Expatriate Books

I took Peter Mayle's book Provence A-Z with me when I travelled through the region a few months ago, stopping at the places he seemed to highly recommend and rereading passages pertaining to what I saw. My trip was tremendously enhanced. But Mayle's great gift is the fun he has with the language, and the obvious pleasure he has writing about the area he loves.

I love Provence now, too. Thanks, Mr Mayle!

Beware all who begin reading this: I'm totally incapable of writing an unbiased review of anything authored by Peter Mayle. I'm a dedicated Mayle-ite, unabashed, unrepentant, and completely under the spell of this witty, charming chronicler of his Provencal experiences.

Thus, it is with the greatest reluctance that my comments re Provence A - Z are less than laudatory. For me it is precisely what the title implies - an alphabetical listing of words with each followed by a brief definition, description or explanation.. Some of the included listings were of interest to me; others were received with my version of a Gallic shrug.

We begin with "Accent" and learn that French is not truly the language spoken in Provence as we might expect but what is spoken is "a rich, thick, pungent verbal stew, simmered in an accent filled with twanging consonants." The closing listing is "Zingue - Zingue - Zoun," which we are told is used to describe the sound of a violin.

Yes, there are frequent flashes of the Mayle humor throughout. But, for this reader, Provence A - Z is adulterated Mayle, and I much prefer him pure - straight, if you will, without soda or water simply because he is one of the world's premier raconteurs, an amiable travel guide, and blessed with an unerring eye for humor in the most improbable situations.

If you've not read Mayle, I encourage you to let your introduction be A Year In Provence or Encore Provence - both are pure Mayle, pure pleasure.

- Gail Cooke

Peter Mayle's books about Provence are always wonderful, and this one does not disappoint!
Mireille McKell

Peter Mayle's "Provence A-Z" is a collection of personal interests and discoveries. There are amusing stories of construction complexities, the celebration of truffles and humorous stories of wild pigs eating perfectly ripe melons. Peter invites you into his world and as he explains the reality of Provence he keeps the fantasy of the perfect vacation alive and well. Since I recently made my own tapenade it was interesting to see a new recipe. There is also an explanation of why tomatoes are known as pommes d'amour. There are stories of unique fruits and visions of hills that are home to two thousand types of butterfly. I loved the story of the new puppy and you can't help but smile when you think of all the adventures Peter has on a daily basis. Overall, this collection of writing makes winter days seem a bit warmer and it is perfect as a cozy read by the fire.

~The Rebecca Review
Once I spent a weekend in Provence

This is a collection of short essays about the culture of Provence in alphabetical order. I think it is typical Mayle, intelligent, bright, and whimsical without being "cute". It's a writing you can sample in at odd times.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

A Portable Identity: A Woman's Guide to Maintaining a Sense, June 28, 2004
Reviewer: J (Washington, D.C) - See all my reviews

Anyone ever to encounter and navigate the endless and exhaustive details involved with moving and living overseas will appreciate the meticulous care and thought that went into this primer. The exercises and for planning for and understanding the different stages, emotions and thought processes that accompany such a move are terrific, not just for the move itself, but for a very effective and smooth assimilation of this kind of life-changing experience.
I will be giving this one to many of my friends who are also contemplating living and working overseas.

Even though I didn't have any apparent serious difficulty with adjusting to my first expat experience, working through this book provided amazing insights to what had helped me as well as revealed some unknown areas where I needed to do some internal re-evaluation.

This is an exceptional tool that should be given to every expat woman (first time OR long time) by corporate HR departments or government agencies as soon as an expat assignment is anticipated. Although you can work through some sections as soon as you learn about an expat assignment, you will gain just as much even if you begin after moving... or years into your expat experience!

Working through "A Portable Identity" you feel as if you are in a small group discussion with Debra and Charise (the authors). By honestly sharing their own experiences and feelings, it enables the reader/writer to jumpstart her own evaluations. Especially for an expat in a location where there may not be many other support mechanisms, this is an invaluable tool.

Like many other women who accompany their husbands overseas, I started to think I was going crazy! But, after attending a workshop facilitated by the authors, I realized what I was feeling was completely normal. By using the skills and exercises that Debra and Charise illustrate in their book, you can get back on your feet and transition into your new lifestyle overseas.

