What do you think?
Rate this book
The Hemingway Book Club of Kosovo
The author recounts her experiences as an English teacher for Kosovo Albanians and how her students formed a book club that brought them together and helped them work through their painful war experiences. 17,500 first printing.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published February 10, 2003
31 people are currently reading
704 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 123 reviews
September 4, 2007
I didn't decide that I liked this book until the very last few pages. I thought the title was misleading as most of the book had very little to do with her teaching Hemingway and a lot to do with her own personal thoughts about the pollution, Kosovar's view of Americans, whether or not they had electricity that day etc.
The title comes a name she gives a group of students she is teaching English to. She only has one Hemingway book, The Old Man and the Sea, that she makes copies of for her class. She mentions teaching it briefly, but it isn't until the very end of the book, that she ties in the great Hemingway story and returns to Kosovo with t-shirts emblazoned with this logo, that I felt like there really was this little book club. It's not obvious and her writing is much more broad in scope than this one classroom experience.
In her defense, Huntley describes this book as accidental. It really is made up of her journal entries that she wrote without any intention of publishing. It wasn't until those receiving her emails initiated the book idea, and she was made an offer from a publisher, that she considered sharing her thoughts with the world. The result is a mixture of mundane, uncensored thought with truthful, personal insight.
I am ashamed to admit that I had to research online about the whole Kosovo/Serb/Albanian conflict was. Of course, I had herd about Milosivec and his war crimes, but I didn't know how Kosovo related to Bosnia and Sarajevo and that entire region. It is hard to imagine, as a multi-generational American, how such intolerance and ignorance can exist in this day and age when the world is so much smaller. How can people still believe that races, or ethnicities, or religions as a whole, actually produce an inferior and worthless human being? This happened seven years ago, and they are still talking with so much generalizations! ALL Serbs, ALL Albanians, ALL Americans etc. Anytime a sentence begins with or contains an "ALL" I bristle. This kind of tragedy is what happens when we fail to see the individual spirit.
Essentially, that is what Huntley much teach these young Kosovar Albanians. That while they have been oppressed and persecuted, they must adjust their thinking. And to accomplish that change, they must have the VOCABULARY to communicate with the world without violence.
The book didn't have much to do with a Hemingway bookclub and I would have loved a more in-depth look at their discussion of the book and the parallels that Huntley ultimately draws from it, but I did end up rooting for Leonard and the Professor and her other students, which is why Huntley ultimately decided to go ahead and publish. She wanted us to know these individuals and understand the beauty of the Kosovar soul. I'm glad I got a glimpse.
The title comes a name she gives a group of students she is teaching English to. She only has one Hemingway book, The Old Man and the Sea, that she makes copies of for her class. She mentions teaching it briefly, but it isn't until the very end of the book, that she ties in the great Hemingway story and returns to Kosovo with t-shirts emblazoned with this logo, that I felt like there really was this little book club. It's not obvious and her writing is much more broad in scope than this one classroom experience.
In her defense, Huntley describes this book as accidental. It really is made up of her journal entries that she wrote without any intention of publishing. It wasn't until those receiving her emails initiated the book idea, and she was made an offer from a publisher, that she considered sharing her thoughts with the world. The result is a mixture of mundane, uncensored thought with truthful, personal insight.
I am ashamed to admit that I had to research online about the whole Kosovo/Serb/Albanian conflict was. Of course, I had herd about Milosivec and his war crimes, but I didn't know how Kosovo related to Bosnia and Sarajevo and that entire region. It is hard to imagine, as a multi-generational American, how such intolerance and ignorance can exist in this day and age when the world is so much smaller. How can people still believe that races, or ethnicities, or religions as a whole, actually produce an inferior and worthless human being? This happened seven years ago, and they are still talking with so much generalizations! ALL Serbs, ALL Albanians, ALL Americans etc. Anytime a sentence begins with or contains an "ALL" I bristle. This kind of tragedy is what happens when we fail to see the individual spirit.
Essentially, that is what Huntley much teach these young Kosovar Albanians. That while they have been oppressed and persecuted, they must adjust their thinking. And to accomplish that change, they must have the VOCABULARY to communicate with the world without violence.
The book didn't have much to do with a Hemingway bookclub and I would have loved a more in-depth look at their discussion of the book and the parallels that Huntley ultimately draws from it, but I did end up rooting for Leonard and the Professor and her other students, which is why Huntley ultimately decided to go ahead and publish. She wanted us to know these individuals and understand the beauty of the Kosovar soul. I'm glad I got a glimpse.
February 11, 2023
No, with killing and bombings
and trash dumped in the street
and racial hatred, Kosovo doesn't
sound like a great place to visit.
But when Paula Huntley's husband
was sent to Kosovo to help
establish a legal system, Huntley
impulsively decides to accompany
him and later jumps into teaching
a group of Kosovo Albanians
English. Unexpectedly, Huntley
falls in love---with the country,
with its people.
Yes, I'd heard of Kosovo, but
I doubt I'd have been able to
write a coherent essay explaining
much about the conflict there
prior to reading this book.
I recommend this book. In some
ways, it reminded me of Reading
Lolita in Tehran. But can we
self-centered Americans ever
read too much about areas of
the world where people don't
spend most of their day at
the mall or playing Nintendo?
and trash dumped in the street
and racial hatred, Kosovo doesn't
sound like a great place to visit.
But when Paula Huntley's husband
was sent to Kosovo to help
establish a legal system, Huntley
impulsively decides to accompany
him and later jumps into teaching
a group of Kosovo Albanians
English. Unexpectedly, Huntley
falls in love---with the country,
with its people.
Yes, I'd heard of Kosovo, but
I doubt I'd have been able to
write a coherent essay explaining
much about the conflict there
prior to reading this book.
