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luanndie's review against another edition
4.0
"Salen en libertad encerrados en jaulas-comentó alguien, pero aquella sutil ironía no alteró la atmósfera de solemnidad y triunfo"
"Y que ellos [los gitanos], en el momento en que se sientan con nosotros a la mesa, con la rakia, la comida y los regalos, ya tienen todas las de perder, porque todo el mundo está de nuestra parte y ellos no son más que unos gitanos ignorantes que cultivan unas tradiciones de un mundo que ya no existe."
Este libro me ha sorprendido muy gratamente. El tema que propone me parecía muy interesante, pero temía que fuera una colección aburrida de momentos históricos y reflexiones sesudas, y nada más lejos de la realidad. Szablowski nos ofrece un conjunto de retratos, de los gitanos búlgaros domadores de osos en la primera parte, y de personas viviendo tras la caída del comunismo en la segunda parte. Estos retazos de conversaciones sirven para ofrecer una idea de las contradicciones con las que tienen que lidiar estas personas todos los días. Al igual que los osos, criados bajo unas circunstancias muy determinadas, ahora son incapaces de adaptarse a su nueva "libertad". Curiosamente, los osos reciben mucha más compresión y ayuda en su proceso de adaptación que esas comunidades que han sido abandonadas a su suerte.
En cuanto a la estructura, personalmente disfruté más de la primera parte centrada exclusivamente en los osos y los comunidades gitanas que los adiestraban que de la segunda, por la mera razón de que tiene más cohesión. En la segunda parte, el cambio de localización en cada capítulo, aunque ayuda a ofrecer una visión general, hace perder especificidad. Hubiera preferido que Szablowski se centrara en uno o dos lugares. Aún así, me ha parecido un libro increíblemente interesante porque sin caer en dicotomías fáciles ofrece un primer acercamiento al complejo mundo social y político que son los países post-comunistas.
"Y que ellos [los gitanos], en el momento en que se sientan con nosotros a la mesa, con la rakia, la comida y los regalos, ya tienen todas las de perder, porque todo el mundo está de nuestra parte y ellos no son más que unos gitanos ignorantes que cultivan unas tradiciones de un mundo que ya no existe."
Este libro me ha sorprendido muy gratamente. El tema que propone me parecía muy interesante, pero temía que fuera una colección aburrida de momentos históricos y reflexiones sesudas, y nada más lejos de la realidad. Szablowski nos ofrece un conjunto de retratos, de los gitanos búlgaros domadores de osos en la primera parte, y de personas viviendo tras la caída del comunismo en la segunda parte. Estos retazos de conversaciones sirven para ofrecer una idea de las contradicciones con las que tienen que lidiar estas personas todos los días. Al igual que los osos, criados bajo unas circunstancias muy determinadas, ahora son incapaces de adaptarse a su nueva "libertad". Curiosamente, los osos reciben mucha más compresión y ayuda en su proceso de adaptación que esas comunidades que han sido abandonadas a su suerte.
En cuanto a la estructura, personalmente disfruté más de la primera parte centrada exclusivamente en los osos y los comunidades gitanas que los adiestraban que de la segunda, por la mera razón de que tiene más cohesión. En la segunda parte, el cambio de localización en cada capítulo, aunque ayuda a ofrecer una visión general, hace perder especificidad. Hubiera preferido que Szablowski se centrara en uno o dos lugares. Aún así, me ha parecido un libro increíblemente interesante porque sin caer en dicotomías fáciles ofrece un primer acercamiento al complejo mundo social y político que son los países post-comunistas.
lilreaderbug's review
3.0
Interesting stories and ideas, wish the author had more explicitly connected the two parts.
murasaki_egawa's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
fionafsw's review
informative
medium-paced
3.0
The book isn't particularly bad, but it is very disappointing.
It is in two parts. The first 100 pages is about dancing bears. This was informative and interesting. The rest of the book is a mish-mash collection of little stories from the author's travels through former communist countries, mainly in Eastern Europe, quoting directly from conversations he had with locals. Some of these were entertaining. Some were confusing; there were sentences where it wasn't clear what was being referred to, or what the connection was to anything from the preceding or following sentences. I'm not sure if this is the fault of the author or the translator, but I assume the author.
My biggest criticism is that many of the stories did not live up to the promise set out in the subtitle of being about people "longing for the old days". They were simply conversations from former communist countries. Sometimes their relevance was not apparent. None was interesting or profound enough to have stayed in my memory and I can't remember any except the ones I read today.
I believe the author has collected good material, but he has failed to apply any analytical or journalistic lens in this book. The praise it has received is completely and utterly unwarranted.
It is in two parts. The first 100 pages is about dancing bears. This was informative and interesting. The rest of the book is a mish-mash collection of little stories from the author's travels through former communist countries, mainly in Eastern Europe, quoting directly from conversations he had with locals. Some of these were entertaining. Some were confusing; there were sentences where it wasn't clear what was being referred to, or what the connection was to anything from the preceding or following sentences. I'm not sure if this is the fault of the author or the translator, but I assume the author.
My biggest criticism is that many of the stories did not live up to the promise set out in the subtitle of being about people "longing for the old days". They were simply conversations from former communist countries. Sometimes their relevance was not apparent. None was interesting or profound enough to have stayed in my memory and I can't remember any except the ones I read today.
I believe the author has collected good material, but he has failed to apply any analytical or journalistic lens in this book. The praise it has received is completely and utterly unwarranted.
textpublishing's review against another edition
‘Riveting.’
