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A review by fionafsw
Dancing Bears: True Stories of People Nostalgic for Life Under Tyranny by Witold Szabłowski
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.