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Me, Myself and Prague by Rachael WeissWeiss is marriage-less, childless and of Czech origin, so decides to abandon her life in Sydney and spend a year in Prague. She goes because there is nothing to stop her, but finds it isn’t as easy as she first thought.Published 23 February, 2008 
Me, Myself and Prague: An Unreliable Guide to Bohemia (Rachael Weiss, A&U, $24.95 tpb, ISBN 9781741148206, March) **** Weiss is marriage-less, childless and of Czech origin, so decides to abandon her life in Sydney and spend a year in Prague. She goes because there is nothing to stop her, but finds it isn’t as easy as she first thought. There is the language barrier, the haphazard laws, not to mention the surly Czech citizens to deal with. Reading people’s travel memoirs can be arduous at times, writers can get bogged down by the superfluous, sentimentality or both—but not Weiss. She gives the reader a sense of place and an excellent insight into a city and country that has been through a tremendous amount of unrest. Me, Myself and Prague also manages to relay historical facts about the Czech Republic without sounding overbearing. Weiss’ voice transcends that of your stereotypical middle-aged person and is illustrated perfectly in a scene where she gets outrageously drunk with a young Swedish friend of hers on ‘murderously alcoholic’ wine, which had me guffawing. Hence the relationships with her family and friends come across as funny and believable. This is the classic ‘finding yourself ’ travel tale, which Weiss manages to pull off with aplomb. A great, highly reliable read for those who have been to Prague or anyone with a sense of adventure! Katie Horner is editorial assistant at Bookseller+Publisher This review from Australian Bookseller & Publisher magazine is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2008, Thorpe-Bowker More from Non-Fiction Book Reviews
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2 comment(s) on this page. Add your own comment below.
Hello Ms. Weiss, Tonight I was sitting in the hospoda in Veletrzni in Prague reading the last 2 chapters of your book, tears running down my face, as tomorrow I'm goin to Terezin! I'm, like you, a Czech, with Czech heritage, and from Melbourne. I'm a visual artist and you can, if you wish, see my works on my website. I have a large family still in Prague, and I'm here at the moment. and - I wan't to live here.Our histories are so parallel it's uncanny. I'm here till thursday at present, but if I can change my flight back to London, I'll stay another week. My point is, I'd love to make contact with you if you're up to it. As I read your book, I almost found you discussing-describing me. Hope to hear from you. Thanks so much for the emotional pleasure you gave me via your experiences and your writing. Congratulations. Tom Fantl
Hello again, Ms. Weiss. I wrote to you from Prague hoping to make contact with you. I'm back in Melbourne, and currently have a one-man exhibition at Red Gallery here. I would still like to talk to you of Prague, of being a creative person there, and living there. I have quite a large extended family in the Czech Republic. As mentioned in my previous email, which you probably didn't receive, I admire of what and how you wrote, and found it uncannily so similar not only to my life, but to my experiences. I still hope to make contact. Tom Fantl
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