Book set in Prague – Ghoulash by Brian Kimberling
Tasting Ghoulash in the Czech Republic with Brian Kimberling
It’s 1998 and Elliott moves to Prague from small town Indiana, where he gets a job teaching English. Prague is a city undergoing change and the shadow of communism hangs over the entire country as it moves and fights against the turbulence of twenty-first-century capitalism. Elliott meets his students in a variety of pubs and then he meets Amanda, an English teacher from the UK. They fall in love and try to make Prague their home but as strangers in a new land, they try to navigate a new life, in a new country but “the forces that are reshaping the city are also at work on them”….
BookTrail Travel to the locations in Goulash
BookTrail Travel to the locations in Goulash
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Goulash – what a great title – is the story of a twenty something American who moves to Czechoslovakia not long after the fall of the Soviet Union. He’s there on a personal adventure, to teach English and to find himself. To be as far away from small-town Indiana and explore the world. He ends up falling in love and that causes all kinds of problems for him.
This is an interesting portrait of Prague at a time of great historical and political change. It read like a series of short stories, vignettes if you will , of a country in the grip of great transformation. This side of the book was interesting and felt very much like an old movie. An experience of flicking screens of time and moments interceded with snippets of numbers counting down towards the end.
BookTrail Travel to the locations in Goulash
And it felt like the end was a downward spiral towards..well I’m not sure. I’m not really sure why Elliot even wanted to travel outside of his comfort zone as once in Prague, he spends time in the bars drinking and feeling down about his lot in life. His romance with Amanda was an interesting thread however but he did seem to followed her around the city rather than walk beside her. Nevertheless, we do get a good insight into the time and setting of a country in turmoil The changes, the hopes and dreams of those who live there…
As a book about snippets of life in the Czech republic, the book works well, but the story of the couple didn’t quite work so well for me. There were some very funny and memorable moments of life in that time and place. Oh, and the observations about the spiky Czech language were insightful. Then there the Americanisms too – How many words can you add ‘ ass’ on to such as bad-ass, kick ass etc? Language observations were spot on and very interesting. And the descriptions of the German toilet! Haha yes.
Using a food analogy then, this taste of Goulash was good for a starter. I now want to digest more of the history and culture of the Prague and the Czech Republic.
BookTrail Travel to the locations in Goulash
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