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madameroyale's review against another edition
2.0
I'm conflicted about this book. I thought the first part was really well written and engaging, even heartbreaking at times (for both the bears and the people). There were characters you identified with and understood; you followed their stories and rooted either for or against them. The story of the bears and the people around them was extremely fascinating to read. But once that part was over, the book went downhill. None of the other stories were as interesting or emotionally engaging; none of the other sections even held together narratively as well as the first section did. The author went so deep into the characters (human and otherwise) and their society in the first part that everything that came after seemed distanced, dull, and disjointed. It read like the author had written exactly what he'd wanted to write in part one, and then had to tack on a hundred more pages of random vignettes just to make the book long enough to be a book. Maybe if the organization had been better, or the bears' story had been shorter, I wouldn't have been so disappointed in the rest. 5 stars for part 1, 2 stars for the rest. The story of the bears is very much worth reading. The rest, not so much.
bookish_arcadia's review against another edition
4.0
This is a fascinating oral history that in its first part tells the story of Bulgarian dancing bears, removed from performance into (relative) freedom in nature reserves. In the second half Szablowski speaks to a variety of people from Cuba. to Estonia, to Kosovo about their experiences of the post-Soviet world. From dyed-in-the-wool party members to black-marketeers, pro-EU campaigners and those determined to roll back capitalism. He paints a striking, complex and often uncomfortable picture of what the fall of Communism has really meant for those formerly of the Soviet Bloc. In particular he focuses on those prepared to overlook the crimes of the old regimes in the face of rising prices, unemployment, homelessness, and cultural alienation in modern Europe. He compares the current trend towards revisionism and nostalgia to the habit of the old dancing bears, who, even after years of freedom still dance to the old tunes when given the right cues.
Szablowski features very little in the interviews he records. There is no direct Interwiewer’s voice, only the responses his questions receive. It is often funny to hear vehement refusals and accusations to questions the readers doesn’t hear and I imagine the technique is to bring reader and interviewee closer and give the impression of unedited speech. It’s very effective for the reading experience and maintains a lively and engaging read but on such a divisive and ideological subject it does leave me wondering about the technique of the interviews. What is there in these gaps?
Szablowski shows sympathy with all of his subjects, even the most hostile and there is a marvellous dry tone to his writing. He clearly doesn’t agree with the most vehement apologists but he demonstrates understanding for those struggling with the flaws of the new system. After all, nostalgia is a powerful ameliorative force and for many capitalism and liberalism has not transformed their difficult lives. There is an excellent interplay of the funny and the profound and the parallels he draws between the two halves of the book are more sensitive than they might appear.
Szablowski features very little in the interviews he records. There is no direct Interwiewer’s voice, only the responses his questions receive. It is often funny to hear vehement refusals and accusations to questions the readers doesn’t hear and I imagine the technique is to bring reader and interviewee closer and give the impression of unedited speech. It’s very effective for the reading experience and maintains a lively and engaging read but on such a divisive and ideological subject it does leave me wondering about the technique of the interviews. What is there in these gaps?
Szablowski shows sympathy with all of his subjects, even the most hostile and there is a marvellous dry tone to his writing. He clearly doesn’t agree with the most vehement apologists but he demonstrates understanding for those struggling with the flaws of the new system. After all, nostalgia is a powerful ameliorative force and for many capitalism and liberalism has not transformed their difficult lives. There is an excellent interplay of the funny and the profound and the parallels he draws between the two halves of the book are more sensitive than they might appear.
tgromova's review against another edition
4.0
I didn't learn anything knew about how people feel about democracy in post-communist countries. However, my knowledge of bears in captivity has increased drastically. The first half the book is about bears, the second is a collection of anecdotes from eastern europe in the 2000s. Whether you agree or not that people adapting to democracy are like traumatized bears who can no longer survive in the wild, its still a fun read.
pearseanderson's review against another edition
5.0
I listened to 2 hours of this each day until I finished by the end of my weekend. This was a fantastic book, wow. WOW! I'm so glad this was translated, it makes me think of all the great work that hasn't yet been translated from Easter Europe. This book taught me a lot, helped me sympathize with each of the players of these two dances (bear training and communism's collapse), and did so in a little volume. Felt more like a collection of articles put together in a series than anything else. I'm so glad NPR made this one of the best books of 2018.
slane4nik's review against another edition
Взгляд со стороны и изнутри на то, как научиться жить заново после диктатуры. Про свободу как приключение и трудозатратное предприятие.
kadi's review against another edition
2.0
I liked the idea of this book, but found the execution to be quite poor. I wish a more adept journalist had taken on this topic because it could have been fascinating.
