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A Country in the Moon
Michael Moran keeps company with a gallery of fantastic characters in this uproarious memoir and meticulously researched cultural journey. In chronicling the resurrection of the nation from war and the Holocaust, he paints a portrait of the unknown Poland, one of monumental castles, primeval forests, and of course, the Poles themselves. Moran shows the quirky, colorful side of Polish life obscured by memories of communism, but does not neglect dark side of Polish history—anti-Semitism and the Holocaust. This captivating journey into the heart of a country is a timely and brilliant celebration of a valiant and richly cultured people.
362 pages, Paperback
First published April 7, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
September 12, 2018
Every now and again, there is a book that fills one with so much rage it is almost impossible to finish.
This was that book.
At times it read like a colonialist book about a ‘savage’ country. When not exoticising everyone (especially the women) he meets or even glimpses from afar as they do not conform to his standards, Moran uses as many sources as possible to show that he understands the country’s history and, by extension, its present.
From the introduction, in which he feels he has to justify writing a book about Poland, my blood started to boil. As the book progressed, Moran’s inability to get his head around cultural differences frustrated me. I know he was out there in the 90s’ but DUDE! You’re in Central Europe! In the 1990s’, not the 1890s’! Large numbers of married women working in business and STEM subjects should not boggle your mind.
At first, he and his English colleagues despair of how they will ever meet single women as all the attractive ones seem to be in relationships. (Is this where JKR got those throwaway lines for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire?) But fear not, reader! Moran meets Zosia, a married woman looking for some passionate lovin’.
How do we know she’s looking for passion?
Because “Polish women are extraordinarily intense sexually”. Well gee, Moran. Thanks for summarising the sex drive of every woman in one country so succinctly.
In an attempt to ‘get down with the locals’ in the post-Communist era, he does what we would all do. He gets in his Rolls-Royce and sets off on an epic adventure, leaving no corner of the country unexplored.
His descriptions verge on the Orzeszkowan: rippling grasses, purple skies and peasants labouring in their forebears’ fields. Every palace, every garden reminds him of some uneclipsable Western European treasure.
Though his opinions of contemporary Poland left me fuming, Moran did (to his credit), write well about the country’s history. Chopin’s contribution to music was very extensively covered. The realities and the impact of WWII were heart-breakingly explored and footnotes have introduced me to a few other texts about the country that I would like to read.
Overall
Moran was capable of quoting the Polish, (eg.)
This was that book.
At times it read like a colonialist book about a ‘savage’ country. When not exoticising everyone (especially the women) he meets or even glimpses from afar as they do not conform to his standards, Moran uses as many sources as possible to show that he understands the country’s history and, by extension, its present.
From the introduction, in which he feels he has to justify writing a book about Poland, my blood started to boil. As the book progressed, Moran’s inability to get his head around cultural differences frustrated me. I know he was out there in the 90s’ but DUDE! You’re in Central Europe! In the 1990s’, not the 1890s’! Large numbers of married women working in business and STEM subjects should not boggle your mind.
At first, he and his English colleagues despair of how they will ever meet single women as all the attractive ones seem to be in relationships. (Is this where JKR got those throwaway lines for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire?) But fear not, reader! Moran meets Zosia, a married woman looking for some passionate lovin’.
How do we know she’s looking for passion?
Because “Polish women are extraordinarily intense sexually”. Well gee, Moran. Thanks for summarising the sex drive of every woman in one country so succinctly.
In an attempt to ‘get down with the locals’ in the post-Communist era, he does what we would all do. He gets in his Rolls-Royce and sets off on an epic adventure, leaving no corner of the country unexplored.
His descriptions verge on the Orzeszkowan: rippling grasses, purple skies and peasants labouring in their forebears’ fields. Every palace, every garden reminds him of some uneclipsable Western European treasure.
Though his opinions of contemporary Poland left me fuming, Moran did (to his credit), write well about the country’s history. Chopin’s contribution to music was very extensively covered. The realities and the impact of WWII were heart-breakingly explored and footnotes have introduced me to a few other texts about the country that I would like to read.
