Customer Reviews

Elvis Is Titanic: Classroom Tales from Iraqi Kurdistan (Vintage)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an excellent book: intelligent, incisive and entertaining. I learnt a lot about Iraqi Kurdistan (a part of Iraq we usually don't hear so much about), but also about American culture and values. In fact, it is the interplay between American values and how they are received in Kurdistan that makes this book so interesting. Plus, many of the classroom stories are just hilarious...

A fresh and remarkably insightful look at what's going on in the Kurdish section of Iraq through the eyes and writing of a fresh and insightful young man for whom we can credit courage, respect and talent. His characters are real and interesting, as is he and the manner in which he shares with us his experiences with them. We should be reading more in the future from Ian Klaus.

Over the last 13 years I have spent 3 months every year with my in-laws, Iraqi Kurds in Erbil. So from my informed opinion I must say that the book is accurate about many points.
But having said that, I must also add that the writing in this book is choppy and most points and ideas get lost in endless descriptions and rambling. This book needs a good editor that will organize the thoughts that are scattered and disorganized. Also though it is very informative about the culture for the average American, I found the book lacking in depth. There is no brief history of the Kurds that would give the readers deeper understanding of the culture, politic and the demographic. And without those you can't understand just how wonderful the Kurds truly are and how different they are from the rest of Iraqis who are not Indo-Europeans but Arabs by origin.

This book tells the story of Ian Klaus's adventure into Kurdistan to teach American history and English. He describes his entry into the country, the university and something of the environment. The author is a well prepared teacher and very observant about his students and the world views they bring to the classroom.

The book is short and through it only a small piece of the his experience can be conveyed. The best descriptions are examples of hospitality, the western hotel and the way of life he sees.

I particularly liked reading the reactions of the students, but I'm not a fan of having students so clearly identified... nor of showing in formal print their fledgling English skills. Outsiders cannot predict later ramifications for these students of having their opinions in print.

I did not find this book very insightful. I think this book would be an eye opener for the many Americans that have not had any personal experience with people from third world countries. But as an immigrant from Argentina living in the US, the opinions and feelings expressed by the kurdish people regarding american policies abroad, ring very familiar to me as I have heard them many many times in my country of origin. It may surprise some americans that the US comes across to non americans as a bully. And in that regard the book is a good read to hear non americans talk about the USA image. But the collections of opinions is as raw as shallow, repetitive to no end. The book could be 2/3 shorter and we would not notice.