I recommend this book. In some
ways, it reminded me of Reading
Lolita in Tehran. But can we
self-centered Americans ever
read too much about areas of
the world where people don't
spend most of their day at
the mall or playing Nintendo?
November 28, 2020
I think this is an important book for people to read to understand the situation with Kosovo (Kosova) from the inside, from the view point of people who lived through what happened. It's a powerful sharing of changed perspectives, personal development, introspection, and growth. It will likely bring tears to your eyes at points and bring a lot of difficult thoughts to your mind and heart if you allow it. It did to me. Also, it's more than 15 years since this book was written and Kosovo (Kosova) still struggles. STILL.
But the story also is one of hope, love, encouragement, an example of the small things we can do in big ways and the big things we can do in small ways. It stresses the importance and power of diversity, tolerance, and multi-ethnicity. Read the interview at the end. And don't miss the section on how anyone can volunteer worldwide.
10 Thinks You Didn't Know About Kosovo
But the story also is one of hope, love, encouragement, an example of the small things we can do in big ways and the big things we can do in small ways. It stresses the importance and power of diversity, tolerance, and multi-ethnicity. Read the interview at the end. And don't miss the section on how anyone can volunteer worldwide.
10 Thinks You Didn't Know About Kosovo
July 25, 2011
The premise of this book is that it is culled from a series of journal extracts and emails written by Paula Huntley during her year-long stay in Kosovo where she travelled with her husband, teaching English at the University in Pristina. Indeed Paula herself calls this "an accidental book", and whilst the diary format has no doubt undergone a degree of rewriting prior to publication, the format does give an immediacy and honesty to the narrative: Paula questions her own innermost motivations in journeying to Kosovo:- as well as making interesting parallels of the prejudice she sees around her with her own previous racial intolerance whilst growing up in 1960s America.
However, this is not an introspective work, and indeed one of the most effective elements of this book are her vivid descriptions of a war-torn Kosovo desparately trying to get back to normal within the artificial confines of UN administration. The physical descriptions are particularly telling:
"Prishtina is a city of fragments. There are few whole things here - few intact surfaces, few complete buildings, few functional systems. Concrete sidewalks are split and buckled, stuccoed walls are crazed and stained, roads are gullied and pocked with holes big enough to swallow a small car, steps are crumbling, ragged-edged. Turbid, smelly gray-water seeps from every crack and pit. And everywhere, everywhere, garbage."
Defying these grim conditions are the key characters: the Kosovan students who attend her English lessons and the titular Book Club. These students provide fascinating insights into the psyche of this region, and their optimisim and fortitude is universally humbling given that they are effectively suffering a double tragedy - a scarred past of death and displacement at the hands of Serbian paramilitaries; and an uncertain future in a country still devastated by war and reliant upon the fickle Western powers for support. All see themselves as 'lucky' (they are, after all, still alive) and see the learning of English as a ticket to a better future. Whilst some achieve their dreams of escaping their situations, to varying degrees, Paula is acutely aware that she may well be raising unrealistic expectations among her students; a heartbreaking prospect for both writer and reader.
Paula herself proves to be an insightful guide into Kosovo here - she is always aware that her views of the country are tempered by a Western/US perspective and she shows a rare sensitivity in her actions - for instance, whilst attempting to encourage her Kosovo Albanian students to acknowledge that not all Serbians are murderers and aggressors, she wisely retreats in the face of obvious confusion and even anger. These individuals' wounds are simply too recent and too deep, although by the end of the book there are signs of hope here too...as Paula says in a recent interview "Kosovo will be judged by how well the Albanian majority of some 90 per cent protects the Serbs, Roma and other minority groups. Are they up to this? I hope so. Everything depends upon it".
Ultimately, this is a story of a country and a people scarred and traumatised by recent war, who desperately require an autonomy and stake in their own future which they are unlikely to attain whilst they remain under international governance - a situation which remains nearly a decade after this book was written. As of 2010, the status of Kosovo remains unclear - of the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council the US, UK and France acknowledged a declaration of Kosovan independence in 2008, yet this has not been formalised due to the resistance of China and Russia.
On a personal note, I must admit to being shamefully unaware of the details of the Kosovan crisis and the Balkan conflict of the 1990s... as a twentysomething living in the UK at the time, I was aware of the conflict from the nightly news reports of NATO bombings and I recall being appalled at the UN's failure to prevent the Srebenica massacre in 1995, but the details never really struck home. To me, this was a conflict happening elsewhere, to other people, and I never really engaged with it. As a final thought, I have to say I would welcome an update from Paula Huntley on how these various individuals are doing, almost a decade on from her book's events.
However, this is not an introspective work, and indeed one of the most effective elements of this book are her vivid descriptions of a war-torn Kosovo desparately trying to get back to normal within the artificial confines of UN administration. The physical descriptions are particularly telling:
"Prishtina is a city of fragments. There are few whole things here - few intact surfaces, few complete buildings, few functional systems. Concrete sidewalks are split and buckled, stuccoed walls are crazed and stained, roads are gullied and pocked with holes big enough to swallow a small car, steps are crumbling, ragged-edged. Turbid, smelly gray-water seeps from every crack and pit. And everywhere, everywhere, garbage."
Defying these grim conditions are the key characters: the Kosovan students who attend her English lessons and the titular Book Club. These students provide fascinating insights into the psyche of this region, and their optimisim and fortitude is universally humbling given that they are effectively suffering a double tragedy - a scarred past of death and displacement at the hands of Serbian paramilitaries; and an uncertain future in a country still devastated by war and reliant upon the fickle Western powers for support. All see themselves as 'lucky' (they are, after all, still alive) and see the learning of English as a ticket to a better future. Whilst some achieve their dreams of escaping their situations, to varying degrees, Paula is acutely aware that she may well be raising unrealistic expectations among her students; a heartbreaking prospect for both writer and reader.
