Customer Reviews

Wonderland: A Fairytale of the Soviet Monolith

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I started reading this slender volume last week, but could not finish it. The author's images -- two shabbily dressed women on adjacent gurneys in an abortion clinic, a sorrowful girl holding her head in her hands during a religious procession, a ballerina standing in a filthy stairwell somewhere in Moscow, a woman crying on a picnic bench on the last day of school -- are shocking. Mozart made others despair of composing. This is the kind of photography that makes others despair of photographing. Amazing stuff.

This is photography on the edge. This is the distillation of thousands of hours and thousands of images. A strangers journey into the soul of another culture and like all sensitive travelers he penetrates that culture more intensely then those from within would. History stands still for a moment in this book. Russian history with all it's contradictions. Jason has sung a doleful song to Russia's fallen empire but he still has a love for these lost children and their awkward new steps into an uncertain future.

Jason Eskenazi has produced a true masterpiece that captures effortlessly the melancholy of Soviet decay. This is art of a very high order. HIGHLY recommended!

Great book. Some of the best photography to come out of the former Soviet Union. A great buy!!!!! for photo enthusiasts, collectors or anyone else. It is also winner of the prestigious Steve Lehman 6 gold Star Award(tm).

Input for this review is really derived from my father, who visited Eastern Europe during the cold war and visited Russia after the disintegration of the old Soviet Union in the early 90's. He also used to receive the old picture magazine "Soviet Life." I had purchased the book as a Christmas gift, because it had been reviewed and the author/photographer interviewed on National Public Radio-NPR (my Dad loves NPR). He appreciated the gift,...and finds it rather poignant. So my guess is, is that those who may have an affection for Russia may find it a bit sad.

I first learned of this book's existence shortly after it became impossible to find. I've waited 18 months for it to arrive and now that I have it I wonder why I even bothered to track it down. Despite its title, none of the images in this book were taken during the Soviet era. More over, the images themselves are amateur at best. What the artist's work lacks in composition or subject matter, the publisher seeks to improve by bi-secting every single photo straight down the middle of the crease. The few photographs that are actually of some visual appeal are therefore interrupted due to the fact the book is so tiny, an entire photo cannot take up only one page. The prints themselves are poorly made and if you've ever seen an old issue of Time magazine, you have seen everything this book contains. If you have read ANY other book of photo-journalism, historical photography or even the latest copy of Aperture, be prepared to be disappointed by this incredibly over-rated book. Better still, save your money and pick up a used copy of Walker Evans and save the Soviet material to [...].