Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets | 
pickI‘ve read several of Alexievich‘s books (all except Zinky Boys, I think) and am such an admirer of her work. Her oral history style is so powerful. This one is looking at life following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The subject matter is difficult (as with all of her books), but worth it for the incredible insight it provides into the Russian psyche.
“El ser humano tiene que elegir constantemente: la libertad o la prosperidad y una vida ordenada, libertad alcanzada dolorosamente o la felicidad sin libertad.”
↬[People are constantly forced to choose between having freedom and having success and stability; freedom with suffering or happiness without freedom.]↫
#SavvySettings Day 29: She does look like she is in a #Bus. Looking forward to reading Svetlana Alexievich soonest.
pickThe experiences of ordinary people are so important to capture to preserve our past, and Alexievich is a genius at capturing these stories. Here, she tells the stories of people who lived under communism and now no longer do. Their breadths of experience are vast, as are their responses to their situation. A bit dense, but fascinating.
#ReadingEurope2020 #Belarus
#bookspin
And here‘s my bingo board for November #bookspinbingo! I‘ve gone decidedly lo-fi this month. 😆 My bookspin is tagged and is my book for Belarus for #ReadingEurope2020, so now I have 2 reasons to read it! And my doublespin in the much lighter Shit, Actually, so good pairing!
Thanks again for this fun challenge, @TheAromaofBooks !
pickMy first book by Svetlana, must say a different writing but very involving and very real. I cannot imagine a more effective way of rendering all the drama behind Russian culture and recent history. Having lived in Moscow for 5 years I can now understand better why of certain things and faces! #2020
pick#TwoTribes by Frankie goes to Hollywood was about the (futility of) the Cold War. Which makes me think of this amazing nonfiction oral history of the transition from the Soviet Era to the unbridled capitalism of the Wild Wild East. So many stories from real people. It made me think a lot about my own country‘s propaganda and indoctrination. #RedroseSeptember
"We ascend from the underground. I look at Moscow with new eyes—its beauty now seems cold and uneasy. Moscow, do you care whether people like you or not?"
-author commentary after interviewing a group of Tajik migrant workers in their basement apartment
"But I didn‘t even know what I was yet. I‘d never liked being a boy, I didn‘t like playing war. But no one ever asked me what I wanted…Everyone made the decisions for me."
-Aleksander Laskovich
"Domodedovo Airport" is really fun to say.
"A Russian stands on three legs: "perhaps," "perchance," and "sometime maybe.""
I had to skip an ayn rand fangirl's interview. I read the author's interviews with some real ghouls--some pro-capitalist, some Soviet or pro-Soviet--but absolutely no one who reads and likes ayn rand has a single thing to say that's worth reading. Especially six fucking pages' worth of it.
"I pace and pace the circles of pain, I can‘t break out of them. Pain has everything: darkness, triumph. Sometimes I think that pain is a bridge between people, a secret connection; other times, it seems like an abyss."
-author commentary
"I didn‘t vote for these bastards, I voted for other bastards!"
-2012 anti-putin-administration protest sign.
Ain't that just modern electoral politics in a nutshell? ?
"Democracy! That‘s a funny word in Russia. “Putin the Democrat” is our shortest joke."
"Even Stalin…even he‘d say, “I‘m not the one who decides, it‘s the Party.” He taught his son: You think that I‘m Stalin—you‘re wrong! That‘s Stalin! And he‘d point to the portrait of himself hanging on the wall. Not at himself, but at his portrait."
-anonymous son of Anna M.
"Happy people are always like children. They need to be protected, they‘re delicate and funny. Vulnerable."
-Olga Karimova
"You need a lot of energy for love, and I‘m a different person now. I‘ve grown ordinary."
-Vera Poglazov
"Principles? Bureaucrats have no convictions, principles, or any of those muddled metaphysical ideals. The most important thing is holding on to your seat, keeping your palms greased. Bureaucracy is our hobby horse. Lenin himself considered bureaucracy a greater threat than Denikin. The only thing that‘s valued is personal loyalty—never forget who owns you, whose hand is feeding you."
-N
"My memories…I refuse to give them up for anyone: not the communists, not the democrats, not the brokers. They‘re mine! All mine![...]I can do without a lot of things, the only thing I can‘t do without is the past."
-Margarita Pogrebitskaya
"We‘re the electorate now. Our job is to go and vote for the right candidate then call it a day. I was sick one time and didn‘t make it to the polling station, so they drove over here themselves. With a red box. That‘s the one day they actually remember us."
-Marina Tikhonovna Isaichik
"I remember my father‘s words: “It‘s possible to survive the camps, but you can‘t survive other people.” He‘d also say, “You die today, I‘ll die tomorrow—the first time I heard these words wasn‘t in the camps, it was from our neighbor Kaprusha…""
-Elena Yurievna
"I‘m an atheist. I have a lot of questions for God."
