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The Thing about Prague: How I gave it all up for a new life in Europe's most eccentric city
by
The bestselling author of "Me, Myself & Prague" looks for a new life in one of Europe's most beautiful and idiosyncratic cities. A smart and very funny memoir about the highs and lows of trying to establish a life in a place that values beer and potatoes above everything else!
'I'd like to say that my decision to move to Prague permanently was based on something grand and n ...more
'I'd like to say that my decision to move to Prague permanently was based on something grand and n ...more
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Start your review of The Thing about Prague: How I gave it all up for a new life in Europe's most eccentric city
At the very beginning I have to say that I like books about people moving into different countries. I’ve read Almost French, Merde and some more. However, this book was different for me – being Czech and living in Prague, I have a pretty good insight of the background Weiss was living in. :)
In general, I must say I enjoyed the book very much. It is well written, engaging, entertaining and for me also very interesting for the reasons stated above.
But… I kept getting annoyed by the author‘s consta ...more
In general, I must say I enjoyed the book very much. It is well written, engaging, entertaining and for me also very interesting for the reasons stated above.
But… I kept getting annoyed by the author‘s consta ...more
I read Rachel Weiss's 'Me, Myself and Prague' in my first few months of a two year spell of living in Prague. At times when I was reading it I was able to feel smug and self-satisfied about her falling into pitfalls I had avoided. Meanwhile at other times I picked up some great tips about places to go, things to do (the continually moving lift somewhere near the Lucerna was a great one) and various coping strategies.
This book therefore showed great promise, particularly as the three years the au ...more
This book therefore showed great promise, particularly as the three years the au ...more
At the age of 41, and experiencing something of a mid life crisis, writer Rachael Weiss decided to leave behind her life in Australia and move permanently to Prague, lured by the thought of "cobbled streets, midnight-blue evenings, snowflakes and cheap beer". In the end she would last three years and the book charts her journey from giddy adoration for all things Prague to disenchantment with the communist bureaucracy, unfriendly locals and her inability to find a well paying job.
Weiss has a cha ...more
Weiss has a cha ...more
It's good but...
But it's not exactly ABOUT Prague. It is about author desperately trying to find a place and work while living in Prague.
She expresses her increasing frustration with Czech (but not only Czech) bureaucracy, unfriendliness, unhelpfullness and rudeness and her desperation to find friends.
It is a very good read for what it is although I was hoping for a style and mood she introduced in her first book "Me, Myself and Prague" which was one of the best books about an expat trying to m ...more
But it's not exactly ABOUT Prague. It is about author desperately trying to find a place and work while living in Prague.
She expresses her increasing frustration with Czech (but not only Czech) bureaucracy, unfriendliness, unhelpfullness and rudeness and her desperation to find friends.
It is a very good read for what it is although I was hoping for a style and mood she introduced in her first book "Me, Myself and Prague" which was one of the best books about an expat trying to m ...more
Not quite reflecting the current situation in Czechia/Prague but most of the elements are still here. I suspect that the Foreign Police are a little more organised, but their decisions can still seem somewhat arbitrary and everyone has a horror story to tell. As a retiree living here, life is simpler, I don't have to work so all that hassle goes over my head... Ms Weiss highlights all the good bits too, the beer that is cheaper than water, and the fact that bacon is considered a vegetable. I had
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Me, Myself and Prague was a book I stumbled upon in a secondhand bookshop and being very much a fan of the city and having imagined myself undertaking the similarly romantic notion to move there at some stage and write the great novel was immediately captured by the story being told. While the first book was more about someone making tentative progress in a city which still had the ability to enchant, confuse and surprise them, The Thing About Prague is very more about someone coming to terms wi
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"The Thing about Prague" was as much about the author as it was about Prague.
The book brought back quite a few memories of Prague which I appreciated.
Some of the chapters are better than others. My 2 highlights are the chapter where she gets to be on Czech television and the chapter when she inadvertently goes hiking with a suspected cannibal.
Some of the recurring themes of the book are Kafkaesque bureaucracy, the author's loneliness, the Czech people, impulsiveness and of course Prague.
I was sa ...more
The book brought back quite a few memories of Prague which I appreciated.
Some of the chapters are better than others. My 2 highlights are the chapter where she gets to be on Czech television and the chapter when she inadvertently goes hiking with a suspected cannibal.
Some of the recurring themes of the book are Kafkaesque bureaucracy, the author's loneliness, the Czech people, impulsiveness and of course Prague.
I was sa ...more
This book was good, but wow was it repetitive! So many of her friends seemed exactly the same with the same lives and even tastes in furniture, it was hard to keep them straight. No wonder I felt this book dragged a bit, and I struggled to keep interested at times. I did have one thing I didn't get at all though, why would somebody who by her own admission didn't believe in God, or creationism, join a synagogue? Am I the only one with this question or did I just display my complete ignorance of
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Read this book in Prague and I did indeed buy it at the Shakespeare bookshop. I left it in the hotel as it seemed fitting to pass on to someone else enjoying Prague. Very good read. Slightly saddened by the fact that the author seemed a bit disillusioned with the city at the end. I did sympathise though as lovely as it was I can see that living there would be a trial for a non Czech person. I really hope the person who booked the room after us reads and enjoys it
Having just been to Prague I was keen to read this and be entranced by the secretst of the city. I had google maps open and was keen to plot the sites mentioned on the map. This only lasted for the first third of the book, as it then became a story of her loneliness and libido, not what I wanted to read about. I finished it, but i was disappointed with the direction it took.
As a fellow co-aussie living in Prague, I can relate to how well Rachael Weiss put to paper the soul and bustling business of its life, spent mostly in beer-gardens and being harassed by the terrible waiters, :D An amazing book, had me reading it in one go. Definitely an uplifting must for anyone thinking of spending along time overseas from home. Thanks.
