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Into The Heart: One Man's Pursuit of Love and Knowledge Among the Yanomami
Anthropologist Kenneth Good went to the rain forests of the Amazon to study the Yanomami. He found more than one of the few remaining peoples untouched by modern "civilization." During more than a decade of observation, Good found himself accepted, indeed virtually adopted, by the tribe and eventually fell in love with a young Yanomami woman. In the process, he made exciting new discoveries about the tribal people and about himself. Into the Heart is the fascinating story of his journey of discovery.
296 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
July 31, 2013
My choice of books depends on my state of mind at that particular moment in time. I'm sure that it's the same for everyone but amongst my many fascinations with different genre, the one that will always appeal to me is travel, and especially books about people who go to outlandish places. And one of those outlandish places is the Amazon jungle.
And here we have Kenneth Good, the author, an American anthropologist who is internationally recognized as an expert on the Yanomama Indians, who went to the jungle initially for fifteen months and was still there fifteen years later. Now it's patently obvious to everyone reading this book that there was obviously something of great interest there to account for this somewhat rather long sejour.
Yes, going by the title, it was initially for knowledge but then in the end it was down to that basic primeval instinct "love". Now is it "love" or is it purely "lust"?
This is one of those fascinating books that I look at from time to time. Here we have the Yanomama, a primitive culture "who have no written language, no system of numbers, and have not yet invented the wheel - and the modern world of planes, cars and electricity."
And yet this man gradually watches a girl growing up and when she reaches puberty, she is, of course, available to everyone who wants her. This is a man, who falls in love with this girl, Yarima, asks her to marry him and then is called back to the United States for a short period of time to take care of other pressing business. So what happens with Yarima in his absence. Well...
Regardless of all this, the author overcomes all the problems in having a relationship with Yarima and then takes her back to the States with him.
There is one incident in a hotel in Florida when Yarima is running around naked in the corridor much to the bemusement of the staff and guests.
The couple then get married and they have two children. Now what do you think could possibly happen?
This is an amazing book and I'm rather pleased that I came across it again this morning, while dusting the shelves and the books.
Does love always prevail?
And here we have Kenneth Good, the author, an American anthropologist who is internationally recognized as an expert on the Yanomama Indians, who went to the jungle initially for fifteen months and was still there fifteen years later. Now it's patently obvious to everyone reading this book that there was obviously something of great interest there to account for this somewhat rather long sejour.
Yes, going by the title, it was initially for knowledge but then in the end it was down to that basic primeval instinct "love". Now is it "love" or is it purely "lust"?
This is one of those fascinating books that I look at from time to time. Here we have the Yanomama, a primitive culture "who have no written language, no system of numbers, and have not yet invented the wheel - and the modern world of planes, cars and electricity."
And yet this man gradually watches a girl growing up and when she reaches puberty, she is, of course, available to everyone who wants her. This is a man, who falls in love with this girl, Yarima, asks her to marry him and then is called back to the United States for a short period of time to take care of other pressing business. So what happens with Yarima in his absence. Well...
Regardless of all this, the author overcomes all the problems in having a relationship with Yarima and then takes her back to the States with him.
There is one incident in a hotel in Florida when Yarima is running around naked in the corridor much to the bemusement of the staff and guests.
The couple then get married and they have two children. Now what do you think could possibly happen?
This is an amazing book and I'm rather pleased that I came across it again this morning, while dusting the shelves and the books.
Does love always prevail?
October 7, 2011
Rarely have I disliked a book or author as much. Into the Heart would be better titled Out of the Ego. It's the tale of an incredibly arrogant white man who goes to the Amazon to study the Yanomami (spelled Yanomama in the edition I read). This Humbert-of-the-Jungle becomes fixated on a particular female child and proceeds to claim her as a "wife."
The book that results is a sickening, infuriating combination of Lolita and the worst aspects of Three Cups of Tea. The book is a long, tedious recounting of the narrator's many trips up and down the Amazon and the many ways he asserts his ownership of the unfortunate child Yarima.