Tracy Garringer,
Former U.S. Embassy Expatriate Wife,
Bangkok, Thailand

Even though I didn't have any apparent serious difficulty with adjusting to my first expat experience, working through this book provided amazing insights to what had helped me as well as revealed some unknown areas where I needed to do some internal re-evaluation.

This is an exceptional tool that should be given to every expat woman (first time OR long time) by corporate HR departments or government agencies as soon as an expat assignment is anticipated. Although you can work through some sections as soon as you learn about an expat assignment, you will gain just as much even if you begin after moving... or years into your expat experience!

Working through "A Portable Identity" you feel as if you are in a small group discussion with Debra and Charise (the authors). By honestly sharing their own experiences and feelings, it enables the reader/writer to jumpstart her own evaluations. Especially for an expat in a location where there may not be many other support mechanisms, this is an invaluable tool.

Anyone ever to encounter and navigate the endless and exhaustive details involved with moving and living overseas will appreciate the meticulous care and thought that went into this primer. The exercises and for planning for and understanding the different stages, emotions and thought processes that accompany such a move are terrific, not just for the move itself, but for a very effective and smooth assimilation of this kind of life-changing experience.
I will be giving this one to many of my friends who are also contemplating living and working overseas.

While I'm a big fan of Sargent's work, I'm not really interested in owning all the books featuring him that are currently available.... especially since there are SO many of them available right now. As such, I tend to be very picky about which books to purchase, trying to get the most bang for my buck. This book satisfies me on all counts: not only are the reproductions large (usually) and gorgeous, but the text is interesting and easy to read, not to mention well-organized. I highly recommend this book to both the casual and the serious fan of Sargent's work, though the latter may find it somewhat redundant. If you like this, you'll also enjoy "Sargent the Sensualist," which has even more vibrant reproductions and some really excellent detail images.

are a fresh antidote to the usual stale paintings by late 19th century artists. This book shows the range and depth of Mr. Sargent's Venice painitings, including those that show the seamy side of Venetian life that many contempory paintings largely ignored, either by romanticizing/sanitizing the working classes or ignoring them altogether, preferring to painting the familiar scenes such as the Doge's palace/St.Mark's church and carnivale.

Mr. Sargent is a storyteller in paintbrush. I recommend art lovers to read his book.

I'm dedicating this review to my late grandmother. May she rests in peace.

Stephanie B.

If you love Venice, and if you love Sargent--then you will love this book. There are a few new items in this book, but for the most part they are reapeated images from now all the numerous volumes of Sargents books that have flooded the market in the recent years. The text is intersting and the insightful written by Mr. Warren Adelsen and Mr. Richard Ormond two Sargent experts-- are worth reading, if you want to add to your knowlege of Sargent and Venice.

SARGENT'S VENICE is a book that makes Sargent more than a great portrait painter. It reveals that he could be equally good at landscapes of the world's most beautiful city. His views of Venice are intimate, exploratory, perceptive, Venice seen from a gondola snaking its way through the canals. The prow of the gondola figures in many of his paintings. Venice has been the province of great painters since Tintoretto and Sargent now joins their company, thanks to this book.

Thoroughly enjoyed the exhibition, and this book is a wonderful keepsake illustrated with abundant, good quality color reproductions. I would highly recommend this book. I appreciate Amazon's hassle free, speedy delivery as well.

Having expatriated and repatriated several times, I wish I had read this book before my first repatriation. When I did read it, it was like sitting down with an old friend who knew me well. It doesn't matter where you're coming home from, but coming home is hard. Arm yourself with Homeward Bound. It's funny and it's wise...just like the author.

I thought moving back to the US from Canada (Canada's 'US Lite', anyway, isn't it?) would be a piece of cake. It wasn't. Fortunately a friend recommended Robin Pascoe's sympathetic, supportive and (just when you really need it...) thoroughly amusing guidebook for repatriation. Whithout it I wouldn't have known that my gut-wrenching struggle with moving home was, in fact, OK.

