Life In Another Country [Kindle Edition]

Jennifer Stewart (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A compilation of short stories sharing the unique experiences people face when living in countries around the world.

Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 734 KB
• Publisher: Drafty Manor (January 27, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B004LB4Z7S
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #741,814 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Dear reader, I wish I could go on telling you about the wonders of our world.", August 16, 2011

By 

ddelhag - See all my reviews

This review is from: Life In Another Country (Kindle Edition)

This book includes 10 short stories that that will take the reader from the United States, around the world, and back. With each story you get a glimpse into how Americans fit in around the world and how those from other countries fit in here. As Steven Trigg writes, "Dear reader, I wish I could go on telling you about the wonders of our world." But, you'll have to read the book yourself.

3.0 out of 5 stars Life in Another Country, September 11, 2011

By 

BigAl (With Carmen Sandiego) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Life In Another Country (Kindle Edition)

The subtitle of "Life in Another Country" is "Learning More Than Ever Expected." The title explains the premise: each of those who contribute spent an extended period living outside their native country and tell us about it. The subtitle is what a reader would hope to learn. What did the contributors learn that they didn't expect? How were the people and conditions different? In what ways were they the same? A couple sentences buried in the middle of the section by Steve Trigg, a combat video journalist who has lived all over the world, had what I thought could have been a summary for at least part of what we might take away from our reading:

"The people I have met on my travels taught me how to live by accepting the rules of humanity as opposed to the rules of one society. I have discovered that, in the end, we all want the same thing for ourselves and our families--a tomorrow."

Jennifer Stewart, the person who put this book together by writing the introduction, soliciting contributions, and editing, appears to have edited with a light hand. This is both good and bad. It allowed each contributor's unique voice to remain; however, there were many instances where cutting an extraneous word or phrase would have made tighter prose without losing that voice. One contributor used the phrase "if you know what I mean" at the end of a couple of sentences, for a single example among many.

However, my bigger problem with the book is that, while it delivered to some degree on its promise, there is too much extraneous stuff. Things like 'I went from here to here to here or I did this and this and this,' with too much detail about the what, and not enough detail about how it felt. That doesn't mean there aren't some insightful gems buried amongst the barebones travelogues. Steve Trigg's contribution, quoted above, had a section on how his experiences changed him, which was very good. All contributors had portions that were informative and enlightening. Unfortunately, the search for those gems took too large a portion of the reading time.

**Originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog. May have received a free review copy. **