Take a photo of a barcode or cover
kikiandarrowsfishshelf's review against another edition
4.0
I wish more American reporting was like this book. Yes, I know Seirstad is from Norway but I can wish.
This is a good luck at how war effects and affects society on a micro and macro level. The focus is a married couple who have taken in orphans, but Seierstad focuses on other families as well. This is actual more gripping than Bookseller of Kabul and quite is rather more brutal.
This is a good luck at how war effects and affects society on a micro and macro level. The focus is a married couple who have taken in orphans, but Seierstad focuses on other families as well. This is actual more gripping than Bookseller of Kabul and quite is rather more brutal.
jonfaith's review against another edition
2.0
It may be effective for Errol Morris to allow his interviewees to gush unchecked and create a culpable subtext. This is a fine strategy - for him. It works well on film. Pages of raving do not make for persuasive or evocative prose. If the person in question is a young man leaning towards jihad or a Russian reactionary whose son has been imprisoned for a hate crime, it doesn't lead anywhere to have pages of stuttering conspiracy theories and gnashing hate speech.
I couldn't tell if Angel of Grozny wanted to be journalism or a memoir. It was closer to the latter, though hobbled by overly creative writing and a sore lack of editing. Åsne Seierstad is likely a fine journalist, her perseverance at seeing first hand both wars in Chechnya is intrepid without question. As a Russian speaker, she was able to access personal elements well beyond a World Service broadcast. That may be the problem right there. These are stories, grounded in a nightmare but as interchangeable as those on any newscast. The trauma at the heart of this is extremely graphic and uncomfortable. There are simply better ways of approaching it.
I couldn't tell if Angel of Grozny wanted to be journalism or a memoir. It was closer to the latter, though hobbled by overly creative writing and a sore lack of editing. Åsne Seierstad is likely a fine journalist, her perseverance at seeing first hand both wars in Chechnya is intrepid without question. As a Russian speaker, she was able to access personal elements well beyond a World Service broadcast. That may be the problem right there. These are stories, grounded in a nightmare but as interchangeable as those on any newscast. The trauma at the heart of this is extremely graphic and uncomfortable. There are simply better ways of approaching it.
thopp84's review against another edition
4.0
This was an incredibly thorough look at a country and a war that I confess to not being very familiar with. Sometimes, it was a little too thorough as I kept losing track of where we were and what she was saying and such. However, there is no doubt in my mind that this is an excellent book about a devastatingly sad situation. My heart breaks for all the people of Chechnya who are caught in the middle of this war and don't see a way out. It is just sad, there is really no other way to put it. I'm glad I read this book. It made me feel like a more informed person which is never a bad thing. Well-written and powerful.
elsiborg's review against another edition
4.0
Tää oli hieno. Tosi vaikee tarina, historia, ihmiskohtalot; maalattiin aika toivoton kuva. Henkilöitten kautta kuvattuna toimittajan otteella, joka kuitenki kirjottaa välillä kun proosaa, niin oli tosi helppo pysyä mukana. Tän jälkeen haluun toimittajaks ja sit en kuitenkaan.
adriannagrezak's review against another edition
4.0
It's difficult to rate a book like this given the subject matter. There's some confusing parts to an outside reader, but most of the context is clear if you're familiar with 20th century Russian history. I read all of Seierstad's books and her writing is the best when she focuses on an individual's story or places herself into the contextual information. The thing I struggle with the most is her account of incest/child rape. It's similiar to the debate in Mark Jacobson's The Lampshade - he acquired a lampshade made from the skin of a Jewish prisoner during the Holocaust. He was shocked that Holocaust memorials/museums turned it down and labeled it "pornographic." I think Seierstad is toeing a similiar boundary here. Is it fair to focus on the monstrosity of one individual in the midst of a severely damaging and inhumane war? Maybe Seierstad is aware of this in her final chapter, when Hadijat recognizes how much attention she places onto the emotionally damaged and disobedient Liana when other damaged children managed to persevere.
Overall it's difficult subject matter, but it's neccessary to be recorded.
Overall it's difficult subject matter, but it's neccessary to be recorded.
michellegotto's review against another edition
4.0
a heartbreaking look at the people of chechnya and the effects of the war. excellent.
katieik1's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
slow-paced
4.25
ridgewaygirl's review against another edition
5.0
I don't think that I've ever read a book that has made me so aware about how little I know. I'm a bit of a news junkie, so I'd read whatever showed up in the papers about Chechnya, but that didn't even touch what is going on now and what has happened in Chechnya's bloody past. For example, did you know that Stalin deported the whole damn country to Khazakhstan? A half million mountain people were sent to live on the plains of Khazakhstan with no means of support. Twenty-five percent died on the journey or in the first few months.
Seierstad wrote The Bookseller of Kabul, in which she lived with a family in Afghanistan. The Angel of Grozny is much more far-reaching in scope. She first went to Chechnya during the first Chechen war soon after she'd gotten a job working for a Norwegian newspaper as the correspondent for Russia, based entirely on her knowledge of Russian. She talked herself onto a Russian military plane and was dropped off at the Grozny airport. She chose to trust people and, in turn, random people invited her into their homes and told their stories.
Seierstad must be an easy person to talk to. She speaks with everyone from the leader of Chechnya to orphaned children, disabled Russian veterans and a man who killed his sister in an honor killing. This was not an easy book to read; the violence in Chechnya has no easy solutions, nor even difficult ones. Were the Russians to leave, civil war would erupt, the Chechens themselves divided between traditional Muslims and the more extreme Wahabists, as well as divisions along tribal lines.
Seierstad wrote The Bookseller of Kabul, in which she lived with a family in Afghanistan. The Angel of Grozny is much more far-reaching in scope. She first went to Chechnya during the first Chechen war soon after she'd gotten a job working for a Norwegian newspaper as the correspondent for Russia, based entirely on her knowledge of Russian. She talked herself onto a Russian military plane and was dropped off at the Grozny airport. She chose to trust people and, in turn, random people invited her into their homes and told their stories.
Seierstad must be an easy person to talk to. She speaks with everyone from the leader of Chechnya to orphaned children, disabled Russian veterans and a man who killed his sister in an honor killing. This was not an easy book to read; the violence in Chechnya has no easy solutions, nor even difficult ones. Were the Russians to leave, civil war would erupt, the Chechens themselves divided between traditional Muslims and the more extreme Wahabists, as well as divisions along tribal lines.