"Author" Kenneth Good (who, despite his academic credentials required co-writer David Chanoff) paints himself at every turn as the hapless victim of other people's incompetence. Never is anything his fault or responsibility, even though his actions directly cause his wife/rape victim to be repeatedly abandoned, gang raped, left alone to fend for herself in the jungle, separated from her closest family and ultimately, transplanted to alien cultures.
If you want insight into the Yanomami, I don't know that I'd trust this author to provide it. If you want insight into white privilege, patriarchy, and complete self-involvement, then this is the book for you.
Postscript: After hearing more about this book and author at a book discussion group and learning a bit more from snippets of the documentary Secrets of the Tribe, I'm even more repulsed by the attitude of this author.
The book that results is a sickening, infuriating combination of Lolita and the worst aspects of Three Cups of Tea. The book is a long, tedious recounting of the narrator's many trips up and down the Amazon and the many ways he asserts his ownership of the unfortunate child Yarima.
"Author" Kenneth Good (who, despite his academic credentials required co-writer David Chanoff) paints himself at every turn as the hapless victim of other people's incompetence. Never is anything his fault or responsibility, even though his actions directly cause his wife/rape victim to be repeatedly abandoned, gang raped, left alone to fend for herself in the jungle, separated from her closest family and ultimately, transplanted to alien cultures.
If you want insight into the Yanomami, I don't know that I'd trust this author to provide it. If you want insight into white privilege, patriarchy, and complete self-involvement, then this is the book for you.
Postscript: After hearing more about this book and author at a book discussion group and learning a bit more from snippets of the documentary Secrets of the Tribe, I'm even more repulsed by the attitude of this author.
January 18, 2010
This book offers a thrilling narrative, a hard challenge to any western heart, and fascinating data to boot.
The author is both hard to like and easy to understand. His descriptions of the Yanomama show us a thoughtful and compassionate man. His descriptions of academia and his attempts to make a living as an anthropologist are easy to sympathize with, too, even though they reveal his angry side. I became completely involved in his struggle to get out, then to get back in, then to get back out. At no point did his decision making seem ridiculous even though I could see how it did to everyone else. It was easy to see how he could be split in half by the need for both modern malaria treatments and the people who have become family in a deeper sense than Americans understand the word. I will chalk this up to his being such an excellent writer and ignore the possibility that I am a sucker for articulate weirdos. This personal narrative had a more excitingly graphed plot than most of the novels I read last year.
It's when he describes falling in love the Yanomama way that we begin to have to work hard to figure out what to think about this guy. Reading through his story and reaching a conclusion about what he did was the most enjoyable and exciting sticky ethical dilemma I never had to live through.
The author is both hard to like and easy to understand. His descriptions of the Yanomama show us a thoughtful and compassionate man. His descriptions of academia and his attempts to make a living as an anthropologist are easy to sympathize with, too, even though they reveal his angry side. I became completely involved in his struggle to get out, then to get back in, then to get back out. At no point did his decision making seem ridiculous even though I could see how it did to everyone else. It was easy to see how he could be split in half by the need for both modern malaria treatments and the people who have become family in a deeper sense than Americans understand the word. I will chalk this up to his being such an excellent writer and ignore the possibility that I am a sucker for articulate weirdos. This personal narrative had a more excitingly graphed plot than most of the novels I read last year.
It's when he describes falling in love the Yanomama way that we begin to have to work hard to figure out what to think about this guy. Reading through his story and reaching a conclusion about what he did was the most enjoyable and exciting sticky ethical dilemma I never had to live through.
September 10, 2016
Okay, so maybe it's not quite fair to give this book two stars. It is informative and rather interesting. Good revises the Napoleon Chagnon theory of the Yanomamo as a primarily aggressive tribe. I could not help developing strong negative feelings towards the author. He lives among the Yanomamo, but not with or as one of them. He gets himself a frightfully young bride, and the first gift he gives her before they are married is a Tshirt(she is previously topless). He leaves her alone once they are married, knowing that this will elad to her rape by male villagers (which it does). Upon his return, he he moves her from the jungle back to America in a city in Florida. I believe the ethical problems here are vast and his actions inexcusable. He fancies he has composed a love story. To me it is a story of exploitation.
