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nataliya_x's review against another edition
3.0
I was quite impressed by Slavenka Drakulić’s [b:S.: A Novel about the Balkans|278232|S. A Novel about the Balkans|Slavenka Drakulić|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1490376751l/278232._SY75_.jpg|1605415], and jumped at the chance to read her 1991 nonfiction How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed. I was very curious to see how she describes the “wonders” of the Socialist block, written at the time when that world just shattered, seen through the prism of “banal”, “women’s” things — makeup, dolls, clothes, housework, food deficits. All those things that the world supposedly built to reach the wonderful ideal left behind, to be dealt with at some later point. All those things that the state considered inessential and trivial - washers, dryers, tampons, makeup - was traditionally considered women’s sphere of life and tended to contribute to women’s work which was not something the state aimed at reducing.
But it left me a bit cold — but through a fault not its own but rather because its power is in shocking the reader with the shortages of the Socialist Block, and those I already knew.
Maybe it is because I am not the perfect target audience for this book that bemoans the rations and poverty of the Socialist Block as compared to the capitalist world. You see, I was not comparing it to that glossy shiny world of consumerism that - of course, for those with means - could give you Vogue and Barbies and modern washing machines and stores full of food open late into the night and soft toilet paper, but rather to the one further East, in the Soviet Union itself. The “communism” as Drakulić describes it, the Eastern block version, was still quite a paradise compared to the true thing happening behind the borders of the USSR. The supposedly gloomy life with shortages and rationing and censorship — that was still pretty enviable to those in the actual Soviet paradise, still was years ahead. East Germany or Yugoslavia weren’t Belarus or Ukraine.
This book focuses on poverty and deprivation (when compared to the capitalist society for those with the means, yes). It recalls the longing for pretty things and conveniences, especially by women on whose shoulders all the manual housework labor fell — and yes, there is quite a bit of longing for consumerism that wasn’t available to them.
In the world of excesses it’s easy to be repulsed by rampant consumerism, and it’s trendy to show ecological consciousness, recycling and attempts at scaling down. But in the world of deficits consumerism seems to be a shining beacon in the darkness. And before scoffing at the desire for consumerism and easy access to goods, think this — would you want to spend the rest of your life with Soviet Block toilet paper?
And yet every time she went into the frustrated accounts of deprivation, often based on the overall deficit, systemic rather than individual poverty, I was taken out of the narrative by thinking — hey, this was not as bad as what I have heard (and even known), and the desired level of horrified compassion was getting diluted.
And Drakulić’s anecdotes kept reminding me that she came out of a different world than I was thinking about, even when she had to learn “what every child under communism had to learn, that you can’t find everything you need all the time and most likely can’t ever find anything.” Her mother was able to travel to Italy and buy a coveted silk nightdress there. She remembers her grandmother doing laundry by hand without washer and dryer, but her family by the 70s had a washing machine (although she does acknowledge that some did laundry by hand even in the 90s).
So how about that — this book is great for those who likely haven’t experienced firsthand or through family stories the “wonders” of the socialist block, and a good eye-opener for those who, through the safety of geography and means, start idealizing that world.
For the rest of us it’s okay, lacking the punch that unfamiliarity brings. Although Drakulić is an engaging writer, which makes up for that somewhat, and her feminist angle was actually really good. And that powerful chapter on the beginning of the Yugoslav wars was heartbreaking — the world starting to fall apart just as normality seemed within reach.
Now what I want to read is Drakulić’s later book on life after the Socialist Block has been fully dissolved - [b:Café Europa Revisited: How to Survive Post-Communism|53230639|Café Europa Revisited How to Survive Post-Communism|Slavenka Drakulić|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1603738910l/53230639._SY75_.jpg|80566701]. I think that one will strike a stronger note.
3.5 stars.
——————
Also posted on my blog.
But it left me a bit cold — but through a fault not its own but rather because its power is in shocking the reader with the shortages of the Socialist Block, and those I already knew.
Maybe it is because I am not the perfect target audience for this book that bemoans the rations and poverty of the Socialist Block as compared to the capitalist world. You see, I was not comparing it to that glossy shiny world of consumerism that - of course, for those with means - could give you Vogue and Barbies and modern washing machines and stores full of food open late into the night and soft toilet paper, but rather to the one further East, in the Soviet Union itself. The “communism” as Drakulić describes it, the Eastern block version, was still quite a paradise compared to the true thing happening behind the borders of the USSR. The supposedly gloomy life with shortages and rationing and censorship — that was still pretty enviable to those in the actual Soviet paradise, still was years ahead. East Germany or Yugoslavia weren’t Belarus or Ukraine.
This book focuses on poverty and deprivation (when compared to the capitalist society for those with the means, yes). It recalls the longing for pretty things and conveniences, especially by women on whose shoulders all the manual housework labor fell — and yes, there is quite a bit of longing for consumerism that wasn’t available to them.