Paula herself proves to be an insightful guide into Kosovo here - she is always aware that her views of the country are tempered by a Western/US perspective and she shows a rare sensitivity in her actions - for instance, whilst attempting to encourage her Kosovo Albanian students to acknowledge that not all Serbians are murderers and aggressors, she wisely retreats in the face of obvious confusion and even anger. These individuals' wounds are simply too recent and too deep, although by the end of the book there are signs of hope here too...as Paula says in a recent interview "Kosovo will be judged by how well the Albanian majority of some 90 per cent protects the Serbs, Roma and other minority groups. Are they up to this? I hope so. Everything depends upon it".
Ultimately, this is a story of a country and a people scarred and traumatised by recent war, who desperately require an autonomy and stake in their own future which they are unlikely to attain whilst they remain under international governance - a situation which remains nearly a decade after this book was written. As of 2010, the status of Kosovo remains unclear - of the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council the US, UK and France acknowledged a declaration of Kosovan independence in 2008, yet this has not been formalised due to the resistance of China and Russia.
On a personal note, I must admit to being shamefully unaware of the details of the Kosovan crisis and the Balkan conflict of the 1990s... as a twentysomething living in the UK at the time, I was aware of the conflict from the nightly news reports of NATO bombings and I recall being appalled at the UN's failure to prevent the Srebenica massacre in 1995, but the details never really struck home. To me, this was a conflict happening elsewhere, to other people, and I never really engaged with it. As a final thought, I have to say I would welcome an update from Paula Huntley on how these various individuals are doing, almost a decade on from her book's events.
December 21, 2013
This is the ideal book, really -- easy and entertaining to read, but also insightful and thought-provoking. It is basically a memoir of a middle-aged American woman who lives in Kosovo for eight months, shortly after NATO drove the Serbs out, while her husband tried to help establish a system to create and enforce the rule of law. The author, Paula Huntley, teaches a group of young people English -- in part by leading a reading discussion book based on the book The Old Man and the Sea.
As I read this book, I was reminded so many times of the people I met while visiting or living in Gaza. The Kosovars were oppressed and desperate for independence just as are the Palestinians. I just hope the progress seen in Kosovo will someday come to Palestine. What impressed me about the author is that she was able to step back and crucially question the role of the United States, as well as to feel compassion for the small numbers of Serbs (and Roma) who were still trying to live in Kosovo. In other words, she didn't so totally buy into one narrative that she couldn't see the humanity in those on the "other side." A lesson for us all.
I wish I had kept a diary while in Gaza so that I could have written my own book!
As I read this book, I was reminded so many times of the people I met while visiting or living in Gaza. The Kosovars were oppressed and desperate for independence just as are the Palestinians. I just hope the progress seen in Kosovo will someday come to Palestine. What impressed me about the author is that she was able to step back and crucially question the role of the United States, as well as to feel compassion for the small numbers of Serbs (and Roma) who were still trying to live in Kosovo. In other words, she didn't so totally buy into one narrative that she couldn't see the humanity in those on the "other side." A lesson for us all.
I wish I had kept a diary while in Gaza so that I could have written my own book!
December 2, 2020
This is a journal, a book about resilience and hope. A war story, a teacher's story, but most of all a story of hope, "The Hemingway Book Club of Kosovo" is the journal Paula Huntley kept in scattered notebooks or on her laptop over the eight months that she lived and worked in Kosovo.
In the spring of 1999, the world watched as more than 800,000 Kosovo Albanians poured over Kosovo's borders, bringing with them stories of torture, rape, and massacre. One year later, Paula Huntley's husband signed on with the American Bar Association to help build a modern legal system in this broken country, and she reluctantly agreed to accompany him.
Deeply uncertain as to how she might be of any service in a country that had seen such violence and hatred, Huntley found a position teaching English as a Second Language to a group of Kosovo Albanians in Prishtina.
When Huntley asked her students if they would like to form an American-style "book club," they jumped at the idea. After stumbling upon a stray English-language copy of Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, Huntley proposed it as the club's first selection. The simple fable touched all the students deeply, and the club rapidly became a forum in which they could discuss both the terrors of their past and their dreams for the future.
I had mixed feelings about this book, it seemed to me like a well edited diary. The book didn't have much to do with a book club either, but it was interesting to read about the aftermath of the war in Kosovo through an outsider's eye.
3/5 📚📚📚
In the spring of 1999, the world watched as more than 800,000 Kosovo Albanians poured over Kosovo's borders, bringing with them stories of torture, rape, and massacre. One year later, Paula Huntley's husband signed on with the American Bar Association to help build a modern legal system in this broken country, and she reluctantly agreed to accompany him.
Deeply uncertain as to how she might be of any service in a country that had seen such violence and hatred, Huntley found a position teaching English as a Second Language to a group of Kosovo Albanians in Prishtina.
When Huntley asked her students if they would like to form an American-style "book club," they jumped at the idea. After stumbling upon a stray English-language copy of Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, Huntley proposed it as the club's first selection. The simple fable touched all the students deeply, and the club rapidly became a forum in which they could discuss both the terrors of their past and their dreams for the future.
I had mixed feelings about this book, it seemed to me like a well edited diary. The book didn't have much to do with a book club either, but it was interesting to read about the aftermath of the war in Kosovo through an outsider's eye.
3/5 📚📚📚
January 5, 2025
This was a very good read. I learned a lot about a subject for which I had very little knowledge. Well written.