February 23, 2020
I picked up this book to add to my research about the Amazon and learn about the natives of the Venezuelan Amazon basin. Instead, I came away with a tale of a college research assistant who was offered a 12 year old Yanomama girl as a bride. At any time he could have declined, could have shown them he wasn't interested. Instead, he encouraged the relationship.
Basically, the story is him scheming, planning and working around getting himself a bride.
Basically, the story is him scheming, planning and working around getting himself a bride.
September 15, 2013
A complex, at times riveting, at times difficult, at times disturbing story of an anthropologist who fell in love with and married a member of the tribe he studied. Not just any tribe. This is the Yanomama, one of the most written about and controversial isolated nomadic cultures in the world. Kenneth Good started out as a student of Napoleon Chagnon, who made the Yanomama the world's best known non-Western people. Chagnon describes them as The Fierce People, and he's still at it, having just last year published Noble Savages. He thinks he's proven that violence is genetic, inborn, that the Yanomama are warlike because they're untamed, uncivilized whatever that's supposed to mean, and that they spend their lives fighting over women. Good believes they're an essentially peaceful, harmonious people with much to tell us of what it means to be human. Their incessant squabbling and splitting off into separate small communities relates to scarcity of food, more specifically protein. Good might therefore follow the line of Jared Dimond. Into the Heart, however, is not really an anthropological treatise. It's a love story, a kind of adventure-romance. Most of the book is about Good's meeting, courting, falling in love with, and eventually marrying Yarima, a tough-minded Yanomama woman with a sense of humor and an uncanny ability to cut through pompous cant. This should be heartwarming, and in some ways it is. What makes it a bit problematic is that Good met Yarima when she was a young child, eight or nine years old. He first related to her in a kind of benevolent avuncular way, then began seeing her as a romantic partner when she was around the age of thirteen, though there are hints he saw her this way from the beginning. Good is perhaps 25 years older than Yarima. Nothing wrong with that, but even as a member of a wildly different culture she was a child when their relationship began. Did he take advantage of her? Is there something a bit creepy about the whole thing? What are we to think of this graduate student who departed so decisively from Western cultural norms? Into the Heart doesn't answer these questions, but it does raise them, which makes it a lot more than a poignant love story. In addition to the scenes with Yarima, which are many, there are a lot of descriptions of getting through the Amazon jungle by boat and on foot which give Into the Heart an old fashioned nineteenth century "explorer" quality. And Good's descriptions of Venezuelan bureaucracy would be hilarious if it hadn't made his life outside the Amazon valley such a living hell. A tantalizing fact about Into the Heart is that it begs for a sequel. After a few years living in the States, Yarima went back to live with her people. Ken stayed in New Jersey. In 2011, their son David went to Hasupuweteri (Yarima's village) to search for his mother, now in her mid-forties. He found her. She offered him two wives. He politely declined. She talked to Ken on Skype. Said he looked old and bald. So the story goes on. Maybe David Good will write the next installment.
August 1, 2014
I had such high hopes for this book. Most of the books that I read are non- fiction, and as a child for a short time I had aspirations of becoming an archeologist , so reading a book by an anthropologist seemed perfect for me. It started out well and I found his experiences with the Yanomami in Amazon fascinating, but then the book took a turn. He became "betrothed" to a Yamomani girl when she was only about 10 years old and he was in his thirties. He rationalized that this was a way to become more a part of the group and accepted as one of them. But as they spent more time together, he felt they had a special "bond". When he had to leave the jungle for a time, he couldn't stop thinking about her ( remember she is still a child and he is an adult) and when he is able to return at a time after she has reached puberty (14 or so) they become man and wife and start living together. I cannot find the words to describe how much this creeped me out! This may be acceptable in the Yamomani culture, but than so is murder and rape! He, no matter how much he wanted to be, was not a Yanomami but an American and having sex with a child is unacceptable! She was given to him as a bride, having no choice in the matter and accepted it. They did end up having three kids together and she came to the U.S. with him, but later ( after the conclusion of the book) missed her people and home too much and went back. (without him or the children) There are other ways in the narrative that he comes across as a self- absorbed jerk as well and I just had to put the book down before I threw up.