Overall
Moran was capable of quoting the Polish, (eg.)
“Victory is to be defeated but not to surrender”, [Piłsudski]but did not have the foggiest when it came to understanding what was happening around him.
May 1, 2016
Not sure how I feel about this book. I'm glad I read it---plenty of interesting historical footnotes I hadn't known about my own homeland, and it's fascinating to read about Poland through a foreigner's eyes.
But wow, I've never felt so exoticized! Although Moran takes a sincere interest in Polish culture and history, he also romanticizes the heck out of it.
His endless purple prose, about the silhouettes of bucolic peasants working the fields as he drives by in his fancy schmancy car, is meant to set the scene but feels patronizing. Likewise, his descriptions of an affair with a Polish married woman just feel tacky.
(p.176: "Zosia dressed in briefest black for our abandoned lovemaking that evening... Polish women are extraordinarily intense sexually, but that night ... I fear I must have given a lacklustre performance. I was in search of something more dreamily romantic on this time-dressed, nostalgic evening." Oh dear, you poor baby.)
Even more tedious are the endless comparisons of the Polish aristocracy's architecture and gardens to this or that famous park in Western Europe, especially England. You could generously assume he's just trying to make connections that'll be helpful to a British reading audience... but often it just comes across as name-dropping and showing off how superior his classically education is.
(Though that might just be my ignorance of architecture. I did enjoy his sections on Chopin, while someone who's not into classical music might be as bored as I was by all the gardens.)
Still, it's good to remember that only a few decades ago, Westerners saw my homeland in very much the same way as we see developing nations today.
I think of Poland as a "civilized" country with a proud, complex history. But Moran's descriptions of petty corruption, shoddy infrastructure, and business incompetence sound a lot like how we hear Westerners today describe parts of the world that still seem "uncivilized" to many.
So perhaps it's a good reminder that those other countries are not so different from my own, and a good cause for optimism about economic development given decent conditions.
Other notes:
So the accordion apparently has a Polish-invented precursor (the harmonium and accordion are distinct, but related): the aeolomelodicon.
p.124: "In 1821 a Warsaw taxidermist named August Brunner invented the strange aeolomelodicon, named after the Greek god of wind, which was a precursor to the harmonium. Chopin gave a virtuoso performance on it which so impressed Tsar Alexander I that he gave him a diamond ring."
Wish I could have heard it. Too bad Chopin never passed down any accordion compositions that we know of :)
p.133-134: Nice section on how other nations perceive Chopin's music (and how performances have changed over time). In particular I'd like to read the article mentioned here: "The Reception of Chopin's Music in Japan" by Tamura Susumu, found in Chopin And His Work In The Context Of Culture: Studies. Like many Poles I find it unexpected that Chopin's music is so popular in Asian cultures, which seem so very different from ours.
p.139: "The modern pianist who came closest to the many descriptions of Chopin's own playing and is considered the heir to the 'pure' tradition was the Pole, Raul von Koczalski" -- I should look up his recordings. Here are some.
p.189: Huh! I knew Poland had the first written constitution in Europe (1791) and that it limited the aristocracy's powers---but didn't realize it also replaced elected monarchs with hereditary. Not such a grand step towards democracy as I'd thought, perhaps.
p.191: "As Marshal Piłsudski once remarked in a succinct expression of Polishness, 'Victory is to be defeated but not to surrender.'"
p.227: End of a nice segment when some mechanics in rural Poland host him as they fix his broken car:
"Jan and Józef charged us nothing for the repair or the two full days accommodation and food. We had experienced some of the finest qualities of Poles---emotional warmth and support in distress, solidarity, overwhelming hospitality and acres of food, the ability to improvise solutions in impossible circumstances and a final flourish of the Catholic Church."
p.228: "Refuting a myth is like dancing with a skeleton: one finds it hard to disengage from the deceptively lithe embrace once the music has begun, and one soon realizes that one's own steps are what is keeping the old bones in motion."
