A young journalist seeking wider worlds heads straight into the heart of the storm of the crumbling Soviet Union--and finds a Wild West where the "mafiyeh" (the Russian mafia) has replaced rustlers. of photos.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
A Canadian-born, twentysomething journalist, Gould spent the three years (1992-94) in Moscow doing freelance reporting on what she perceived to be the most important story of her time. She covered both extremes of the economic spectrum: those who fell when the safety net vanished (orphans, the homeless, coal miners) and those who profited enormously from the new system (both the legitimate and the corrupt). Her travels during these years took her to remote parts of the former Soviet Union (the Baltic States, Central Asia, the Arctic) and to the would-be breakaway Chechnya. This highly personalized account of her adventures imparts the vivid flavor of street life in the larger cities and also in villages, where a sense of tradition and community persists despite hard times. Recommended for general collections.?Marcia L. Sprules, Council on Foreign Relations Lib., New York
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
A journalistic Perils of Pauline in what the author breezily terms the ``FSU'' (Former Soviet Union). After a year spent working for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Gould, a young Canadian journalist, decided (for reasons that are never made clear) to seek work in the FSU. She doesn't speak Russian and she knows no Russians, but she nevertheless overcomes all the obstacles. She hangs out with 15-year-old hoodlums, Mafia bosses, and YILGs (Young Ivy League Gangsters); she is hijacked, visits the scene of strife in Georgia and the front in Chechnya; and she interviews Vladimir Zhirinovsky on a trip down the Volga. Most chapters are preceded by a pretentious and often not very relevant quotation from Marcuse or some other intellectual luminary, but the book's political heft can be judged by her considered view that ``in practice, Russian Communism may have turned out to be a totalitarian tool for continued state-sanctioned oppression, imperialism and anti-Semitism, but in theory it wasn't so bad. There is a lot of good to found in reading Lenin.'' This may be why she was given the nickname (which delighted her) of Lenin's Ghost. As her experience of the FSU deepens, the quality of her reportage improves, and her assessments of the situation in Chechnya and Georgia, while not very profound, are vivid. So is her portrait of Zhirinovsky, whose emptiness, recklessness, and obsession with sex--he tried in the course of a taped interview with her, representing Playboy, to persuade her and her translator to engage in group sex with two of his bodyguards, in front of him- -come through clearly. A wild and woolly picture, indeed, but the main tension in Gould's gaudy, melodramatic narrative derives from the uncertainty as to whether or not she will suffer an FWTD (Fate Worse Than Death). (8 pages b&w photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
A slight book,
By biff naked (Seattle) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Vodka, Tears, and Lenin's Angel: My Adventures in the Wild and Woolly Former Soviet Union (Hardcover)
... I have to agree that this book doesn't say much about Russia. It's kinda fun, in its own way, but the coverage of some of the major world events of the 1990s is so superficial as to leave the reader wondering if the author really understands the importance of what was happening in Russia. Stories about taxi drivers and neighbors don't really tell you much about anything, and even something that could have been fun and interesting like the interview with Lee Harvey Oswald's wife doesn't deliver the way it should. ... What's good about this book? It's a fast read, it isn't difficult to understand, even without a basic understanding of Russia. But, that's about it. There are so many better books about this period out these days, so I can't recommend this one.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good read but somewhat naive,
By A Customer
This review is from: Vodka, Tears, and Lenin's Angel: My Adventures in the Wild and Woolly Former Soviet Union (Hardcover)
First, let me say this is a good book about Russia, one that I'd recommend to anyone travelling there. Gould writes with wit and humour and she certainly had her share of interesting experiences in the FSU. Nevertheless, while reading it, I found myself smiling cynically on occasion. Gould constantly talks about how nice people were to her (how one gave her a ride, how another cooked for her, how another offered her use of an apartment,etcetera, etcetera). Now, I have no doubt that some of this was due to traditional hospitality and curiosity about the foreigner that many Russians have. But in the case of the men, a lot of the "niceness" must have had to do with the fact that the author --as her photograph on the front cover of the book makes clear-- is an extremely beautiful young woman. Let's face it, mafiyah,"biznesmen" and what Gould calls "young Ivy League gangsters" are not in the habit of telling journalists their secrets because they believe in freedom of the press. However, they might try to impress someone they saw as beautiful, exotic, and rich (at least in Russian eyes). Now, none of this detracts from the book except that I think that the anecdotes within might give some people a false sense of security. People like Gould (who could pass for Sandra Bullock's kid sister) may not be aware of it or like it, but they are going to have an easier time of it in a place like Russia than someone who looks like one of Roseanne Arnold's family. If you keep that in mind, it's worth the twenty three dollars to read.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Simply Engaging,
By
This review is from: Vodka, Tears, and Lenin's Angel: My Adventures in the Wild and Woolly Former Soviet Union (Hardcover)
This book was about the author's journey, or perhaps, adventure in Russia. Instead of simply reporting what was on the surface, she digged deep & managed to give us, readers an insight of what Russia was all about. She talked about everyday Russians that had fallen victims to the term 'democracy', that Westerners have already taken for granted. The post communist Russia was filled with abandoned street kids, young and rich mafias that worked hand-in-hand with local officials and who wouldn't know if they are going to live the next day, Russians that were stranded in far away outposts as inflation had simply eroded their life-time savings, prisoners that were still being held despite enterpreneurship that put them in jail at the first place is deemed a legal activity now, spies. Due to so much uncertainties, some Russians preferred to revert to the old Communist system when they wouldn't have to worry about finding a roof over their heads, and food on their plates. As the old story goes, someone has to be blamed & promises would be made (even though at times, promises would be far-fetched but still, the public bought them), & thus, the local politicians swept themselves to power (namely, someone like Zhirinovsky, Yeltsin). It was quite interesting to know that whilst Gorbachev was revered in Western countries, he was highly despised in Russia for breaking the Great Russia into pieces. The author also sneaked into hot spots such as Georgia; Checnya, investigating about the disappearance of Fred Cuny of the Open Society Institute (OSI) supposely fronted by George Soros but it was rumoured to be a cover for US involvement in Russia applying the divide and rule strategy to keep Russia's power at bay. To conclude, Russia was a huge melting pot with a tendency of extremity. In a way, the author was drawn to the country in its pursuit of good but evil obviously came as part of the package. Overall, the book was full of intrigues & I couldn't help myself but read it voraciously till the very end. B&W pictures and a map of Russia & its neighbouring countries were bonuses. Highly recommended.
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