May 31, 2015
This book has been sitting on my shelf for the better part of a decade, and I’m feeling a bit stupid now that I only just got around to it. Huntley’s short memoir, comprised of various outtakes from a journal she kept during her time in postwar Kosovo, relates both humbling humanity and almost unthinkable savagery. I remember only vaguely hearing about the Balkan conflicts when they were happening. I was only a freshman in high school in 1999, and it struck me in much the way the Rwandan conflict had. Which is to say with a Midwestern tsk-tsking reproachfulness that, yes, they would do that to one another over there, wouldn’t they. I had no idea what an ethnic Albanian was or why it was so difficult for the Serbs to simply get on with them in the manner of normal civilized people. And then September 11th happened, and nobody talked about the Balkans ever again.
As it turns out, the answer to why the Serbs began murdering, raping, and forcibly removing their Albanian neighbors from Kosovo is about as straight-forward as the reasons why the Israelis and Palestinians can’t sort their issues out. History, history, and more history. I feel, after reading this book, that America is primarily blessed by a lack of history. We came here a couple hundred years ago, wiped out the only other people with a claim to this land when there were no cameras or international human rights watchdogs to make us feel bad about it, and got down to the business of making money. Our lives are very simple. Not all that ethically superior, but simple.
Besides the obvious heart-warming charm of the resilient Albanian survivors who populate her English class, the thing I liked best about the author’s writing is the way she poses questions, but doesn’t necessarily argue an answer for them. She lets her observations speak for themselves, and lets the reader follow her thoughts to their various troubling conclusions. Did the Albanians have a cultural capacity for tolerating a multiethnic society where the rights of minorities are protected? Is nonviolent protest basically futile in awakening international interest in a conflict? Were the lovely, kindhearted people she met, or indeed her own family, really any different than the murderous Serbs, or was brutality largely a matter of opportunity and motivation? Human nature never looks all that good under that particular microscope.
Awesome book. I feel like I need to grab a modern history of the Balkans and learn more.
As it turns out, the answer to why the Serbs began murdering, raping, and forcibly removing their Albanian neighbors from Kosovo is about as straight-forward as the reasons why the Israelis and Palestinians can’t sort their issues out. History, history, and more history. I feel, after reading this book, that America is primarily blessed by a lack of history. We came here a couple hundred years ago, wiped out the only other people with a claim to this land when there were no cameras or international human rights watchdogs to make us feel bad about it, and got down to the business of making money. Our lives are very simple. Not all that ethically superior, but simple.
Besides the obvious heart-warming charm of the resilient Albanian survivors who populate her English class, the thing I liked best about the author’s writing is the way she poses questions, but doesn’t necessarily argue an answer for them. She lets her observations speak for themselves, and lets the reader follow her thoughts to their various troubling conclusions. Did the Albanians have a cultural capacity for tolerating a multiethnic society where the rights of minorities are protected? Is nonviolent protest basically futile in awakening international interest in a conflict? Were the lovely, kindhearted people she met, or indeed her own family, really any different than the murderous Serbs, or was brutality largely a matter of opportunity and motivation? Human nature never looks all that good under that particular microscope.
Awesome book. I feel like I need to grab a modern history of the Balkans and learn more.
August 20, 2007
I chose this book to gain a better understanding of the Kosovo (ethnic Albanian) side of the Balkans conflict(s). Mission accomplished, but only at a very shallow level. The book reads like the author's personal journal, perhaps a 5th grade reading level? I feel bad being critical, but the writing is elementary and the analysis and expression of insight and experiences is equally elementary (and repetitive). I'm quite disappointed. But, I have to admit that it's interesting enough for me to finish it. I've learned about the Kosovar/Albanian side of the conflict a bit (or at least their perceptions of it, through the interpretation of the American author...).
Conclusion: only read if you have a specific interest in the region and can't find any other books on the topic in your local used bookstore...
Conclusion: only read if you have a specific interest in the region and can't find any other books on the topic in your local used bookstore...
August 14, 2011
A book that shakes up one's perspective on life. We are so blessed in this country with freedom, affluence and comfort it is easy to forget most of the world doesn't live that way.
Favorite quotations:
" In Kosovo, parents constantly hug and stroke and caress their children. Children, teenagers, love their fathers and mothers. They do not feel entitled to demand, to misbehave, to argue with or terrorize their parents. What are we Americans doing wrong?" p. 148
"...the isolation, the ignorance of Americans. We are, by the world's standards, wealthy, and we have virtually unlimited access to news and books and magazines. We can travel, we can learn. But we are an island, cut off from the rest of the world not so much by geography as by complacency, by a lack of curiosity, by arrogance, perhaps. We are worldly, but we know little of the world." p. 158
Favorite quotations:
" In Kosovo, parents constantly hug and stroke and caress their children. Children, teenagers, love their fathers and mothers. They do not feel entitled to demand, to misbehave, to argue with or terrorize their parents. What are we Americans doing wrong?" p. 148
"...the isolation, the ignorance of Americans. We are, by the world's standards, wealthy, and we have virtually unlimited access to news and books and magazines. We can travel, we can learn. But we are an island, cut off from the rest of the world not so much by geography as by complacency, by a lack of curiosity, by arrogance, perhaps. We are worldly, but we know little of the world." p. 158
June 27, 2016
What can I say except this was an absolutely excellent book with so much historical information interwoven into the narrative. A good friend of ours just returned from a 2-year Peace Corps. stint in Macedonia. Now I want to talk with him in more depth about his experiences; I feel as if I have a better understanding of that area. Well, actually, to be honest, I now have a bit of KNOWLEDGE and thereby understanding. (Whereas before, I simply had no knowledge!) I am so grateful Huntley shared her experiences and I want to investigate her website, www.hemingwaybookclubofkosovo.com. Now I want to read all the history books she mentioned! Yikes!! This was such an inspirational experience. And, I agree, that realistically, all we can do is what we can do to help any such situation. But we can always do more, can't we? And we should...
