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A review by kristy_k
Dancing Bears: True Stories of People Nostalgic for Life Under Tyranny by Witold Szabłowski
4.0
3.5 Stars
This was such an interesting story about a slice of recent history I feel few know about. Szablowski tells stories related to the dancing bears in the first part and former citizen’s opinions of the fall of the USSR in the second.
Dancing bears were a part of Bulgarian gypsy customs for a while, when the Soviet Union collapsed this cultural performance was no longer acceptable.
Their handlers would de-teeth these bears, get them addicted to alcohol, and many times abuse them. Sadly, this wasn’t even illegal. One man (or really a few) had bears as pets and attempted (and believed) they could domesticate them. Later, all of the bears get rounded up and sent to nature reserve to reacclimate them to the wild.
The second part of this novel takes a look st people who were previously under Soviet Russia rule. Some felt (and did) fair better under the USSR than in their new capitalist or democratic environments. Others were proud and glad for their new independent nations. It was interesting to hear both sides.
While I absolutely loved part one, part two wasn’t as engrossing to me, although it was still interesting to read about.
This was such an interesting story about a slice of recent history I feel few know about. Szablowski tells stories related to the dancing bears in the first part and former citizen’s opinions of the fall of the USSR in the second.
Dancing bears were a part of Bulgarian gypsy customs for a while, when the Soviet Union collapsed this cultural performance was no longer acceptable.
Their handlers would de-teeth these bears, get them addicted to alcohol, and many times abuse them. Sadly, this wasn’t even illegal. One man (or really a few) had bears as pets and attempted (and believed) they could domesticate them. Later, all of the bears get rounded up and sent to nature reserve to reacclimate them to the wild.
The second part of this novel takes a look st people who were previously under Soviet Russia rule. Some felt (and did) fair better under the USSR than in their new capitalist or democratic environments. Others were proud and glad for their new independent nations. It was interesting to hear both sides.
While I absolutely loved part one, part two wasn’t as engrossing to me, although it was still interesting to read about.