David's Review of "An American Teacher in Taiwan"

Now that my books have been out for a few months on Amazon, and some of them are selling fairly well, the reviews are starting to come in.  Someone I know told me that I shouldn't respond to them, especially the negative ones, since it looks tacky, so I haven't.  Well...maybe I'll respond here on the blog, but not on Amazon.  I did receive my first bad review a couple of weeks ago for "Interstate 10" where the reviewer said it was the "worse book I have read in ages."  He then goes on to say that it was "too disturbing" and that  he couldn't follow the plot, and he didn't like it because he "lives near Interstate 10."  It's probably the dumbest review I've ever read...but what can you do?

Amazon seems to have this crazy policy where you have to actually buy the product that you are reviewing, or else they won't publish your review, so I'm going to publish my friend David's (the one that lives in Taiwan) review.  He's read the book, but didn't buy it.  It seems to be a positive review, but written in his typical style.  Anyway, here it is, and you can also read it on his own personal blog:

"An American Teacher In Taiwan” by Ken Berglund is based on the famous blog of the same title and author. It is advertised as a guide to teaching English in Taiwan. I feel this part is misleading as much has changed since the author escaped to his homeland. Even if the labyrinth of Chinese bureaucracy was somehow the same today as it was five years ago, or even five months ago, no single person can give anyone a comprehensive view of the horrors that await them should they feel the need to follow in his footsteps. The arbitrary rules and regulations change from person to person and are enforced at whim.

However, this e-book is also advertised as “One writer’s experience about living, working, dating, finding love, and raising kids in a foreign country.” As a personal memoir, I cannot question its veracity. I can only confirm that many of the obstacles in adapting to life in a Chinese culture that the author experienced are universal to any American, or possibly even Canadian, in similar circumstances.

Mr Berglund relates an incident wherein he is induced to enter a “special” KTV by women of liberal morals and is only able to leave the establishment after forfeiting an unacceptably large sum of cash. Any robust red blooded male who has set foot in any Chinese country for more than twelve hours can relate to this situation.

If you want to know what kind of paperwork you must fill out and have stamped in triplicate to live in the Land of Scooter, this book will not help you. If you want to know what the people are like and how different their customs are from your own, this book covers a broad range of expatriate topics.

Some would say its range of topics is too broad. A guide to living in a foreign land or a travel guide should have a more narrow focus. But as a memoir, there is an even balance between personal insights (the part about his erectile dysfunction brought on by too many betel nuts) and general anecdotes (Chinamen be wacky). For this reason among others, I think this should be marketed as a memoir and not any kind of handbook.

While this e-book is probably more interesting to Americans who have lived or are now living in a foreign country, it is written in such a casual narrative that even a xenophobe who has never set foot outside of Itawamba, Mississippi might find it enjoyable.

I give it five muffins.