Reviews

reviewed in the Chicago Tribune

They say history is written by the win- ners, but after victory the vanquished continue to draw breath. Svetlana Al- exievich has taken it upon herself to commit the stories of the survivors of the Soviet Empire to posterity. In “Second- hand Time,” the 2015 Nobel Laureate deftly orchestrates dozens of voices into a multilayered, maddening symphony of remembrance. Turn to almost any page of this book, and the pain, bitterness and hope of the average former Soviet citizen will ring in your ears for days after.

Like faithful believers in the Confeder- acy after the Civil War, many of Alexiev- ich’s subjects refuse to believe the fight- ing is finished. They boast of the great accomplishments of the USSR, break into spontaneous a cappella renditions of patriotic anthems, and rail against the shallow consumerism of the new Russia. Many openly long for Stalin’s resurrec- tion. They feel betrayed and lost in the country they thought was theirs but now feels like an entirely alien land.

It would be understandable if these were crocodile tears shed by higher ups in the Soviet establishment who lost their power and privilege after the regime changed, but the vast majority of inter- viewees are everyday people. It is a testa- ment to the all-encompassing scope of the Soviet project that years after its demise many of its subjects continue to live by its precepts and spout its slogans. They do so whether they believe the words coming out of their mouths or not; such is the power propaganda in a totali- tarian society.

Not everyone Alexievich talks to longs for the past, but whatever their views the author strives to present their words with little judgment. In one of her spare asides, Alexievich assures an unrepentant com- munist that her views — as well as that of her disagreeing friend’s — will both be heard:

I promise her that there will be two stories. I want to be a cold-blooded histori- an, not one who is holding a blazing torch. Let time be the judge. Time is just, but only in the long term — not in the short term. The time we won’t live to see, which will be free of our prejudices.

What does it mean when otherwise intelligent-sounding people long for the return of one of the most brutal, repres- sive regimes in human history? Is it mass delusion or something more mundane? Almost everyone in these pages bemoans the absence of a greater purpose in post- Soviet times. Even those who acknowl- edge the utter corruption of their old way of life find little to latch onto in the new. The freedom they imagined while living under repression has turned out to be hollow and unrewarding. Faced with the unlimited choices of consumer capi- talism, they wish for bread lines and the black market.

The Soviet Union has been gone for 20 years, but for the people Alexievich has gathered here — and doubtless, for mil- lions more like them — the old empire will not die until they themselves do. By presenting their views, Alexievich has contributed an invaluable oral history of an era which is fast fading from collective memory. No matter how horrible Soviet life was, it was the life they knew — and once it was gone their feeling of loss was valid and very real.

“Secondhand Time” shares the stories of people who feel the rug was pulled out from under them. No matter how hid- eous, tattered or even illusory that rug was, they felt it was theirs. The power of belief shines through many of these ac- counts even though the ideology they mourn was based on atheism. The many contradictions contained within their narratives only add to the resonance of what they say. The flaws and lies only serve to accentuate the complexity of the era. By letting her subjects keep their dignity, Alexievich has given us a fuller history of fall of the Soviet Empire than we had before. By letting the vanquished speak, we might know better what, if anything, was actually won.

miriam24's review against another edition

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4.5

Incroyable plongée dans l'URSS et la Russie post communisme. Difficile parfois, touchant souvent, nécessaire.

readerreaderonthewall's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

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