To start with, this book originally seemed to be about Romani bear handlers who were forced to give up their practice of training and showing dancing bears as Bulgaria entered the EU. And for half of the book that was correct. However halfway through it completely changes pace and moves on to interviews with people from other former communist countries now marching toward capitalism. Focusing specifically on people who preferred the old way of life to the new or forthcoming capitalism. And to me these felt like completely different books smashed together. I can’t imagine the original intent of this book was so mismatched, and have a feeling that either the author found he didn’t have enough material to complete a book on the dancing bears and decided to add in tenuously related interviews or he didn’t have enough interview material and decided to beef up the most interesting section. Either way it seems like two different books with two completely different purposes.
Additionally I just didn’t find Szabłowski to be a skilled journalist. He often leads his subjects and inserts clearly personal opinions. He finds it necessary to mention the race of peripheral individuals (The black security woman comes over. During the day black men line the streets. etc.) as though it somehow matters. And is quite judgmental (half of the patrons have distinct Estonian features, half of the patrons have puffy Slavic faces) when the story in no way calls for his observation.
And while I don’t know if this is the fault of the author or the translator (Antonia Lloyd-Jones) the Roma people in this book are exclusively referred to as Gypsies. Not just when quoting interviewees using that term, but as the general descriptor used by the author. Perhaps that isn’t considered offensive to the Roma in that region, but I can’t help but think the English translation could at least have a note on the usage of that term since Roma in the English speaking world consider it a slur.
Overall it was slightly entertaining but poorly done. I don’t think I would pick up anything else by this author in the future.
*All quotes are paraphrased from memory as I couldn’t be bothered wasting my time to look them up.
To start with, this book originally seemed to be about Romani bear handlers who were forced to give up their practice of training and showing dancing bears as Bulgaria entered the EU. And for half of the book that was correct. However halfway through it completely changes pace and moves on to interviews with people from other former communist countries now marching toward capitalism. Focusing specifically on people who preferred the old way of life to the new or forthcoming capitalism. And to me these felt like completely different books smashed together. I can’t imagine the original intent of this book was so mismatched, and have a feeling that either the author found he didn’t have enough material to complete a book on the dancing bears and decided to add in tenuously related interviews or he didn’t have enough interview material and decided to beef up the most interesting section. Either way it seems like two different books with two completely different purposes.
Additionally I just didn’t find Szabłowski to be a skilled journalist. He often leads his subjects and inserts clearly personal opinions. He finds it necessary to mention the race of peripheral individuals (The black security woman comes over. During the day black men line the streets. etc.) as though it somehow matters. And is quite judgmental (half of the patrons have distinct Estonian features, half of the patrons have puffy Slavic faces) when the story in no way calls for his observation.
And while I don’t know if this is the fault of the author or the translator (Antonia Lloyd-Jones) the Roma people in this book are exclusively referred to as Gypsies. Not just when quoting interviewees using that term, but as the general descriptor used by the author. Perhaps that isn’t considered offensive to the Roma in that region, but I can’t help but think the English translation could at least have a note on the usage of that term since Roma in the English speaking world consider it a slur.
Overall it was slightly entertaining but poorly done. I don’t think I would pick up anything else by this author in the future.
*All quotes are paraphrased from memory as I couldn’t be bothered wasting my time to look them up.
marcuschoo's review against another edition
3.0
A pretty parable of the post-Soviet bloc (with detours to Cuba and Greece), although it doesn’t go far beyond surface-level descriptions of the travails of the people, and is a little condescending at times through the belaboured comparison with literal imprisoned animals. The actual ‘dancing bear’ part goes on for a weirdly long time, too.
liliandherbooks's review against another edition
4.0
Solid 3.5 stars.
