Diplomatic Baggage: The Adventures of a Trailing Spouse

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.

This book is entertaining, informative and holds your attention in a very 'friendly' sort of way. We all have encountered those 'interesting people' who aren't quite daft, but in spite of a good education, do exhibit the occasional spell of battiness. This is the character of this book. You are intrigued by her path into the mysterious 'foreign service', and titillated by macabre, hilarious and decidedly 'wierd' tales from places in the world most of us will never visit. However, she does pair those stories with insights into a person who is both helpful to others, and a dingbat. There are some very 'human' moments in marriage and parenting that some of us would rather not be reminded of...but these stories do ground the book and let you know that the author is both an average person, as well as an adventurous (and batty) one. She could be one of us. A good read for a break between your thriller novels and steamy ones.

This book was a disappointment to me. There were 2 main aspects I disliked: first, the book is really just a series of anecdotes from living abroad, but without a clear storyline or direction. Towards the end of the book I felt like I was reading long lists of one-sentence anecdotes. Second, the author is so self-deprecating in her narration that I couldn't identify or empathize with her, and given that she's the only character you get to know, it's hard to keep reading when you don't identify with the only character in the book. I'm sure she's actually a much better person that she portrays, and that the self-deprecation is meant to be funny, but I felt like it was really exaggerated and just put me off. There were some anecdotes which were so detrimental to her image as a person that I couldn't understand why they weren't edited out of the book. Not to mention some really distasteful anecdotes. I have to be honest and admit that I did laught out loud a few times throughout the book. However, in general I felt that this book was written to be read by the author's friends, contacts, or people who lived in the same countries as she did. Those people would probably find it more entertaining because they could relate to it more. It's not a book to be read by just anyone who's lived abroad - unless you love self-deprecating humor.

I loved this book and could truly identify with the author . It was so truthful, funny and dexripptive. Also i could hardly put it down. It was a great read on a cold, rainy Warsaw summer day!

There are few books that make me laugh out loud, but this was one of them. Brigid Keenan’s self-deprecating humour and sharp observation were delightful. Her evident appreciation for the astonishing number of places AW’s career took them to was beautifully balanced by absurdity.

A fun book to read. Gives a realistic view about the life of a 'trailing spouse'.

I have read this book three times. It is the story of the wife of a European Ambassador whose family has been posted everywhere from Barbados to Kazakhstan. She is a delightful writter, with stories that made me laugh out loud. A great book for anyone who has or will ever live overseas.

As a Trailing Spouse to Egypt, this was a book recommended at an Inter-cultural training session that I attended. I am glad I waited 2 years to read this book (I might have been terrified of the move) although I'm kicking myself for spending money on it, even though I got it at a discounted price on Amazon. Why did I hate the book so much? Except for the last chapter, the author was constantly whining and groaning about the hardships that life had tossed at her. This after choosing to marry her husband of her own free will, knowing the kind of job he did and loved that it would take him to obtuse corners of the world. It was a fully informed decision that she took. Even spending some days with him, in what she calls a "chicken shed" in Kathmandu before deciding to marry him. She constantly whines about everything from the help, to the kids, to her husband, to location.... in short, she whines about -Everything. The life of a Diplomatic Trailing Spouse is much easier than that of other Trailing Spouses. Accommodation, household help, office help, everything is put in place before the diplomatic family even arrives at their new location. Brigid's grouse is that some of the other European embassies provide more services to the spouses than her husband's European Commission ambassadors office does. She promotes herself as a glamorous, successful young London fashion journalist, but later in the book accepts and acknowledges that her children were the worst dressed in their school. I do not know Brigid personally, but what I read in this autobiography of hers, made me think of her as a spoiled, over indulged wife who can never find anything positive and good in life. Granted she had a few scares like the maggots that got under the skin and had to mature and grow and eat their way out, but those kind of experiences were less than you could count on one hand. For the most part, she was preoccupied with how to find white gloves for a 6 fingered servant in India and wondering why there was no association to put beggars to sleep the way Animal friends do it for animals! At the same time brushing aside her daughters experiences with pedophiles and exposers as casual asides. Brigid has written about Kashmir's art and crafts and co authored a book on Damascus; which may be worth looking at, but Diplomatic Baggage is not a book you want to buy or gift a friend who is going to be a Trailing Spouse, not unless you want them to cancel all plans and send their spouse to live abroad on their own.

This is quite the funniest series of anecdotes about diplomatic life I have ever read. Brigid Keenan is a master of the one-liner. I laughed out loud at practically every page. DONT read it before trying to go to sleep. That would be counterproductive. There are more serious parts to the book as Ms Keenan outlines some of the tragedies that happen around her when in foreign parts but this rounds out the engaging portrait she paints of her very able husband and her role in supporting him and at the same time creating a life for herself in inhospitable parts.

i liked this book , .Sometimes , it could be quite funny , It gives one an idea about her experiences in different countries . She rather enjoyed Damascus ( Syria ) so much and appreciated so much the ancient culture and old houses that she wrote a book about the old Heritage of Damascus Those unique and near destructiopn ARABIC house with an inside garden .

As a wife who also followed her spouse around the world, I completely related to the lifestyle described. A mix of delight, despair, fascination and frustration is the life of the "baggage"! My only criticism would be that there were so many incidents described that it became a book to pick up and put down, for a rest from the pace. I would maybe have enjoyed a little slow paced description of the fascinating locations. But I would still recommend it, certainly a great holiday read.

Excellent book!

Having heard this read recommended by one of my favourite authors - William Dalrymple, on a BBC radio book show I could not resist. I was not disappointed. The countries visited are among some that I am unlikely to have the chance to ever visit, insights and flavours of places delight, amuse and in some cases produce tears of rage and frustration. Coupled with the cornucopia of strange lands is the ongoing relationships within the family, this, holds a thread to all of us who are parents and the ways of our maturing (or not!) children. From bouquets at childbirth to hard to read letters received from the childrens schools. As a bonus for me, I read this while visiting Gambia, where some of the action takes place. The life of a "following on" diplomats wife can't be expected to be all sweetness and light, this book confirms that, and yet, making the best of the situation - often with hilarious consequences, is something we could all learn from. If you love travel, far away places, tales of daring-do, laughter and tears, then this a book for you.