(From The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569-1999, which I need to read as well. I know too little about Poland's relations with its neighbors, especially the horrific years during and just after WW2.)
p.255: "Poles are fond of the big unconsidered gesture as a way of dispelling anxiety and saving the day. Brilliantly improvised solutions to problems of their own making."
p.273: I should also read The Polish Revolution: Solidarity and learn more about the Solidarnosc movement.
p.291: Zosia's ancestors are family friends of ours. Their story sounds a lot like my own grandmother's:
"'And then in 1944 the Russians came again. Someone informed on my grandfather and he was put in a Russian prison. He managed to get a message out telling my grandmother to leave. They were packed into cattle cars in the heat of midsummer and sent west. About one and a half million Poles were forced from Soviet occupied territory. The train often stopped in the stifling temperatures and the driver could only be persuaded to continue with bribes of vodka. My mother was only fourteen and her two sisters were eight and ten. Grandmother and the children decided to go to the terminus of the train at Zielona Góra as far as possible from the Russians.'
'Where did they live?'
'Well, the Germans had all fled in panic leaving everything behind---books, paintings, furniture, crystal, their cars, as there was no petrol for civilian use. There was a lot of looting. They could move into any empty German house and my grandmother was so terrified she moved into the first one that had a Polish-speaking family living on the top floor. It was absolute chaos in those days. My mother and her sisters have been living in that house ever since.'
'But how did they survive? Where did the money come from for food?'
'Barter mainly. They only had a bag of peas and a goat to begin with.'"
p.302: I should read up more about the "Lipka Tatars," descendants of tribes from the steppes who settled in Poland, practiced Islam, yet fought alongside the Christianized Poles against the Germans and even the Ottomans. Poland's people have become homogenized in many ways, thanks to all the forced resettlements after WW2, but there's a long & fascinating history of many, many distinct tribes and cultures and languages and nations living together here.
p.311: A heart-rending section quoted from The Pianist: The Extraordinary Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939-45. It makes me furious and choked up every time I read it:
p.332: "The unique contribution Poland has made to the European psyche is resistance to oppression whatever the cost, a universal human emotion rarely expressed with such intensity as here."
But wow, I've never felt so exoticized! Although Moran takes a sincere interest in Polish culture and history, he also romanticizes the heck out of it.
His endless purple prose, about the silhouettes of bucolic peasants working the fields as he drives by in his fancy schmancy car, is meant to set the scene but feels patronizing. Likewise, his descriptions of an affair with a Polish married woman just feel tacky.
(p.176: "Zosia dressed in briefest black for our abandoned lovemaking that evening... Polish women are extraordinarily intense sexually, but that night ... I fear I must have given a lacklustre performance. I was in search of something more dreamily romantic on this time-dressed, nostalgic evening." Oh dear, you poor baby.)
Even more tedious are the endless comparisons of the Polish aristocracy's architecture and gardens to this or that famous park in Western Europe, especially England. You could generously assume he's just trying to make connections that'll be helpful to a British reading audience... but often it just comes across as name-dropping and showing off how superior his classically education is.
(Though that might just be my ignorance of architecture. I did enjoy his sections on Chopin, while someone who's not into classical music might be as bored as I was by all the gardens.)
Still, it's good to remember that only a few decades ago, Westerners saw my homeland in very much the same way as we see developing nations today.
I think of Poland as a "civilized" country with a proud, complex history. But Moran's descriptions of petty corruption, shoddy infrastructure, and business incompetence sound a lot like how we hear Westerners today describe parts of the world that still seem "uncivilized" to many.
So perhaps it's a good reminder that those other countries are not so different from my own, and a good cause for optimism about economic development given decent conditions.
Other notes:
So the accordion apparently has a Polish-invented precursor (the harmonium and accordion are distinct, but related): the aeolomelodicon.
p.124: "In 1821 a Warsaw taxidermist named August Brunner invented the strange aeolomelodicon, named after the Greek god of wind, which was a precursor to the harmonium. Chopin gave a virtuoso performance on it which so impressed Tsar Alexander I that he gave him a diamond ring."
