Customer Reviews

A Broad Abroad In Thailand: An Expat's Misadventures in the Land of Smiles

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Dodie Cross is another Erma Bombeck! She has the uncanny ability to turn her misfortunes overseas into the most humorous prose I've read in years! Anyone who has traveled overseas would love this book. What would have sent most of us into therapy, she capitalizes on in her book! She's been through the mill and you will go along for the ride in this outstanding page turner. Her loss is our gain! The cartoons that accompany each chapter are great too. I intend to have her talk to our book club and do a book signing. I can't wait to meet her in person!

A Broad Abroad in Thailand was such an amusing story, and I could not put the book down until it was finished. Dodie can tell a story in such a way that you feel like you are right there with her. Despite her "misadventures", her descriptions of Thailand and its people made me want to book the next flight out so I could experience it myself. As other reviewers also stated, I was sad when the book was done, and can't wait to read about her other adventures. If you are looking for a fun read, you must get a copy of A Broad Abroad in Thailand.

A Broad Abroad in Thailand is author Dodie's memoirs of her experiences and her life in Thailand when she found herself living there, based in great part by the fact that the man she was dating, at the time, and now her husband was transferred there.

First off, I have to say that this book was quite funny. Dodie tells her life experiences in an almost "off handed" "oh shucks" way that both works well for the storyline but not so well for my opinion of her choices.

Cross will be the first one to admit the fact that marrying a man she was not sure about and then leaving her whole life behind and moving thousands and thousands of miles away with him - may not have been the healthiest decision she has ever taken.

Which is the part of the book that does not work for me. Anytime Dodie details anything about her life in Thailand that includes her husband, I feel an almost palpable dislike coming from Dodie when she talks about her husband. This made me dislike him in turn and wonder what the heck she could have been thinking about.

If I stick with strictly the stories that Dodie describes of her shopping trips, massages, pharmaceutical runs and general description of all things Thailand, I find myself thoroughly enjoying the book.

I think this would have worked much better for me if the story was Dodie's alone - I am glad that she finally sees the light (a little late for this story) though. I will probably enjoy her next memoir alot more.

I thoroughly enjoyed Dodie's book. Beyond being a fun and entertaining read, the reader gets a candid insider's view on the life of an expat in Thailand. The author does not mince words. I appreciated Cross' blunt honesty and her ability to see the humor in most situations.

Once I began reading, I did not want to stop. The author engages you, making you feel like a friend. Once hooked, you feel the desire to keep turning the pages and enjoying the ride. Additionally, I have not traveled to Thailand but felt inspired to take the trip to The Land of Smiles after reading the endearing descriptions of the beautiful land and pragmatic happy people.

I could certainly identify with Dodie's desire to break a few rules when it came to the ridiculous controlling bosses and their entourage of spies. In a comical manner, Dodie revealed the facts about her misfit marriage. Although at times I wondered how such a bright woman could have tied the knot with the character depicted as "Dick", I knew that in the end she would take the right path. Dodie minimizes her discussion on volunteering at the orphanage, and yet you know how much she cares for the children. I have no doubt she made the orphanage her focus during much of her time in Thailand.

I heartily recommend a romp though this very entertaining book on the misadventures in The Land of Smiles. Warning: you may experiences long and loud belly laughs!

The author writes in such a personal style that I felt like I knew her after I finished the book. I did know a lot about her, especially getting up close with her vagina and all in the chapters where she tells us all about her female problems, and her sex problems. Then there are her neighbor problems, and her cultural adaptation problems. The author does a great job of bringing alive the sights, sounds, and feelings of Thailand. For me, this is the highlight of the book. I do appreciate her writing style as well. I have seen the comparisons to Erma Bombeck, and they are not far off. She writes in a very personal, humorous manner, and no little detail of her life is hidden from the reader...at least that's what it seems. Men do not fare well in this story. The book seems directed at women, but I enjoyed it. Thai men fare the worst, having been written off entirely as lazy and irresponsible. Her husband, Dick, does not fare well, but she backs her case up much better here. Mr. Mothballs didn't fare well, but I got some laughs from her depiction of him. In her six week R&R back in the states, she lives with a friend and her husband Joe,and he does not fare well either. Finally, all the folks who ran the construction company that Dick worked for fared poorly, especially Mr. GB, who is henpecked, cheats at golf, and worse, cheats his customer with shoddy goods. There were quite a few catty women in the book too, so as not to make all the men feel bad. A Broad in Thailand is a good read if you want a good feel for Thailand and enjoy being a fly on the wall of someone's very personal adventure.

I absolutely enjoyed this book. Its a story of a womans adventures in Thailand, dealing with her failing marriage, her husbands insatiable sex addiction, and the constricting rules of mrs. Anorexia ( Her husbands employers wife) An overall amazing read. Thoroughly enjoyed all of its laugh out loud moments.

Dodie Cross is just the type of writer who, if given a column in the local paper, I would turn to first. When on a roll describing some of her many everyday adventures in this book, she has the ability to really get you chuckling, even on the more mundane topics of things like shopping for underwear in a foreign country.

However, like the previous 3* reviewer, I felt that the many of the core components of the storyline, the oversexed jerk of a husband, the catty neighbor/colleague "Mrs Anorexia" weighed the book down. Likewise, her medical experiences, while no doubt true, and documented in a fairly lighthearted way, bear little resemblance to the excellent health care thailand offers today.

