Reviews

How We Survived Communism And Even Laughed by Slavenka Drakulić

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ewynn610's review against another edition

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thesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective slow-paced

3.25

Content Warnings

spacestationtrustfund's review against another edition

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3.0

This Uta Hagen quote: "The actor must know that since he, himself, is the instrument, he must play on it to serve the character with the same effortless dexterity with which the violinist makes music on his. Just because he doesn't look like a violin is no reason to assume his techniques should be thought of as less difficult."

amygko's review against another edition

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3.0

After the trip to Croatia in July, I wanted to know how the life was for Croatians during the Communism period(I was trying to find books about overall Croatian history but hard to find them in the US).Now Croatia looks lovely and peaceful but it certainly still has some scars underneath the beautiful exterior. Also, I have visited several pre-communist countries such as Hungary, Czech, Slovakia and Poland as well and also curious about the cultural difference between pre and post communism era.That was the main motivation to read this book.

Slavenka, the author of this book ,who is a Croatian female journalist, delivered several interesting and eye opening stories about lacking in quality of the female lives in countries under Communism( e.g. insufficient toilet papers or women sanitary items). However, I felt her book does not provide complete pictures of the everyday lives of ordinary people as most of the stories were based on her own experience and some stories that she heard from her acquaintances. At the end, the series of anecdotes were kind of repetitive.

mimi_lib's review

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informative inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

5.0

The book is definitely worth reading. It is like looking through a window at yourself, your parents, your country, your past and your present. It is an easy read, emotional, candid, and thoughtful. It was such a pleasure to open this book and discover and reevaluate those small, banal things that form you. It felt like you are return back to your childhood, but now you look at the world through the prism of the regime. Little everyday things, struggles and rituals fall together into one consistent picture, which presents to us the landscape of the Communist regime in Central and Eastern Europe.

gratzee's review against another edition

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4.0

Drakulić gives the reader so much to think about in her memoir and socio-cultural critic of living in Eastern Europe under Communist rule. The book was written in 1991, and has been translated into more than 10 languages. It looks like this is the first time it has been made into an audiobook.

While the book is nearly 30 years old, initially written in 1991, Drakulić addresses living in poverty and doing without (or making do), the Communist bureaucracy and rule, the role of women during this time and place. What I found so fascinating about her story is how much is still relevant today, and how much Americans (especially Americans living in pandemic and post-pandemic society) have to learn. She talks about empty shelves in the stores, the luxury of toilet paper, and the necessity of re-using everything; as well as the desire to want and imitate the fashion of American or Western European women (at least what they thought was their fashion).

Lockford does an incredible job of giving Drakulić a voice and narrating the book. It is a relatively quick listen at 6 hours and 3 minutes.

Thank you to Libro.Fm and Dreamscape Media for the ALC of this audiobook.