March 9, 2014
I probably would have never read this book if it wouldn't have been chosen by the book club that I recently joined, but I am really glad I read this. As Paula mentions several times in the book, Kosovars don't know a lot about the world outside of Kosovo, but Americans should know. Unfortunately, a lot of Americans don't know, and I am one of them. This book was very eye opening to the struggles that people face. It also shows that ethnic problems exist just about everywhere. It is amazing that things that happened in the Balkan region in the late 90's and early 00's could happen in today's times. I highly recommend this book, it will change your thinking about a lot of things. Great job Mrs. Huntley, and thank you for writing about your time in Kosovo.
May 7, 2007
Better than "Reading Lolita in Tehran" (or at least I liked it better), focusing more on the people and culture of the time and less on drawing stretched-out parallels with over-baked literary analysis.
My one critique - of the author, not the book itself - is that in spite of living in Kosova for over a year, she apparently never learned more than a word or two of Albanian, which is a) annoyingly "typical American" and b) makes me raise an eyebrow toward her capability for cultural analysis, but since most of the book focuses on individuals and individual-level interactions/reactions rather than a lot of broader sociological commentary, so I can give her a slight pass.
My one critique - of the author, not the book itself - is that in spite of living in Kosova for over a year, she apparently never learned more than a word or two of Albanian, which is a) annoyingly "typical American" and b) makes me raise an eyebrow toward her capability for cultural analysis, but since most of the book focuses on individuals and individual-level interactions/reactions rather than a lot of broader sociological commentary, so I can give her a slight pass.
August 24, 2019
A book by and about an American woman who went to Kosovo and ended up gaining lifelong friendships with many Kosovo Albanians. The book is a good resource for those who seek to learn more bout the horrible Serbian/Albanian war of 1998 and 1999.
But is also is about hope and commitment and the future. I really enjoyed it.
But is also is about hope and commitment and the future. I really enjoyed it.
May 1, 2021
Retópatas21.
Punto 7: un libro sobre un club de lectura.
Se trata de un diario personal escrito entre 2000 y 2001 y publicado en 2004, tras una exhaustiva revisión y el permiso expreso para nombrar y citar a las personas reales que aparecen en él. La autora, estadounidense, cuenta sus experiencias como profesora de inglés en una escuela privada de Pristina, cuando se trasladó allí con su marido para ayudar a reconstruir el país tras la guerra de 1998- 99. Paula Huntley explica en el prólogo que llevó un diario del que iba enviando fragmentos a familiares y amigos; a su regreso a Estados Unidos, la animaron a que lo publicara como novela testimonial. La primera parte del diario está dedicada a contar la situación en que la autora y su marido encuentran el país a su llegada, y a lo largo del texto sigue detallando lo que descubre sobre los albaneses, su costumbres y las repercusiones de la guerra. El club de lectura en sí no surge hasta varios meses después de que la autora comience a dar clases de inglés, a raíz de haber encontrado un ejemplar de El viejo y el mar en inglés que ella considera ser el único de Pristina y de todo Kosovo. Al final, el club es apenas una excusa para el título, ya que solo leen ese libro y algunos relatos cortos clásicos. La mayor parte del diario la constituyen los relatos de los supervivientes de la guerra y, como es evidente, las propias impresiones de la autora.
Hay varios aspectos del libro que no me han cuadrado muy bien. Para empezar, en ningún momento la autora explica qué los llevó a su marido y a ella a realizar una labor benéfica en un lugar tan alejado de su hogar en California, y que supone tantos sacrificios personales. Lo único que dice es que su marido "Quería ayudar en los Balcanes". El marido toma una excedencia de un año, sin sueldo, de su trabajo; la autora renuncia por completo al suyo. No tienen ninguna relación cultural ni familiar con los Balcanes; todo lo que saben del conflicto y la situación actual de Kosovo lo estudian a toda prisa los días antes de irse; y por supuesto no hablan albanés (ni hacen el menor esfuerzo por aprenderlo más allá de las fórmulas de saludo). La autora reconoce que, durante la guerra, no prestó apenas atención a las noticias ni hizo ningún donativo a la Cruz Roja ni a otra ONG de apoyo a víctimas y desplazados. Aunque desde las primeras semanas de estar allí la autora comienza a repetir lo mucho que ama a los albaneses, no entiendo por qué, de todas las causas humanitarias con la que esta pareja podría haberse involucrado, fueron a elegir una que hasta ese momento no les había inspirado la menor preocupación.
Tampoco entiendo, por otra parte, hasta qué punto les enseña inglés a los adolescentes y personas jóvenes que se matriculan en su clase. No es profesora de inglés; se saca el título apresuradamente antes de partir para Kosovo, y más tarde admite que nunca había oído hablar de ciertos conceptos sintácticos o gramaticales hasta que le salieron en la lección que le tocaba enseñar. En la escuela de Pristina la admiten inmediatamente por ser nativa, más que por ser titulada. Casi todos sus alumnos, adolescentes o jóvenes, parece saber ya el suficiente inglés tanto para entenderla a ella como para contarle prolijamente cómo sobrevivieron a la guerra, su situación actual y sus planes de futuro, sus sentimientos hacia el gobierno y hacia los serbios, sus puntos de vista sobre la religión y la cultura... Es un poco chocante que la autora diga que en cierta clase les está enseñando los adverbios de tiempo, y al terminar esa misma clase se pongan a debatir sobre el papel del ejército norteamericano y la OTAN en la resolución de la guerra. Muchas veces parece que los estudiantes, cuyo único propósito es salir de su arruinado país para trabajar o estudiar, ya tienen un nivel muy bueno de inglés, y solo pretenden pulirlo un poco para sacarse los títulos que les permitan dejar Kosovo.