In the world of excesses it’s easy to be repulsed by rampant consumerism, and it’s trendy to show ecological consciousness, recycling and attempts at scaling down. But in the world of deficits consumerism seems to be a shining beacon in the darkness. And before scoffing at the desire for consumerism and easy access to goods, think this — would you want to spend the rest of your life with Soviet Block toilet paper?
“This was how the Communists lost. When the first free elections came in May 1990, the entire younger generation voted against “Golub”, against shortages, deprivation, double standards and false promises. In the whole of Eastern Europe they didn’t vote so much for the Democrats or Christians or Liberals or whatever the winning parties are called as against the Communists. But democracy doesn’t grant you toilet paper, rough or soft. In fact it doesn’t grant you any paper at all, at least in this part of the world.”
And yet every time she went into the frustrated accounts of deprivation, often based on the overall deficit, systemic rather than individual poverty, I was taken out of the narrative by thinking — hey, this was not as bad as what I have heard (and even known), and the desired level of horrified compassion was getting diluted.
And Drakulić’s anecdotes kept reminding me that she came out of a different world than I was thinking about, even when she had to learn “what every child under communism had to learn, that you can’t find everything you need all the time and most likely can’t ever find anything.” Her mother was able to travel to Italy and buy a coveted silk nightdress there. She remembers her grandmother doing laundry by hand without washer and dryer, but her family by the 70s had a washing machine (although she does acknowledge that some did laundry by hand even in the 90s).
But yes, there is sad pathos of recycling because you have to, using newspapers in lieu of absent toilet paper, the lack of tampons or pads (use rags instead), cloth diapers that had to be hand-washed out of necessity and lack of alternatives, and that horrendous ubiquitous blue eyeshadow.
So how about that — this book is great for those who likely haven’t experienced firsthand or through family stories the “wonders” of the socialist block, and a good eye-opener for those who, through the safety of geography and means, start idealizing that world.
For the rest of us it’s okay, lacking the punch that unfamiliarity brings. Although Drakulić is an engaging writer, which makes up for that somewhat, and her feminist angle was actually really good. And that powerful chapter on the beginning of the Yugoslav wars was heartbreaking — the world starting to fall apart just as normality seemed within reach.
Now what I want to read is Drakulić’s later book on life after the Socialist Block has been fully dissolved - [b:Café Europa Revisited: How to Survive Post-Communism|53230639|Café Europa Revisited How to Survive Post-Communism|Slavenka Drakulić|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1603738910l/53230639._SY75_.jpg|80566701]. I think that one will strike a stronger note.
“This is what the Iron Curtain is made of: many facets of a different reality, of different ideals and meanings we were brought up with and truly believed in. […] The Iron Curtains will stay with us for a long time; in our memories, in our lives that we cannot renounce no matter how difficult they were and how hard we try.”
3.5 stars.
——————
Also posted on my blog.
greeniezona's review against another edition
4.0
I don't really recall how this book made its way into my collection. Though given the topic, I suspect my sister, Jessa, may have been involved. This book is a collection of essays about what life was like for women in Eastern Europe under Communist regimes. These stories are mostly about deprivation: sharing small apartments with multiple families, the changing availability of toilet paper, repairing nylons over and over and over again, hoarding food, supplies, even plastic bags, because you never know when they will disappear from the stores. A Western reporter visits, and notes in her article as a sign of their deprivation that women still wash their clothing in tubs of boiling water here, and Drakulić is annoyed, devoting an entire essay to laundry.
There is some devoted to the consequences of communism that are already familiar to us -- the censors, the party line, the extensive wire-tapping, the government-controlled media. But precisely because these are the known stories, Drakulić brings them all back to how they affect women. It takes a while to sink in that no matter how many Cold Ware movies we've seen, no matter how many fat Russian novels we've read, these stories are new. Even now, ten years after it was written, this book is still a revelation.
Spoiler: There's not really a whole lot of laughter.
There is some devoted to the consequences of communism that are already familiar to us -- the censors, the party line, the extensive wire-tapping, the government-controlled media. But precisely because these are the known stories, Drakulić brings them all back to how they affect women. It takes a while to sink in that no matter how many Cold Ware movies we've seen, no matter how many fat Russian novels we've read, these stories are new. Even now, ten years after it was written, this book is still a revelation.
Spoiler: There's not really a whole lot of laughter.
delas's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
— Тебе це, мабуть, здивує, люба, але знаєш, люди мусять жити й виживати і під час воєн. Як би ми інакше пережили комунізм?
Читаючи цю книжку я ніби дивилася на жінок у своїй сім'ї. Мені пощастило народитися вже в незалежній Україні, проте дуже багато описаних епізодів траплялися і в моєму житті. Зрозуміла природу деяких речей і ще більше зненавиділа совок.
Хороша література, буду тепер всім товкти її прочитати))
meli65's review against another edition
4.0
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.