Rating: 
Summary: A book for women, feeling lonely in another country
Review: "Island Soul" is about an America woman, Mrs. Patti Jones Morgan, dealing with her feeling of 'isolation'. How she went from being a "helpless, isolated woman in a completely foreign land" to a place of semi-belonging. She dutifully followed her husband to Norway. He was a specialist on the Heidrun oil project. This book is the story of Mrs. Morgan's --"survival". Up-front, I read this book while in Norway and found myself an outsider looking in on a struggle I couldn't comprehend. For the life of me, hard as I tried, I could not grasp the horrific dark foreboding that Mrs. Morgan said she had to faced in Norway. God knows I've tried to understand how she struggled to "survive" another year, but I was definitely an outsider looking in. Hell, I was more than an outsider, I was more like an alien visiting another planet. I have traveled the world, and spent time in some mighty dark and depressing places. That being said I have great difficulty seeing Norway as a "completely foreign land". Communist Vietnam - sure. War torn Congo - yes. Oppressive Afghanistan - Right. But Norway, where English is their second language; where the infrastructures and national income are the best in the world; where the only hardship was the excessive taxes and that they only served real beer, not 'lite beer', and I gained a few pound while staying there. No, I just can't see Norway as a "completely foreign country", any more than I could identify with her helpless, "isolated" whine. I'll admit, I must be an insensitive male (ask my girlfriend, she'll tell you), and by popular definition, I am definitely from Mars. This book is not a book I would recommend to men. I would recommend this book to any wife following her husband to a foreign country. Mrs. Morgan wrote this book for women, feeling both lonely and disposed while living in another culture. On that level the book is commendable. Her writing style is like listening to chatter at a coffee clutch. Her description of Norway's beauty and people is spot on'. One hundred and thirty five pages into the book Mrs. Morgan finishes her language class, and God knows, I was as happy about her matriculation as she was. "Attempting to learn Norwegian, talk with local people and develop friendships - had been my mission." Mrs. Morgan states. This is her story, this is her song. She did it and moved back to Texas, where she now lives.
Rating:
Summary: A book for women, feeling lonely in another country
Review: "Island Soul" is about an America woman, Mrs. Patti Jones Morgan, dealing with her feeling of 'isolation'. How she went from being a "helpless, isolated woman in a completely foreign land" to a place of semi-belonging. She dutifully followed her husband to Norway. He was a specialist on the Heidrun oil project. This book is the story of Mrs. Morgan's --"survival". Up-front, I read this book while in Norway and found myself an outsider looking in on a struggle I couldn't comprehend. For the life of me, hard as I tried, I could not grasp the horrific dark foreboding that Mrs. Morgan said she had to faced in Norway. God knows I've tried to understand how she struggled to "survive" another year, but I was definitely an outsider looking in. Hell, I was more than an outsider, I was more like an alien visiting another planet. I have traveled the world, and spent time in some mighty dark and depressing places. That being said I have great difficulty seeing Norway as a "completely foreign land". Communist Vietnam - sure. War torn Congo - yes. Oppressive Afghanistan - Right. But Norway, where English is their second language; where the infrastructures and national income are the best in the world; where the only hardship was the excessive taxes and that they only served real beer, not 'lite beer', and I gained a few pound while staying there. No, I just can't see Norway as a "completely foreign country", any more than I could identify with her helpless, "isolated" whine. I'll admit, I must be an insensitive male (ask my girlfriend, she'll tell you), and by popular definition, I am definitely from Mars. This book is not a book I would recommend to men. I would recommend this book to any wife following her husband to a foreign country. Mrs. Morgan wrote this book for women, feeling both lonely and disposed while living in another culture. On that level the book is commendable. Her writing style is like listening to chatter at a coffee clutch. Her description of Norway's beauty and people is spot on'. One hundred and thirty five pages into the book Mrs. Morgan finishes her language class, and God knows, I was as happy about her matriculation as she was. "Attempting to learn Norwegian, talk with local people and develop friendships - had been my mission." Mrs. Morgan states. This is her story, this is her song. She did it and moved back to Texas, where she now lives.
