Customer Reviews

Homeward Bound : A Spouse's Guide to Repatriation

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
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2 star:		(1)
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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!

While the author clearly understands what we ex-pats go through, she does not offer much in the way of substantial suggestions for making it all go better. I came away feeling like a good cup of coffee with the girls would have been just as helpful. There are a few pearls of wisdom, like thinking about how endings have affected you in the past and how that can add insight to frightening feelings that may surface during the repatriation period. But at the end of the day, this book is a list of reasons why you might be leaving your post (don't we already know that?) and much repeating of the need to give yourself time to readjust. There was not much meat here to be honest. I was disappointed.

I started to read this book on the lowest of days since arriving "home", and it honestly has changed the way I think and feel about my situation.
Classic expat story, away from city and country for 12 years then back with young family in tow. However, my husband decided to continue working for his company in Hong Kong whilst I was settling us all into new life in Melbourne, Australia! Hmmmmm...
A valuable read and have recommended it to many friends still living the life OS.

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