Robin Pascoe engages her readers with her soul-searching stories about how she managed her re-entry back to Canada after years as the non-employed spouse in countries all over the world. We hear her angst as she searches for herself...and ultimately finds herself. But her sometimes despairing note is always balanced with self-aware humor. I can imagine her keeping her audiences in stitches when she gives talks, as she often does.
Aside from story-telling, she includes sections with sound advice about how to do to do it better than she did. How to imagine what you're going to do next, after all the boxes are unpacked? What about your aspirations about getting your own career going, finally? How about re-settling your children who are now the "global nomads" with very different values and study habits than many of their peers? How to manage your new relationship with your spouse who may or may not have a challenging new job?

I like Pascoe's work immensely and look forward to reading her other work.
Karma Kitaj, Moving Away Or Coming Home.com

Robin Pascoe's witty, informative and devastatingly accurate account of the process of re-entry, from the spouse's perspective, is required reading for everyone considering an expatriate posting abroad, and especially for those in the process of returning home. Ms. Pascoe's step-by-step guide to coming home with partner & family in tow will make experienced repats weep with joy and recognition. As they know all too well, culture shock lasts for a period of months...re-entry shock lasts a lifetime. Take note HR departments everywhere: if you really want to make sure the expatriate assignment is a success, tell your people how to come home....

August 15, 2000 So many spouses will be able to identify with Robin Pascoe's frank and humorous account of reentry (returning home after a period of time abroad). Efforts at reestablishing a career armed with a haphazard CV of constant reinvention and little or no network; trying to resettle kids and partner; feeling tired and overwhelmed and a bit "foreign" are issues with which so many of us are confronted once home. Robin Pascoe deals with these and many other reentry issues with honesty, wit and wisdom. Reading her book legitimized for me my own feelings of fatigue and frustration as a normal reaction to the physical, mental and emotional upheaval of reentry. Do read this book before embarking on reentry and then refer to it for comfort, and advice as required!

I read this book based on an excellent review of it (a good primer for Mavis Gallant newbies, btw) in the April (or May?) Harper's (a great store room for hidden gems.) I had never heard of Ms. Galant before I read the review and her book, but after reading Paris Stories, all I gotta say is, Where the hell have I been since she's been writing for the past 30+ years? Actually I'm only 30, but still. Her writing is magical on so many levels that I'll only mention a couple of them: the consistency and the sublime richness of her prose - it's like really rich fudge, a phrase or two of one of the 15+ stories is often enough for one sitting; the hauntingly subtle rendering of European life; the authority and command of her voice - there is no doubt in my mind that Mavis Gallant was put on this earth to write fiction as her job, and she writes like she knows it. I love that.

2 recommendations: read Michael Ondaajte's intro (in it he mentions that he knows other writers who intentionally refrain from reading Mavis Gallant when they are writing themselves, so they don't lose confidence in themselves); read the afterward, written by the auther herself (in it she makes the wise suggestion to the reader NOT read the stories in the book back to back, but to take one's time and savor every morsal - I concur. Read this book very slowly pausing to read other stuff perhaps - you don't want to miss a word, it's that good.)

Lovers of sublime artwork in literature, read Mavis Gallant. I guarantee you will not be disappointed. I can't wait for Volume 2 to come out this fall!

I was delighted to see that Mavis Gallant is back in print. I have loved her work for many years, and always eager to buy the NYer when one of her stories was featured. The only drawback to much of her writing (not present in any of the stories in this collection, though) is that much of what she writes are satirical sketches of French intellectual or expatriate life (for example, the "Grippes and Poche" stories in Paris Stories) which would be totally lost on people who have not visited or lived there. The best of her stories are however profound meditations on loneliness and rootlessness. In this I believe she is an archtypal modern writer who can describe the almost universal experience of being an immigrant, refugee, or escapee from some previous stultifying existence. I think this is why so many people respond to her writing. She is, of course, also a master prose stylist. I urge any aspiring fiction writers to read Mavis Gallant. Contrary to what the above reviewer quoted, I think she can be very instructive and inspiring.

"Paris Stories" is an amazing collection of short stories by Mavis Gallant, who is best known for her work in "The New Yorker." The 15 stories in this collection are all set in Europe, and they offer memorable characters, humorous observations, witty commentary, and brilliant prose. Gallant's writing style is very rich, unique, and beautiful. In the afterword of the book, Gallant herself recommends not reading this book entirely in one sitting, and I agree. This is such a fantastic collection that readers are much better off savoring every page. I usually prefer novels to short stories, but "Paris Stories" is amazing and flawless. I highly recommend it!

