidedly male point of view. In fact, the comparision to Annie Hall is an apt one, because not only is that movie, like Dodging Machetes, about lovers who come from very different worlds, but the story is told through a narrator with a distinctively Jewish sensibility about a unique, attractive and, to him, exotic love-object. So let us call Dodging Machetes a literary Annie Hall, set in a place as foreign to many Americans as New York City, the island of Fiji, and told about the romance he will never forget, not with a goofy Wisconsin-bred Christian girl, but rather with a willful, ethnically Indian Hindu. The memoir, narrated in the present by a witty, now-accomplished adult, looks back at his younger self, when his social maturity and world-wisdom were not yet equal to his book-smarts. Perhaps because he lost both of his parents as a young boy or perhaps because he was a misfit Jewish kid living in a part of the South with few Members of his Tribe, Lutwick needed extra time to mature and become socialized before entering the business and administrative world. Rather than becoming a man by sacrificing his life for his country in Vietnam, Lutwick joined the Peace Corps and was assigned to a tiny Pacific island country, Fiji. Rani Gupta, the star of this movie, I mean the book, is a member of the country's ethnic Indian population, that was originally brought by the British to this former colony to work plantations for the Empire. Indeed, if Annie Hall is the star of the movie Annie Hall, because of her quirky, fun personality and her one-of-a-kind style, then Rani Gupta is the star of Dodging Machetes, because of her strong will, her admirable bravery, her recklessness, and her downright sexiness. Without apparent invention and, remarkably, through just the power of words, the narrator Lutwick does a superb job of bringing his love-object to life for the reader, making us wonder through the twists and turns of this difficult romance if she will survive the adventure, and how. Because Lutwick's narrator is prevented from reading her thoughts, the reader finds himself tantalized and, like Lutwick, attracted to this young woman. The author deserves high praise for using the narrative tools at his disposal to make us understand what drew him to this mysterious Indian girl with the boldness to wear a mini-skirt instead of a sari. Lutwick's memoir generously rewards readers who look for certain traits in a book. For readers who seek escape, Dodging Machetes offers a story set on a tropical island with a testosterone-fueled American falling for a reckless, dark-eyed beauty. For readers who love humor, Lutwick's comic narrator tells his story with wit and dramatizes a great number of hilarious scenes that illustrate the silliness of a bright but socially immature man who has not yet mastered human relations. For readers who like to learn, Lutwick explains what it meant to grow up Jewish in the American South at mid-century; he gives a fascinating explanation of the history of Fiji and the makeup of its people; and he makes clear what it meant to be an able-bodied American male on the verge of being drafted during the Vietnam War. And, finally, for readers who love characters and relationships, this book offers you Will Lutwick and Rani Gupta--two likeable outcasts in a culturally unacceptable relationship that is anything but sure to succeed. I relished the time I spent with these two young people and I believe that you will also. Like me, I'm sure that you will not soon forget Dodging Machetes, the literary Annie Hall.

Peace Corps memories. Fun to read.

Will's memoir is insightful, funny and romantic. It is a well written memoir of his Peace Corps experience. He has crafted a story that reads more like a fine novel than a dateline of experiences. He provides great details of the Fiji people and culture while maintaining plot and just the right amount of humor. He makes it easy for the reader to understand the main characters and what drives them. He successfully creates suspense as well as romance. His use of dialog is well done and enhances and moves the story forward. He clearly shows time and place right to the end with the suspense filled Selective Service Board hearing to gain III-A status. Dodging Machetes takes place in the late 60's and early 70's and he portrays that era flawlessly. Will's Peace Corps experience was unique yet familiar and believable. I feel his writing is a fine representation of a Peace Corps experience in the early seventies with a wonderful story to boot. I would highly recommend Dodging Machetes.