Overall, these negative aspects tended to derail what should have been and easy and lighthearted read.

Hopefully with "Dick" out of the picture, her next book can be more of the laugh-out-loud humor that she certainly can do well.

Living abroad in Thailand is not always all it is said to be as author Dodie Cross quickly realized. The result of her near year-long adventure? A "laugh out loud must-read memoir" called A Broad Aboard in Thailand An Expat's Misadventures in the Land of Smiles.

When newly widowed Dodie first met and became involved with Dick, she had no idea what lay in store for her. When Dick is offered an incredible job opportunity in Thailand, there is no question that Dodie wanted to go along. Pushed into a quick marriage, the two soon set off for lands unknown.

Their first experiences in Thailand were luxurious. If only the same could be said for the rest of her stay. Dick and Dodie are soon moved into a new company-owned home and begin to realize very quickly that this wonderful opportunity came with some serious strings attached.

Dodie is fortunate to find many allies and friends. Faithful Pon, Dodie's live-in housekeeper and friend very quickly earned a place in Dodie's heart, as did the "beautiful orphans" Dodie considered herself fortunate to work with at the Pattaya Orphanage. The ladies from the Pattaya International Ladies' Club (PILC) also played a large part in comforting Dodie and helping her to keep her sanity but at the same time were part of an on-going problem Dodie had with the boss' wife, Mrs. Anorexia or Mrs. A for short (named changed to protect the guilty).

While the area and the friends Dodie made would endear Thailand to her forever, problems followed her almost from the beginning of this fateful journey. The primary problem Dodie faced was Dick. Dick suffered from an addiction and had, at times some extreme issues. This would be a large part of their undoing. Competing with Dick for "problem of the trip" was the insufferable control freak Mrs. A. While not an employee of The Company, Mrs. A issued many rules regarding nearly every aspect of the lives - both public and private - of the employees and their wives. To cross Mrs. A or to break one of her and her husband's rules was to earn an instant trip back to the States. Unfortunately for Dodie, she and Mrs. A were at cross purposes almost constantly. Medical problems, a near fatal accident and probably countless blunders in dealing with the Thai people all plague Dodie as well.

This memoir, though thick, is very difficult to put down. Dodie Cross has achieved a great accomplishment: her readers will feel an almost immediate connection to her. They will feel her anxiety, her stresses, her amusement and most certainly with groan along with her at the mere thought of Mrs. A. Mrs. Cross is to be applauded for this outstanding book.

A Broad Abroad In Thailand: An Expat's Misadventures in the Land of Smiles
Reading this book was like having your best friend return from an extended experience abroad and having her share this period of her life with you. It's fresh and alive, and you feel as if the author is talking to you and only you. As good friends do, she tells you everything, knowing full well that she can trust you and that you will understand, and that you will love her no matter how her story ends. She shares the humor, the anger, the frustration, the disappointment, the health hurdles and the corporate politics involved in her own personal life as well as the sounds, the smells, the language, the culture, and the natural beauty of Thailand. When I finished reading this book, I felt as if I had been there with her. She's a wonderful story-teller! Get her book, put on your jammies and curl up on the couch for a delightful few hours of laughs.

Reviewed by Claire Vath

Subtitled: An Ex-Pat's Misadventures in the Land of Smiles

In the early 1990s, middle-aged, twice-widowed Dodie Cross had a whirlwind romance with a pony-tailed golf instructor named Dick, and soon found herself married and living in Pattaya Beach, Thailand. Her fateful trip left her with many life lessons--and her new, marvelous memoir, A Broad Abroad in Thailand: An Ex-Pat's Misadventures in the Land of Smiles.

The Thai job Dick was offered sounded too good to be true. Nevertheless, Dodi and Dick packed up their lives in the United States, had a quickie Vegas wedding and boarded a plane to "the land of smiles."

While initially reeling over the culture shock and stomach cramps, Dodie quickly begins to acquaint herself with Thai traditions, the language, sights, smells . . . and what Dodie refers to as the "ubiquitous Eastern toilet"--essentially a hole in the floor.

The couple moves into an expansive company house, rife with luxury. But the too-good-to-be-true façade is just that. Dodie soon finds her husband's sexuality overwhelming. Dick's boss, "Mr. JB" (Jelly Belly) and his wife "Mrs. A" (Anorexia)--as Dodie refers to them--govern the company wives with an iron fist, restricting many activities, which Dodie finds absurd.

Instead, Dodie fills her days secretly socializing with ex-pats outside the company and volunteering her time to write a newsletter and work with Thai orphans.

But things come to a peak when Dodie has surgery to repair her bladder. Dick is frustrated by her inability for sex; Mrs. A reprimands Dodie for her "rebellious" behavior; and the doctor revirginizes Dodie while she's under anesthesia--a fairly common practice, she's told as she undergoes an episiotomy.

In the end, Dodie's rebellion and Dick's job misgivings lead to Dick's career demise. Dodie realizes she doesn't love him, his anger or his sexual addiction. However, the friendships she's made, customs she's learned and the culture she's embraced make it difficult to leave Thailand.

Dodie Cross' memoir is an unbelievably wild anecdotal ride. Her wit, wisdom and writing style belong to the Erma Bombeck school of humor. This broad will have you laughing until you cry--all the while wishing you were in Thailand with her.

Armchair Interview says: This author tells a good story-hers!