A light and entertaining account of a very justified attempt to escape mediocrity. I don't think the author gives her self enough credit for succeeding with her book publishing contract. Some great observations of Czech culture post communism through the prism of battles with the immigration authorities, trials in the secondary labour market and interactions with the locals.
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This is the humorous & thoroughly entertaining sequel to Me, Myself & Prague. Written by forty-something Rachel Weiss who throws in her going-nowhere existence in Sydney to move permanently to Prague to advance her creative juices & succeed as a best-selling novelist. It's a light read that details the zanier side of living in Prague as an ex-pat, desperately trying to fit in.
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Funny and well written. However, being an expat in Prague currently it was hard to read when she bad talked this beautiful city that I have fallen so deeply in love with. Everyone's experience is different and for the most part I enjoyed reading about hers.
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Picked this up on a whim on a visit to Stanford's (swoon) to buy a guide to Prague. This was very light, cute, and relatable in a 'Bridget Jones' sort of way. I only found her a bit stubborn and bratty in two instances, but mostly I was highly amused at the situations she often found herself in.
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I love books where the author has chosen to live in another country, especially when the author is an Australian. This book was good, her life interesting but it seemed less exotic and more drudgery. However, it was written well and I would read her other works.
Light, entertaining, but not very thought provoking. A fun, quick read.
An entertaining, well-written book that brings a beautiful city to life.
I loved this book. Thanks Graham Dann for sending it too me. Plus I know someone mentioned in the book.
Wish I'd read this before visiting Prague.
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Having visited Prague I had to read this. Rachel Weiss is so funny with her tale of life there. Read and you will enjoy.
Dec 07, 2020
Noa McDonald
added it
It was great and a nice, light and easy read - especially as a new 20 year old Dutch/British expat in Prague. My kind Czech neighbour lent it to me and my family to read and we fell in love with the authentic humour and experiences that felt all too real and is if you were right there with Rachael Weiss (and yes not Rachel Weisz, the Mummy and Oz the Great and Powerful actress).
I especially loved (or was definitely worried and low-key scared) of the unfortunate experience where Rachael was hiki ...more
I especially loved (or was definitely worried and low-key scared) of the unfortunate experience where Rachael was hiki ...more
Good God, I am relieved to be finished with this tedious book. I picked it up after a trip to Prague, having once lived in Sweden for about the same amount of time and thinking I might find some relatable insights here, or at least entertaining thoughts on culture clashing– Ms. Weiss being Australian and me being American and both of us having moved to relatively cold and quiet northern cultures.
This book is devoid of valuable insight and reads, instead, like the author's bitter journal pages f ...more
This book is devoid of valuable insight and reads, instead, like the author's bitter journal pages f ...more
This book was horrible. The author lost me when she abandoned her pet, but beyond that she was patronising, judgmental, rude and spoiled. It's not interesting to write about being lonely when it's so blatantly obvious why you're lonely. What a nasty person. All problems were someone else's fault. She couldn't cope with culture shock, and expected the Czechs to bend to her expectations. She thought she was far too good to do anything Czechs would do, despite not speaking the language, not really
...more
I found it awful. Dreadful. Appalling. The introduction sucked me right in, but the rest was like watching a train wreck. I couldn't believe how the content went from bad to worse, and how shamelessly the author is putting down everyone around her in a self-proclaimed effort to save herself for better. For example, ''Stereotyped-qualificator Person is a project manager although I find that hard to believe as she is never doing any work'' First off, I really hope this is fiction because I cannot
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I love armchair traveling, especially with the types of memoirs where people actually live somewhere, at least for awhile, because you get a more realistic picture of a place. Rachael Weiss has a fun, conversational style and yet imparts a great deal of atmosphere. Being a woman of a certain age myself, I understand the urge to shake up your life. Prague is a city I have long yearned to visit, though not live, and Weiss's book reaffirms the desire. I think anyone who enjoys travel memoirs or has
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This is easily in my top five favorite books ever. The ease and comfort of reading this prose.. the humor.. the heartfelt desire to travel and to find something different out of life. I related to all of it, and I loved this book so much. I spent over a year reading it, savoring one chapter at a time, because I didn't want it to be over too quickly. A year later, and it still feels like it flew by.
What a freaking awesome memoir. ...more
What a freaking awesome memoir. ...more
I was drawn to this book in order to research for a future trip, so it had me intrigued to hear about another person's attempt to get a feel of the place.
It's a bit confusing towards the start of the book, as we are made to believe that this is a random all or nothing, life-changing "Eat Pray Love-esque" decision to move from Australia to discover a new life and culture, until we get to Prague and we discover that not only has she lived there before in the past but her Czech family has a place ...more
It's a bit confusing towards the start of the book, as we are made to believe that this is a random all or nothing, life-changing "Eat Pray Love-esque" decision to move from Australia to discover a new life and culture, until we get to Prague and we discover that not only has she lived there before in the past but her Czech family has a place ...more
So full of cliches, stereotypes, and biases and most of the anecdotes seem made up. I was so annoyed that I had to give up when the “Ukrainian plumbers who need their wives to teach them how to clean” started work in the bathroom.
This a very honest and touching story of a huge change in life and all the frustrations along the way. It is at times very funny and also very sad. It is well written and always entertaining.
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Rachael Weiss is an Australian author, living and writing in Dublin. She considers her greatest achievement to be her fourth place in the New South Wales Scrabble tournament. Her first two books are Me, Myself and Prague (Allen & Unwin 2008), and Are We There Yet? (Allen & Unwin 2005). -from author's website
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