Rating:
Summary: A book for women, feeling lonely in another country
Review: "Island Soul" is about an America woman, Mrs. Patti Jones Morgan, dealing with her feeling of `isolation'. How she went from being a "helpless, isolated woman in a completely foreign land" to a place of semi-belonging. She dutifully followed her husband to Norway. He was a specialist on the Heidrun oil project. This book is the story of Mrs. Morgan's --"survival". Up-front, I read this book while in Norway and found myself an outsider looking in on a struggle I couldn't comprehend. For the life of me, hard as I tried, I could not grasp the horrific dark foreboding that Mrs. Morgan said she had to faced in Norway. God knows I've tried to understand how she struggled to "survive" another year, but I was definitely an outsider looking in. Hell, I was more than an outsider, I was more like an alien visiting another planet. I have traveled the world, and spent time in some mighty dark and depressing places. That being said I have great difficulty seeing Norway as a "completely foreign land". Communist Vietnam - sure. War torn Congo - yes. Oppressive Afghanistan - Right. But Norway, where English is their second language; where the infrastructures and national income are the best in the world; where the only hardship was the excessive taxes and that they only served real beer, not 'lite beer', and I gained a few pound while staying there. No, I just can't see Norway as a "completely foreign country", any more than I could identify with her helpless, "isolated" whine. I'll admit, I must be an insensitive male (ask my girlfriend, she'll tell you), and by popular definition, I am definitely from Mars. This book is not a book I would recommend to men. I would recommend this book to any wife following her husband to a foreign country. Mrs. Morgan wrote this book for women, feeling both lonely and disposed while living in another culture. On that level the book is commendable. Her writing style is like listening to chatter at a coffee clutch. Her description of Norway's beauty and people is spot on'. One hundred and thirty five pages into the book Mrs. Morgan finishes her language class, and God knows, I was as happy about her matriculation as she was. "Attempting to learn Norwegian, talk with local people and develop friendships - had been my mission." Mrs. Morgan states. This is her story, this is her song. She did it and moved back to Texas, where she now lives.
Rating: 
Summary: Island Soul, A Memoir of Norway
Review: A very enjoyable book! As an ESL teacher, I found it interesting to read what an adult language student felt and thought about learning a new language. I have visited relatives in Haugesund/Karmoy (one a good friend of Patti's who recommended the book to me), and I found her descriptions of those places plus Avaldsness, Kopervik, etc. made Norway come alive for me again.
Rating:
Summary: Island Soul, A Memoir of Norway
Review: A very enjoyable book! As an ESL teacher, I found it interesting to read what an adult language student felt and thought about learning a new language. I have visited relatives in Haugesund/Karmoy (one a good friend of Patti's who recommended the book to me), and I found her descriptions of those places plus Avaldsness, Kopervik, etc. made Norway come alive for me again.
Rating: 
Summary: An enrichment
Review: As many before her, PMJ came to Norway with her oil-industry-employed husband from Houston. After a brief stay in Oslo, they,accompanied by their 2 dogs and a cat, moved to Karmøy - a rocky, windy, wet island in the North Sea off the southern coast of Norway. Ms Morgan was bent on finding the "soul" of the people and set out to learn the language and culture of rural Norway. Having grown up in England, she was not unfamiliar with the rural bit. However,when she emigrated from England to the US in 1960 she had no problem making herself understood. Now, she couldn't even read the labels on boxes in the grocery store let alone ask the proprietor for help. So she enrolled in a language class, figured out the bus schedule and was on her way. Morgan was gutsy and determined and even though she never really conquered the language, she lost her heart to the island and made many new friends, not least all the children in the neighborhood. Her book is peppered with amusing anecdotes and situations that are familiar to anyone who has been an expat.
