Planet Germany

by Cathy Dobson

After a decade of living in Germany, a chaotic British family makes a New Year's resolution to throw themselves wholeheartedly into the local culture. The process is complicated as the mother is founding a business with a German partner who is convinced that all Brits are both dysfunctional and poorly nourished. The year sees them bumbling through local festivals, getting into scrapes with authorities, and falling foul of the law, all aided and abetted by their eccentric neighbours and posse of cats. This book exposes the crazier side of both British and German culture, examines profound mysteries such as German fortune telling and sauna etiquette, and explains why dachshund owners are the most dangerous people on the planet.

Genres: Humor

280 pages, Paperback

First published November 16, 2007

About the author

Cathy Dobson was born in 1963 in Marple, Cheshire, the town after which Agatha Christie named her famous female sleuth, Miss Marple. She studied modern and medieval languages at Cambridge University between 1982–1986. In 1991 she moved to Germany and in 1995 settled in Meerbusch in the Rhineland with her husband, three children and a fluctuating number of cats. Her first novel, Planet Germany, was published in 2007, to wide acclaim in the German and British press. The Devil’s Missal is her second novel.

Reviews

[Willoyd · Rating 1 out of 5]

The travel shelves are very light on books about Germany, and as someone who has really enjoyed travelling and holidaying there, but not got much further, I was really looking forward to a bit of insight from someone who had obviously done so. First impressions were very favourable: self-deprecating humour, short snappy chapters, a series of amusing anecdotes. But this rapidly began to pall in the face of all too many stereotypes, and the failure to go any deeper. Far from a story of integration, the author seems determined to maintain her Britishness, and the Germans (aside from immediate friends, many of whom aren't actually German) became figures of fun, with silly pseudonymic names such as Officer Georgeous, Dr Bier, Frau Grimm (school teacher no less). Aside from the author's business partner and her family, I felt I learned next to nothing about their real characters. As for the anecdotes - they get more and more obvious and predictable. Well yes, if you leave food lying around in a house of cats, it gets eaten. If you walk close behind a horse, it'll defecate on you and you'll smell.

There are some areas of real interest: I enjoyed the occasional insights into being a school parent, and I was interested in how the children were dealing with their bilingual culture, but towards the end, it all seemed to merge into a string of descriptions of parties and festivals (the family enjoy their outdoor parties), all of which appeared to be centred on a very British culinary style. So much for integration.

The writing is very readable - I zoomed through this - and the Dobson family come across as very likeable and amusingly accident prone, but I have to admit that this felt like an excellent opportunity wasted, and in the end left me feeling I didn't really learn that much about German culture or German people. Maybe it was simply a victim of misleading blurb. All in all, one of those books I really wanted to like, but, in all honesty, did not.

[Megan Tomson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this one. I have spent the past two years living in Germany and SO many of the anecdotes in this book rang true for me. It really nails what it's like to be an expat trying to navigate life in Germany and the accompanying cultural misunderstandings/mishaps. . . I'll go back and re-read this whenever I want to relive my time in Mülheim:)

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amusing look at a Brit's day to day in Germany. A bit facile, but amusing. My mom, who has never been to Germany, loved it. I found it quite funny but not terribly surprising.

[Agnes · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was so excited about this
I was less than halfway through when I knew it needed some serious editing and then I read the back of the book that says this is a novel.
THIS IS A NOVEL?
On what Planet is this a novel?

Makes me sad, the idea was solid.

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am the author of this book - I'd love to hear from anyone who has read it or would like to read it.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious - especially if you have experience of the joys of Germany

[Ginnybean]

A good lesson into living in Germany - the quirky traditions that shows that Germans are actually quite fun loving folks (despite the stereotypes!)

[Ming · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very entertaining and only very lightly ficitonalized account (at least for the parts I was familiar with anyway ;-)) - it's quite fascinating seeing how people describe you in a book!