This book caused a lot of questions about Communism, Capitalism, freedom, changes in government to cross my mind which I enjoyed immensely. This book is a great conversation starter. I would recommend going into this one knowing the structure of the book so you're not surprised by what you read. The first half/part of the book is about Bulgarian dancing bears that Gypsies in that region trained/forcibly domesticated to be "entertainment" as a form of occupation. After the Soviet Union collapsed, all of the these bears were collected and sent to a refuge to be introduced bit by bit to "freedom". Hands down, this was my favorite section of the book because it was very well paced and executed; the sections had titles like 'Love', 'History', 'Negotiation', that provided sufficient insights into how dancing bears as a practice came to be and how the Bulgarian Gypsies view these animals as a part of their families. (The pictures were weirdly placed in the direct center of the book so they're at the beginning of the second half which is a big departure from the first half. They were quite stunning though, emotionally.)
The second half of the book mimicked the first in the section titles but each one was about a different country that was impacted by the fall of Communism; what it did to the people's lives, their jobs, the state of ethnic disputes, their economy, etc. It also really dropped the reader into the daily lives of the people being interviewed which was vastly more interesting than I would have expected. However, I can't say the author executed this particularly well, because if you have no real sense of history about these countries already (as I didn't) then there's a lot that you are taking at face value. This was both good and not so good. I didn't have sufficient context that I could rely on when it came to certain countries state of affairs but I, nonetheless, enjoyed these bits I learned about Ukraine entering into the EU, Albania's many toadstool-like bunkers, and Estonia's citizens without citizenship and the great number of Estonian Russians. This honestly fanned a flame that I didn't know was burning in a corner of a my mind because I really would like to learn more about Eastern European history and how Capitalism in some of these countries was less welcomed (if at all) than others and their views on it. Absolutely fascinating.
This book caused a lot of questions about Communism, Capitalism, freedom, changes in government to cross my mind which I enjoyed immensely. This book is a great conversation starter. I would recommend going into this one knowing the structure of the book so you're not surprised by what you read. The first half/part of the book is about Bulgarian dancing bears that Gypsies in that region trained/forcibly domesticated to be "entertainment" as a form of occupation. After the Soviet Union collapsed, all of the these bears were collected and sent to a refuge to be introduced bit by bit to "freedom". Hands down, this was my favorite section of the book because it was very well paced and executed; the sections had titles like 'Love', 'History', 'Negotiation', that provided sufficient insights into how dancing bears as a practice came to be and how the Bulgarian Gypsies view these animals as a part of their families. (The pictures were weirdly placed in the direct center of the book so they're at the beginning of the second half which is a big departure from the first half. They were quite stunning though, emotionally.)
The second half of the book mimicked the first in the section titles but each one was about a different country that was impacted by the fall of Communism; what it did to the people's lives, their jobs, the state of ethnic disputes, their economy, etc. It also really dropped the reader into the daily lives of the people being interviewed which was vastly more interesting than I would have expected. However, I can't say the author executed this particularly well, because if you have no real sense of history about these countries already (as I didn't) then there's a lot that you are taking at face value. This was both good and not so good. I didn't have sufficient context that I could rely on when it came to certain countries state of affairs but I, nonetheless, enjoyed these bits I learned about Ukraine entering into the EU, Albania's many toadstool-like bunkers, and Estonia's citizens without citizenship and the great number of Estonian Russians. This honestly fanned a flame that I didn't know was burning in a corner of a my mind because I really would like to learn more about Eastern European history and how Capitalism in some of these countries was less welcomed (if at all) than others and their views on it. Absolutely fascinating.
em_reads_books's review against another edition
4.0
Very compelling read: concise and told with a keen sense of darkly funny irony. Szabłowski most often stays out of the stories, letting his subjects' words or his observations of a scene speak for themselves. I found this extremely well done in the first section (the story of the bears) and a handful of the later ones; sometimes, though, I wanted a bit more interpretation and conclusions.
The bears chapters are truly excellent, capturing a big complex problem without many good solutions - human versus animal welfare, tradition versus assimilation, an ethnic minority bearing (no pun intended) the brunt of transition to modern European life...all told with the deepest respect for the subjects even when they're saying horrifying things. Even if the metaphorical bears in the second half don't hold much interest for you, I'd highly recommend reading the first half.
The bears chapters are truly excellent, capturing a big complex problem without many good solutions - human versus animal welfare, tradition versus assimilation, an ethnic minority bearing (no pun intended) the brunt of transition to modern European life...all told with the deepest respect for the subjects even when they're saying horrifying things. Even if the metaphorical bears in the second half don't hold much interest for you, I'd highly recommend reading the first half.