Rating:
Summary: A personal look at Norway
Review: Having long been interested in both Scandinavian culture and travel writing, I was very eager to read Island Soul. Morgan paints a wonderfully detailed picture of life in a small Norwegian town, from the trusting children who come to bake cookies and play with her dogs, to her visit with Anna, a 90 year old resident still living independently in her tidy farmhouse. However, it becomes clear these things only happen after Morgan has gained more than a rudimentary grasp of the Norwegian language through intensive language classes, and this becomes a central theme of the book: that you will only scratch the surface of a culture if you fail to learn its language. Hats off to Morgan for being more than the stereotypical ex-pat who only socializes with other Americans, and for giving us a truly unique view of a very special place. I wish MY small town here in Canada had a Santa who visited the village children on a sled and tossed candies and glad tidings!
Rating:
Summary: A personal look at Norway
Review: Having long been interested in both Scandinavian culture and travel writing, I was very eager to read Island Soul. Morgan paints a wonderfully detailed picture of life in a small Norwegian town, from the trusting children who come to bake cookies and play with her dogs, to her visit with Anna, a 90 year old resident still living independently in her tidy farmhouse. However, it becomes clear these things only happen after Morgan has gained more than a rudimentary grasp of the Norwegian language through intensive language classes, and this becomes a central theme of the book: that you will only scratch the surface of a culture if you fail to learn its language. Hats off to Morgan for being more than the stereotypical ex-pat who only socializes with other Americans, and for giving us a truly unique view of a very special place. I wish MY small town here in Canada had a Santa who visited the village children on a sled and tossed candies and glad tidings!
Rating: 
Summary: Shangri-La, Norwegian style
Review: I have a feeling that many people who read "Island Soul" would like to move to Karmoy, the peaceful little island off the coast of Norway which, with its people, is the star of this story. Maybe that's a post-9/11 reaction. But in the midst of all that's going on around us, Karmoy seems like the Shangri-La of the 21st century. Patti Jones Morgan has a nice eye in spotting the idiosyncracies, the lifestyles, the joys and the trials which make up the culture of the people of Karmoy, and she has a nice style in relating them. And she does it with a quiet but funny sense of humor, which befits both the island and her book. And friend, if you've ever traveled overseas for any length of time, as I have, you'll appreciate her struggles as she works ever so hard to master the Norwegian language. Uff-da, as the Norwegians say. The book is worth a read, maybe on a rainy day over a cup of coffee. After all, Patti writes accurately enough, "Sometimes a mere hot cup of coffee indoors out of the rain tastes like nectar." And the book will add flavor to the coffee. One more thought: Patti wrote the book in 2000. She would have no way of knowing the eerie feeling she generates when she tells of a seemingly innocuous incident in the Oslo airport when she was patted down during a routine search for drugs. "My heart skipped a beat," she writes, "as I visualized the agent's reaction if she found my little plastic bag of white powder." In view of the news today, again I say, "Uff-da." But I also say hooray to Patti for coming up with an interesting and insightful book about the people of and the peaceful place called Karmoy.
Rating:
Summary: Shangri-La, Norwegian style
Review: I have a feeling that many people who read "Island Soul" would like to move to Karmoy, the peaceful little island off the coast of Norway which, with its people, is the star of this story. Maybe that's a post-9/11 reaction. But in the midst of all that's going on around us, Karmoy seems like the Shangri-La of the 21st century. Patti Jones Morgan has a nice eye in spotting the idiosyncracies, the lifestyles, the joys and the trials which make up the culture of the people of Karmoy, and she has a nice style in relating them. And she does it with a quiet but funny sense of humor, which befits both the island and her book. And friend, if you've ever traveled overseas for any length of time, as I have, you'll appreciate her struggles as she works ever so hard to master the Norwegian language. Uff-da, as the Norwegians say. The book is worth a read, maybe on a rainy day over a cup of coffee. After all, Patti writes accurately enough, "Sometimes a mere hot cup of coffee indoors out of the rain tastes like nectar." And the book will add flavor to the coffee. One more thought: Patti wrote the book in 2000. She would have no way of knowing the eerie feeling she generates when she tells of a seemingly innocuous incident in the Oslo airport when she was patted down during a routine search for drugs. "My heart skipped a beat," she writes, "as I visualized the agent's reaction if she found my little plastic bag of white powder." In view of the news today, again I say, "Uff-da." But I also say hooray to Patti for coming up with an interesting and insightful book about the people of and the peaceful place called Karmoy.
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