The Hemingway Book Club of Kosovo

Paula Huntley left her home in California, and traveled with her husband, Ed, to Kosovo in 2000, one year after the NATO bombing of that province. Ed Huntley desperately wanted to do something to help in the war-torn Balkans. So he volunteered for an American Bar Association project to help rebuild Kosovo's legal system. Paula trained to teach English as a second language, (TESL), while she was still in the States. "The Hemingway Book Club Of Kosovo" is her memoir of that period, taken from the journal she kept during the eight months they lived and worked in Prishtina. Ms. Huntley movingly writes of her experience, and of the intimate bond she forged with her students.The Huntleys arrived in Prishtina and found that the city had not been totally destroyed. Since the Serbs needed Prishtina, the capital city, they had left most of the buildings intact. However, as in most of Kosovo, there had been massive looting, vandalism and violence, murders were committed on a large scale, as was ethnic cleansing of the Kosovo Albanians. Huntley writes, "Most of the destruction in Prishtina was below the surface - in the hearts and minds of the residents. I saw this every day, and I never got used to that destruction." Her students, and every native Albanian, had lost ten years of their lives under the brutal oppression, and apartheid imposed by the Kosovo Serbs. Learning English, in many ways, was key to the economic advancement of the students and their families. Ms. Huntley was deeply touched by the students' eagerness to learn not just English, and grammatical structure, but about the American culture and work ethic. She wanted to provide a safe forum for them to discuss their feelings, and the traumas of the past decade. A book club was established, that met at the Huntley home. The selection was Ernest Hemmingway's "The Old Man And The Sea." The club took-off and became so much more. And the book became a vehicle through which the young people could discuss their lives. Hemmingway's book was fairly easy for them to read, but the novel's meaning was far deeper than the relatively simple language. The students identified with the fable of the triumph of hope and courage over adversity. The harrowing stories of the young Albanians, and their courage, and determination, are remarkable, and inspirational. Paula Huntley's memoir is an extraordinary tale of cross-cultural human connections, and bonds forged through literature and loving kindness. Highly recommended!

Paula Huntley's remarkable journal of her eight months as a volunteer English teacher in Kosovo is that rare thing: A sympathetic, even loving look at the victims of war - in this case Kosovar Albanians - that does not at the same time demonize those in whose name the war was waged - in this case, the Serbs. Indeed, Huntley reminds us that racial, ethnic or national stereotyping, and the notions of collective guilt and collective innocence that accompany such stereotyping, is frequently at the heart of violence. In a journal entry that recounts her students' unwillingness to believe that any Albanian could have been responsible for the bus bombing that had just killed many Serbian civilians, Huntley comments, "Nor, I expect, do most Serbs believe that fellow Serbs could have committed atrocities in Bosnia or Kosovo."Huntley's reminds us not only of our differences, but of our similarities, and of the common humanity that connects us to each other. Her deep belief in the power of human connection is the thread that winds throughout this lovely, moving book.

Paula Huntley the writer of this beautiful,extremely honest book is an American lady,which joins her humanitarian husband to Kosova,despite her protests to not go there at all.Ed, will try to rebuild a new legal system in this war ruined country and Paula will try to teach English as a second language.'First impressions sometimes can be wrong and that happens quite often'-comes to life for Paula, when everything unpleasant such as garbage all over the streets,acrid smells,muddy streets with big holes that could swallow a little car...etc seem to dissapear completely for Paula. She understands very fast that she is in the country in which American's are more than loved. This is a lovely book which is written by a lovely person and her experiences in Kosova, during the eight months she stayed there. It is a journal that ended up in a book and that was the right thing to do because if any book deserves immortality this should be in the top list. Why? Because it is a love story, but not about two people but two nations who love each other so dearly. Americans and Kosovars."First of all you represent yourself as a person, then our family, then our nation" - words I grew up with, spoken daily by my parents. I strongly believe in this rule,especially when I amfully aware of the 'weak' human nature! "Make bad impressions somewhere you'll get judged,your parents, and your entire nation too".Ed and Paula Huntley,represented themselves as NICE PEOPLE.They represented U.S.A as we have always expected U.S.A. people to be during all the times when we leaned on and counted on them.Not that U.S. people met our big expectations about them, but they exceeded them and we will always be grateful...eternally.God Bless U.S.A and praise to Paula and Ed for their divine work.

What I initially thought would be a brief history of an insignificant country that I knew little about, became a truly inspiring story that I wished would never end. Paula Huntley's descriptions of her "Kosovar children" enlightened all of us in the basic elements of decency despite circumstances that would make most humans turn on one another. This small group of friends from differing backgrounds prove that all people are created equal and with effort can love one another just because........

To Paula Huntley's students it's Kosova, not Kosovo, like we Americans like to call that little war-torn country. That's just one of the changes Huntley had to get used to when she began teaching English to a group of Kosovar Albanians. Transplanted from her comfortable San Francisco life to Prishtina, Kosovo, Huntley began keeping a journal to express her struggles and triumphs in her new surroundings. Two years later, that same journal would be published as a book destined to be a bestseller.Paula Huntley is the epitome of a great teacher --- one who goes above and beyond the call of duty to help her students succeed. One of her noble feats is organizing an extracurricular reading group for her students known as the Hemingway Book Club of Kosovo. As her students read Hemingway's THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA, the parallels between their lives and the life of the old man become increasingly evident to both Huntley and her students. Through their interaction, both Huntley and her students learn the lessons of perseverance, faith and hope.THE HEMINGWAY BOOK CLUB OF KOSOVO offers much more than the typical memoir. Through Huntley's masterful writing and reflections, the reader experiences the horrors that her students lived through during the Serbian genocide of Kosovar Albanians. A timely reminder of what war does to a country, THE HEMINGWAY BOOK CLUB OF KOSOVO gives great insights into the injustices occurring throughout the world.This book contains a myriad of emotions. It elicits laughter as Huntley and her students struggle to break down cultural and language barriers. It evokes tears as you read of the losses the Kosovars experienced. It makes you angry, fills you with hope and drowns you in sorrow --- all at the same time. But most of all, it makes you think about all of the things you take for granted that Paula Huntley's students only dream of. --- Reviewed by Melissa Brown