Como es obvio, el libro dista mucho de ser objetivo y neutral en el conflicto. Ya he mencionado que, a pesar de no sentir un interés particular por los albano kosovares antes de trasladarse allí, la autora se encariña muy pronto con ellos, y justifica todo lo que piensan o hacen, incluso lo que le parece cuestionable, por su sufrimiento en la guerra. En una ocasión están viendo un documental sobre arte, y en cierto momento el narrador dice de una obra que "ni el mismo Dios podría haberla hecho tan hermosa". Una estudiante (musulmana, como la mayoría de los alumnos de la clase) interrumpe, se levanta indignada y dice que ese vídeo es ofensivo porque pone en duda el poder de Dios, y porque ningún hombre puede crear nada más bello que lo que crea Dios. La autora se apresura a añadir: "son creyentes, pero no son fanáticos". En otra clase, en las que les pregunta si está bien usar arquetipos y generalizar sobre la gente de una raza o de un país, los estudiantes dicen primero que los albaneses no kosovares, los de Albania (es decir, no ellos mismos sino "los otros" albaneses), son todos unos sucios criminales, y luego que todos los serbios, sin absolutamente ninguna excepción, son asesinos. La autora aclara enseguida: "pero no es un discurso de odio". Menos mal.
Creo que el libro solo puede ser provechoso para aquel que ya tenga de antemano un interés por la historia del conflicto de los Balcanes. Aunque la autora aporta en ocasiones algo de análisis político, es fundamentalmente un relato continuo de las miserias de la guerra y la posguerra en un país pobre, sucio, devastado por el odio y la ignorancia, arrogantemente cerrado en sí mismo.
Punto 7: un libro sobre un club de lectura.
Se trata de un diario personal escrito entre 2000 y 2001 y publicado en 2004, tras una exhaustiva revisión y el permiso expreso para nombrar y citar a las personas reales que aparecen en él. La autora, estadounidense, cuenta sus experiencias como profesora de inglés en una escuela privada de Pristina, cuando se trasladó allí con su marido para ayudar a reconstruir el país tras la guerra de 1998- 99. Paula Huntley explica en el prólogo que llevó un diario del que iba enviando fragmentos a familiares y amigos; a su regreso a Estados Unidos, la animaron a que lo publicara como novela testimonial. La primera parte del diario está dedicada a contar la situación en que la autora y su marido encuentran el país a su llegada, y a lo largo del texto sigue detallando lo que descubre sobre los albaneses, su costumbres y las repercusiones de la guerra. El club de lectura en sí no surge hasta varios meses después de que la autora comience a dar clases de inglés, a raíz de haber encontrado un ejemplar de El viejo y el mar en inglés que ella considera ser el único de Pristina y de todo Kosovo. Al final, el club es apenas una excusa para el título, ya que solo leen ese libro y algunos relatos cortos clásicos. La mayor parte del diario la constituyen los relatos de los supervivientes de la guerra y, como es evidente, las propias impresiones de la autora.
Hay varios aspectos del libro que no me han cuadrado muy bien. Para empezar, en ningún momento la autora explica qué los llevó a su marido y a ella a realizar una labor benéfica en un lugar tan alejado de su hogar en California, y que supone tantos sacrificios personales. Lo único que dice es que su marido "Quería ayudar en los Balcanes". El marido toma una excedencia de un año, sin sueldo, de su trabajo; la autora renuncia por completo al suyo. No tienen ninguna relación cultural ni familiar con los Balcanes; todo lo que saben del conflicto y la situación actual de Kosovo lo estudian a toda prisa los días antes de irse; y por supuesto no hablan albanés (ni hacen el menor esfuerzo por aprenderlo más allá de las fórmulas de saludo). La autora reconoce que, durante la guerra, no prestó apenas atención a las noticias ni hizo ningún donativo a la Cruz Roja ni a otra ONG de apoyo a víctimas y desplazados. Aunque desde las primeras semanas de estar allí la autora comienza a repetir lo mucho que ama a los albaneses, no entiendo por qué, de todas las causas humanitarias con la que esta pareja podría haberse involucrado, fueron a elegir una que hasta ese momento no les había inspirado la menor preocupación.
Tampoco entiendo, por otra parte, hasta qué punto les enseña inglés a los adolescentes y personas jóvenes que se matriculan en su clase. No es profesora de inglés; se saca el título apresuradamente antes de partir para Kosovo, y más tarde admite que nunca había oído hablar de ciertos conceptos sintácticos o gramaticales hasta que le salieron en la lección que le tocaba enseñar. En la escuela de Pristina la admiten inmediatamente por ser nativa, más que por ser titulada. Casi todos sus alumnos, adolescentes o jóvenes, parece saber ya el suficiente inglés tanto para entenderla a ella como para contarle prolijamente cómo sobrevivieron a la guerra, su situación actual y sus planes de futuro, sus sentimientos hacia el gobierno y hacia los serbios, sus puntos de vista sobre la religión y la cultura... Es un poco chocante que la autora diga que en cierta clase les está enseñando los adverbios de tiempo, y al terminar esa misma clase se pongan a debatir sobre el papel del ejército norteamericano y la OTAN en la resolución de la guerra. Muchas veces parece que los estudiantes, cuyo único propósito es salir de su arruinado país para trabajar o estudiar, ya tienen un nivel muy bueno de inglés, y solo pretenden pulirlo un poco para sacarse los títulos que les permitan dejar Kosovo.
