Customer Reviews

Living Among the Swiss

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This work touches a sensitive nerve for Swiss readers like myself, because it captures the natives' xenophobia, chauvinism, insularity, fear of assimilation by their German neighbors to the north, and general feelings of inferiority and prejudice. The Swiss are not known for great works of art or music or for educational accomplishments outside the fields of medicine and biochemistry/pharmacology or for feminism or even sensitivity to women, and so a book by an American author that pokes fun at these deficiencies serves only to aggravate its subjects' phobias. This is reflected in the negative, often imperfectly literate comments below, which should therefore be not only discounted but also taken as testimonies to this volume's trenchant effectiveness.

Are you considering a job offer in Switzerland? This work provides fair warning about the obstacles that you and your spouse will face as an immigrant: a chauvinistic, closed society of incomprehensible, dialect-speaking burghers obsessed with money and reluctant to trust foreigners even after years of acquaintanceship; high rents and prices for inferior food -- especially beef and chicken -- clothing, and automobiles; undisguised resentment that you are denying a job opportunity to a Swiss citizen; discrimination in career advancement and promotion. Most expatriates leave after a year in order to preserve their marriages. Take these caveats to heart before succumbing to the temptations of Alpine skiing and clean, fresh-water swimming. And read this book before deciding whether to accept the job offer.

I bought this book on the basis of two reviewers who said it was witty, humourous, and useful. I could barely stomach reading the book since the author is arrogant and continually looks down his nose at not only the Swiss whom he portrays as uneducated and stupid but also others from his own continent. He does not experience the culture, but rather overlays his own prejudices and expects you to buy them as cultural sensitivity. At moments when he actually begins to provide useful information or interesting insight (such as the treatment of women), he quickly dissolves into feeling quite full of himself and gives witty repartee. You can just feel him surge with pride about how witty he is. I almost quit on page 28 where, while discussing the train system, he states, "And in second class you will frequently enounter not only the harrowingly unpleasant odors of the great unwashed and undeodorized but also the harsh and loud voices of children and adults afflicted with Down's syndrome, who are seldom institutionalized here." It's too bad I waited too long to read the book and cannot return it.

I am going to make this short and sweet. I found 50% of Mr. Michael Glueck's experiences to be very different from my own in my 10 years in the country. About 20% of the information was just out right incorrect.

This is a weird book. If you happen to be a stock analyst specializing in American stocks for sale in the European market, and planning to move to Switzerland, this book probably has a lot to offer you. Otherwise, there are plenty of better books out there. It contains a rather small guide to hiking and skiing trails in certain areas of Switzerland, plus some extensive and cynical views of the Swiss banking and stockbrokering system. The author also displays a certain amount of homophobia, in case that matters to you. John McPhee's book gives a much better look at the Swiss character, and just about any travel guide gives you more travel information.

If you are looking for a frustratingly ethnocentric book that considers everything non-American backwards while wrapping these observations into poor attempts to be funny - this book is for you!
If you are looking for insights into working and living in Switzerland, and expect an intelligent description, or at least a basic attempt to be objective - don't buy this book!
I was extremely dissappointed by the display of arrogant ignoranz towards Swiss ways of life by the author. In my opinion a waste of money.

While somewhat interesting, in my opinion the subject matter was lacking. A bit more about banking than I care to read about.

A gem of a memoir that captures the beauty and peacefulness of Switzerland as well as the glacial stolidity of many of its inhabitants. Discusses everything Swiss from age and sex discrimination to xenophobia. Combines a travel guide to the cantons of Zurich, the Bernese Alps, Central Switzerland, Wallis or Valais, and Graubunden or Grisons - with emphasis on skiing, hiking, and fine dining - with an analysis of questionable Swiss banking and investment practices, some of which could be construed as illegal in the U.S. Provides a primer for those seeking actually or vicariously to adapt to Swiss society and culture. Written in a spirit of satire with wit, humor, and a tincture of scholarship by a highly educated American, whose factual impressions of a foreign way of life are far more entertaining than many recently introduced works of fiction.

I have added photographs and updated this edition of October 17, 2009 to reflect my continuing experiences during each of the past eleven years, when I have lived in Switzerland nearly half of the time. A corresponding new Kindle edition dated one day earlier is also available on this website, and it can be accessed by clicking on "Show more formats" on the left side of this page a bit below the top and choosing appropriately among the five available versions. I wish you most pleasant reading!

Ideal for anyone who is planning an extended, low profile trip to Switzerland.