Reviews

In Search of the Free Individual: The History of the Russian-Soviet Soul by Svetlana Alexievich

minakhimisra's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

worldlibraries's review against another edition

5.0

This is a twenty-minute read, tops.

She starts out by explaining how she invented her genre. She's brilliant! Just brilliant.

The whole speech has endless insights. One question she asked all of her Homo Sovieticus interview subjects is 'would you rather have a nation that is strong, or that is admirable?' 80% chose strong.
I guess we're seeing the results of that play out every single day.

_edith_'s review against another edition

fast-paced

1.25

If you have read Alexievich’s books, you will find nothing new here. If you have not read them yet, it’s not worth starting with this one, as it’s just a broad overview of what she usually writes about. 

A nice speech, a not-so-great book. Though it might be fine for references. 

lauren_endnotes's review

5.0

"I am a historian of the soul. For me, feelings are also documents. I study missing history, the things that history usually overlooks. History is often arrogant, and dismissive of what is small and human."

From IN SEARCH OF THE FREE INDIVIDUAL: A History of the Russian-Soviet Soul, by Svetlana Alexievich, tr. from the Russian by Jamey Gambrell, 2016.

#ReadtheWorld21

cintiandrade's review against another edition

5.0

Discurso curtinho da Svetlana que está disponível gratuitamente no Kindle. Aqui, ela basicamente resume o seu fazer literário, suas técnicas, estratégias e a abordagem que utiliza com seus sujeitos, além de explicar um pouco de seu pensamento sobre a formação da "alma soviética". Alguns trechos daqui já estavam presentes em alguns textos de apoio das edições brasileiras dos livros. Como sempre, Svetlana dando aula sobre como a história é composta dos "sujeitos pequenos" tanto quanto de grandes eventos.