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Product Description
Product Description
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.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A chaotic but likeable English family take us for a warm and amusing peek at German culture. I say amusing, actually what I mean is hilariously funny, but whats nice is you never really feel the 'joke is on the germans' if you know what i mean. Highly reccommended
10 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In a world full of books which are serious, boring or where the author takes themselves far too seriously, "Planet Germany" was very welcome light relief. Easy to read, entertaining, engaging, and light-heartedly self-deprecating. I feel as if I have accompanied the author on all her escapades, met her family and neighbours (and cats) and lived in her house.
I enjoyed the book so much I bought copies for my mother and my friend - it seemed selfish to keep all of that laughter to myself.
I suspect the book is aimed at people who are ex-pats and can relate to moving to a different culture, or maybe people who are contemplating doing so. However, it makes a fantastic read even if you don't fall into either category.
If you want a few hours escape into a family that may well make your own seem rather dull, this is the book for you. Highly recommended.
I enjoyed the book so much I bought copies for my mother and my friend - it seemed selfish to keep all of that laughter to myself.
I suspect the book is aimed at people who are ex-pats and can relate to moving to a different culture, or maybe people who are contemplating doing so. However, it makes a fantastic read even if you don't fall into either category.
If you want a few hours escape into a family that may well make your own seem rather dull, this is the book for you. Highly recommended.
16 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
With a string of 5-star reviews, I feel a bit of a party pooper, but having bought the book as much on the back of these reviews as on the subject, I do feel the need to counterbalance some of the unremitting enthusiasm for what, for me, was largely a disappointment. The premise is a great one, the story of a family integrating into German culture (the travel literature shelves are surprisingly light on books on Germany). Initially the book was a thoroughly enjoyable read: self-deprecating humour, short snappy chapters, a series of amusing anecdotes. But this rapidly began to pall, as all the stereotypes fell into place. Far from integrating, 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). Apart from Cathy Dobson's business partner and her family, we learn 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. Yes, if you walk close behind a horse, it'll defecate on you and you'll smell. And I got so bored with the ongoing shenanigans with trying to cook in a British style (the author seems to take pride in an inability to cook, but then it's so easy to make fun of one's cooking). Integrating? Not really.
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 merged into description after description of parties and festivals (the family enjoy their outdoor parties).
Other reviewers will obviously disagree with me, but this felt like an excellent opportunity wasted in the desire to be funny, and in the end left me feeling I didn't really learn that much about German culture or German people, although my expectations on this may simply come from what was to me misleading blurb. Certainly, the Dobson family come across as very likeable and amusingly accident prone, and the author as able to tell a good after-dinner story, but, in contrast to the reviewer who reckoned this the only book they'd recommend from the past year's reading, I'd have to say this is one of the few that really didn't work for me.
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 merged into description after description of parties and festivals (the family enjoy their outdoor parties).
Other reviewers will obviously disagree with me, but this felt like an excellent opportunity wasted in the desire to be funny, and in the end left me feeling I didn't really learn that much about German culture or German people, although my expectations on this may simply come from what was to me misleading blurb. Certainly, the Dobson family come across as very likeable and amusingly accident prone, and the author as able to tell a good after-dinner story, but, in contrast to the reviewer who reckoned this the only book they'd recommend from the past year's reading, I'd have to say this is one of the few that really didn't work for me.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Interesting
I bought this book as I live on theborder of Germany and wanted to get my head round the culture a little. It's interesting if a little detailed on her personal family story.
Published on 5 Nov 2009 by Little Me
Excellent!
Being British and living in Germany, I could totally relate to this book, it touched my heart and my tummy muscles from laughing so much. Read more
Published on 12 Nov 2008 by Susanna Reisinger
What a brilliant first novel - Planet Germany
What a truly delightful book. From the first few pages I was enthralled by the wonderful family and their experience of German life. Read more
Published on 6 April 2008 by Ms. E. Holmes-ievers
Life, not as you know it.
This book made me laugh. I had to read it privately; wry smiles and giggles were unprompted as the family antics, including the cats, made their way through a range of situations,... Read more
Published on 2 Mar 2008 by Lynn Tulip
LOL - Really
Working on the internet, I regularly get to type the acronym LOL (laugh out loud). However, rarely do I actually laugh out loud at the written word, which is why Planet Germany by... Read more
Published on 16 Jan 2008 by Nikki Pilkington
Where is volume 2?
You know that feeling when you read a book and enjoy it so much you just want to go and buy the next one by the same author? It's that sort of book. Read more
Published on 15 Jan 2008 by Susan Mcgaughran
A good read!
I picked this up thinking it might help me understand my German friends who live in the UK and my Uk friends who live in Germany - it did, but what I wasnt expecting was such an... Read more
Published on 6 Jan 2008 by E. Mclean
You couldn't make it up!
Cathy Dobson's first novel leaves you feeling both awestruck and grateful. Awestruck at how this chaotic family not only survive but thrive despite all the trials and tribulations... Read more
Published on 3 Jan 2008 by Ms. H. Mckinlay
Buy this book!
I had a short lived dalliance with German in my teens - escaping with just enough knowledge to passably tell everyone I met "ich bin zwölf jahre alt", useful when you are 12. Read more
Published on 2 Jan 2008 by N. Cooper-abbs
Planet Germany takes over Glasgow......
This book caused no end of trouble in our house when it arrived......"Are you going to speak to me?" enquired Himself on Christmas Eve. Read more
Published on 28 Dec 2007 by K. Shaw
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