Swimming

Know about the book -

Swimming is written by Karl Luntta and published by SUNY Press. It's available with International Standard Book Number or ISBN identification 143845872X (ISBN 10) and 9781438458724 (ISBN 13).

Compelling stories of intercultural contact and emotional survival in a complex world. A swimming pool in the Kalahari Desert, the ice skates of a boy in a wheelchair, and a midnight train ride in the cool African night form the backdrop of the eight diverse stories in Swimming. Some of the stories take place in Africa, others in the United States, but in all of them, the characters confront cultural and racial differences, both historically and in the present. In “A Virgin Twice,” an American teaching in Botswana struggles to understand a village’s response to a violent assault. In “Jeff Call Beth,” a white American father attempts to connect with the daughter he left behind in Africa. And in the title story, “Swimming,” a Danish expatriate dying of cancer decides to build an Olympic-sized swimming pool in the Kalahari Desert. All of these characters are clinging to emotional survival in a complex world, confronted by a moment or element of their lives that is perplexing, perhaps devastating, but which they need to resolve. “Karl Luntta’s Swimming takes us from Botswana to America and back to Africa, in short stories that capture humanity from childhood to old age. Luntta’s great strength: crystallizing the moments when lives are changed and the future (as well as one’s memories of the past) is altered.” — John Coyne