A Chip Shop in Poznan: My Unlikely Year in Poland

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My visualisation skills were working overtime when I pictured Aitken pounding “the surrounding streets … trying to identify the most likely house and practising my lines. Whilst I agree that the stereotypes of Poland we have in the UK are lazy and false, I actually believe Poland is not like anywhere else. I was disappointed that the book ended with barely any resolution and the quote of another author/poet in place of the author's own words. Interestingly, opinion was split between those who like the EU for its money and those who thought the EU is just Germany. I've lived in Poland for the last twelve years, and so having a chance to compare my own experiences to those enjoyed by Ben Aitken meant that this was a diverting, enjoyable read.

also, being polish myself, some facts and translations were not correct and i found it weirdly frustrating - was it that hard to double or triple check with one or two of the 700k poles living in the uk during the edit? On the other hand, I also have to recognise that the author has done something that I could not even dream of achieving. Another point is that Aitken really got me wondering about whether I’ve immersed myself as much as I could have done in Polish culture.He seems to like Poland in the whole, but it doesn’t seem to change him much, which if he had, I would have found more interesting. There is a tradition that an extra place is set at the Christmas Eve dinner for needy strangers, although no one knew of an occasion when someone actually turned up. Descriptions and the way he noticed little things and him commenting what he took photos of was cool.

An engaging romp through Polish culture, with a resonant political message of the importance of interacting with other cultures and preserving our ties with Europe.

By the year’s end he had a better sense of what the Poles had turned their backs on – southern mountains, northern beaches, dumplings! I have no issue with an author giving their political opinion and I suspect that the author and myself share the same opinions on many topics.

Even though I fully agree with him on these points a book like this is not the platform to share your political views and other convictions (do not feed bread to the ducks people, do not! I have read many reviews which complain about the author and his personality, whilst others seem to not mind. For some months, he did not seem to be doing any paid work, but continued travelling around a lot: to Lodz; to Lublin; to Jelenia Gora, in the south-western corner of Poland; to Konin; to Krakow, where he rented a guest room in a nunnery and where he visits the salt mine. By the year's end he had a better sense of what the Poles had turned their backs on – southern mountains, northern beaches, dumplings! One such promise is the quote on the front cover that claims this is 'One of the funniest books of the year'.I really enjoyed the footnotes, which often added some welcome exposition to the main text and complimented the diary style. I liked the chapters in Krakow and Konin; and reading about Hubert's farm, Jerzy on the mountain, and Christmas with the Polish family was all very enjoyable.