Finding Myself in Borneo - by Neill McKee (Paperback)
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<p/><br></br><p><b> About the Book </b></p></br></br>Finding Myself in Borneo chronicles McKee's adventures while teaching secondary school in Sabah, Malaysia (North Borneo), 1968-70. He learns how to teach, speak Malay, and local customs. He has a love affair, makes his first documentary film, has hilarious motorcycle journeys, and begins a life-long relationship with the land and its people.<p/><br></br><p><b> Book Synopsis </b></p></br></br><p><strong>Bronze, 2020 Independent Publisher Book Award Best Regional Non-Fiction: Australia / New Zealand / Pacific Rim</strong></p><p><strong>Winner of New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards 2019 for non-regional Biography / Autobiography / Memoir</strong></p><p><strong>Winner of Readers' Favorite Awards 2019 in the travel book category</strong></p><p><em>Finding Myself in Borneo</em> is an honest and buoyant chronicle of a young Canadian man's adventures during 1968-70, while teaching secondary school as a CUSO volunteer in Sabah, Malaysia (North Borneo). Travel with Neill McKee on his unique journey through vibrant Asian cultures as he learns the craft of teaching, the Malay language and local customs, and gains many friends in his small community. He climbs the highest peak in Southeast Asia-Mount Kinabalu, has a love affair, and navigates Borneo's backwaters to make his first of many documentary films. McKee travels by freighter to Indonesia, where he discovers the scars of that country's recent genocide, a contrast to his hilarious motorcycle journeys in Sabah with his American Peace Corps buddy. They make a hallucinogenic discovery-North Borneo is, indeed, J. R. R. Tolkien's famed Middle-Earth of <em>The Lord of the Rings</em>! The enterprising duo establish the North Borneo Frodo Society, an organization Tolkien joins. </p><p>McKee's second Sabah sojourn and other return trips offer the reader the opportunity to match the early anecdotes to what in fact happened to the land and people who touched his life, and he theirs.</p><p/><br></br><p><b> Review Quotes </b></p></br></br><br><p>Neill McKee's work takes us on a true adventure. His keen observations of North Borneo re-imagine a time and place via a unique journey. McKee's writing stirs the imagination and simultaneously explains a place less traveled. His eye and ear for startling detail and understanding of political dimensions make this work a fascinating and eye-opening read. <strong>--Diane Thiel, Author and Professor, University of New Mexico: </strong><strong>www.dianethiel.net</strong></p><p>I love it. It has so many qualities that the usual memoir lacks. Neill McKee is honest about himself, not in any way self-absorbed, but he shares his opinions with attractive openness. McKee is lyrical about the countryside and I felt I was with him as he enjoyed the humorous side of life and the characters in the cramped town of Kota Belud. Nothing drags with different scenes in the short chapters in this book. It is a refreshing journey around a fascinating slice of Borneo with the best of guides. <strong>--Clyde Sanger, Author and Journalist, Ottawa, Canada</strong></p><p><em>Finding Myself in Borneo </em>brought back so many warm memories of our own experiences in the US Peace Corps in the late '60s and early '70s. Although we were posted to Liberia, West Africa, McKee's stories induced a lot of discussion about our generation and its ideals. McKee's insights into living in another culture are entertaining, perceptive and informative. We want to read more about his life experiences and are already looking forward to his next book. <strong>--</strong><strong>James and Vivian Bowman, Returned Peace Corps Volunteers, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA</strong></p><p>Neill McKee joins a rare band who dare to write about what they brought to volunteering and, realized much later in life, what they received, learned and cherish. The book takes us to the roots of his career when he was a secondary school teacher in Sabah, where he became a filmmaker and then a specialist in media and mobilization for positive social change. That McKee was able to return to Sabah a number of times after his volunteer years, offers the opportunity to match the anecdotes to what in fact happened to the people who touched his life, and he theirs. That is an opportunity and courage I envy. <strong>--</strong><strong>Christopher Smart, Returned CUSO volunteer, Ottawa, Canada</strong></p><p>This book is a highly readable flashback to the life of a foreign volunteer teacher in Sabah during the 1960s and 1970s--a time when big changes were just starting to sweep across a land full of eager communities and unspoiled tropical forest. In the closing chapters, McKee makes bittersweet visits back to Sabah. As a filmmaker, he surveys the land by helicopter to find much of what he remembered has gone--vast stretches of forest felled by political and economic forces. Travelers will find this book a fascinating read. McKee's succinct wit offers first-time visitors to Borneo vivid historical bearings to frame their present-day experiences as they travel through this land, still full of many attractions. Malaysians and Sabahans will discover, in McKee's observations, issues to debate on rainy afternoons. <strong>--S.Y. Chin, Asia-based editor</strong></p><p>Neill McKee captures the spirit of Kota Belud, Sabah, Malaysia. As I read, I was instantly transported to the immaculate greens, the deepened shadows of mountains silhouetted against the hot, sapphire skies; the hullabaloo that constituted the heart of the vibrant Asian culture in the era he lived in North Borneo. I felt I was riding with him on his motorbike as the enthralling splendor of the place unfolded. It's an enchanting narrative and I couldn't stop until I had consumed the entire book! <strong>--Nuzhat Shahzadi, Writer, Fairfax, Virginia, USA</strong></p><br>
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