Diplomatic Baggage

What a delightful, witty, and engaging book! I took it on a girls trip to Florida and giggled every night after lights went out reading in my bunk. Next morning everyone on board wanted to read it. Tidbits of living in countries so different and under conditions ranging from basically camping out to luxury accommodation. Add the opportunities for new foods, new languages, new customs and new housing staff and you have a mix not to be missed. And just imagine (you can't) raising children/teens under those circumstances. A mind relaxing, belly chuckling book - but with enough of the realities of life and sobering moments to remind you this was a real life and certainly not a cushy one.

I lived overseas for 10 years and my husband saw this book on his co-workers desk and brought it home for me to read. It's made me cry and laugh as I read about their wacky adventures in foreign lands. I love this book. I could totally relate since I've had many of the same experiences. Very well written.

Funny & hilarious writing. Basically the postings are presented in a chronological manner, but at times the author jumps to describe something happened in another posting which is a bit confusing. In the first chapter, the author shows that a diplomat wife's life is not as glamorous & "prestigious" as the general public would think. I can understand the depressed feeling brought by the cycle of loneliness, homesickness, language barrier, making new friends, getting used to a place and then leaving local friends for the next posting. But reading on, you'll find that actually she's not THAT miserable & bored, as she'd made lots of new friends in all postings, gone to & organized dinner parties, initiated a project in saving rundown historical buildings, organized fund raising campaigns, written a few books and a newspaper column, had weekend excursions to archaeological sites & interesting places, and even designed her own pattern of dyed cloth to sell! Which made the first chapter quite odd. By her feelings & behaviour (eg crying all day, having argument with her diplomatic husband), you would think she's a young & immature girl just married to a diplomat sent to Almaty. But NO! This is in fact the then current posting after nearly 30 yrs of overseas postings. So why did she still feel so miserable & sad? It's hard for the reader to reconcile this with such an experienced "trailing spouse".

Being a diplomatic spouse myself, I really enjoyed this book and could relate to many of the feelings she had and many of the experiences. It is her memoir and she is clearly an intelligent woman and entitled to her opinions but I found the tone and some of her political comments particularly galling. Politics aside, it was a fun read.

It is rare for a writer to be very sensitive to naunces of different cultures. This book is one of those rare gems. As a European Commission diplomat's wife, the author Brigid, dutifully fulfils her role as gracious hostess, interprid traveller, cultural restorer, humanitarian doer, tireless mother coping with young children who grow up to be rebellious teenage daughters. She is a multi-faceted character bursting with energy and enthusiasm. Her rich experiences make the book a gripping travelogue as she moves across continents from Europe, to Africa, to the Caribbean and to Central Asia. She is able to laugh at herself unconsciously when there is a diplomatic faux pas or cultural hiccup along the way. She does not demean anyone she meets. She is truly a first rate diplomat herself. Extremely readable!