Once There Was a Village [Paperback]

Yuri Kapralov (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2000

Kapralov's work revolves around his years living and working as an artist in New York's East Village in the late 1960's and early 1970's. As Kapralov chronicles the sad and slow deaths of his Slavic compatriots, the exploitation of the naive hippie runaways, the mechanical disintegration of the world in which he lives, his own mental deterioration begins.

"The authentic account of a period by a survivor...Kapralov's background—and gift as a writer—make him the right annalist for the East Village."—The Village Voice

Yuri Kapralov was born in the Caucasus and came to the United States in 1949. He has lived in the East Village, New York City, since 1965. Kapralov has exhibited his paintings, pen-and-inks, and piano constructions in New York and San Francisco, and ran the Sixth Sense Gallery from 1982-87.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Published in 1974, this is described as "part memoir, part social history" of Greenwich Village in the 1960s. Russian immigrant Kapralov here chronicles the lives of other immigrants as well as the junkies, thieves, artists, runaways, and other flotsam and jetsam of the area.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

A Russian born artist delineates a contemporary version of Gorki's Lower Depths. This particular hell is New York's East Village, its brutalized humanity, the junkies, young runaways, Puerto Ricans, blacks, and transplanted Russians. Kapralov describes riots, muggings, drug withdrawal and mental and physical degradation in anecdotes transformed into exotica by his Slavic intensity. -- The Booklist

Actually Kapralov is talking about two villages; the one in Russia where he was born and New York's East Village where muggings were at one time so bad that returning vets said they felt safer in Vietnam. -- Kirkus

It is, more than anything else, a story of survival and the conviction that life is never daunting. -- Downtown

Kapralov does a first rate job of providing the reader with an impressionistic sketch of what it was like to live in the East Village... -- The New Yorker

[Once There Was a Village] is the authentic account of a period by a survivor... Kapralov's background-and gifts as a writer-make him the right annalist for the East Village. -- The Village Voice

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 163 pages
• Publisher: Akashic Books (July 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 188845105X
• ISBN-13: 978-1888451054
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,941,523 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best of its kind, March 13, 2004

By 

Erstwhile (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Once There Was a Village (Paperback)

I learned of Kapralov's book by reading a book on the downtown scene called Down and In. Kapralov is a natural, and his prose is far more engaging than the self-consciously 'literary' types writing about similar situations. I highly recommend this book.

Addendum -- April 2005 -- Kapralov just died of alcoholism. Rest in peace, my friend. You did well.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book of 1999!, October 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Once There Was a Village (Paperback)

This book is a REAL piece of New York City history. Set in the East Village in the late '60s, the artist/author's perspective is deeply beautiful and 100% engaging. Literature...history...New York...what more could I ask for?

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic!!!, October 7, 2005

By 

tak1 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Once There Was a Village (Paperback)

Yuri wrote this great book titled "once there was a village" and it's one of my all time fav. books. It talks about the REAL NYC when you couldn't even walk a block in alphabet city without getting raped mugged or killed. He lived in the neighborhood back then in the 60's-70's and so he knows all about the BS that went down firsthand. It was just great to read about all that and feel extremely lucky to be in the position that i am now no matter how bleak it can be at times.