A Short Border Handbook
A Journey Through the Immigrant's Labyrinth
by Gazmend Kapllani
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Pub Date Oct 03 2017 | Archive Date Sep 05 2017
Description
A Short Border Handbook is a cogent and comical journey into the depths of dictatorship, migration, and borders from an Albanian who grew up in Enver Hoxha’s Stalinist madhouse, longing for the West, only to find yet more visible and invisible borders on his arrival.
After spending his childhood in Stalinist Albania during the Cold War, and fantasizing about life across the border, the unnamed protagonist (based closely on the author) flees to Greece, the only country in the Balkans that belonged to the “Western bloc”⎯only to get banged up in a detention center. As he and his fellow immigrants try to make sense of the new world, they find jobs and plan their future lives in Greece, imagining success that is always beyond their grasp. The sheer absurdity of both their plans and their new lives is overwhelming. In a narrative both ironic and emotional, Kapllani interweaves the story of his experience with meditations upon “border syndrome”⎯a mental state, as much as a geographical experience⎯to create a brilliantly observed, amusing, and perceptive debut. And an ever timely one at that.
Advance Praise
"Kapllani treats the absurdities of nationalism in the Balkans - and everywhere - with mischief, wit and insight" -- Boyd Tonkin, Independent (UK)
"A telling reminder of how the borders that many of us are lucky enough to regard as bureaucratic inconvenience often form unimpeachable barriers and of how the way they are policed can be ruthless and absurd." -- Laurence Mackin, Irish Times
"Thought-provoking and blackly comic stuff in what it means to be an immigrant." -- Bookseller
"A brilliant, wry and playful memoir about migration. Kapllani tells it as it's never been told before." -- Lisa Appignanesi
"As a student of borders, I was fascinated and impressed by A Short Border Handbook. It is an autobiographical meditation by a wise Albanian of what it means to be an immigrant at a time when this has become such an important part of our world, causing heart-wrenching problems for so many. With great insight, through his personal story, Gazmend Kapllani has enabled us far better to understand and enter into this overwhelming problem of our times." --Peter Stansky, author of Edward Upward and Professor of History, Emeritus, Stanford University
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9780997316988 |
| PRICE | $14.00 (USD) |
| PAGES | 144 |
Featured Reviews
Reads F, Reviewer
Deeply moving and heartbreakingly beautiful. This book is an eye opener to those who are in the dark of what it's like to be ruled under totalitarianism, the challenges of being an immigrant after escaping from tyranny, and the border syndrome that comes with it.
While reading, my heart cried out to those who became victims of totalitarianism and it made me realize that I shouldn't take my life for granted.
I highly recommend this to those who have lost life's meaning and to those who are seeking for freedom be it from an unhealthy relationship or even freedom from the negative thoughts within. I also recomend this book to those who are working overseas.
Christi S, Reviewer
A very interesting memoir on a subject not much explored in my little corner of the world.
Carianne C, Reviewer
This book was a pleasant surprise. As someone who studied international studies and political science, I was aware of the conflicts between Greece and Albania. However, while I'm old enough to remember the fall of Communism in general and in specific instances such as the Velvet Revolution in the former Czechoslovakia and the breakup of the USSR, the fall of communism in ALbania was never on my radar. I think this is because it was relatively less bloody than the former Yugoslavia.
Kapilani and his translator put a wonderful human face to the struggles of every day Albanians that is applicable to those immigrating from other, lesser known countries. We know of the politics behind other refugees who make the news - we should know more about Albanians. A solid read.
Reviewer 68310
I already knew a little about Albanians in Greece (from personal accounts from friends) but Kapllani really drives home the trappedness of the 80s and the precariousness of the 90s migrations to Greece. The format is flashbacks written in a straightforward linear manner interspersed with more abstract musings on borders. This separates the uniquely Albanian experience and serves to highlight the strong generalities of immigration.
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