For better or worse, Mavis Gallant was one of a stable of writers who, for several decades under the editorship of William Shawn, wrote what came to be known as the "typical New Yorker story." Indeed, in a recent interview, the poet Michael Casey recalled a Benjamin Cheever character mocking "a New Yorker story" as "one that goes on and on and nothing much happens but you feel sad at the end of it." And, reading Gallant's stories in the magazine over the years, I likewise felt that they were consistently well written, occasionally interesting, often melancholy, but rather long-winded and ultimately unmemorable.

The fifteen stories collected here offer readers a chance to revisit their impressions of her stories. Behind the Jamesian tea-and-crumpet facade of Gallant's prose lurk human transplants: lost souls away from home, nomads and exiles trying to find a place in the world--Gallant has based virtually her entire career on this theme. The two exceptions are about "the French man of letters" Henri Grippes, Gallant's comic, curmudgeonly, aging alter ego. (Incidentally, the title of the collection, as Michael Ondaatje notes in the introduction, is misleading: not all the stories are set in Paris, nor are they about exiles living in Paris or from Paris; instead, Gallant wrote them all in Paris--which, since Gallant has written nearly all of her fiction there, makes the moniker rather meaningless.)

One of the stylistic quirks that transform many of Gallant's stories into wrestling matches with her readers is her blithe disregard for transitional devices within and between paragraphs. Ondaatje touts this as a virtue: "the next sentence can bring a complete shift of tone or content, while a quick aside can include whole lives--sometimes halfway through one person's thought you will get another's history." At first, the reader might understandably regard these "sudden swerves" as merely untidy--that's certainly the way I felt about them when I read her stories in The New Yorker. But, as often as not, there is some method hiding in the madness; the disorder echoes the jumble of her characters' lives and especially of their thinking.

Savoring these stories, one by one over a couple of months, I found that I truly began to enjoy Gallant's idiosyncratic style and her subtly wicked wit when I reached "Speck's Ideas"--the seventh story of the collection. (At some point, I should probably go back and read the first six.) In sum, I picked up this collection to revisit my judgment of her fiction and came away with a better opinion--but also with the understanding that Gallant will always suffer from that damnably faint praise: she is an acquired taste.

I was delighted to see that Mavis Gallant is back in print. I have loved her work for many years, and always eager to buy the NYer when one of her stories was featured. The only drawback to much of her writing (not present in any of the stories in this collection, though) is that much of what she writes are satirical sketches of French intellectual or expatriate life (for example, the "Grippes and Poche" stories) which would be totally lost on people who have not visited or lived there. The best of her stories are however profound meditations on loneliness and rootlessness. In this I believe she is an archtypal modern writer who can describe the almost universal experience of being an immigrant, refugee, or escapee from some previous stultifying existence. I think this is why so many people respond to her writing. She is, of course, also a master prose stylist. I urge any aspiring fiction writers to read Mavis Gallant. Contrary to what the above reviewer quoted, I think she can be very instructive and inspiring.

This is fantastic for families that move! It makes sense, and could possibly replace a counselor in regards to emotional problems due to relocation. The book helps me understand my confusion growing up and moving, as well as help my kids understand themselves better while we are a Foreign Service family, uprooting ourselves frequently.
Thank you to the author! I had ordered two by mistake but chose to keep the extra copy as a gift to a friend. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Robin understands, feels, lives, and breathes the issues of raising global nomads. 2006 now faces technology of a 24/7 world of change for all children, teens,and parents. Be prepared to learn, cry, laugh, and accept the precious experience of being a "Global Nomad."

I am an American expat with 3 small children(married to an ATCK (adult third culture kid) who grew up overseas) on our first international assignment. I have been in Europe for 6 months and as I read the book I was simultaneously crying and laughing as I saw my life reflected in her writing. Some good words of wisdom. I will be sure to buy her book on "re-entry" when we move back to our home country.

