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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
In this collection of wine-soaked stories, former Time journalist Steavenson recounts her adventurous two years living in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. Few journalists would have the gumption to do on assignment what the now 32-year-old Steavenson did on a whim-leave a job in Time's London office in the late 1990s for the relatively volatile region of the Caucasus. Her reward is a book, her first, that Chekhov himself would have admired. With a keen journalistic eye and a poetic flair for capturing every detail of her surroundings, Steavenson adeptly renders a vibrant if rather depressed culture amid the detritus of a collapsed superpower. The book is replete with harsh winters, hot summers, rolling blackouts from a shortage of electricity and a crumbling infrastructure, plentiful vodka and bad cigarettes, hearty friends, and an endless number of LAOs (large abandoned objects): bits of rusting pipeline, tractors, half-built bridges, "the debris of the Soviets, the husk of an empire." While each story seems to contain within it several others, most compelling are Steavenson's encounters with Chechen refugees and fighters after the second Russian war in Chechnya broke out. A chapter on the fixed election of "career communist" turned "western media darling" Eduard Shevardnadze is also insightful. Despite its title, it's clear these stories are anything but stolen. And Steavenson returns the favor. After turning down a marriage proposal from her boyfriend, a photographer, he sends her 1,000 roses-a stunning gesture that is surely still recalled among Georgians. This is a remarkable first effort from a writer to watch.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
In 1998, bored with her life in London, Steavenson, a journalist whose CV lists Time magazine in her credits, set out for Tbilisi, the capital of the former Soviet republic of Georgia, where life is anything but comfortable. The Georgian economy was in such a shambles that it made Russia seem prosperous. Her portraits of the Georgians she befriended are sharply drawn, witty, and convey perfectly the different aspects of "Georgianess." Her portraits of those she interviewed, whether Georgian, Abkhazian, or Chechen, are also finely written pieces, well integrated into the larger story. Steavenson also does a good job of explaining the internecine conflicts in the area. Least interesting is Steavenson's account of her romantic pursuits. A section at the end titled "Ethnic Glossary" sorts out the different peoples of the area. The bibliography, for a change, is actually fun to read. Frank Caso
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
See all Editorial Reviews
In this collection of wine-soaked stories, former Time journalist Steavenson recounts her adventurous two years living in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. Few journalists would have the gumption to do on assignment what the now 32-year-old Steavenson did on a whim-leave a job in Time's London office in the late 1990s for the relatively volatile region of the Caucasus. Her reward is a book, her first, that Chekhov himself would have admired. With a keen journalistic eye and a poetic flair for capturing every detail of her surroundings, Steavenson adeptly renders a vibrant if rather depressed culture amid the detritus of a collapsed superpower. The book is replete with harsh winters, hot summers, rolling blackouts from a shortage of electricity and a crumbling infrastructure, plentiful vodka and bad cigarettes, hearty friends, and an endless number of LAOs (large abandoned objects): bits of rusting pipeline, tractors, half-built bridges, "the debris of the Soviets, the husk of an empire." While each story seems to contain within it several others, most compelling are Steavenson's encounters with Chechen refugees and fighters after the second Russian war in Chechnya broke out. A chapter on the fixed election of "career communist" turned "western media darling" Eduard Shevardnadze is also insightful. Despite its title, it's clear these stories are anything but stolen. And Steavenson returns the favor. After turning down a marriage proposal from her boyfriend, a photographer, he sends her 1,000 roses-a stunning gesture that is surely still recalled among Georgians. This is a remarkable first effort from a writer to watch.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
In 1998, bored with her life in London, Steavenson, a journalist whose CV lists Time magazine in her credits, set out for Tbilisi, the capital of the former Soviet republic of Georgia, where life is anything but comfortable. The Georgian economy was in such a shambles that it made Russia seem prosperous. Her portraits of the Georgians she befriended are sharply drawn, witty, and convey perfectly the different aspects of "Georgianess." Her portraits of those she interviewed, whether Georgian, Abkhazian, or Chechen, are also finely written pieces, well integrated into the larger story. Steavenson also does a good job of explaining the internecine conflicts in the area. Least interesting is Steavenson's account of her romantic pursuits. A section at the end titled "Ethnic Glossary" sorts out the different peoples of the area. The bibliography, for a change, is actually fun to read. Frank Caso
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
See all Editorial Reviews
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
THERE WAS A MAP of the world on the wall in my office and for some reason I had stuck a pin in Tbilisi. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
wait for the electricity, outer town Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Bandit Dato, Giorgi Saakadze, Soviet Union, Shah Abbas, Kurban Said, Lawyer Dato, Red Cross, Black Sea, Itum Kale, World Bank, Essad Bey, Levan's Magic Room, Misha Chiaureli, Rustaveli Avenue, Beatles Club, Chavchavadze Avenue, Dato the First, New York, Prophet Mohammed, Revival Bloc, Sophiko Chiaureli, The Englishmen, Turtle Lake New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
THERE WAS A MAP of the world on the wall in my office and for some reason I had stuck a pin in Tbilisi. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
wait for the electricity, outer town Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Bandit Dato, Giorgi Saakadze, Soviet Union, Shah Abbas, Kurban Said, Lawyer Dato, Red Cross, Black Sea, Itum Kale, World Bank, Essad Bey, Levan's Magic Room, Misha Chiaureli, Rustaveli Avenue, Beatles Club, Chavchavadze Avenue, Dato the First, New York, Prophet Mohammed, Revival Bloc, Sophiko Chiaureli, The Englishmen, Turtle Lake New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 39
books:
See all 39 books this book cites
- Ali and Nino: A Love Story by Kurban Said on 4 pages
- Hadji Murat (Hesperus Classics) by Leo Tolstoy on page 122, and Back Matter
- Sandro of Chegem by Fazil Iskander in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Adventures in Caucasia by Alexandre Dumas on page 161, and Back Matter
- A Mad World, My Masters by John Simpson in Back Matter
See all 39 books this book cites
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