Hemingway Book Club of Kosova
I have known Jim "Dhimitri" Gregory for some 40 years, and over that long period, he has become a younger brother to me. Jim asked me during a recent telcon if I was familiar with the book "Hemingway Book Club of Kosova." When I replied that I wasn't, Jim sent me his review of the book below that I'd like to share with you.
I went on-line and found that the book "Hemingway Book Club of Kosova" was still available and at a reasonable cost. Here's what Ambassador Richard Holbrook who helped broker the cease-fire in Kosova said about the book:
"Sometimes a small story tells a far larger one. Such is the case with The Hemingway Book Club of Kosovo Paula Huntley shows us the common humanity that can heal even the most terribly wounds."
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Review by Jim Gregory
“The Hemingway Book Club of Kosova” by Paula Huntley is an absorbing memoir about one American’s trip of discovery of a totally foreign and unique country in the midst of turmoil. Based upon a diary that Huntley began while first living in Albania, the book follows her arrival in Kosovo immediately after Serbia’s ethnic cleansing, to her development of deep relationships with its Albanian people.
Huntley’s diary records her experiences as she discovers a culture and language of which she initially knew very little. In the process of teaching English to Albanian students, Paula Huntly utilized the only text she could find, Ernest Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea.” Huntley quickly connects with her students by exploring common experiences in life and literature. Her book also grants a voice to her Albanian students and the stories of the adults she interacted with in her day-to-day experiences.
The book’s narrative builds from one of a depressing city in Kosova with its damaged populace that Huntley initially observes through an American eyes, to a loving and beautiful place where hope still flourishes.
The Hemingway Book Club of Kosovo
by Paula Huntley
List Price: $13.95
Pages: 255
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 1585422932
Publisher: J. P. Tarcher
posted by Van Christo @ 2:54 PM
1 Comments
1 Comments:
This book was recommended to my some time ago and I thoroughly enjoyed it as not only an ESL teacher but writer and activist. It is essential to connect students who are learning another language with information they can identify with. I also marveled at the writer using her emails that were written in diary or journal form into a book. A writer friend of mind said, "Today people are even using texting as another genre."
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