Customer Reviews

A Portable Identity: A Woman's Guide to Maintaining a Sense of Self While Moving Overseas, Revised Edition

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Anyone ever to encounter and navigate the endless and exhaustive details involved with moving and living overseas will appreciate the meticulous care and thought that went into this primer. The exercises and for planning for and understanding the different stages, emotions and thought processes that accompany such a move are terrific, not just for the move itself, but for a very effective and smooth assimilation of this kind of life-changing experience.
I will be giving this one to many of my friends who are also contemplating living and working overseas.

Like many other women who accompany their husbands overseas, I started to think I was going crazy! But, after attending a workshop facilitated by the authors, I realized what I was feeling was completely normal. By using the skills and exercises that Debra and Charise illustrate in their book, you can get back on your feet and transition into your new lifestyle overseas.
Tracy Garringer, Former US Embassy Expatriate Wife
Bangkok, Thailand

Even though I didn't have any apparent serious difficulty with adjusting to my first expat experience, working through this book provided amazing insights to what had helped me as well as revealed some unknown areas where I needed to do some internal re-evaluation.

This is an exceptional tool that should be given to every expat woman (first time OR long time) by corporate HR departments or government agencies as soon as an expat assignment is anticipated. Although you can work through some sections as soon as you learn about an expat assignment, you will gain just as much even if you begin after moving... or years into your expat experience!

Working through "A Portable Identity" you feel as if you are in a small group discussion with Debra and Charise (the authors). By honestly sharing their own experiences and feelings, it enables the reader/writer to jumpstart her own evaluations. Especially for an expat in a location where there may not be many other support mechanisms, this is an invaluable tool.

Even though I didn't have any apparent serious difficulty with adjusting to my first expat experience, working through this book provided amazing insights to what had helped me as well as revealed some unknown areas where I needed to do some internal re-evaluation.

This is an exceptional tool that should be given to every expat woman (first time OR long time) by corporate HR departments or government agencies as soon as an expat assignment is anticipated. Although you can work through some sections as soon as you learn about an expat assignment, you will gain just as much even if you begin after moving... or years into your expat experience!

Working through "A Portable Identity" you feel as if you are in a small group discussion with Debra and Charise (the authors). By honestly sharing their own experiences and feelings, it enables the reader/writer to jumpstart her own evaluations. Especially for an expat in a location where there may not be many other support mechanisms, this is an invaluable tool.

Like many other women who accompany their husbands overseas, I started to think I was going crazy! But, after attending a workshop facilitated by the authors, I realized what I was feeling was completely normal. By using the skills and exercises that Debra and Charise illustrate in their book, you can get back on your feet and transition into your new lifestyle overseas.

Tracy Garringer,
Former U.S. Embassy Expatriate Wife,
Bangkok, Thailand

Truly a Must Read for every woman who is going to make, who has already made, or who is thinking about making a major move. The authors offer serious insight, support and help, not just for those involved in expat experiences, but even for those who simply move, let's say, from one major region of the country to another. New York, after all, is not Maine, not California, not Missouri, and not Louisiana! Any time we leave one culture and take on another, the issues dealt with in this book will arise. In fact, any time we make a major change in our careers or lifestyles, our identities get challenged, so the exercises and strategies set out in this nifty book would be useful. I highly recommend this book to anyone dealing with transition.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

A Portable Identity: A Woman's Guide to Maintaining a Sense, June 28, 2004
Reviewer: J (Washington, D.C) - See all my reviews

Anyone ever to encounter and navigate the endless and exhaustive details involved with moving and living overseas will appreciate the meticulous care and thought that went into this primer. The exercises and for planning for and understanding the different stages, emotions and thought processes that accompany such a move are terrific, not just for the move itself, but for a very effective and smooth assimilation of this kind of life-changing experience.
I will be giving this one to many of my friends who are also contemplating living and working overseas.