Como es obvio, el libro dista mucho de ser objetivo y neutral en el conflicto. Ya he mencionado que, a pesar de no sentir un interés particular por los albano kosovares antes de trasladarse allí, la autora se encariña muy pronto con ellos, y justifica todo lo que piensan o hacen, incluso lo que le parece cuestionable, por su sufrimiento en la guerra. En una ocasión están viendo un documental sobre arte, y en cierto momento el narrador dice de una obra que "ni el mismo Dios podría haberla hecho tan hermosa". Una estudiante (musulmana, como la mayoría de los alumnos de la clase) interrumpe, se levanta indignada y dice que ese vídeo es ofensivo porque pone en duda el poder de Dios, y porque ningún hombre puede crear nada más bello que lo que crea Dios. La autora se apresura a añadir: "son creyentes, pero no son fanáticos". En otra clase, en las que les pregunta si está bien usar arquetipos y generalizar sobre la gente de una raza o de un país, los estudiantes dicen primero que los albaneses no kosovares, los de Albania (es decir, no ellos mismos sino "los otros" albaneses), son todos unos sucios criminales, y luego que todos los serbios, sin absolutamente ninguna excepción, son asesinos. La autora aclara enseguida: "pero no es un discurso de odio". Menos mal.
Creo que el libro solo puede ser provechoso para aquel que ya tenga de antemano un interés por la historia del conflicto de los Balcanes. Aunque la autora aporta en ocasiones algo de análisis político, es fundamentalmente un relato continuo de las miserias de la guerra y la posguerra en un país pobre, sucio, devastado por el odio y la ignorancia, arrogantemente cerrado en sí mismo.
December 6, 2017
Onvan : The Hemingway Book Club of Kosovo - Nevisande : Paula Huntley - ISBN : 1585422932 - ISBN13 : 9781585422937 - Dar 272 Safhe - Saal e Chap : 2003
July 12, 2011
A wonderful memoir that illustrates the power of language.
May 1, 2019
This book is made up of a series of Journal entries by Huntley, mostly made during her tenure as an ESL teacher in Kosovo. It's informal, brief, anecdotal and easy to like. She mostly describes the people, her students, as well as the time and place. Shocking and eye opening are the first words that come to mind!
I found the story here to be overwhelmingly bitter sweet. For every wonderful item Huntley portrays, the flip side is dark and horrible. The hope and love generated by her time and efforts is overshadowed by the ongoing poverty and death everywhere. It's difficult to write a hopeful book given these circumstances, but Huntley does manage to do that.
" But in the place of hope I now feel....something else. I look around me and see that most
of us share a certain sweetness. Most of us are trying to live decent lives, doing what we
can for our families and children, trying to find some meaning, to piece together the puzzle.
But we keep blundering, stumbling, falling into fits of rage and fear, hatred and self destruction.
Our stories are often sad, tragic, maddening. And I am not hopeful that things will get much
better. I don't see progress, but I don't feel cynicism. I feel only an immense tenderness
for all of us. "
Paula Huntley is a warm, caring person and a terrific teacher. Her book is tender and full of insight. And it helped me realize something I've felt beneath the surface a long time. On the surface, people are all the same, and full of love, humor, compassion and hope. WE CAN BE SO WONDERFUL TO EACH OTHER!!!!!! Yet collectively, once you inject politics and religion into the mix, we are HORRID!!!! Collectively we can't agree on almost anything, and we immediately turn to our worst selves and kill, purge, silence, hurt and obliterate ANYONE we deem to be different.
Our societies are a mess. Our history of rape, murder, genocide and cruelty is so overwhelming it is difficult to see any ray of hope anywhere. Yet we do.
Maybe I am more cynical than Paula after reading her story. I shared her joy and admired her students and wish them well, particularly after what they've had to endure. But that's not going to change a thing, and I seriously doubt very much will change any time soon.
I found the story here to be overwhelmingly bitter sweet. For every wonderful item Huntley portrays, the flip side is dark and horrible. The hope and love generated by her time and efforts is overshadowed by the ongoing poverty and death everywhere. It's difficult to write a hopeful book given these circumstances, but Huntley does manage to do that.
" But in the place of hope I now feel....something else. I look around me and see that most
of us share a certain sweetness. Most of us are trying to live decent lives, doing what we
can for our families and children, trying to find some meaning, to piece together the puzzle.
But we keep blundering, stumbling, falling into fits of rage and fear, hatred and self destruction.
Our stories are often sad, tragic, maddening. And I am not hopeful that things will get much
better. I don't see progress, but I don't feel cynicism. I feel only an immense tenderness
for all of us. "
Paula Huntley is a warm, caring person and a terrific teacher. Her book is tender and full of insight. And it helped me realize something I've felt beneath the surface a long time. On the surface, people are all the same, and full of love, humor, compassion and hope. WE CAN BE SO WONDERFUL TO EACH OTHER!!!!!! Yet collectively, once you inject politics and religion into the mix, we are HORRID!!!! Collectively we can't agree on almost anything, and we immediately turn to our worst selves and kill, purge, silence, hurt and obliterate ANYONE we deem to be different.
Our societies are a mess. Our history of rape, murder, genocide and cruelty is so overwhelming it is difficult to see any ray of hope anywhere. Yet we do.
Maybe I am more cynical than Paula after reading her story. I shared her joy and admired her students and wish them well, particularly after what they've had to endure. But that's not going to change a thing, and I seriously doubt very much will change any time soon.
