The Expatriate Abroad

The Expatriate Abroad has been a theme beloved by writers throughout the history of literature. For Adam Gopnik, being away from his home raised two central questions that perhaps in part were welcome because they offered a great excuse for leaving home. The two questions upon which he dwelled in his book were can you run away, and can you escape yourself? What he meant by the first question was can you get away from the expectations, duties, and other dictates of your everyday life simply by going someplace completely different, or will those influences follow you and continue to exert their power? The second question meant can escape the essence of yourself—all your memories, experiences, prejudices, doubts, and fears? For him, these questions did not have immediate, simple answers, because he recognized that leaving behind everything in his home of New York City...