A Chip Shop in Poznan: My Unlikely Year in Poland

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His first job was to teach English at an after-school school run by an Englishman and his Polish wife. There was an altercation in the beginning and throughout the novel about Islamaphobia yet the author never seems to recognise how much he is able to get away with.

On the other hand, I also have to recognise that the author has done something that I could not even dream of achieving.

I found the last three of the forty chapters particularly flat: he delivered himself of some political and historical remarks, which have nothing much to do with Poland. This is something I think everyone should take into account when forming their critique of this book, and I would like to start by thanking the author for giving us a view into his time and experiences in Poland. Indeed, Katowice is not a tourist magnet, not really a place to rival magic Kraków just down the A4 motorway. For example, we are close in age (I am a few years younger); we are from similar parts of the United Kingdom; and we have both experienced the 'reverse immigration' that is the focus of this book (I moved to Warsaw in 2020 for work).

So how should he expect us to take his opinion seriously when he does not even take it seriously enough himself? Poland has charming facets, strange quirks, and very alien customs (to me); but every day, I can find or learn something completely new. That being said, the discussions of politics is at the backdrop of the entire novel yet is fleetingly discussed.The premise is brilliant - do to the Eastern Europeans what they do to us Brits - come over legally and work hard at the jobs we don't want. Traces of insight were also promised, but making vague statements and then alluding to some deeper meaning is not insightful, at least not to me. Writing any book is a challenge, but in my opinion, writing a non-fiction book is even more difficult; especially a memoir, where you are effectively the main character and therefore directly the subject for any criticism.