August 30, 2022
I was skeptical of this book, as I enjoy fiction books more than non-fiction, but was impressed and surprised that I was so excited to read about a part of the world and people so affected by their circumstances that I was very involved in the lives of the people in this book. It is a journal book about the experiences of one woman, the wife of a lawyer who was given the opportunity to live in Kosovo for a short time to teach and inspire the legal community about carrying on with a legitimate legal system after their country had been devastated by war. The wife, Paula, went with her husband, which was unusual for international helpers, and she became involved with teaching a young group of students who were recovering from turmoil and upheaval due to the Albanian Serbian conflict in the 1990s. Her descriptions of their lives and struggles was humbling. It was a lesson on seeing into the hardships that many people have to live with everyday. It made me so grateful for the situation that I have in my life. For the country that I live in. I also feel more aware and sad for the conditions that many sincere and loving people have to contend with. This book described only a short time that Paula was in Kosovo, less than a year, and the impact of her new perspective. I was grateful for the new view of the struggles of the human family that I had not even known was happening.
March 10, 2021
I definitely loved reading this book! The beginning was a little bit slow, but it picked up once she talked more about her teaching experiences. I would have liked more stories about the book club and teaching specifically, although I know the author did not initially intend for her journal to become a book. I learned a lot about the history of the Serbs and the Albanians in Kosovo, though, and I think those stories are important. I wish I had read this book 16 years ago, during my first (short-lived) teaching job teaching high school English and ESOL classes south of Atlanta. I think I would have had more empathy for what some of my Albanian students had been through. I think the points the book makes about stereotypes and prejudice remain timely, which is why I hope many other people read this great book.
October 5, 2017
A great read for anyone looking for insight into the Kosovo situation, post Serbian war. I have worked overseas and really appreciated the author's perspective, it makes me think I'm not crazy after all, things really are that messed up - that is, unfortunately, a bit of a relief. I've never quite understood all of the aspects of conflicts involved here, but this diary-to-book was really helpful. Somehow it explains how both sides of conflict feel justified in their own violence 'for a higher cause' - it's too easy to just condemn the other side, but from the other side, you look them same to them as they look to you - it's a sad commentary on humanity and our endless conflicts.
September 19, 2023
The noble effort here was being committed to keeping a nearly daily journal while author Paula Huntley lived in Kosova following the end of ethnic genocide by Serbs against Albanians. Huntley taught English to young and old Albanians in Kosova while they attempted to return to and rebuild their community after being forced to flee the Milosevic-led Serbian war to eradicate them. It's the relationships that Huntley built that are most compelling. The level of humanity that can persist in the midst of such horrible conditions is repeated through history yet too often forgotten in our day-to-day lives.
March 19, 2020
“Our stories are often sad, tragic, maddening. And I am not hopeful that things will get much better. I don’t see progress, but I don’t feel cynicism. I feel only an immense tenderness for all of us.”
Huntley recounts her time in Kosovo in an unpretentious, wise, and incredibly kind way. She honors the tragic stories of her students and does not forget the displaced Roma, Serbs, or other ethnic minorities in war-torn Kosovo. (I only wish she kept the original title with the Albanian spelling of Kosova).
Huntley recounts her time in Kosovo in an unpretentious, wise, and incredibly kind way. She honors the tragic stories of her students and does not forget the displaced Roma, Serbs, or other ethnic minorities in war-torn Kosovo. (I only wish she kept the original title with the Albanian spelling of Kosova).
November 17, 2024
I've been meaning to read this book ever since I received a copy when the author spoke at my university about it. I'm so glad I finally found an opportunity. Well worth the read, even all these years later. I love how easy the book is to read and how it has no agenda. The perspectives and insights are astounding and I felt like I grew to know her students through the pages. For anyone wishing to connect, even a little, to the rest of the world and the challenges that many face, this is a good starting point. It's both heartbreaking and inspiring.
July 4, 2025
I chose to read this book on a whim because I have recently been interested in the Balkans region of the world and the history there. While the book is not a historical or political book, since the author is just a woman who lived there for 8 months and taught English, it still gave really great insight (from an outsider’s perspective) of what happened in Kosovo and what it was like shortly after the genocide. I really enjoyed the human aspect of the book, as the author talks in depth about her students. It was very moving to hear about their experiences and perspectives.
January 3, 2018
A powerful story of the strength of humanity, tolerance, and understanding. Huntley takes her readers on a teacher's journey to not only educate her students, but to provide them with a space in which they can fully express themselves. Along the way, we learn about the tragic history surrounding these students through Huntley's keen eyes and the many relationships she develops within the community.
October 26, 2018
This is the story of an American lady who went to Kosovo and taught Albanians English after the war. Her husband signed on with the American Bar Association to help build a modern legal system in the torn and broken country. The story of the survivors and the devastation of the country are balanced by the strength and determination of the people to have a better life is awe inspiring. They are able to see their own struggles in the Hemingway book "The Old Man and the Sea".
October 26, 2021
The author describes her personal experiences in Kosovo after the end of the war and describes how she as an expat from abroad viewed the situation in the country at that time, meeting locals by teaching English and forming a book club.
Indeed as mentioned in another review, the title is a bit misleading, while the book describes the book club less than the overall situation and experience of the author in Kosovo. A personal experience based on diary entries.
Indeed as mentioned in another review, the title is a bit misleading, while the book describes the book club less than the overall situation and experience of the author in Kosovo. A personal experience based on diary entries.
November 30, 2025
4.5. More than anything, this book is about the power of humanity, of relationships. I felt myself the spirit of the Kosovar people as described in this book. Beautiful! I wish I could have learned more of the perspectives of the students outside of their conversations with the author, but of course the book is based on her journal entries. I’d love to know what everyone is up to now, 20 something years later.
August 6, 2017
Good book. Because I visited Macedonia during this time frame and have friendships across the Balkens, I found this an interesting read, one with hope and appreciation for the author's thoughts. This is basically her journal from the time she spent is Pristina - and the immediate time after. It is an easy read and I enjoyed it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 123 reviews