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4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
This is an excellent book that I'd never heard of -- the author is Croatian and a little older than me and writes powerfully about the lived experience of women in Eastern European countries under Communism. It is very sobering to read about how dreadful and bleak life is under that regime.
Highly recommended to everyone these days given Russia's ascendancy and so many misled people thinking that authoritarian governments somehow serve anyone besides the ruling class.
Highly recommended to everyone these days given Russia's ascendancy and so many misled people thinking that authoritarian governments somehow serve anyone besides the ruling class.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
This book was incredible. I knew from my 10th grade world history class that life under Communist rule was terrible, but the fact that women had no sanitary napkins was the most mind boggling thing of all. No wonder this system failed, it could not even provide the most basic necessities of life for half of its population!
A collection of rather well written autobiographical essays, some previously published in The Nation magazine. This was published just after the fall of communism in Eastern Europe but before the former Yugoslavia plunged into civil war and ultimately split into several different countries. So it's a snapshot in time in some ways. It's also one of the very, very few books by a woman of the era, on the subject of what it was to be a woman of the era, especially an educated woman encountering the lavishness of the West for the first time. Unlike many Soviet books, it's leavened with humor so it's not hugely depressing or too dark, although it is thoughtful.
Communism failed because of distrust and fear for the future. It was a system that was consistently unable to provide for basic needs, right down to sanitary pads and toilet paper.
While politicians were proclaiming bright futures, the people were gathering supplies for there were always shortages. All the politicians had to do was look at a cupboard to see that their bright future was going to collapse. They never did.
While politicians were proclaiming bright futures, the people were gathering supplies for there were always shortages. All the politicians had to do was look at a cupboard to see that their bright future was going to collapse. They never did.