Wish I could have heard it. Too bad Chopin never passed down any accordion compositions that we know of :)
p.133-134: Nice section on how other nations perceive Chopin's music (and how performances have changed over time). In particular I'd like to read the article mentioned here: "The Reception of Chopin's Music in Japan" by Tamura Susumu, found in Chopin And His Work In The Context Of Culture: Studies. Like many Poles I find it unexpected that Chopin's music is so popular in Asian cultures, which seem so very different from ours.
p.139: "The modern pianist who came closest to the many descriptions of Chopin's own playing and is considered the heir to the 'pure' tradition was the Pole, Raul von Koczalski" -- I should look up his recordings. Here are some.
p.189: Huh! I knew Poland had the first written constitution in Europe (1791) and that it limited the aristocracy's powers---but didn't realize it also replaced elected monarchs with hereditary. Not such a grand step towards democracy as I'd thought, perhaps.
p.191: "As Marshal Piłsudski once remarked in a succinct expression of Polishness, 'Victory is to be defeated but not to surrender.'"
p.227: End of a nice segment when some mechanics in rural Poland host him as they fix his broken car:
"Jan and Józef charged us nothing for the repair or the two full days accommodation and food. We had experienced some of the finest qualities of Poles---emotional warmth and support in distress, solidarity, overwhelming hospitality and acres of food, the ability to improvise solutions in impossible circumstances and a final flourish of the Catholic Church."
p.228: "Refuting a myth is like dancing with a skeleton: one finds it hard to disengage from the deceptively lithe embrace once the music has begun, and one soon realizes that one's own steps are what is keeping the old bones in motion."
(From The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569-1999, which I need to read as well. I know too little about Poland's relations with its neighbors, especially the horrific years during and just after WW2.)
p.255: "Poles are fond of the big unconsidered gesture as a way of dispelling anxiety and saving the day. Brilliantly improvised solutions to problems of their own making."
p.273: I should also read The Polish Revolution: Solidarity and learn more about the Solidarnosc movement.
p.291: Zosia's ancestors are family friends of ours. Their story sounds a lot like my own grandmother's:
"'And then in 1944 the Russians came again. Someone informed on my grandfather and he was put in a Russian prison. He managed to get a message out telling my grandmother to leave. They were packed into cattle cars in the heat of midsummer and sent west. About one and a half million Poles were forced from Soviet occupied territory. The train often stopped in the stifling temperatures and the driver could only be persuaded to continue with bribes of vodka. My mother was only fourteen and her two sisters were eight and ten. Grandmother and the children decided to go to the terminus of the train at Zielona Góra as far as possible from the Russians.'
'Where did they live?'
'Well, the Germans had all fled in panic leaving everything behind---books, paintings, furniture, crystal, their cars, as there was no petrol for civilian use. There was a lot of looting. They could move into any empty German house and my grandmother was so terrified she moved into the first one that had a Polish-speaking family living on the top floor. It was absolute chaos in those days. My mother and her sisters have been living in that house ever since.'
'But how did they survive? Where did the money come from for food?'
'Barter mainly. They only had a bag of peas and a goat to begin with.'"
p.302: I should read up more about the "Lipka Tatars," descendants of tribes from the steppes who settled in Poland, practiced Islam, yet fought alongside the Christianized Poles against the Germans and even the Ottomans. Poland's people have become homogenized in many ways, thanks to all the forced resettlements after WW2, but there's a long & fascinating history of many, many distinct tribes and cultures and languages and nations living together here.
p.311: A heart-rending section quoted from The Pianist: The Extraordinary Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939-45. It makes me furious and choked up every time I read it:
One day, around 5th August, when I had taken a brief rest from work and was walking down Gęsia Street, I happened to see Janusz Korczak and his orphans leaving the ghetto.
The evacuation of the Jewish orphanage run by Janusz Korczak had been ordered for that morning.