Perhaps no life decision is so wrought with uncertainty and apprehension as the one to relocate your children overseas, whether temporarily for an overseas assignment, sabbatical or extended world travel or permanently as emigrants. Will we be damaging them? Will they hate us? Will they suffer academically, personally, emotionally, physically? These are big questions, and before Robin Pascoe's wonderful new book 'Raising Global Nomads', there were few answers.

Pascoe takes us on a wonderful, humourous and above all intensely informative journey with her family, and yours. Every overseas family will instantly see themselves in Pascoe's often moving description of her family's trials and tribulations in adapting to life abroad. Workaholic spouse caught in a pressure cooker? Insane academic standards -- in kindergarten? Worries about safety, hygiene, friends, family, communication -- for everybody? Pascoe has an answer, and a calming and reassuring word, for them all. She also takes a clear and accurate look at 'parenting abroad in an on-demand world', assessing the impact of digital and virtual living on expatriate life.

In her 25 years as a foreign service spouse, journalist Pascoe moved her family a dozen times to destinations as diverse as Bangkok and Seoul, New York and Beijing, and found the toughest move of all was 'back home' to her native Canada. Pascoe generously shares not only her own experiences, but also the results of her extensive research into parenting abroad, including interviews and contributions from psychologists, sociologists, academics, consultants and relocation specialists.

If you make only one pre-departure, or pre-repatriation, purchase, let it be this book. Make sure your teenagers read it, your children's teachers, your spouse, the family's employers and above all their HR department. And keep it under your pillow.....

My husband and I will be relocating abroad shortly, taking our toddler with us. Though this has been planned for a long time and we both look forward to it, moving abroad with a kid will definately be a shock to our system. This book has been an excellent pick to open our eyes to several issues that one tends not to dwell too much upon.

Very well-researched and easy to read without getting bogged down into details, coloured with a lot of the author's own personal experience and of those she has met in the same situation, all in all an excellent read!

A Gathering Of Fugitives: American Political Expatriates In Mexico 1948-1965 by Diana Anhalt is a solid reference and historical narrative about a group of Americans (ranging from Spanish Civil War veterans, Communist Party organizers, Hollywood activists, and other post-World War II political dissidents) who went through political exile and expatriation in Mexico for a variety of different reasons. Their individual and community struggles to adapt, political clashes, along with the personal stories of some who returned to America are all covered in-depth in this most remarkable and recommended study.

I was motivated to read Diana Anhalt's book in almost one sitting. Having grown up in the setting she describes but being well sheltered from the events, I am very impressed by her very thorough research into the smallest details of the events. She is objective and points out the extent to which governments, including our own and not excluding others, will go to in order to protect their current objectives. It makes us painfully aware of how much we should or should not allow our government to do in the name of expediency.

The fate of creative Americans trapped in the McCarthy mulcher of the early 50s is well-known, but in this splendid volume Diana Anhalt sheds much-needed light on an unfamiliar aspect of that era. Here we meet lesser lights who chose to flee their homeland and take up residence in Mexico, in a tightly-knit community of the similarly beset. This is not a scholarly treatise but a deeply personal, moving account of innocents abroad. Will appeal to the general reader in addition to those with a particular interest in this period, and is highly recommended.

We've heard about the Hollywood Ten and other Communists and those suspected of Communist activities who sought haven in Mexico in the 1950s. What happened to these people and their families as they struggled to earn a living in an alien culture, always fearful of being deported? Diana Anhalt, who was 10 years old when her parents left the Bronx for Mexico City, has tracked down many of these people and their families whom she knew from her childhood. The stories she tells sound like they could have come from the movie scripts and other writings of the fugitives who gathered in Mexico. As a witness, she makes their stories come alive in a very personal book.

Marjorie Kanter's, I Displace the Air as I Walk, has the ability to use words in their most basic and elemental meaning. Concise, poweful, and tingid with humor and irony. It is one of such very rare books that convey a very sophisticated, urbane, and intense understanding of the complexities of the human condition. Moreover, it is quite accesible and deeply personal, conveying a wonderful sense of our fragile but unique existential reality. Furthermore, you pick it up and you immediately find something that touches you.

Marjorie Kanter writes in a sparing, wry and whimsical style that moves anyone who
loves to travel and observe. Her verse evokes an "Aha" as we meet a Spaniard eating potato chips with knife and fork, encounter a disoriented Moroccan during Ramadan, and smile as a Boston girl applies confidence to her lips. Kanter has lived for years in each place she writes about, so with a few words she implies entire stories.

