The Gypsy in Me: From Germany to Romania in Search of Youth, Truth, and Dad

by Ted Simon

Book Overview

The Gypsy in Me recounts Ted Simons 1,500-mile journey through Germany, Poland, Russia, the Ukraine, and Romania. Traveling off the beaten path from the homeland of his German mother to the birthplace of his Romanian Jewish father, he gets an up-close and personal glimpse of lives in a time of change: former East Germans lamenting the loss of Communism, entrepreneurs eager to do business American-style, aloof gypsies, a Russian colonel's family struggling...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679441387
• ISBN13: 9780679441380
• Release Date: June 1997
• Publisher: Random House (NY)
• Length: 318 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

This is the honest and luminous prose of a natural writer.

I love Ted Simon's writing for his honesty, integrity, his luminous descriptions of people and places, his empathy, revealing of his inner thoughts and his philosophy of life. He makes you wish you were half as good. I'd walk to the Arctic Circle with him tomorrow. Eagerly awaiting more.

One of the best travel books...

I have read quite a few travel books, and this one is one of the best, by far. When you try to describe to someone a chapter you have just read, you realize that there is not much action to convey, but what he does leave you with is an amazing insight into his and other peoples emotions. This book reminds me of sitting around and listening to a favorite uncle tell tales of yesteryear. The images are first rate and the storyteller makes it very obvious he was often touched in ways that is almost beyond description. I highly recommend this book.

A great read for a journey through Eastern Europe

I am an American student living in Vienna for four months and travelling throughout Central Europe. I've read many travel books during my trip and found Simon's to be one of the best. Simon's walk through Central Europe provides the reader with a better understanding of the region and its people while also challenging the individual to find more in his or her daily experiences. When travelling in Central Europe at the end of the millenium, you are bound to ask yourself questions about the changes that have taken place over the last decade and how those changes are effecting the people who live in these countries. The Gypsy in Me provides some answers and challenges the reader to stray from the big tourist sites and find some locals to just sit and talk.