A Country Full of Aliens - A Briton in Hungary

by Colin Swatridge

Genres: Hungary

178 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Bethany]

I thought this book was hilarious. I've been living in Hungary for the past year, and I could identify with so much of what Swatridge said. Not everything, because he was in Hungary years ago, and a few things have changed since then, but many times throughout the book, I would stop and laugh and say, "I was thinking the same thing!" If you have been or are planning to visit Hungary in the future, I would recommend this book.

[Cynthia Koszeghy]

I has been living in Budapest for almost 8 years and I really enjoyed this book. Colin Swatridge has an acute sense of observation and I share basically almost all his comments.
His cultural & historical notes are pretty helpful when trying to understand this country full of Aliens...with a big heart!

[Ms. Carlino]

Loved it. He was a little heavy on ascribing things to vestiges of communism, but overall, I found it to be entertaining and affirming after living in Hungary for a year. I think any foreigner living in Hungary will enjoy many parts of this, while understanding that it is of course an oversimplification of the complexity of a wonderful nation.

[Agoston K]

My daughter thought this book is hilariously funny, and she made me read it. I thought it's dead serious and funny at the same time but only if you are able to look at yourself, as a Hungarian, with the eyes of a foreigner. When living in Hungary, the British writer of the book made some very interesting observations and it was fascinating to see these being put into some kind of context that made somehow sense to him. You can feel that it was written by somebody who teaches English - nice prose, quite a few idioms and a touch of sarcasm. A very good, but not so light read as the title might suggest.

[Carlos Valenzuela]

It's an okay book. I don't really like the general opinion that the author has regarding Hungarians. But some points were very interesting. It also seems as if this books was actually written 20 or 30 years ago, since some of the actions stated do not apply to Hungarians anymore.

[LB]

Interesting look at the culture, language, and history of the Hungarian people. Shorter read, funny stories, and rang true to my Budapest experience.

[Mónika Varga]

He did not manage to understand us and after reading his book I do not think he ever will... Laughing with him together?! Oh, no. It is offensive quite a few times...