The children were to have been taken away alone. He had the chance to save himself, and it was only with difficulty that he persuaded the Germans to take him too. He had spent long years of his life with children, and now, on this last journey, he could not leave them alone. He wanted to ease things for them. He told the orphans they were going out in to the country, so they ought to be cheerful. At last they would be able to exchange the horrible, suffocating city walls for meadows of flowers, streams where they could bathe, woods full of berries and mushrooms. He told them to wear their best clothes, and so they came out into the yard, two by two, nicely dressed and in a happy mood.
The little column was led by an SS man who loved children, as Germans do, even those he was about to see on their way into the next world. He took a special liking to a boy of twelve, a violinist who had his instrument under his arm. The SS man told him to go to the head of the procession of children and play – and so they set off.
When I met them in Gęsia Street the smiling children were singing in chorus, the little violinist was playing for them and Korczak was carrying two of the smallest infants, who were beaming too, and telling them some amusing story.
I am sure that even in the gas chamber, as the Zyklon B gas was stifling childish throats and striking terror instead of hope into the orphans' hearts, the Old Doctor must have whispered with one last effort, 'It's all right, children, it will be all right,' so that at least he could spare his little charges the fear of passing from life to death."
p.332: "The unique contribution Poland has made to the European psyche is resistance to oppression whatever the cost, a universal human emotion rarely expressed with such intensity as here."
January 16, 2021
the author travels around Poland before Poland joined the EU and looks at polish history whilst he travels around as he is working there and does give an insight into Polish history which most people don't know apart from the modern part of start of WW2
December 12, 2018
I am partial to the stars I gave .This is a book on Poland just after the communist regime from the eyes of a romantic guy ,that thinks everything is "the most magnificent " and wonderful when describing scenery and buildings . History has a gosspy style .There is lots of history .The book wanted to be light with a personal story line ,but came across as overdone . I read the book OK until I came to two sentences that can not take M.Moran as the "neutral " commentator.
1 :
"Poland was the only country on the continent of Europe that neither surrendered nor collaborated with the Nazis from the very beginning to the very end of World War II."
2:You should speak to ordinary people ....not listen to all those anti-Semitic arguments that followed some terrible isolated events".
Did I learn about Poland? maybe isolated historical events and names of places and palaces that I will check online .
1 :
"Poland was the only country on the continent of Europe that neither surrendered nor collaborated with the Nazis from the very beginning to the very end of World War II."
2:You should speak to ordinary people ....not listen to all those anti-Semitic arguments that followed some terrible isolated events".
Did I learn about Poland? maybe isolated historical events and names of places and palaces that I will check online .
August 6, 2022
Packed with endless historical facts, this book took me some time to get through and fully digest. While at times Moran’s descriptions can be a little on the nose (see his problematic summation of all Polish women), his geographical descriptions are brilliant, and it was pleasant to revisit so many of the places I have spent much time in and loved so well.
August 1, 2020
Brilliant, elegant, engaging swirl through Polish history, landscapes, history and culture.
A perfect introduction above and beyond the run-of-the mill tourist guides and both deeply engaged and on occasion funny account of Poland then, recently and nearly now
A perfect introduction above and beyond the run-of-the mill tourist guides and both deeply engaged and on occasion funny account of Poland then, recently and nearly now
October 19, 2022
Honest and informative. Arguably better than anything Tyson fury has written, definitely better than the handmaid's tale
Read
October 27, 2014Michael Moran, A Country in the Moon: Travels in Search of the Heart of Poland
384pp.
Mr Moran's study of Poland has become something of a standard work for non-Polish speakers - anyone who travels to that country will immediately encounter this publication in the Chopin airport bookshop and at other outlets in the capital.
Moran, who moved to Poland shortly after the demise of the Eastern Bloc and who eventually married and settled in that country, combines in this work a series of anecdotes concerning his personal experiences of Poland during the wobbly post-dictatorial years, prior to Poland finding its democratic feet, alongside an erudite and eloquent insight into aspects of Polish culture and history, whereby Moran displays a particular interest in all matters musical (the previously mentioned Chopin, amongst others, refers).
