Scan barcode
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.
spaghetti75's review against another edition
4.0
This was a very good and touching book - shocking what has been happening and is happening in Europe in our times. I got inspired to read this after having read "A Constellation of Vital Phenomena" by Anthony Marra - which is by the way and absolutely excellent book, with wonderful "casually poetic" writing.
allabaranovsky's review against another edition
3.0
While I have to give Asne Seierstad credit for going into the Chechen war looking like a swimsuit model and coming out alive to write a book about it, I think she cuts a few corners by either imitating Anna Politkovskaya (the interview with Kadyrov jr, for instance, has quite a few questions borrowed from Politkovskaya's earlier interview with him) or concentrating on the minute cultural differences and thus sounding like a typical clueless westerner. The stories are, however, heart-wrenching, and the book is well put together. I bet it was a hit in Norway.
puglover's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Racism, and War
Minor: Genocide, Islamophobia, Torture, Murder, Mass/school shootings, and Hate crime
ella_hempstock777's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
3.75
witchhazelwoods's review against another edition
5.0
Incredible insight, this book really shows just how far hatred can consume people. A majority of the characters in this book are blinded by their own distrust and anger at everyone around them and they will never be "free" until they learn to let themselves heal.