Scan barcode
michaelnlibrarian's review against another edition
2.0
Overall I was disappointed with this book - why?
My expectation was to gain some insights into Putin's Russia from someone who had lived and worked in Moscow from 2011 through 2014. Mr. Idov was the editor-in-chief for GQ-Russia during the period. The title of the book, "Dressed Up for a Riot" subtly connects his GQ employment with the period when Pussy Riot was arrested and the aftermath of that, along with the rise and then decline of significant opposition to Putin. The sub-title, "Misadventures in Putin's Moscow" to me is suggestive of American travel narratives where the author, through no fault of his own, keeps getting into various difficult situations that are relayed in the book with some hilarity. Which is not what is going on in this book at all, so an odd (and inaccurate) choice.
There is no doubt Mr. Idov is a smart and intelligent guy, and a good writer. His parents and he (at a young age) left post-Soviet Latvia in 1992 to move to the US. Twenty years later, he is selected to be the editor-in-chief of the Russian edition of GQ for Conde Nast. The book is a collection of his observations about Russia - or some aspects of Russia - during the time he had that position.
The book is about 260 pages long. It takes about 60 pages of background before the reader (and Idov) arrive at his starting his position in Moscow with GQ. The next chapter is mostly about the challenges of gaining control of his assigned task, running the magazine. While this is all happening in a Russian context and "very Russian" (I suppose), the cast of characters are from the odd narrowly focused world he was inhabiting, a part of something like Russian high society (I guess that is how best to characterize them).
For the next three chapters, the focus is more on the Putin regime and organized opposition to it, but almost entirely the opposition from those within the circles he traveled in. I don't know who Mr. Idov thinks of as his reader here, but for most people this provides a fairly unbalanced picture of opposition to Putin among Russians generally.
Possibly the most interesting aspect of this narrative is Mr. Idov's description of his own migration from almost active participation in the anti-Putin movement (which he concedes isn't in keeping with being a journalist) to someone who is more interested in is successful in this version of Putin's Russia on his own terms. This transformation follows his migration from being the less-than-satisfactory editor of GQ to being a fully successfully developer of and writer for new television series for the Russian market, which includes close associations with many different people who have given up on any significant activities in opposition to Putin in favor career success and a "we can get along with his leadership" attitude. It's a surprising admission.
The final chapter starts with the Russian invasion of Ukrainian Crimea after the Sochi Olympics and works through various events with perhaps a larger scope of discussion than much of the rest of the book for its 40 pages. The main point is that things become such that Mr. Idov and his family leave Moscow for Berlin - he has had enough of Russia, although he will keep his apartment in Moscow and he's glad his daughter, age three, now speaks fluent Russian. Nevertheless, even having failed with GQ he is pleased with his success with TV, including the Londongrad series (about an agency that solves wealthy Russians' problems when living in the UK - there is a trailer here: https://youtu.be/R6a2duHWqgM).
Alas he is disappointed that his idea for a series about an American (basically about himself) who comes to Russia as a journalist is only realized by a Russian network that steals the idea - "How I Became Russian" (or perhaps, How I became a Russian) that he feels warps the concept and turns it into yet more pro-Russian, anti-American propaganda. (Which it certainly does - here is an episode online: https://youtu.be/FNPyVY8v9Kw.)
I'm not sure how to characterize this book - I guess it seems like inside baseball, more or less. What most people would get out of this to improve an understanding of Russia. Too much Michael Idov and his world and not enough observations of Russia outside the world.
My expectation was to gain some insights into Putin's Russia from someone who had lived and worked in Moscow from 2011 through 2014. Mr. Idov was the editor-in-chief for GQ-Russia during the period. The title of the book, "Dressed Up for a Riot" subtly connects his GQ employment with the period when Pussy Riot was arrested and the aftermath of that, along with the rise and then decline of significant opposition to Putin. The sub-title, "Misadventures in Putin's Moscow" to me is suggestive of American travel narratives where the author, through no fault of his own, keeps getting into various difficult situations that are relayed in the book with some hilarity. Which is not what is going on in this book at all, so an odd (and inaccurate) choice.
There is no doubt Mr. Idov is a smart and intelligent guy, and a good writer. His parents and he (at a young age) left post-Soviet Latvia in 1992 to move to the US. Twenty years later, he is selected to be the editor-in-chief of the Russian edition of GQ for Conde Nast. The book is a collection of his observations about Russia - or some aspects of Russia - during the time he had that position.
The book is about 260 pages long. It takes about 60 pages of background before the reader (and Idov) arrive at his starting his position in Moscow with GQ. The next chapter is mostly about the challenges of gaining control of his assigned task, running the magazine. While this is all happening in a Russian context and "very Russian" (I suppose), the cast of characters are from the odd narrowly focused world he was inhabiting, a part of something like Russian high society (I guess that is how best to characterize them).
For the next three chapters, the focus is more on the Putin regime and organized opposition to it, but almost entirely the opposition from those within the circles he traveled in. I don't know who Mr. Idov thinks of as his reader here, but for most people this provides a fairly unbalanced picture of opposition to Putin among Russians generally.
Possibly the most interesting aspect of this narrative is Mr. Idov's description of his own migration from almost active participation in the anti-Putin movement (which he concedes isn't in keeping with being a journalist) to someone who is more interested in is successful in this version of Putin's Russia on his own terms. This transformation follows his migration from being the less-than-satisfactory editor of GQ to being a fully successfully developer of and writer for new television series for the Russian market, which includes close associations with many different people who have given up on any significant activities in opposition to Putin in favor career success and a "we can get along with his leadership" attitude. It's a surprising admission.
The final chapter starts with the Russian invasion of Ukrainian Crimea after the Sochi Olympics and works through various events with perhaps a larger scope of discussion than much of the rest of the book for its 40 pages. The main point is that things become such that Mr. Idov and his family leave Moscow for Berlin - he has had enough of Russia, although he will keep his apartment in Moscow and he's glad his daughter, age three, now speaks fluent Russian. Nevertheless, even having failed with GQ he is pleased with his success with TV, including the Londongrad series (about an agency that solves wealthy Russians' problems when living in the UK - there is a trailer here: https://youtu.be/R6a2duHWqgM).
Alas he is disappointed that his idea for a series about an American (basically about himself) who comes to Russia as a journalist is only realized by a Russian network that steals the idea - "How I Became Russian" (or perhaps, How I became a Russian) that he feels warps the concept and turns it into yet more pro-Russian, anti-American propaganda. (Which it certainly does - here is an episode online: https://youtu.be/FNPyVY8v9Kw.)
I'm not sure how to characterize this book - I guess it seems like inside baseball, more or less. What most people would get out of this to improve an understanding of Russia. Too much Michael Idov and his world and not enough observations of Russia outside the world.
sjfurger's review against another edition
5.0
This book is brilliant. It's darkly comic and entertaining while also being informative. Idov's humor mirrors my own in a lot of ways, and I really enjoyed his book! The best part about this for me was seeing the events I followed on twitter and the news re-analyzed from a different perspective, put in chronological and/or logical (I know.) order. Loved this book and am looking forward to more work from M. Idov!
More...