The admixture of anecdotes and historical and cultural excursions (we learn not only of Moran's Rolls Royce motor car, in which he roamed around the bumpy roads of post-'communist' Poland, but also of historical curiosities such as buffalos being catapulted into the air at a shooting event) provides a refreshing literary cocktail which is spiked with the clearly discernible traces of the author's modest but nevertheless evident erudition.
Moran's prose is polished and his accounts are both entertaining and informative for anyone who is interested in finding out more about this 'country in the moon'.
384pp.
Mr Moran's study of Poland has become something of a standard work for non-Polish speakers - anyone who travels to that country will immediately encounter this publication in the Chopin airport bookshop and at other outlets in the capital.
Moran, who moved to Poland shortly after the demise of the Eastern Bloc and who eventually married and settled in that country, combines in this work a series of anecdotes concerning his personal experiences of Poland during the wobbly post-dictatorial years, prior to Poland finding its democratic feet, alongside an erudite and eloquent insight into aspects of Polish culture and history, whereby Moran displays a particular interest in all matters musical (the previously mentioned Chopin, amongst others, refers).
The admixture of anecdotes and historical and cultural excursions (we learn not only of Moran's Rolls Royce motor car, in which he roamed around the bumpy roads of post-'communist' Poland, but also of historical curiosities such as buffalos being catapulted into the air at a shooting event) provides a refreshing literary cocktail which is spiked with the clearly discernible traces of the author's modest but nevertheless evident erudition.
Moran's prose is polished and his accounts are both entertaining and informative for anyone who is interested in finding out more about this 'country in the moon'.
November 25, 2013
A great overview of Poland for the uninitiated and curious. Before reading, I was only familiar with parts of the country's history and ACITM is very successful in provided lots more surprising info and truly igniting that interest, with the text tempting the reader to investigate further with other books and films.
Poland's history is fascinating and Moran certainly makes sure the reader feels that way about it. There are parts of the book where you gasp in shock, others where you laugh at what has happened over the past thousand years.
The narrative thread that linked all the stories together about Moran's personal experiences were a mixed bag though - his experiences with the early post-communist era are illuminating, but his romantic pursuits did not interest me much. His literary writing style, which works excellently in many places (describing battle scenes, for example), made the parts about his love life seem to drag and seem overly melodramatic at times.
I think a small trim of the book could have been very handy to get rid of these flatter parts - some readers may find the long sections about Chopin could also do with tightening - but this is a small criticism. The book as a whole is a rewarding, entertaining and educational read, and I'd definitely recommend it to any English-language reader with even a hint of interest in Poland.
Poland's history is fascinating and Moran certainly makes sure the reader feels that way about it. There are parts of the book where you gasp in shock, others where you laugh at what has happened over the past thousand years.
The narrative thread that linked all the stories together about Moran's personal experiences were a mixed bag though - his experiences with the early post-communist era are illuminating, but his romantic pursuits did not interest me much. His literary writing style, which works excellently in many places (describing battle scenes, for example), made the parts about his love life seem to drag and seem overly melodramatic at times.
I think a small trim of the book could have been very handy to get rid of these flatter parts - some readers may find the long sections about Chopin could also do with tightening - but this is a small criticism. The book as a whole is a rewarding, entertaining and educational read, and I'd definitely recommend it to any English-language reader with even a hint of interest in Poland.
March 27, 2024
I may be unfair in not giving a higher rating - there are elements of the travel parts the book that were quite fun and informative but I couldn't shake the feeling that the book was out-of-date, I was tempted to say out of touch but I don't really have the right knowledge or experience to directly challenge the author. But my dislike is based on two things in particular - Mr. Moran's raptures over Pope John Paul II, a pope I have great problems and reservations about long before he died and was made a saint and fr. Tadeusz Rydzyk and his radio station Maryja. Both JPII and Rydzyk are very conservative, anti gay, anti-women's rights, anti-Semitic and excusing/dismissing/disbelieving in the paedophile scandals that were rocking and continue to rock the Catholic church. I am sure there are better books on Poland to read.
