Island Soul : A Memoir of Norway [Hardcover]

Patti Jones Morgan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 22, 2000

Determined to fit into life on the Norwegian island of Karmøy, Texas freelance writer, Patti Jones Morgan, struggles to learn the language and cope with a different culture while her husband works long hours helping to build a North Sea oil platform. The area's great natural beauty and the joys of a simpler, safe and slow-paced community beg comparison with her former Houston suburban life and provoke questions about where she, and her soul, truly belong.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“I came to know Karmøy island and its people almost as well as the author. I liked the acute observations... -- Edward Storey, U.K. poet and author of The Winter Fens, etc.

“I suffered with the writer in the beginning when she struggled to make contact with the Norwegians around her. -- Liv Dahl, Sons of Norway Foundation

“Patti Morgan describes life in a Norwegian village as an astute observer, not quite inside the culture... -- Judith Caesar, Ph.D., author of American Woman in the Middle East

About the Author

Patti Jones Morgan is a Texas writer whose soulful sojourn on a Norwegian island is the subject of this book. She now lives in Houston and the Texas Hill Country with husband mike and assorted animal friends.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Island Soul Books (July 22, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0945199201
• ISBN-13: 978-0945199205
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,997,965 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent read for anyone moving across cultures!, April 17, 2001

By 

Barbara F. Schaetti; Transition Dynamics ... - See all my reviews

This review is from: Island Soul : A Memoir of Norway (Paperback)

Island Soul: A Memoir of Norway, by Patti Jones Morgan, is the delightful and poignant story of one woman's expatriate love affair with her host country. Relocating from Houston, Texas to Norway, the book evokes the phases of the transition experience and describes both the challenges of culture shock and the joys of cultural learning. Filled with insights for anyone relocating internationally, the book speaks especially to the importance of language study, to the role of animals and children as cultural bridges, and, most importantly, to the possibility of new relationships when hearts remain open. I recommend this book highly.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A book for women, feeling lonely in another country, September 22, 2001

By 

Allan M. Gathercoal "fdoamerica" (Norcross, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Island Soul : A Memoir of Norway (Paperback)

"Island Soul" is about an America woman, Mrs. Patti Jones Morgan, dealing with her feeling of `isolation'. How she went from being a "helpless, isolated woman in a completely foreign land" to a place of semi-belonging. She dutifully followed her husband to Norway. He was a specialist on the Heidrun oil project. This book is the story of Mrs. Morgan's --"survival".

Up-front, I read this book while in Norway and found myself an outsider looking in on a struggle I couldn't comprehend. For the life of me, hard as I tried, I could not grasp the horrific dark foreboding that Mrs. Morgan said she had to faced in Norway. God knows I've tried to understand how she struggled to "survive" another year, but I was definitely an outsider looking in. Hell, I was more than an outsider, I was more like an alien visiting another planet.

I have traveled the world, and spent time in some mighty dark and depressing places. That being said I have great difficulty seeing Norway as a "completely foreign land". Communist Vietnam - sure. War torn Congo - yes. Oppressive Afghanistan - Right. But Norway, where English is their second language; where the infrastructures and national income are the best in the world; where the only hardship was the excessive taxes and that they only served real beer, not 'lite beer', and I gained a few pound while staying there. No, I just can't see Norway as a "completely foreign country", any more than I could identify with her helpless, "isolated" whine.

I'll admit, I must be an insensitive male (ask my girlfriend, she'll tell you), and by popular definition, I am definitely from Mars. This book is not a book I would recommend to men. I would recommend this book to any wife following her husband to a foreign country.

Mrs. Morgan wrote this book for women, feeling both lonely and disposed while living in another culture. On that level the book is commendable. Her writing style is like listening to chatter at a coffee clutch. Her description of Norway's beauty and people is spot on'.

One hundred and thirty five pages into the book Mrs. Morgan finishes her language class, and God knows, I was as happy about her matriculation as she was. "Attempting to learn Norwegian, talk with local people and develop friendships - had been my mission." Mrs. Morgan states. This is her story, this is her song. She did it and moved back to Texas, where she now lives.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A personal look at Norway, August 20, 2001

By 

Sarah Stelfox (Alberta, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Island Soul : A Memoir of Norway (Paperback)

Having long been interested in both Scandinavian culture and travel writing, I was very eager to read Island Soul. Morgan paints a wonderfully detailed picture of life in a small Norwegian town, from the trusting children who come to bake cookies and play with her dogs, to her visit with Anna, a 90 year old resident still living independently in her tidy farmhouse. However, it becomes clear these things only happen after Morgan has gained more than a rudimentary grasp of the Norwegian language through intensive language classes, and this becomes a central theme of the book: that you will only scratch the surface of a culture if you fail to learn its language. Hats off to Morgan for being more than the stereotypical ex-pat who only socializes with other Americans, and for giving us a truly unique view of a very special place. I wish MY small town here in Canada had a Santa who visited the village children on a sled and tossed candies and glad tidings!