Overland
‘A compelling and nuanced portrait of the push between the freedoms of modernity and nostalgia for the old communist system…[Szablowski ] displays the qualities of a top-notch reporter: an eye for telling detail and inherent sympathy for his subject.’
Australian
‘Fascinating.’
Otago Daily Times
‘Utterly original…Provokes a far-reaching and unresolved conversation about what freedom might really mean.’
New York Times Book Review
‘Szablowski has a keen eye for the absurd.’
Literary Flits
‘Elegantly pulling together the varied threads, Szabłowski combines personal histories, letting his interviewee do the talking, with a unique storytelling device. As a result, Dancing Bears is both a compelling social history and a stunning example of literary journalism.’
AU Review
‘Dancing Bears has the immediate power of observation typical of some of the best literary traditions of Polish reportage and just like its predecessors it relishes in an allegorical understanding of things.’
Culture.pl
‘Polish journalist Witold Szablowski uncovers life after communism with a curious, humorous and, at times, tender account of regular folk struggling to come to terms with the new world.’
Adelaide Review
‘A fascinating portrait of social and economic upheaval and a lesson in the challenges of freedom and the seductions of authoritarian rule. So, you know, maybe not a great distraction from what’s going on right now, but something that will at least help you understand it a little better.’
Awl
‘Witold Szablowski is a born storyteller. His reports from the post-Communist world read like fairy-tales with the stench of reality. Absurd, darkly funny, compassionate, his book is a literary jewel.’
Ian Buruma
‘Mixing bold journalism with bolder allegories, Mr Szablowski teaches us with witty persistence that we must desire freedom rather than simply expect it.’
Timothy Snyder
‘A fascinating and wide-ranging book that shows how, across different and diverse species, old habits die slowly, if at all. Humans, like other animals, often don’t know when they’ve gained freedom because conditions of oppression have become the norm and they’re unable to adjust to a newfound lack of restraint. Szablowski’s clever and metaphorical use of dancing bears to make this point is beautifully done.’
Marc Bekoff
‘Heartrending…A sharply drawn account of people in “newly free societies” who long for life to be the same as it was in the unfree past…Connected by the allegory of performing bears, Szablowski’s melancholy personality studies underscore freedom’s challenges and the seductions of authoritarian rule.’
Publishers Weekly
‘A poignant allegory about the human costs of regime change. Combining black humour with lyrical prose, Szablowski brilliantly captures the tragic disorientation of men and women whose lifes were bifurcated by the sudden collapse of Communism and ruthless onslaught of neoliberal capitalism. Dancing Bears should be required reading for anyone hoping to understand the growing appeal of authoritarian leaders in Eastern Europe today.’
Kristen Ghodsee
A new Kapuscinski is among us.’
Gazeta Wyborcza
Overland
‘A compelling and nuanced portrait of the push between the freedoms of modernity and nostalgia for the old communist system…[Szablowski ] displays the qualities of a top-notch reporter: an eye for telling detail and inherent sympathy for his subject.’
Australian
‘Fascinating.’
Otago Daily Times
‘Utterly original…Provokes a far-reaching and unresolved conversation about what freedom might really mean.’
New York Times Book Review
‘Szablowski has a keen eye for the absurd.’
Literary Flits
‘Elegantly pulling together the varied threads, Szabłowski combines personal histories, letting his interviewee do the talking, with a unique storytelling device. As a result, Dancing Bears is both a compelling social history and a stunning example of literary journalism.’
AU Review
‘Dancing Bears has the immediate power of observation typical of some of the best literary traditions of Polish reportage and just like its predecessors it relishes in an allegorical understanding of things.’
Culture.pl
‘Polish journalist Witold Szablowski uncovers life after communism with a curious, humorous and, at times, tender account of regular folk struggling to come to terms with the new world.’
Adelaide Review
‘A fascinating portrait of social and economic upheaval and a lesson in the challenges of freedom and the seductions of authoritarian rule. So, you know, maybe not a great distraction from what’s going on right now, but something that will at least help you understand it a little better.’
Awl
‘Witold Szablowski is a born storyteller. His reports from the post-Communist world read like fairy-tales with the stench of reality. Absurd, darkly funny, compassionate, his book is a literary jewel.’
Ian Buruma
‘Mixing bold journalism with bolder allegories, Mr Szablowski teaches us with witty persistence that we must desire freedom rather than simply expect it.’
Timothy Snyder
‘A fascinating and wide-ranging book that shows how, across different and diverse species, old habits die slowly, if at all. Humans, like other animals, often don’t know when they’ve gained freedom because conditions of oppression have become the norm and they’re unable to adjust to a newfound lack of restraint. Szablowski’s clever and metaphorical use of dancing bears to make this point is beautifully done.’
Marc Bekoff
‘Heartrending…A sharply drawn account of people in “newly free societies” who long for life to be the same as it was in the unfree past…Connected by the allegory of performing bears, Szablowski’s melancholy personality studies underscore freedom’s challenges and the seductions of authoritarian rule.’
Publishers Weekly
‘A poignant allegory about the human costs of regime change. Combining black humour with lyrical prose, Szablowski brilliantly captures the tragic disorientation of men and women whose lifes were bifurcated by the sudden collapse of Communism and ruthless onslaught of neoliberal capitalism. Dancing Bears should be required reading for anyone hoping to understand the growing appeal of authoritarian leaders in Eastern Europe today.’
Kristen Ghodsee
A new Kapuscinski is among us.’
Gazeta Wyborcza