October 21, 2015
one of the best book to grab on Poland....for travel,....for history....and more..
January 16, 2011
I thought that this was a fascinating book centring, as it did, on the music of Chopin and, literally, the soul of Poland.
December 9, 2021
A fascinating tale of a foreigner moving in to Poland right after the fall of communism! In an exciting fashion, Michael elegantly describes the highlights of his life there, from his love affair with Zofia to his awkward relationships with his foreigner colleagues, with a stronger focus on the main character of the book: Poland. The author shows an unrequited love toward the country and an abundant thirst to learn more about the country. The final result is more than a book of memories, it's an encyclopedia of Polish history, and the final pages curate an extensive list of books and movies the author recommends to learn more about the country.
A beautiful journey through a Poland that exists no more.
A beautiful journey through a Poland that exists no more.
May 14, 2024
A love letter to Poland. Moran first visited the country in the 90s, fell in love, and soon returned. This book is like a compendium of his travels, combined with long historical asides (sometimes you feel he leans a little too heavily on Zamoyski). The highlights are definitely the personal anecdotes, especially from when Moran worked on a project that was supposed to educate the Poles on business matters as they came out of the Communist period. Overall, one of the best books I've read about Poland, its people and its history.
November 16, 2025
Read before the Poland trip with Lisa and her family. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the best travel writing. Mann often recounts historical narratives but lacks the powerful voice to do so. His own opinions are then shoehorned in and at times are shallow. Furthermore, his authorial voice is often abrasive and crass. Gets points for some of its insights, especially the one about the history of absence. Also does well covering lots of ground.
December 18, 2017
I read this book because of my own deep interest in Poland and I largely enjoyed it, but I agree with other reviews indicating that some of the prose is a bit...overwritten. Excellent historical information throughout, however, and the book is loaded with footnotes, sources, and recommended reading and films.
September 22, 2018
A little old pretentious white man writing at some points, but worth getting through those sections for the beautiful portrait of Poland. A great introduction to the history, landscape, and culture of the country. I read this before moving to Warsaw, and it added a lot of depth to my understanding of the place.
Want to read
August 22, 2020Honouring a deathbed pledge to his uncle...but not to the marriage tie...there are some handy words for that ...hypocrisy and cinicism. Boasting and giving away details about it... it is more like a peasant manner (never mind the peasant is in a rr car)....and the raiting for this "gentleman" is 0.
October 26, 2023
I wanted to like this book but I felt it read like a child observing an exotic animal at a zoo. The history was interspersed throughout the book but not in any particular order. By the end of the book I was confused about what the main story was. Don’t even remember the business he was running in Poland.
January 5, 2024
Honestly, it's nonsense after nonsense, or as my grandmother used to say, "cat eggs in horseradish", but... we can justify the author by the fact that he came from Australia and could not have known how wonderfully we can in Poland serve our traditional, twisted fairy tale to naive foreigners.
August 7, 2020
I want to read this book rewritten by the manager whose bum is pinched by the too-small ośrodek toilet seats. I don't care about Michael, I want to hear the Polish people.
October 13, 2025
I got bored.
September 9, 2012
Mike Moran is very knowledgeable and absolutely passionate about Poland, his adopted land. His writing fairly bristles with erudition and insight into Polish culture and character. Rare among travel writers, he also has the necessary musical background to intelligently discuss Chopin and his compositions.
However, Moran just cannot avoid the temptation to dive into dense thickets of purple prose whenever he can. The book is thus jampacked with lush superlatives and soaring claims, whether justified or not. I didn't like this tendency to overwrite. Also, the devious machinations surrounding the language training programme gets far too much airtime. That part of the book became rather tedious (and something of a distraction) pretty early on.
Why the four stars then? Because the subject - Poland - is vast, tragic, and important, and Moran has the skill and sensibility to do it justice. The descriptions of Polish life are both revealing and enjoyable, and the love story with Zosia provides the book with its emotional anchor. It's all too easy to be stingy with ratings; for me, the writer's ambition and enthusiasm are worth a fourth star. If you care for the recent history of Eastern Europe, there's something in this book for you.
