A review by littleredwinter
I Love Russia: Reporting from a Lost Country by Elena Kostyuchenko

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

This book was an insightful and thought provoking glimpse into the real lives of people in Russia fighting for the betterment of their home. I think this book will resonate with many progressive southerners as it has a message many of us can relate to: a place is defined by its people not its government. Kostyuchenko begs readers to look with empathy at the problems Russians are facing today and realize that many of Russia’s people are victims of their own government. The criticisms brought to light by the author feel especially important coming from a Russian. She stands to lose everything from telling the reader the truth of what she has witnessed but she finds it important enough that she is willing to risk her life to make this known. Kostyuchenko is rising to the bar set by journalists such as Alexievich through vignettes from Russia that show the country as it really is and humanize the most vulnerable of her people. 
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