Goulash by Brian Kimberling

Goulash by Brian Kimberling

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Summary

Stirring together the perfect proportions of humor, history, romance, and myth, the eagerly awaited new novel by Brian Kimberling brings to brilliant life a people, a time, and a city

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Goulash by Brian Kimberling

'A quirky, funny, melancholy portrait of a significant European moment, captured by this most subtle of Americans abroad' Tessa Hadley, author of The Past and Late in the Day Eager to escape stifling small-town Indiana, Elliott moves to Prague, where he gets a job teaching English. It's 1998, and the Czech Republic is moving with increasing rapidity out of the shadow of communism and into the wilds of twenty-first-century capitalism. Elliott meets his students in a variety of pubs and conducts his lessons over pints of local Radegast beer. He gets his shoes stolen by an experimental artist who engages Elliott in a number of eccentric schemes. And he meets Amanda, an English teacher from the UK, with whom he falls in love. Together, they try to make a place for themselves as strangers in this strange land. They explore the dark history and surprising wonders of their adopted city, touring the twisting ancient streets and encountering expats, movie stars, tobacco executives, a former Soviet informant, and the president of Poland. But the forces that are reshaping the city are also at work on them, and eventually it becomes evident that their idyll must end - that change is the only reality one can't outrun.
Goulash by Brian Kimberling entertained me so much.. Kimberling, who has lived the expat nightmare, has a droll, quirky take on the scene... Goulash made me want another serving * Lit Hub *
Goulash is a hilarious novel about a man's quest for a home in a place full of challenges and lots of beer - Prague, 1998. Wonderful dialogue, endearing characters, and a deep sense of the historical forces at work combine in all the best ways to make this story really delectable -- Jessica Francis Kane, author of This Close and The Report
Kimberling's brisk, funny novel is set approximately 10 years after Czech independence, when Westernization had turned the country into an unwholesome stew of capitalism and communism... The writing is smart, the quips are amusing... The story exudes raffish charm * Wall Street Journal *
A winning, offbest yarn about life and love after communism * Kirkus *
A vivid picture of a city creaking and shuddering as it settles into a new dispensation... This novel is quick to read, but its compelling picture and insights will linger in the mind * Washington Times *
Kimberling . . . is an exacting wordsmith capable of elegantly simple sentences, and his narrator's observations are often dryly hilarious . . . A remarkable evocation of time and place * Booklist *
Quirky and charming * Sunday Mirror *
Brian Kimberling was born and grew up in Indiana, where he was briefly employed as an ornithologist, a job that inspired his first book, SNAPPER. Before settling in the UK, he lived and worked in Prague, and drew on extensive experience teaching English in bars to create the character of Elliott in GOULASH. He now lives and works in Bath.
SKU Unavailable
ISBN 13 9780755396252
ISBN 10 0755396251
Title Goulash
Author Brian Kimberling
Condition Unavailable
Binding Type Paperback
Publisher Headline Publishing Group
Year published 2019-05-30
Number of pages 224
Cover note Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.