Book Review - A chip shop in Poznań: My Unlikely Year in Poland by Ben Aitken
Book Review - A chip shop in Poznań: My Unlikely Year in Poland by Ben Aitken
England, in the 1960s was a time I laughed.
Humour for a young lad comprised a mix of Basil Brush, Ken Dodd, boggle eyed Marty Feldman, and a couple of Likely Lads from the North East. In the nostalgic way, I remember my six-week school summer holidays lasting three months, and playing up the street without the slightest concern of global warming, I also remember laughing.
I recall giggling at innocent antics and waited for punch lines. I didn’t understand Monty Python’s Flying Circus, then. My dad found it hilarious. When I was upstairs in bed, he’d be helpless, filling the downstairs full of laughter at the grown up humour of Monty and Dave Allen.
Alternative comedy arrived in the 1980s. I didn’t quite get that either.
There are exceptions that make me laugh today. Peter Kay is one comedian who makes me laugh. Who else can ‘play the spade’ to 10,000 people at a sold-out stadium and get a tsunami of laughs every night? Must I be a product of the humour of the past for what I find funny today?
Comedy of today doesn’t make me laugh. I’m left feeling the same after reading A chip shop in Poznań: My Unlikely Year in Poland.
Perhaps it’s me? Perhaps, I just don’t understand comedy today?
I admire the skill, delivery and the persistence to work on material till others find it fall off your seat funny. I commend anyone who can write a book, and finish it! Most people don’t either write a book, or if they start, don’t finish it. Ben Aitken did. Well done Ben. He’s finished a few other books as well.
Front cover praise for the book by Paul Ross of TALKRADIO calls it, ‘One of The Funniest Books of The Year.’ I think Paul must find the comedians I don’t understand, funny. So if you are like Paul, and enjoy the comedy stars of today, you might find the book a rollicking wonderful read. It wasn’t for me.
In a sentence, what’s this book about?
On an attempt to find out for himself why so many Poles migrate to the UK for work, and because flights to Poznań were cheap, he sets off to Poland for a year with little in his pocket save a small phrase book and notebooks to record, as diary entries his hilarious Polish adventure.
In his words:
‘I can be glib about motives. I can say I came to Poland because the flight was cheap and I fancied a change. My fundamental motives are less glib. To write a book, to write anything, is an attempt to be less dead. I move and write because those things are essential to me.’
What themes does the author explore in this book?
Ben understands there is a stereotype Poles are hard working and hard drinking people. Is it a fact? Why are so many Polish people leaving the land? That’s his mission. He is spending his year in 2016, so the surprising event of the Brexit referendum ripples through the pages. As well as the shock of a President who Trumped the rest.
‘If ignorance is bliss, then I’m in for a good time. I know absolutely nobody in Poland and know nothing of the language. Is it the Roman alphabet? Is there even an alphabet? Perhaps the alphabet was destroyed in the war, along with the rest of the country. In any case, moving to Poland will be rejuvenating. If I work hard over the next year, I’ll be able to speak Polish as well as a three-year-old. The idea appeals to me.’
How does writing style transport me to the places they visited?
By observational stream of consciousness, and through his humorous travelogue, Ben explores several cities in Poland. I enjoyed the street level detailed descriptions, the struggles even to understand the smallest scraps of language, favouring children’s silent cartoons to anything with even a single word. I see the interiors of several bars and cheap cafes, dingy flats and cheap modes of transport.
What insights did I gain or what makes me want to visit the same places?
Despite the opportunity of a budget flight to Poznań, I’m not searching the internet for a ticket. Poland - yes, especially the Polish Rivera!
Does it remind me of any places I’ve been, or stories to tell?
Yes. I’ve visited Kraków twice. The city did not draw Ben as a friend had been there on a stag do. The visits I made there forever changed me.
On the first, I did a walking tour organised by the Jewish Community Centre of Kraków in Kazimierz, Krakow’s Jewish Quarter, famous throughout the world for the location of filming ‘Schindler’s List.’ As part of my history degree at Birmingham University, I was studying the roots of the Holocaust and thought it would be helpful to visit the location of a ghetto.
It wasn’t helpful.
It was life changing. Even today.
On another visit to the city, I took the train to the city of Oświęcim, about 66 kilometres west of Krakow. From there on to the concentration camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau. On the day I was there, a group of Israeli students visited. The flags and their faces unfurled the deep pain, and the horror of the Holocaust in their generation, for the generations of the six million before.
We should never forget. That is why, if you are asking, ‘Why did you visit a concentration camp?’
What have I learned about me, writing, life, or travel from this book?
Different travel books appeal to different readers. This one just wasn’t my type of travel book. The writing is excellent. I like the style of a revealing chapter heading supported by dates for each day as he accounts the year as a diary of a Brit in Poland. Ben has a keen eye for detail and the skill for the description of it.
He adds footnotes to the much of his text saying:
‘A rule of thumb: if you like things reliable, only read the footnotes. The main text is a naïve, real-time account, drawn from diaries I kept during my year in Poland. Of course, the diaries have been edited, but I was careful to keep their tone and atmosphere, their misconceptions, their errors of judgement.’
I got tired of reading footnotes.
Thanks Ben for teaching me about oikophobia - the fear of home. Maybe the fuel for my wanderlust?
Also, introducing me to the poem Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley. This was a gem to find.
Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley
I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert... Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing besides remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
The definition of Ozymandias (plural Ozymandiases) - A person once famous and respected, who has since been utterly forgotten.
Following a trail down an internet rabbit hole to understand more about the poem, I found Ozymandias’s legacy and failure are only possible because of a written work. The poem states art is a means of immortality. Even when broken and half-buried in sand, art can still carry the legacy of humanity, but it’s in the words. That’s why I enjoy writing. Words live on.
What music comes to mind or embodies the mood or themes of this book?
Itzhak Perlman playing the Title Theme on the film Schindler’s List. Perlman is an Israeli-American violinist considered one of the greatest violinists in the world. This beautiful piece is remarkable in its playing but as much haunting once you have watched the film.
What specific passages or quotes resonated with me the most, and why?
‘I could go without many things in life - toast, sex, Canada - but I don’t think I could go without travel and words.’
It’s better to be meaningfully small than pointlessly big.
Best bit of philosophy in the entire book!
Photo by Kourosh Qaffari on Unsplash
Reading Around The World - Books that transport me to places, people and cultures I might never travel to see.
As a passionate traveller, I dream of visiting every corner of the globe and immersing myself in the diverse cultures and unique landscapes the world offers.
Unfortunately, we’re not always able to turn our wanderlust into reality, are we? But that’s where the magic of writing and literature comes in. With each turn of the page, I can embark on a journey to distant lands, discover new perspectives, and explore the world in a whole new way.
In each post on this section of the blog, I’ll be sharing a book that I’ve recently read and taking you along with me as I delve into my thoughts and impressions of it. I’ll also be asking a few thought-provoking and unusual questions to help you explore the book in a new way. Whether you’re a traveller at heart, or simply someone with a curious mind, join me on this literary journey as we explore the world one book at a time and wander off beaten paths, to roads less travelled.