-Elena Yurievna
Gawd, how trauma breaks reality into pieces. Realities jostling in the same life.
"I‘m a drinking man. Why do I drink? I don‘t like my life. I want to do an impossible somersault and, with the help of alcohol, transport myself to another place where everything is good and beautiful."
Big mood.
"By the very entrance of the Metro, I can still hear snatches of a drunken folk ditty: "All the bad stuff can fuck off! And the good stuff fuck right on!""
-author commentary
Mood.
I haven't attributed the interview quotes because so far the author hasn't. My best guess is that the interviewees asked to remain anonymous.
"My father‘s brother never returned. Vanished. We still don‘t know whether it was in jail or the camps. It was hard for me, but I asked her the question that had been tormenting me, "Aunt Olga, why did you [turn him in]?" [She said,] "Show me an honest person who survived Stalin‘s time.""
"When it comes down to it, there is no such thing as chemically pure evil."
The Russian transition to capitalism reminds me of a kid who gets caught smoking and their parents make them smoke the whole pack. 😢😭
"Solzhenitsyn came back from America, and everyone fell at his feet. But he didn‘t understand us, and we didn‘t understand him. He was a foreigner. He‘d returned to Russia but found Chicago in its place…"
"Today, they accuse us of fighting for capitalism…That‘s not true! I was defending socialism, but some other kind, not the Soviet kind—that‘s what I was standing up for! Or at least that‘s what I thought."
pickMan, this book. It bears witness to dozens of atrocities, some of the worst things mankind has ever inflicted on mankind. And yet it may be the best book I‘ve read this year. It‘s made me think so hard - about violence and the nature of humanity, government and revolution.
Many people will find this too brutal - but there is something hopeful in knowing that these stories have been captured, their words have been heard all around the world.
Through a sheer fluke I am reading a woman in translation during Woman in Translation month. Well thank you serendipity 😉
It‘s very good so far - and quite jaw dropping to think that perestroika happened during my lifetime and I know so little about it. My Belarusian friend is going to be a little bit impressed if I finish this chunkster - Alexievich is from Belarus.
pickThis book is amazing and full of revelations about Russia then and now. I was very unaware of what was happening in Russia around the fall of communism , and this oral history isn't for the fainthearted. It's an eye opener , it's shocking and it happened , still happens around the world whilst it portrays the breakdown of one political system it reflects the shadow side of capitalism , and the many problems that comes with it today.
pickAlexievich‘s distinctive, Nobel winning history writing is immersive, oceanic. Submerged in the historical moment, voices arise like tides, and each story, full of the exhilarations and horrors of humanity, carries you away. This is a fascinating study of those left behind in the wake of the USSR. These stories left a deep impression on my understanding not only of history but of how humans cope with the creation and destruction of an idea.
#wanderingjune #russians
This nonfiction behemoth is coming up on my TBR soon. I see @Billypar had some good things to say so I think I will be able to get through it! I have two important people in my life from ex USSR countries - one of whom has been sharp with me about how little everyone in NZ knows about Russia and Eastern Europe - she‘s 6 foot 2 and practically an ice goddess so i think I better get onto reading it!
pickAn encyclopedia of human evil and misery, yet still a testimony to how vital it is for people to tell the stories of their lives, no matter how painful. Although these interviews were conducted in the two decades after the fall of the Soviet Union, the stories capture a much wider range as some recalled the time of Stalin and how much society changed overnight. A bitter change for some and disappointing for others, but bleak for almost all: 👇
pickSpanning 30 years, everyday Russians tell their life stories during the fall of the Soviet Union. Heartbreaking, terrifying and surprisingly nostalgic — it may be impossible for outsiders to truly understand Russia, but I think ‘Secondhand Time‘ helps. #nonfiction #Russia
Happy National Read a Book Day (U.S.A.). Here‘s what I‘ve got going — what are you reading today?
#nationalreadabookday #nobelprize
pickThis is an amazing book on its own merits. It is both beautiful and horrifying, as well as incredibly informative. I agree with @REPollock that it should be read in small doses or it is overwhelming.
Furthermore, reading it in today's 🇺🇸political climate is illustrative, sadly.
pickOof, I found this an immensely helpful read in getting a grasp on the psychology of people who lived under a dubiously-socialist totalitarian regime, then witnessed its fall, but WOW IS IT DEPRESSING.
You literally cannot read this all in one go, unless maybe you‘re a sociopath. I took a lot of breaks and had several other books going too. Invaluable work, deserves the awards, grim AF.
I am only going away for three days, yet clearly I need to pack all of these. Plus four magazines. 🤪🙃😜
Even though this book illuminates why former Soviets would feel this way, it's still shocking.
This book is heavy. It‘s also weirdly comforting.
