A review by christinalepre
The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin by Masha Gessen

2.0

For some reason, I had a hard time really getting into this book and consequently spent the entire summer ready about Putin. Booooo. I did learn a lot about the man's backstory and the horrific state of things in Russia under his regime. However, I felt like Gessen walked a strange line between trying to remove herself from the narrative (especially in the early chapters) and making herself a main part of it. I wish she'd settled on one perspective. I found the afterword, in which she comes face to face with Putin and confirms how truly disconnected the man is from reality, was the best part. I know that technically happened after the book published (hence being an afterword), but I couldn't help wishing the rest of the book had been as compelling.