- Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: Collins; First Edition edition (25 Jun 2009)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0007310994
- ISBN-13: 978-0007310999
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 692,417 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
On The Couch
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Couchsurfing? Surely a sofa would sink on the open sea? Couchsurfing is a global community of over a million people in 232 countries that offers couches, beds and body-sized horizontal surfaces via the internet for fellow members to bunk down on for the night. Couchsurfing is everywhere, from Kazakhstan, where there are124 empty couches for the daring traveller, to Antartica where 30 cold couches are available. It's free, it's friendly and it's the new way to travel. Fleur Britten, Sunday Times features writer is about to lose her couchsurfing virginity. Starting out in Moscow and taking the Trans-Siberian Railway with a couple of stops in Siberia and Ulan Ude, she'll then fly to Beijing and travel through China, crossing into Kazakhstan. Finding couches in the unlikeliest of places finally arriving back in London to play host to other couchsurfers. With the promise of 'couch available' rarely entailing a couch alone, with stories of meals, unofficial local tours and a family-like welcome, she will explore the unique couchsurfing community and so-called 'couchsurfing spirit'. What motivates people to invite strangers to sleep on their sofas? How is it possible to couchsurf and stay safe and what is it that is it that has made couchsurfing such a phenomenon? This is an adventure of kindness that will lead Fleur to meet the most unusual people and visit the most unexpected places. Combined with revealing, candid images this promises to be much, much more than your average travelogue.
About the Author
By Fleur Britten
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
A wonderful website. A woeful account.,
By
This review is from: On The Couch (Paperback)
Couchsurfing is a project designed to bring people from different nationalities, cultural backgrounds and outlooks on existence together. Having couchsurfed myself for almost three years now, I can honestly say that it has widened my world in so many respects. Not only in the forming of friends all over the world, but also in my own knowledge of other people's lifestyles and ways of living. Some of my nearest and dearest have been people I have met on the site, and for this, I shall be forever grateful.
'On the couch' is an astonishing read, because despite her 10 weeks of travel, we find in the end that ultimately, the protagonist has failed to grow at all. She remains, in her own words,'neurotic, highly-strung and, like so many girls, prone to overthinking'. She remains, in her own words, 'selfish, private and guarded.' She claims to have grown. We see no evidence of it. I think this ultimately comes down to her behaviour during her travels. She is awkward, unsure of how to react to her hosts, frets constantly about the quality of her present to her host instead of just relaxing and enjoying their company and spends the majority of her time on Wi-fi moaning to her now absconded travel partner about the hardships of couchsurfing and simpering to her fluctuating love (who is mentioned throughout the book, where we get glimpses into his life through such messages as 'it's cold in England. I'm wearing two pairs of socks'. This, it appears, throws Fleur into a storm of confusion about where they stand. She calls him the emperor. Need I say more. We just don't care). The questions she asks her hosts, when stretching beyond weather talk, are either vaguely disguised research for this book: 'Have you ever slept with a couchsurfer?' Any negative experiences? etc. or culturally insensitive observations: Joe: no, they didn't sell birds or flowers here, but they did sell dogs. Fleur: To keep or eat? J: To keep. F: Had Joe eaten dog? ... F: Had Joe eaten cat? It is no surprise that Fleur was often met with indifference, contempt and even hostility during her CS experience. She made no true effort to involve herself in the project other than to mete out her chocolates as a pay-off for a place to sleep. She hates traveling alone yet she instantly gets tired of having to converse with her hosts. She moans about the food. About the sleeping arrangements. About what her hosts wear. About what they say. About their apartment and about their country. 'On the couch' is an experiment in bigotry and cultural insensitivity wrapped up in, unfortunately, a book about a website that is a sworn enemy of such characteristics. It is no surprise that Fleur has now deleted her profile and, after attempting to host once, refused to delve into the CS scene further. If she had, she may have found real gems. I am, however, overjoyed that she has not. The arrogance of having this rubbish published is admirable. It is the only admirable thing about it. My only hope is that this will act as a deterrent for people like the author, who, wrapped up in their own conceit and limited outlook on life, will steer clear of CS altogether. The two are just not compatible. p.s Did I mention it blatantly insults the people she stayed with? I might not have. It also blatantly insults the people she stays with. For shame.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Had Potential... Didn't Fulfill,
By Karen Michelle (Manchester, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: On The Couch (Paperback)
As books like this go, it started out rather promising. I liked the concept, and the places Fleur would be travelling to. However, several chapters in and I found Fleur's attitude starting to grate on me to the point where I could no longer ignore it. It just wound me up how she seemed to be insulting almost everyone who she stayed with - these people who'd opened up their homes to her. I mean, yeah sure, a few of them deserved it, but she just seemed to criticse and be rude about almost everyone.
I also agree with another reviewer in that I don't think she changed at the end of the book at all. She didn't really learn anything about herself and was still the same, generally blaming it on 'being British'. And the whole 'Emperor' thing just seemed to be randomly tacked on now and then and wasn't all that relevant to the reader. I just think another writer would have done a much better job of describing the characters they met and their homes and quirks (I'm thinking someone like Dave Gorman, who would've captured more warmth and feeling, plus would've been somewhat less reserved and insulting). I suppose a good thing that came out of this was it opened my eyes to Couch Surfing, which sounds like an exciting and different experience to get involved in and meet new people.
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Original and candid,
By
This review is from: On The Couch (Paperback)
Maybe I wasn't in quite such a bad mood when I picked up Britten's book as the previous reviewer, but I wasn't looking for a Lonely Planet replacement, or William Dalrymple reportage. From page 1, Britten sets out her stall clearly and entertainingly. The premise is intriguing : a young woman travelling (on her own as it turns out) through countries most of us wouldn't be able to find on a map, and pitching up in each town at a complete stranger's house looking for a bed for the night. Who said the spirit of adventure could only be defined by climbing Everest or sailing solo round the world? We seem to be almost programmed to be distrusting of others (especially those whose cultures are different to ours) in this day and age, and this book is uplifting in that it reminds us that all people, irrespective of culture and race, are basically good. Yes, the love story sub-theme may appeal more to other readers than to me, but I thought throughout the book Britten wrote with a honesty and clarity of style that was hugely refreshing.
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