CHICKEN IN A STRANGE WAY

An American’s humorous memoir of her time working in post-communist Prague in the 1990s.

In 1992, the 25-year-old Thomas Armstrong, employed at the international accounting firm Arthur Andersen in Los Angeles, answered an internal job listing looking for auditors to work in former Eastern Bloc countries—they were to assist local businesses through the transition from communism to capitalism. The author received an offer for the Prague office and eagerly set off, curious to see what had been hidden behind the Iron Curtain. In a series of entertaining vignettes, Thomas Armstrong depicts her culture shock as she struggled to adapt to a country in flux. The apartments had bizarre layouts, with bedrooms in the kitchen and landlords who felt free to barge in at all times of day. The companies the author was sent to audit had nonsensical or nonexistent records, useless inventory left over from the planned economy, and infuriating employees (on one occasion, a worker told a colleague that she was “too drunk…right now” to perform a task she’d been asked to do). Basic products like deodorant and blenders were impossible to find, as were vegetables. But after two years, when Thomas Armstrong transferred to the D.C. office, she burst into tears as her plane left Prague. She kept in touch with her friends there over the years and made several return trips. This book is written in a conversational tone, with remembered conversations presented in a script-like fashion and anecdotes broken up by letters home, notes to colleagues, and excerpts from the local newspapers for ex-pats. At more than 400 pages, the text runs a bit long, and some stories are repetitive, but the humor is warm and the author’s deep affection for the Czech people shines through. In her highly personal anecdotes, Thomas Armstrong captures a brief but significant moment in history, showing the way ordinary people live when their political and economic circumstances are decided for them. With authoritarianism on the rise, this story feels particularly relevant today.

A quirky, irreverent, and affectionate remembrance.