However, Moran just cannot avoid the temptation to dive into dense thickets of purple prose whenever he can. The book is thus jampacked with lush superlatives and soaring claims, whether justified or not. I didn't like this tendency to overwrite. Also, the devious machinations surrounding the language training programme gets far too much airtime. That part of the book became rather tedious (and something of a distraction) pretty early on.
Why the four stars then? Because the subject - Poland - is vast, tragic, and important, and Moran has the skill and sensibility to do it justice. The descriptions of Polish life are both revealing and enjoyable, and the love story with Zosia provides the book with its emotional anchor. It's all too easy to be stingy with ratings; for me, the writer's ambition and enthusiasm are worth a fourth star. If you care for the recent history of Eastern Europe, there's something in this book for you.
July 30, 2011
I bought this book mainly to see how a foreigner see Poland. And I am truly amazed by what the author found! Many things, traditions and behaviours, which I consider natural, even obvious, for him were a great surprise and something typically Polish. Are we really so different?
It was an interesting and valuable le to see my own country though the eyes of an alien. I would say this book is for sure less complex and comprehensive than Davies' "God's Playground", but at the same time easier to digest (I - a Pole who was familiar with facts - was often overwhelmed by the amount of information provided by Davies).
One thing for sure - this book is a good starter for someone (foreinger) who wants to know more about Poland. And if after reading it is still interested to know more, then Davies could be a good choice.
It was an interesting and valuable le to see my own country though the eyes of an alien. I would say this book is for sure less complex and comprehensive than Davies' "God's Playground", but at the same time easier to digest (I - a Pole who was familiar with facts - was often overwhelmed by the amount of information provided by Davies).
One thing for sure - this book is a good starter for someone (foreinger) who wants to know more about Poland. And if after reading it is still interested to know more, then Davies could be a good choice.
November 28, 2010
First travelogue I have read on Poland. Some of it was astounding. It's definitely written at a "high" reading level. The author was first in Poland after the fall of communism and during Poland's transition to a market-based economy. Though obviously an interesting time in Polish history, I think some of his personal anecdotes took away from the read as a whole. He probably could have trimmed out 1/8 to 1/4 of the book and made it more readable/enjoyable. What I found most invaluable, aside from some wonderful historical anecdotes, was its references to other books, as I came across 8 or more that I would be interested in reading.
February 11, 2014
I read this as part of my quest to read more modern non fiction (I am very good at reading history but not modern stuff). As I am a quarter Polish and this was a deal on Kindle I read this and I enjoyed it. The references to classical music were a bit over my head but it was great to read about the history and the development of Poland - a country I really dont know a whole lot about despite my blood. It also intertwines Mr Morans personal story and some of it is quite amusing. Very good. I got the Kindle version but I would have liked some photos thats my only significant issue.
January 2, 2011
a very odd "travel or country description" book about Poland. author has a job there in early '90's, but then goes back many times after that and now lives there in the noughties. Full of beautiful descriptions of the old parts of towns all over the country, fairly understandable Polish history (a very very complicated story at best), some fairly even-handed social commentary, and a great love of and feeling for the trees and plants of the country. Will be a classic in the genre.
March 10, 2011
Really 2.5 stars -- lots of Polish history, heavy on the World War II stuff, which didn't really interest me much; the Chopin material wasn't for me either. As a travel narrative (expat memoir mostly), the book was okay, but nothing special. I didn't realize until nearly the end that the "present day" events were nearly 20 years ago.
January 7, 2013
Interesting, engaging portrait of a country with vast potential, with plenty of anecdotes showing the faintly absurd chaos Poland descended into following the break-up of the Soviet Union and the fall of communism. Definitely views itself as at the literary end of the travel writing spectrum, with long chapters waffling on about Chopin, but worth the effort nevertheless.
June 11, 2011
A tale of a man from abroad coming to Poland late 1980s and early 1990s and seeing with his own eyes and stating that Poland is a country from the Moon. Different food, political system, customs - everything was different.
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