July 3, 2011
Although this is an exciting and easy read, with a lot to learn about the Yanomama, I couldn't help but have an icky feeling the whole time I was reading it. While the author seems generally good and honest, it's hard to get over his manner of infiltration into the society, particularly his marrying of a young girl. Anyhow, if you can get past the urge to analyze whether this guy is a creep, it's an interesting read.
February 16, 2015
Loved it and would love to see an update published.
January 28, 2024
This book is soooo messed up. The author abuses his position as an anthropologist to insert himself into a Native Amazonian tribe. He then takes a 12 year old girl as his betrothed “wife” and soon gets her pregnant. He writes the book as a love story but it’s clear that he is exploiting the tribe and this girl. I understand that the culture is extremely different, but perhaps that is why anthropologists are to strictly be observers and not get involved. He gets involved and completely fucks up this girls way of life. It was also evident that he had ill-intentions because he had zero problem with taking the girl as his “wife” despite the age difference. He is close to 40 and she is 15 when he takes her from her village to live with him and start a family in America. She is already pregnant by the time they get on the plane. How did this guy get away with this I have no idea. He didn’t even do the bare minimum of anthropology. People like him are supposed to protect the culture/knowledge of the tribe, not ruin it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 21, 2023
This book will definitely stir a lot of emotions inside of you. If you believe that a child of uncertain age; but that just has had her menses, is ready for marriage and sex with a 36yo so-called white anthropologist, then you’ll be left perfectly unperturbed by this book. If you’re like 99% of the world this book will leave you gutted. You’ll wonder how such an apology of child rape has slipped through the cracks in a society that is so aware of ethics and morale matters. Throughout the book you’ll kind of get very early that the writer is a bit unique, when after a life in academia, he entertains joining a business offering tours connecting un-contacted people to rich people. Good’s sense of professional ethic will be though shook when a colleague films Amazon dwellers, that’s crossing a line. I have come to guess what the author’s motto is: - What happens in the Hasupuweteri, stays in the Hasupuweteri. -.
October 12, 2021
Worth a read, especially for anyone who likes anthropology. I commend and thank Good for his work and outspoken stance on discrediting the narrative that the Yanomami are 'Fierce people' with a violent society. I am grateful that Good has shared such an intimate and personal account of his life, it is a brave thing to do. I hope that readers can learn of or be reminded of important lessons that we can take from examining the lives of traditional peoples.
May 29, 2019
Absorbing account though guy comes off as creepy at times. Felt uncomfortable with Good taking of child bride—seems to breach any sense of anthropological ethics
August 25, 2019
Fascinating, controversial, so so interesting! I read it in a Latin American History class in college and picked up again. So good!!
February 13, 2017
Recently I met David Good at an author event and was fascinated by his story and charmed by his warmth and generosity of spirit. He is the first child of this author, the anthropologist Kenneth Good, and the aboriginal woman he took "Into the Heart". Unfortunately I felt more and more as the book proceeded that the author was building a case to prove they loved each other, against the acceptance of his profession and the politicians who grant him permission to be in the Venezuelan rain forest. The more he pushed toward that goal, the more distasteful I found him. First, she was a pre-pubescent child when she was offered to the 30+ year old Good as he explains that this is the norm in Yanomami culture. Then he has to leave to find more grants to come back. When he returns, they "fall in love", but he has to leave again, knowing she will be raped and abused with no husband there. After his book was published, after he brought her to the US where this naked hunter-gatherer spoke no English, after a short trip back to her tribe where their second child was born, then back to the US for 4 years, he finally brings her back to her tribe for a 5 day visit with a film crew. And that is the end of their relationship.
It is a fascinating view into a primitive tribe that not many people have the opportunity to know. I found the story fascinating, but uncomfortable.
It is a fascinating view into a primitive tribe that not many people have the opportunity to know. I found the story fascinating, but uncomfortable.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 15, 2019
I had conflicting feelings about this book while reading it. Kenneth Good has made some impressive anthropological theories which have changed the predominantly 'aggressive' view of the Yanomamo. This anthropological view of the book is, to me, thrilling and interesting.