-Al Gowan, author SANTIAGO RAG, ZAMORA'S TATTOO and FORT MOMMA.

This is a gem of a book that pulls together writings from Marjorie's travels around the world. She manages to draw the reader into her everyday world with an insight into events that for many would otherwise go unnoticed. Her understated and simple style masks a depth of understanding and she tackles complex, and at times controversial, issues with ease. Recommended reading for anyone looking to delve further into the world we live in and the dynamics behind social interaction and communication. Be prepared to smile often and be charmed!

I recently reread this delightful book and enjoyed it all over again. It was one of the first memoirs about Italy I read, but it has held its appeal. It is unique in that it is from an involved father's perspective--less romantic than others and more realistic. While it's lovely to swoon over the glowing descriptions of Tuscany from the patio of the finally restored abode, drinking homemade wine, it's also great to get the nitty-gritty of day-to-day life in the city. Tim Parks's slightly acerbic view is funny and down to earth and gives a crystal clear eyed interpretation of Italian life from an Englishman's perspective that makes you feel right at home there. Well worth the read, and reread.

This is the second time I've purchased this book. I enjoyed it so much (along with the sequel, Italian Neighbors) that I loaned it to my friends and it was never returned. An entertaining account of the experience of marrying into an Italian family, with all its internecine conflicts and quirks, and moving to Italy with all its governmental and religious idiosyncrasies. Well written and funny. It doesn't take an Italian to recognize the eternal struggle to find a place in a strange society....and the Italians can be very strange.

This book was required reading for an Italian Culture course I'm taking. What wisdom my professor has shown in assigning this book! In addition to gaining valuable insight into contemporary Italian culture, I was also very moved by this story of an Englishman raising his half-Italian children in Italy. He observes how Italian his children are and how early they recognize that he is not one of them. He explores such features of Italian culture as Mother Worship (Mammismo) and the curious fact that this most Catholic country of Europe also has Western Europe's lowest birth rate. All Italians talk about the "sacrifice" of having children. To have more than one child is madness from their point of view because Italian children must have the best everything for the entire lives of their parents. The parents "sacrifice" so that their children can have the best schools, the best toys, the best clothing. The parents pretty much support them their entire lives, even buying their houses for them when they finally leave home and marry. He sees the blatant sexism of the Italian culture wherein gender roles are inculcated into the children from the cradle. The Italians see something wrong with his giving his son piano lessons and letting his daughter participate in "boys'" activities. (There is also a certain schadenfreude at a someone's having no male offspring, especially if that someone is your landlord.) But he endures it all good-humoredly and takes great delight in watching his children grow up "Italian." He takes them on walks and bike rides where they discover shrines to forgotten saints in the middle of the wilderness. He takes them to the beach where the kids get an unexpected introduction to the facts of life when they come upon the lifeguard and his girlfriend in flagrante delicto behind some rocks. The book is very funny as well as insightful. I laughed many times throughout the book and was unexpectedly moved in the oddest places, such as when their children find out that it's really their parents who bring their Christmas presents and not "Santa Lucia," the local version of Santa Claus.

But the real star of the book is gloriously beautiful and ageless Italy, so gorgeous you just want to gasp. I loved this book and would recommend it to anyone who is a parent and/or loves Italy. Four and a half stars rounded up to five.

I had Dr. Lomax as a professor and he is a brilliant man and his book conveys that. It is an absolute must read for anyone considering overseas assignments.

A must read for anyone contemplating an overseas assignment or for anyone in a position to send key people abroad. Unlike many management how-to's this one is written from first hand experience, from both sides of the desk-sender and sendee. The light though pithy writing style carries the reader easily along, is engaging and clearly informative. The case studies Lomax uses are to the point and vividly descriptive; the lessons flow in a most logical and easy to follow sequence. Many illustrations, artfuly executed, mirror the writers easy style, add a measure of amusement and dramatize the subject matter. It's a shame that a high quality, clearly presented text on this subject has not been available in the past. The angst of so many returning "expats" might have been avoided. A real classic- destined to the difinitive work of its genre.