Reviews for Perking the Pansies
"The book is written in a conversational style that made me think of sitting down with a close friend and listening to a lot of wacky and (occasionally) bittersweet stories. I was so caught up with the narrative that I was surprised by the time I got to the end. The author wrote a memoir that touched on the human experience in a way that is honest and thought-provoking."
Rainbow Book Awards "At turns, hilarious, saucy, witty, heartwarming and incredibly moving."
Global Living Magazine "The book's originality lies more in it's honesty about the grubby reality of expat life that conventional travel literature prefers to gloss over."
Pat Yale, Time Out, Istanbul "... it's like Scott's perpetually dipping into his wallet to buy the next round. "
Matthew Hirtes, Author, Going Local in Gran Canaria "Although this is Jack Scott’s first book, he’s a wonderful raconteur and writes like a seasoned author."
Shelley Antscherl, Dutch News |
"The book includes a list of colourful characters, British and Turkish...almost Dickensian in their eccentricity, humour, melancholy, self-delusion, kindness and casual cruelty. There is heartlessness and tragedy here but also a generosity of spirit and a positivity, along with a dogged determination to see the best in humanity..."
Polari Magazine "An entertaining story, told with wit and insight."
Paul Burston, author "Perking The Pansies is not so much about Jack’s Adventures Through The Looking Glass, but more about who he found there – a refreshing change from the many memoirs whose authors are constantly center-stage."
Kate Allison, The Displaced Nation “Jack and Liam bring a certain je ne sais quoi to the souks and heap a plate of dry British wit on their Ottoman misadventures."
Charles Ayres, author, Impossibly Glamorous |
"Throughout the book I was tittering, teary-eyed with sadness, nodding knowingly and saying, "I hear you, I hear you," to myself - and I'll even admit to a bit of sniggering, too. It's a lot of mixed emotion to go through over the process of reading a few pages and that's what makes the book such a good read. And, as I was reading the book, I couldn't help but think the characters, events, drama, comedy, sadness - they're all just shouting out to become Perking the Pansies, the TV series."
Julia Power, Turkey's for Life
Julia Power, Turkey's for Life
"It’s a good account of the light and shade of an off-the-wall expat lifestyle, told in a fast-paced and highly amusing way."
Kay McMahon, British Expat "I enjoy reading about other people's experiences of post-colonial life in places where most ex-pats still behave like old colonials. Perking the Pansies is a delicious addition to the tradition which, for me, began with Gerald Durrell."
David Gee, Author of Shaikh-Down and The Dropout |
"With a sharp eye (and only sometimes a sharper tongue) and a deft and witty touch, he succeeds in homing in on the ludicrous, the contradictions, the conceits, and the dramas of an unlikely mixture of Brits and other Europeans sharing the same small places on a small peninsula on the Aegean."
Chris Drum Berkaya, journalist "My sides still hurt from laughing. Kudos on writing a beautiful, tender and truly funny book that I can’t wait to read again."
Lou Kief, Author |