Then we get to the 'love' part of the book, where ethical problems and exploitation come into play. Good fancies himself a nearly-pubescent bride, who he leaves alone in the rainforest, well-knowing she would be raped if he left (which coincidentally happened). It is near the end of the book Good's intentions for this book are shown: he was under fire upon returning with his young bride to Caracas and decided to show the world his story. This caused me to revise the entire story written with a more critical look. This story thus ends on the note that it's nothing more than a means to 'clear his name' and make money at the same time.
This could've been a great story, had it not been for these ethical problems I had with the book.
Then we get to the 'love' part of the book, where ethical problems and exploitation come into play. Good fancies himself a nearly-pubescent bride, who he leaves alone in the rainforest, well-knowing she would be raped if he left (which coincidentally happened). It is near the end of the book Good's intentions for this book are shown: he was under fire upon returning with his young bride to Caracas and decided to show the world his story. This caused me to revise the entire story written with a more critical look. This story thus ends on the note that it's nothing more than a means to 'clear his name' and make money at the same time.
This could've been a great story, had it not been for these ethical problems I had with the book.
January 12, 2011
This is a captivating book. It is about the isolated (or used to be) Yanomami tribes in the middle of the Amazon jungle. Although it is filled with lots of information about how they were reached and their culture, what it really becomes is an action packed love story! What started as an expedition for anthropology research quickly became more than that for the author. After reading the book, published in 1996, I was propelled to scour the internet for current information in an attempt to make myself a sequel to the book ...and there IS continuing saga! From there I had to start another book on the Yanomami people, "Darkness in El Dorado", which is more about how studying them really has caused their near extinction.
July 23, 2012
I would like to give this book a higher rating, because it couldn't put it down. I read numerous books about native life in Amazonia, and this one was captivating. However, like Laura, I had an ongoing icky feeling as I read on. I just could not respect the author for letting himself get into a situation that created such a difficult life for the young woman he married. I actually heard him interviewed on a local radio station (San Francisco) shortly after I finished the book which had just come out. Here he was traipsing his wife along with him all over this country to promote his book. Many times in the past 20 years I wonder what had become of them and their children. Hard to imagine that it is Good.
February 24, 2016
Very well written without the judgements that make accounts of that sort iffy. Good describes a merciless culture where women are really raped just like that, but where also the other side, the caring and loving elements exist. The told time span is about 12 years and it doesn't go into how they lived in Pennsylvania and Florida, nor does he tell about how the marriage broke up, eventually. It is an account that leaves one wondering instead of judging - very well done indeed.
March 11, 2008
Another anthropological surprise! I read this after reading an ethnography on the Yanomama by Napoleon Chagnon that painted a picture of them as a fierce, warrior-like people. This book turns that notion on its ear and tells the story of how one man found true love among the "fierce people." I love this book and have re-read it a few times. I am NOT a re-reader by nature.
January 28, 2010
I liked this book very much. It was, for me, a not too complicated story about a scientist, doing research in the rain forest of Venezuela and falling in love with an indian woman.
A good read. Recommended for those who like rain forest, indians and a little romance :-)
A good read. Recommended for those who like rain forest, indians and a little romance :-)
March 12, 2016
Ok. I remember being appalled that the author actually started a relationship with and ended up marrying a young Yanomami girl. Kind of big no no's, if your an anthropologist. Still, the story was fascinating and a great exposure to Yanomami culture.
Read
January 3, 2008I really enjoyed this book, I like learning of other lifestyles, countries, etc. Haven't finished it yet, but almost.
July 9, 2008
A wonderful and intimate look into the Yanomama of the Amazon. This guy didn't just live with them he also married one.
August 7, 2009
Everyone should read this at some tiime
April 17, 2013
Phenomenal memoir of an anthropologist who lived among the Stone Age Yamomami and married one of them.
August 21, 2014
read it quite while ago.
December 29, 2017
How an Anthropologist can go so wrong I'll never understand.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews