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Everything is Normal: The Life and Times of a Soviet Kid
This book is both a memoir and a social history. On one hand, it is a light-hearted worm’s-eye-view of the USSR through one middle-class Soviet childhood in the 1970s - 1980s. On the other hand, it is a reflection on the mundane deprivations and existential terrors of day-to-day life in Leningrad in the decades preceding the collapse of the USSR.
The author occupies a peculiar place in the Soviet world. He is the son of a dissident father and also the step-son of a politically favored Leningrad University professor and Party member. He also occupies a peculiar place in the literal geographic sense- both his home and school are only a few blocks away from the city’s KGB headquarters, where a yet-unknown officer called Vladimir Putin is learning his trade.
His world is a world without flavor. Food is unseasoned. Bananas are a once a year treat. A pack of instant coffee is precious enough to be more useful as a bribe to a Party official than a consumable. Parents on business trips thousands of miles away from home schlep precious and scarce bottles of soda across the Soviet empire for their kids. Everything is bland: TV, radio, books, music, politics - life itself. The author staves away boredom the best he can, with a little help from his friends. They play in the streets of their beautiful city, still resplendent with pre-Revolutionary glory; make their own toys and gadgets; and, when they get older, pass around forbidden novels and books of poetry.
But occasionally, an infinitely more exciting world makes itself briefly known. A piece of foreign bubble gum with a Disney wrapper. A short Yugoslavian cartoon. A smuggled cassette tape with mind-blowing music by someone named Michael Jackson. And these hints of a completely different life introduce small cracks into the author’s all-pervading late-Soviet boredom - cracks that widen and widen, until reality itself shatters, and a brand new world rushes in.
The author occupies a peculiar place in the Soviet world. He is the son of a dissident father and also the step-son of a politically favored Leningrad University professor and Party member. He also occupies a peculiar place in the literal geographic sense- both his home and school are only a few blocks away from the city’s KGB headquarters, where a yet-unknown officer called Vladimir Putin is learning his trade.
His world is a world without flavor. Food is unseasoned. Bananas are a once a year treat. A pack of instant coffee is precious enough to be more useful as a bribe to a Party official than a consumable. Parents on business trips thousands of miles away from home schlep precious and scarce bottles of soda across the Soviet empire for their kids. Everything is bland: TV, radio, books, music, politics - life itself. The author staves away boredom the best he can, with a little help from his friends. They play in the streets of their beautiful city, still resplendent with pre-Revolutionary glory; make their own toys and gadgets; and, when they get older, pass around forbidden novels and books of poetry.
But occasionally, an infinitely more exciting world makes itself briefly known. A piece of foreign bubble gum with a Disney wrapper. A short Yugoslavian cartoon. A smuggled cassette tape with mind-blowing music by someone named Michael Jackson. And these hints of a completely different life introduce small cracks into the author’s all-pervading late-Soviet boredom - cracks that widen and widen, until reality itself shatters, and a brand new world rushes in.
348 pages, Paperback
First published March 6, 2018
36 people are currently reading
911 people want to read
About the author
Sergey Grechishkin
3 books25 followersSergey Grechishkin was born in 1971 in Leningrad (Saint Petersburg). Life’s journey took him from a Soviet communal flat through studies in China and France and on to top banking jobs in London, where he lived for eighteen years. Today he lives in Singapore and juggles business, three children, teaching, investing and writing.
"Everything is Normal: The Life and Times of the Soviet Kid" is his first book.
"Everything is Normal: The Life and Times of the Soviet Kid" is his first book.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 79 reviews
March 30, 2018
Growing up in a country where things are in abundance; scarcity means a short-term problem. But when you grow up in country where everything is controlled and monitored things look scary. "Everything is Normal: Life and Times of a Soviet Kid" by Sergey Grechishkin is a memoir of author's childhood from soviet times. One may read many literature to find out what Soviet Russia / USSR did during 74 years of communism, but how people lived in that era is completely different experience.
When someone says in a country you don't have to pay taxes; you don't have to pay for schooling or healthcare; you don't have to pay rent; along with there many others things are free or subsidised. But when it comes to things as simple as basic food (rice, potatoes, pastas), cloth there is quota. Standardisation is so strict that throughout country you will find same products, no brands only one version of each product. Choice is limited to whether you want it or not. Country creates things which are necessity, luxury was limited to find a thing in store which others have not seen yet or waiting in queue for a food item and you get it at the end of an hour.
List is endless, Sergey has wonderfully put all his experience in words with touch of sarcasm. Never in this book you find him complaining about rules, and I think that justifies the title "Everything is Normal." Well it was not just about Sergey, but millions of kids in those 74 years been through the same. I sugget don't create an impression that this is a story of miserable child. You feel it bad for them, if compare it with complete freedom you get in your country. Otherwise, author and many of his companions were happy from bottom of their heart. They were as patriotic as any American or other western country man were.
Initial 40 years of India was under socialism influence. India was democratic semi-social country till 1991. India has adopted many things from Russia, including metric measurements units, rationing, public ownership of important sectors. So I was able to relate few things with my or my dad's experiences. The best part was the jokes given in the beginning of each chapter, which author called as Anekdot. Overall it was a really good and informative read.
When someone says in a country you don't have to pay taxes; you don't have to pay for schooling or healthcare; you don't have to pay rent; along with there many others things are free or subsidised. But when it comes to things as simple as basic food (rice, potatoes, pastas), cloth there is quota. Standardisation is so strict that throughout country you will find same products, no brands only one version of each product. Choice is limited to whether you want it or not. Country creates things which are necessity, luxury was limited to find a thing in store which others have not seen yet or waiting in queue for a food item and you get it at the end of an hour.
List is endless, Sergey has wonderfully put all his experience in words with touch of sarcasm. Never in this book you find him complaining about rules, and I think that justifies the title "Everything is Normal." Well it was not just about Sergey, but millions of kids in those 74 years been through the same. I sugget don't create an impression that this is a story of miserable child. You feel it bad for them, if compare it with complete freedom you get in your country. Otherwise, author and many of his companions were happy from bottom of their heart. They were as patriotic as any American or other western country man were.
Initial 40 years of India was under socialism influence. India was democratic semi-social country till 1991. India has adopted many things from Russia, including metric measurements units, rationing, public ownership of important sectors. So I was able to relate few things with my or my dad's experiences. The best part was the jokes given in the beginning of each chapter, which author called as Anekdot. Overall it was a really good and informative read.
March 23, 2018
4 informative and sometimes hysterical stars
The author, Sergey Grechishkin grew up in Soviet Russia in the seventies and eighties. In this book, he relates for us the trials, the everyday life, and the funny parts of being a child in a Russia that was so much focused on the communist ideology. His life was vastly different from the one an American or even a Western child lived. His life seemed governed by austerity, waiting constantly on long lines, and the banality of his environment. Imagine everything you saw, everything you watched, and everything you did governed by the government. "In Russia we had only two TV channels. Channel one was propaganda. Channel two consisted of a KGB officer telling you: Turn back at once to channel one." (Yakov Smoroff)
This could have turned out to be a very sombre book, but the author peppered it with fun. His sense of humor and the stories he relates, while at times sad, were often laugh out loud experiences. He describes the Russian way of life so well and makes one glad that they grew up in the face of freedom. Raised by his grandmother, this story begins and ends with her funeral. He lived in a one room apartment with his mother, his half brother, and his step father. His biological father was part of the intelligentsia and a dissident and Sergey's contact with him was somewhat sporadic. His school life was what many of us would consider boring although again Sergey inserts many funny experiences calling the place where the KGB resided The Big House, and the lessons dull and the news, lives, and environment filled with Soviet propaganda and the idea of eyes and ears always watching and hearing should anyone speak or even at times think of anti Soviet concepts. And then there was vodka....
For Sergey, who dreamed of escaping such a bleak place was his goal and eventually, he was able to do just that. For this reader, learning about what his life was like was quite an education in being grateful for living and growing in a place where there was freedom always of choice and the ability to find one's way.
Thank you to Sergrey Grechishkin, the publisher, and Edelweiss for making an advanced copy o this very interesting novel to me.
The author, Sergey Grechishkin grew up in Soviet Russia in the seventies and eighties. In this book, he relates for us the trials, the everyday life, and the funny parts of being a child in a Russia that was so much focused on the communist ideology. His life was vastly different from the one an American or even a Western child lived. His life seemed governed by austerity, waiting constantly on long lines, and the banality of his environment. Imagine everything you saw, everything you watched, and everything you did governed by the government. "In Russia we had only two TV channels. Channel one was propaganda. Channel two consisted of a KGB officer telling you: Turn back at once to channel one." (Yakov Smoroff)
This could have turned out to be a very sombre book, but the author peppered it with fun. His sense of humor and the stories he relates, while at times sad, were often laugh out loud experiences. He describes the Russian way of life so well and makes one glad that they grew up in the face of freedom. Raised by his grandmother, this story begins and ends with her funeral. He lived in a one room apartment with his mother, his half brother, and his step father. His biological father was part of the intelligentsia and a dissident and Sergey's contact with him was somewhat sporadic. His school life was what many of us would consider boring although again Sergey inserts many funny experiences calling the place where the KGB resided The Big House, and the lessons dull and the news, lives, and environment filled with Soviet propaganda and the idea of eyes and ears always watching and hearing should anyone speak or even at times think of anti Soviet concepts. And then there was vodka....
For Sergey, who dreamed of escaping such a bleak place was his goal and eventually, he was able to do just that. For this reader, learning about what his life was like was quite an education in being grateful for living and growing in a place where there was freedom always of choice and the ability to find one's way.
Thank you to Sergrey Grechishkin, the publisher, and Edelweiss for making an advanced copy o this very interesting novel to me.
April 14, 2018
Humorous and insightful
Wow that was a good book! Everything is normal is about a boy growing up in Soviet Russia in the '70's and 80's from his own perspective. This memoir recounts the reality of life for a Soviet citizen during that time, which at times, contrasts or confirms what the western nations of heard, and how all of its hardships was considered a normal way of life for him. Any slight glimpse of life outside the iron curtain nourished a desire to escape from life as he knew it. The author has a sense of humor too, beginning each chapter with a little joke that was common in Russia at the time which gives a bit of funny take on a topic that the general public would have understood. I felt sad too for the author as a child that so many things that we take for granted, like bubblegum or deodorant, were foreign to him and also what things he considered normal, like cockroaches in meatballs or having to constantly hide one's feelings or opinions for fear of being hauled away. No human should have to live like that, and what a tragedy that people do. It was very poignant for me, as the author seems to be roughly my age, so that while I was growing up here, enjoying all that I did, he was growing up without all of what I enjoyed and to a large extent, couldn't have imagined my much nicer life. The contrast of comparing what he and I were experiencing was sharp indeed.It really also shows in a real way why socialism/communism will never work apart from all the Utopian ideals one hears about that philosophy, which never seems to take into account real humans and their behavior.I would recommend this book to everyone that enjoys memoirs, history or learning about life in other countries. I received this book from the author in exchange for a free honest review. Thank you!
Wow that was a good book! Everything is normal is about a boy growing up in Soviet Russia in the '70's and 80's from his own perspective. This memoir recounts the reality of life for a Soviet citizen during that time, which at times, contrasts or confirms what the western nations of heard, and how all of its hardships was considered a normal way of life for him. Any slight glimpse of life outside the iron curtain nourished a desire to escape from life as he knew it. The author has a sense of humor too, beginning each chapter with a little joke that was common in Russia at the time which gives a bit of funny take on a topic that the general public would have understood. I felt sad too for the author as a child that so many things that we take for granted, like bubblegum or deodorant, were foreign to him and also what things he considered normal, like cockroaches in meatballs or having to constantly hide one's feelings or opinions for fear of being hauled away. No human should have to live like that, and what a tragedy that people do. It was very poignant for me, as the author seems to be roughly my age, so that while I was growing up here, enjoying all that I did, he was growing up without all of what I enjoyed and to a large extent, couldn't have imagined my much nicer life. The contrast of comparing what he and I were experiencing was sharp indeed.It really also shows in a real way why socialism/communism will never work apart from all the Utopian ideals one hears about that philosophy, which never seems to take into account real humans and their behavior.I would recommend this book to everyone that enjoys memoirs, history or learning about life in other countries. I received this book from the author in exchange for a free honest review. Thank you!
February 13, 2020
We went to school on the same day, September 1, 1977, though Sergei was a little younger than his classmates, I a little older; for that reason, this is the exact story of my childhood and early youth, with the obvious exception that my family situation was more standard, and I grew up in Moscow, not Leningrad.
This is an excellent example of how careful and generally mistrusting you have to be when reading books of this kind which aim to tell you about a different culture, or country, or anything at all, really. Because there were lots and lots of things and details which I could immediately identify with, and, at the same time, a lot of details I completely disagreed with. (For example, Sergei's take on Soviet-style feminism is heavily influenced by his later life, which was evolving outside Russia, and, in my opinion, is completely wrong.)
It's also completely unclear what happened to him after he had left for China (meeting his future wife more or less on the train). I mean, it's not the stuff he was planning to write about, I get it, but could you give a paragraph's worth of summary? Because a naïve Western reader would assume that he'd never returned to Russia after this (first) escape from it; well, it's possible, of course, but sooo improbable. What really happened?
(Also, I can't really imagine this book in Russian, though I know it exists. The whole point is retelling this story in a language other than Russian.)
This is an excellent example of how careful and generally mistrusting you have to be when reading books of this kind which aim to tell you about a different culture, or country, or anything at all, really. Because there were lots and lots of things and details which I could immediately identify with, and, at the same time, a lot of details I completely disagreed with. (For example, Sergei's take on Soviet-style feminism is heavily influenced by his later life, which was evolving outside Russia, and, in my opinion, is completely wrong.)
It's also completely unclear what happened to him after he had left for China (meeting his future wife more or less on the train). I mean, it's not the stuff he was planning to write about, I get it, but could you give a paragraph's worth of summary? Because a naïve Western reader would assume that he'd never returned to Russia after this (first) escape from it; well, it's possible, of course, but sooo improbable. What really happened?
(Also, I can't really imagine this book in Russian, though I know it exists. The whole point is retelling this story in a language other than Russian.)
March 1, 2018
Everything is Normal is a fascinating coming-of-age story about growing up in the Soviet Union in the late seventies and the Eighties. What’s remarkable about it is that it’s not some heavy social science treatise but rather the observations of a child growing up in St. Petersburg and seeing the Soviet works through his eyes. It’s not focused on politics, but the grayness and fullness of Soviet life, the deprivation of consumer goods, the scarcities, the endless lines, the limitations. It includes childhood hijinks like jumping from roof to roof or ditching class to go to the movies, but also reveals a whole world of control and bureaucratic malaise. Communal apartments were the norm. Trading apartments was the norm. Films, books, records, radio was all limited. And, most amazing, was the just the complete lack of consumer goods of virtually any kind. This biographical sketch is exceedingly well written, fun to read, and gives you a real feel for how life was deep behind the Iron Curtain. Thanks to the publisher for providing a copy for review.
July 20, 2017
Thanks to the author for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I've never really known much about Russia, despite all the negativity from the press and the media. I was very curious what a little kid could tell me and teach me about his childhood in the Soviet Union. I was surprised by this book! Although it felt long at some point, I was enjoying the things I read most of the time.
A longer review can be found at Bite Into books
This book was something I don't read very often and I liked it! I'm actually pretty curious what Sergey did after school, where he met his wife, what he did for a living and when/how he made the decision to move to Londen.
Educational and lighthearted with a great telling voice. The Soviet Union from a kid's point of view is a lot different than hearing adults talking about it!
I've never really known much about Russia, despite all the negativity from the press and the media. I was very curious what a little kid could tell me and teach me about his childhood in the Soviet Union. I was surprised by this book! Although it felt long at some point, I was enjoying the things I read most of the time.
A longer review can be found at Bite Into books
This book was something I don't read very often and I liked it! I'm actually pretty curious what Sergey did after school, where he met his wife, what he did for a living and when/how he made the decision to move to Londen.
Educational and lighthearted with a great telling voice. The Soviet Union from a kid's point of view is a lot different than hearing adults talking about it!
January 8, 2018
An amazing story of growing up in the Soviet Union during the 1970-80's. The author very capably describes what it was like to be a child and teenager during this time.
I was surprised to read that his childhood was much like mine (in the U.S.) in some ways. School, friends, crazy hijinks. But different in so many other ways. Shortages of food and other goods, standing in lines, and limited news to mention a few. He describes how the country dealt with the death of Brezhnev, and on through the next several short lived rulers, to the freshness of Gorbachev.
For example, a few lines stood out to me.....
"She got me an awesome present: a piece of chewing gum. Had I been given such a thing several years later, I would have squirreled it away to share with my friends on some meaningful occasion".
"Many foodstuffs Westerners take for granted didn't exist in the Soviet universe even as a concept. There was no such thing as breakfast cereal, peanut butter, or ready-made-and-eat meals of any kind. We had never heard of yogurt, burgers, french fries, marshmallows, tea bags, popcorn, cookies with fillings, or a hundred other delicious items".
I was surprised at the rigors of their schooling. "In fifth grade, we began to study organic and inorganic chemistry, astromony, physics and ever more advanced math. These were mutli-year courses, and none of them were optional".
There was also "basic military training", taught in grade school. It was taught in the classroom, and "taught us simple and useful life skills, such as how to assemble and disassemble a Kalashnikov, an AK-47 assault rifle, in less than thirty seconds".
As far as basic rights, the author described it well when he stated, "In the Soviet Union, there is freedom of speech. But it's not written anywhere that one should be free after his speech".
I found this book to be fascinating, enlightening, and easy to read. I really hope that it is a big success, so others can learn about what it was like growing up in the Soviet Union.
I was surprised to read that his childhood was much like mine (in the U.S.) in some ways. School, friends, crazy hijinks. But different in so many other ways. Shortages of food and other goods, standing in lines, and limited news to mention a few. He describes how the country dealt with the death of Brezhnev, and on through the next several short lived rulers, to the freshness of Gorbachev.
For example, a few lines stood out to me.....
"She got me an awesome present: a piece of chewing gum. Had I been given such a thing several years later, I would have squirreled it away to share with my friends on some meaningful occasion".
"Many foodstuffs Westerners take for granted didn't exist in the Soviet universe even as a concept. There was no such thing as breakfast cereal, peanut butter, or ready-made-and-eat meals of any kind. We had never heard of yogurt, burgers, french fries, marshmallows, tea bags, popcorn, cookies with fillings, or a hundred other delicious items".
I was surprised at the rigors of their schooling. "In fifth grade, we began to study organic and inorganic chemistry, astromony, physics and ever more advanced math. These were mutli-year courses, and none of them were optional".
There was also "basic military training", taught in grade school. It was taught in the classroom, and "taught us simple and useful life skills, such as how to assemble and disassemble a Kalashnikov, an AK-47 assault rifle, in less than thirty seconds".
As far as basic rights, the author described it well when he stated, "In the Soviet Union, there is freedom of speech. But it's not written anywhere that one should be free after his speech".
I found this book to be fascinating, enlightening, and easy to read. I really hope that it is a big success, so others can learn about what it was like growing up in the Soviet Union.
March 24, 2017
Everything is Normal: Life and Times of a Soviet Kid by Sergey Grechishkin
*I received this book in exchange for an honest review.**
34438779
"We just did what was expected of us. That was fine; adults didn't care about our enthusiasm, just our compliance. They didn't believe in communism either. Hypocrisy was normal too."
Anyone who knows me know of my slight obsession with the the Soviet Union and/or Nazi Germany. I have read numerous historical fiction novels about either of those subjects and I just can't get enough of it. My husband has always said "As long as you don't find yourself agreeing with the things that happened, it's not an unhealthy obsession." Good to know!
Sergey contacted me and asked me to read this book and as soon as I saw the title, I knew it was right up my alley. Like I said, I have read historical fiction novels on this subject and I'm sure the authors did their research to make it as historically accurate as possible. This, however, was the first time I had the opportunity to read a memoir from someone who lived through it. It was quite exciting to see it from that perspective.
The writing in this memoir was phenomenal. It had snark and sarcasm (which basically explains myself so I can appreciate that) and made you want to know every single detail and everything he saw during his childhood. My absolute favorite part of this book was the little jokes at the beginning of each chapter. Sergey refers to them as an anekdot.
Anekdot: The most popular form of Soviet humor, a short story or dialogue with a punchline, often politically subversive.
"Many of the anekdots under this book's chapters headings were once punishable in the USSR by up to 10 years of forced labor under article 58 of the Criminal Code ("Anti-Soviet propaganda"). This article was used freely to put critics of the Soviet government behind bars. Today, of course, things are very different in Russia. Today it's article 282."
This was added right at the beginning of the book and I cracked up. I knew instantly I was going to love Sergey's writing. The anekdots were so corny sometimes but I just loved them. By far my favorite was:
A man calls 09-Leningrad medical emergency line:
'Help! Irina Serova of 32 Gogol Street apartment 10 is in labor!'
'Calm down, comrade. Is this her first child?'
'No! It's her husband!'
So, if you are like me and appreciate history and humor, this book is definitely for you.
For more reviews: https://soulmeetsbooks.wordpress.com/
*I received this book in exchange for an honest review.**
34438779
"We just did what was expected of us. That was fine; adults didn't care about our enthusiasm, just our compliance. They didn't believe in communism either. Hypocrisy was normal too."
Anyone who knows me know of my slight obsession with the the Soviet Union and/or Nazi Germany. I have read numerous historical fiction novels about either of those subjects and I just can't get enough of it. My husband has always said "As long as you don't find yourself agreeing with the things that happened, it's not an unhealthy obsession." Good to know!
Sergey contacted me and asked me to read this book and as soon as I saw the title, I knew it was right up my alley. Like I said, I have read historical fiction novels on this subject and I'm sure the authors did their research to make it as historically accurate as possible. This, however, was the first time I had the opportunity to read a memoir from someone who lived through it. It was quite exciting to see it from that perspective.
The writing in this memoir was phenomenal. It had snark and sarcasm (which basically explains myself so I can appreciate that) and made you want to know every single detail and everything he saw during his childhood. My absolute favorite part of this book was the little jokes at the beginning of each chapter. Sergey refers to them as an anekdot.
Anekdot: The most popular form of Soviet humor, a short story or dialogue with a punchline, often politically subversive.
"Many of the anekdots under this book's chapters headings were once punishable in the USSR by up to 10 years of forced labor under article 58 of the Criminal Code ("Anti-Soviet propaganda"). This article was used freely to put critics of the Soviet government behind bars. Today, of course, things are very different in Russia. Today it's article 282."
This was added right at the beginning of the book and I cracked up. I knew instantly I was going to love Sergey's writing. The anekdots were so corny sometimes but I just loved them. By far my favorite was:
A man calls 09-Leningrad medical emergency line:
'Help! Irina Serova of 32 Gogol Street apartment 10 is in labor!'
'Calm down, comrade. Is this her first child?'
'No! It's her husband!'
So, if you are like me and appreciate history and humor, this book is definitely for you.
For more reviews: https://soulmeetsbooks.wordpress.com/
March 28, 2018
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
---
This is the kind of thing that you expect a memoir of growing up in the Soviet Union to be full of -- a grim skyline, yearning for something unobtainable, a general malaise. But in Sergey Grechishkin's book, you don't get a lot of that -- yes, it's there, to be sure (how could it not be?), but there's so much more.
Grechishkin writes with a vivacity, a thorough-going sense of humor, a spark of hope that you don't expect -- and are frequently surprised by. He doesn't paint a rosy picture of the USSR in the 70s and 80s, but he paints a picture of a life with hope. The book focuses on his childhood -- particularly school ages -- we get a little before, we see him briefly in University, with a hint or two about what happens next. But primarily we're looking at his time in school. This coincides with the time of Leonid Brezhnev (at least the tail end) through the early days of Mikhail Gorbachev, with all the changes those days entailed. It's not an incredibly political book -- but it'd be difficult to discuss life under these various leaders without mentioning them and the way each government was different from the previous.
A word about the humor -- which is all over. We're not talking Yakov Smirnoff, first off. Secondly we're not talking about anything that makes light of the hardships, or denies them. But comments that can talk about the hardships in a way that is above to find the humor in the human condition or something else we can all relate to: like
The jokes slow down as he ages and the narration becomes less universal and more particular to his life -- looming chances of being sent to Afghanistan, and other harder realities of adulthood on the horizon. It's still there, it's just deployed less.
While narrating his life, Grechishkin is able to describe living conditions, schooling, medical care, shopping, food, friendships, family life, dating, Western movies, crime, the role of alcohol in society, political dissidents, and so much more. I enjoyed his discussing the experience of reading George Orwell (via photocopy) or listening to Western pop music -- learning that LPs were "pressed at underground labs onto discarded plastic X-ray images." You can do that? That sounds cool (and low-fidelity). Almost everything in the book seems just the way you'd expect it, if you stopped to think of it -- but from Grechishkin's life experience it seems more real.
This is one of those books that you want to keep talking and talking and talking about -- but I can't, nor should I. You need to read this for yourself. If only because Grechishkin can do a better job telling his story than I can. You really don't think that this is the kind of book you can enjoy -- but it is..
Normal was a word that showed up more than once in my notes -- despite everything around him, his childhood seemed normal (and its only now that I remember tat the word is in the title). I'm not saying that I'd trade places with him, his life was not easy -- or that there weren't kids in Leningrad who suffered more forms of deprivation or oppression (not to mention kids in less well-off areas in the USSR). But on the whole, he had a childhood thanks to a caring family, a good school, and good friends. Everything is Normal shows how against a bleak background, a normal life can be possible. It does so with heart, perspective, humor and a gift for story-telling. Exactly the kind of memoir that will stay with you long after you finish the book. Highly recommended.
Disclaimer: I received this book from Inkshares in exchange for this post and my honest opinion.
---
I would spend hours by the balcony window, watching smoke rise from the power station chimneys on the horizon and listening to the suburban trains chug by in the distance. Most of my memories of that time coalesce into a sense of timeless boredom. But after my first taste of bubble gum, something new began to mix with my malaise: jealousy of the kids in faraway countries who could chew such gum every day.
This is the kind of thing that you expect a memoir of growing up in the Soviet Union to be full of -- a grim skyline, yearning for something unobtainable, a general malaise. But in Sergey Grechishkin's book, you don't get a lot of that -- yes, it's there, to be sure (how could it not be?), but there's so much more.
Grechishkin writes with a vivacity, a thorough-going sense of humor, a spark of hope that you don't expect -- and are frequently surprised by. He doesn't paint a rosy picture of the USSR in the 70s and 80s, but he paints a picture of a life with hope. The book focuses on his childhood -- particularly school ages -- we get a little before, we see him briefly in University, with a hint or two about what happens next. But primarily we're looking at his time in school. This coincides with the time of Leonid Brezhnev (at least the tail end) through the early days of Mikhail Gorbachev, with all the changes those days entailed. It's not an incredibly political book -- but it'd be difficult to discuss life under these various leaders without mentioning them and the way each government was different from the previous.
A word about the humor -- which is all over. We're not talking Yakov Smirnoff, first off. Secondly we're not talking about anything that makes light of the hardships, or denies them. But comments that can talk about the hardships in a way that is above to find the humor in the human condition or something else we can all relate to: like
So many Soviet friendships and even families have been formed while standing in lines.Nothing major -- just a quick smile as you read. At other times, he'll deliver a hard truth about life in the USSR through a joke. Like here, when describing how they couldn't process the appearance of Western athletes on TV during the 1980 Olympics criticizing their governments:
For those lucky Soviet citizens who were allowed to cross the border, any sort of misbehaving while abroad or giving the slightest hint at being unhappy with the Soviet workers’ paradise would mean no more trips anywhere except to camping locations in eastern Siberia.You laugh, and then you realize that he's talking about a harsh or sad reality while you're laughing. I don't know how many times I'd think about something being funny or actually be chuckling at something when I'd catch myself, because I realize what he's actually getting at.
The jokes slow down as he ages and the narration becomes less universal and more particular to his life -- looming chances of being sent to Afghanistan, and other harder realities of adulthood on the horizon. It's still there, it's just deployed less.
While narrating his life, Grechishkin is able to describe living conditions, schooling, medical care, shopping, food, friendships, family life, dating, Western movies, crime, the role of alcohol in society, political dissidents, and so much more. I enjoyed his discussing the experience of reading George Orwell (via photocopy) or listening to Western pop music -- learning that LPs were "pressed at underground labs onto discarded plastic X-ray images." You can do that? That sounds cool (and low-fidelity). Almost everything in the book seems just the way you'd expect it, if you stopped to think of it -- but from Grechishkin's life experience it seems more real.
This is one of those books that you want to keep talking and talking and talking about -- but I can't, nor should I. You need to read this for yourself. If only because Grechishkin can do a better job telling his story than I can. You really don't think that this is the kind of book you can enjoy -- but it is..
Did I have a happy childhood? Well, it was what it was. From a nutritional and a relationship standpoint, it wasn’t particularly great. But it also wasn’t awful or tragic. It was, when I look back on it now, normal.
Normal was a word that showed up more than once in my notes -- despite everything around him, his childhood seemed normal (and its only now that I remember tat the word is in the title). I'm not saying that I'd trade places with him, his life was not easy -- or that there weren't kids in Leningrad who suffered more forms of deprivation or oppression (not to mention kids in less well-off areas in the USSR). But on the whole, he had a childhood thanks to a caring family, a good school, and good friends. Everything is Normal shows how against a bleak background, a normal life can be possible. It does so with heart, perspective, humor and a gift for story-telling. Exactly the kind of memoir that will stay with you long after you finish the book. Highly recommended.
Disclaimer: I received this book from Inkshares in exchange for this post and my honest opinion.
December 29, 2021
This book recounts what it was like to grow up in the Soviet Union in the 70s and 80s. It’s a fascinating reflection providing a unique idea perspective I’ve not seen before. I was all the more interesting because age-wise, this is when I was growing up in the US. There were certain commonalities, but there were stark differences mostly. I wouldn’t trade places with author Sergey Grechishkin though he would gladly have done so with me in a flash. His young life wasn’t easy, but he also knew of no alternative. Only as he became more exposed to western ideals like did he realize he wanted to leave the USSR, which eventually he did. So his perspective is colored by his desire to leave the USSR. Perhaps another writer with a stronger regard for their upbringing in the USSR would have a different book about their life there. Nevertheless, this is a good book well worth checking out.
April 1, 2018
This was an eye opening entertaining look at Sergeys ‘childhood in the Soviet Union .Aworld a lifestyle I knew nothing about.Really enjoyed this book& getting to know what being a child in the Soviet Union is really like.Thanks @Netgalley @ inkshares for this advance reading copy,
April 28, 2018
As one of the characters mensioned in this book (thanks to Sergey) I want to say that this is absolutely true story about 80-s in USSR. I'm giving five stars and looking forward for russian version. Thank you Sergey!
Mikhail Chirikov.
Mikhail Chirikov.
March 26, 2018
A thoroughly enjoyable romp that gives readers an almost ‘fly-on-the-wall’ perspective of life in Soviet Russia at the height of the Cold War. Grechishkin is an engaging storyteller and his experiences growing up behind the iron curtain provide a seldom-seen but colourful peek into the day to day lives of ordinary Soviet citizens.
We are also given glimpses into the sometimes alien-seeming world of communist bureaucracy, notably the intricacies of living in a society where inequality should not theoretically exist.
For those unfamiliar with the history of the USSR, Everything Is Normal is an easy way to explore the fascinating story of a society and nation that for many in the west, is still looked upon with suspicion and hostility.
We are also given glimpses into the sometimes alien-seeming world of communist bureaucracy, notably the intricacies of living in a society where inequality should not theoretically exist.
For those unfamiliar with the history of the USSR, Everything Is Normal is an easy way to explore the fascinating story of a society and nation that for many in the west, is still looked upon with suspicion and hostility.
March 26, 2018
Very interesting and entertaining book.
It reminds me a bit of the movie “Goodbye Lenin” - a window into the experience of the millions of people who grew up behind the iron curtain and who are now amongst us in this completely different world.
We all know the economic and political account of the Soviet Union as written by many economists and historians - but I always they fail to give us an anthropological account of the events - we know what happened politically and economically but what did it really mean in everyday life terms?
"Everything is Normal" does this in a light and entertaining way.
It reminds me a bit of the movie “Goodbye Lenin” - a window into the experience of the millions of people who grew up behind the iron curtain and who are now amongst us in this completely different world.
We all know the economic and political account of the Soviet Union as written by many economists and historians - but I always they fail to give us an anthropological account of the events - we know what happened politically and economically but what did it really mean in everyday life terms?
"Everything is Normal" does this in a light and entertaining way.
March 24, 2017
For complete review check out my blog at https://booksaplentybookreviews.blogs...
March 21, 2018
An interesting and entertaining peek behind the Iron Curtain. The author brought to life, through an account of their childhood, the culture of the Soviet Union in a way that was completely new to me.
March 28, 2017
Okay, this was a hard review to write because there is just so much to the book I don't even know where to start or how to make this review cohesive... Sorry everyone! But I really did enjoy it and if you are at all interested in foreign cultures give this book a try! It will be worth your time I promise!!
On with the review: I was pleasantly surprised with this book. I figured it would be interesting and educational, after all the extent of my knowledge of Russia begins and ends with Syrian Dwarf hamsters, but I did not think it would be funny! As the title suggests, this is a memoir of the author mixed with a history book, and boy howdy does Sergey Grechishkin know his Russian history! Grechishkin is incredibly knowledgeable about the Mother Country and candid in his narration; he throws in the good, the bad, and the general attitude of the country towards change and other nations. I really appreciate that his honesty when talking about his family, their thoughts, the government's decisions, the land, his schooling, and perceptions of evil Americans (this cracks me up! Go watch an American movie in the 80's and 10 to 1 the bad guy will be Russian, it's funny to see this reversed!). Actually, reading about how corrupt and horrible America was believed to be was one of my favorite parts because Grechishkin doesn't just say we are bad, he tells us the reasons behind why people thought we were. What can I say? I like honesty, even when it shows others in a bad light.
The book covers Grechishkin from his earliest memories of a toy alligator eating his pacifier (I'll have to remember that one if I ever have kids) to graduating high school and beginning college, however he does throw in information from about the mid 1800's all the way up to Trump becoming president, like I said memoir/history book! It's actually shocking how much info is packed into 305 pages, school outings, vacations, shopping, growing pains, how to have fun, different areas, the Olympics, the black market, everything is covered! It's pretty awesome and eye opening for someone who has never really been out of her own country before.
Another of my favorite aspects to the book was the anecdotes that proceeded each chapter! Most of these were hilarious, though there were a couple I didn't understand, yay for colloquialisms! Each chapter is titled letting reader's know the general idea of what will be read and the anecdotes are like a highlight of what is to come. For instance the chapter about education is headed by a child telling his parent about how the principal asked if he had any siblings. The boy tells him no, and the principal responds with "thank God" or something similar, from this it is a good guess that kids should behave themselves but a reminder that there will always be that one munchkin who just can't help themselves. Trust me it was funny.
Back to being a memoir and history book, have you ever sat down with an uncle or grandparent and asked them about life way back when? That's the way this book reads. It is vivid and mesmerizing, almost like watching a film instead of reading a book. And the way Grechishkin writes draws the reader in and makes it feel personal, we could be sitting down talking for how chummy the author is. It's pretty awesome!
Again sorry this review is so strange and disjointed, this book is packed with information. I highly recommend it!
On with the review: I was pleasantly surprised with this book. I figured it would be interesting and educational, after all the extent of my knowledge of Russia begins and ends with Syrian Dwarf hamsters, but I did not think it would be funny! As the title suggests, this is a memoir of the author mixed with a history book, and boy howdy does Sergey Grechishkin know his Russian history! Grechishkin is incredibly knowledgeable about the Mother Country and candid in his narration; he throws in the good, the bad, and the general attitude of the country towards change and other nations. I really appreciate that his honesty when talking about his family, their thoughts, the government's decisions, the land, his schooling, and perceptions of evil Americans (this cracks me up! Go watch an American movie in the 80's and 10 to 1 the bad guy will be Russian, it's funny to see this reversed!). Actually, reading about how corrupt and horrible America was believed to be was one of my favorite parts because Grechishkin doesn't just say we are bad, he tells us the reasons behind why people thought we were. What can I say? I like honesty, even when it shows others in a bad light.
The book covers Grechishkin from his earliest memories of a toy alligator eating his pacifier (I'll have to remember that one if I ever have kids) to graduating high school and beginning college, however he does throw in information from about the mid 1800's all the way up to Trump becoming president, like I said memoir/history book! It's actually shocking how much info is packed into 305 pages, school outings, vacations, shopping, growing pains, how to have fun, different areas, the Olympics, the black market, everything is covered! It's pretty awesome and eye opening for someone who has never really been out of her own country before.
Another of my favorite aspects to the book was the anecdotes that proceeded each chapter! Most of these were hilarious, though there were a couple I didn't understand, yay for colloquialisms! Each chapter is titled letting reader's know the general idea of what will be read and the anecdotes are like a highlight of what is to come. For instance the chapter about education is headed by a child telling his parent about how the principal asked if he had any siblings. The boy tells him no, and the principal responds with "thank God" or something similar, from this it is a good guess that kids should behave themselves but a reminder that there will always be that one munchkin who just can't help themselves. Trust me it was funny.
Back to being a memoir and history book, have you ever sat down with an uncle or grandparent and asked them about life way back when? That's the way this book reads. It is vivid and mesmerizing, almost like watching a film instead of reading a book. And the way Grechishkin writes draws the reader in and makes it feel personal, we could be sitting down talking for how chummy the author is. It's pretty awesome!
Again sorry this review is so strange and disjointed, this book is packed with information. I highly recommend it!
January 14, 2018
This book is fully packed with information, which I didn’t like, covering wide range of topics about the society, the history of USSR, the education, the political, even the Olympics and the black market… almost everything. I noticed it’s the author’s objective to write this book to leave something to his kids about the mother country, to shed some real light into the Soviet nation from the perspective of a kid who grows up in it and spend all his childhood and teenage there, and also to make some remark to the Russia’s literary history.
Sergey Grechishkin is a talented and ambitious person, from his later business and life, his teaching and writing, and the clues are all berried in the lines of this book. From no aspect this will be his last book, though it is the first one. When I read it, I feel he has written many books and he is born to be a writer. With his own way of humor, Sergey Grechishkin tells story in an easy reading but delicate way. I was surprised that this book didn’t made me fall asleep. From the title of the book ‘about the life and times of a Soviet kid’, I was not optimistic, but after I read the first few pages, I knew I was wrong, and just can not stop reading. It’s so funny and wild in describing things and phenomenon happened in those decades- 70s and 80s, I was curious about the reality which I previously had no interest, triggered by the author’s probing into the history/society and revealing it honestly to the audience. It reminds me of the North China, the addiction of alcohol, the emptiness of economy and thus the struggling of people’s soul.
And it’s more than that. I stepped into the psychology of a Soviet kid’s growing up and the spiritual world of a young pioneer, who later became a scintillating and sophisticated adult, traveling all over the world. I was shocked when I read the lines of the author’s feeling about the world being ‘fundamentally dreadful’ when he was just a kid, and ‘everything is normal’ even when he sent a birthday present to his mom, and she resent it to her friend without hesitation… I was touched by his grandma being such a SUN to her beloved grandchild, and I became extremely interested and exciting to read his father’s story in Chapter 19, which was totally secret revealing about the author’s personality, the society, the tragedy of that generation, and the overall USSR situation during that decades. It appears to be a historic book, but it’s also a book of human being.
I am eager to read the second book of Sergey Grechishkin, which I believe will be totally different in tone but the same hilarious way of telling an in-normal and exciting life.
Sergey Grechishkin is a talented and ambitious person, from his later business and life, his teaching and writing, and the clues are all berried in the lines of this book. From no aspect this will be his last book, though it is the first one. When I read it, I feel he has written many books and he is born to be a writer. With his own way of humor, Sergey Grechishkin tells story in an easy reading but delicate way. I was surprised that this book didn’t made me fall asleep. From the title of the book ‘about the life and times of a Soviet kid’, I was not optimistic, but after I read the first few pages, I knew I was wrong, and just can not stop reading. It’s so funny and wild in describing things and phenomenon happened in those decades- 70s and 80s, I was curious about the reality which I previously had no interest, triggered by the author’s probing into the history/society and revealing it honestly to the audience. It reminds me of the North China, the addiction of alcohol, the emptiness of economy and thus the struggling of people’s soul.
And it’s more than that. I stepped into the psychology of a Soviet kid’s growing up and the spiritual world of a young pioneer, who later became a scintillating and sophisticated adult, traveling all over the world. I was shocked when I read the lines of the author’s feeling about the world being ‘fundamentally dreadful’ when he was just a kid, and ‘everything is normal’ even when he sent a birthday present to his mom, and she resent it to her friend without hesitation… I was touched by his grandma being such a SUN to her beloved grandchild, and I became extremely interested and exciting to read his father’s story in Chapter 19, which was totally secret revealing about the author’s personality, the society, the tragedy of that generation, and the overall USSR situation during that decades. It appears to be a historic book, but it’s also a book of human being.
I am eager to read the second book of Sergey Grechishkin, which I believe will be totally different in tone but the same hilarious way of telling an in-normal and exciting life.
January 13, 2018
Everything Is Normal is a brilliant book that gives the reader a fascinating insight into not only the author's childhood but the childhood of millions of other Soviet children just like him who were growing up under late-socialism. By intertwining his own personal stories with interesting and candid explanations about the everyday realities of the period (lifestyles, activities, values), this book offers an accessible, and often humorous, overview of what life was really like in the Soviet Union. For anyone at all interested in the social history of this period, Everything Is Normal is a fab starting point which lightheartedly challenges some of the more critical misconceptions of westerners. As a reader you know that things were different for these children, but the narrative is not spent complaining about food shortages or ideological shortcomings. Whilst there are of course quite a few distinct differences, (Military training with rifles at school or the excitement-inducing capabilities of a piece of chewing springs to mind), it seems like the experience of a happy childhood is more universal than many of us might have thought! The book is arranged in a loosely chronological order with themes, each chapter gives you a rough idea about what's coming up. I particularly enjoyed the 'anekdot' at the beginning of each chapter, almost all of them made me laugh. From the perspective of a historian, the popular 'anekdot', an often politically subversive formulaic joke which became a sort of ritual in Soviet society, was such a complex and contradictory development under Brezhnev. So, I thought this was such a good little way to bring in another layer and historical reference into the narrative! Personally, I loved the book and couldn't recommend it more!!
February 1, 2018
A super interesting and enlightening look into growing up in the USSR!
March 19, 2018
Since I have sampled the preview chapter last year I could not wait to read the book ! Having known the author and his family since we were 6 years old I was looking forward to his vision of childhood in the 1970s and 1980s Leningrad (St.Petersburg). I read the book in 3 hours (filfak training).
The author is very accurate about our neighbourhood, our school and our university, but most importantly, about the daily life and routines of a child growing up in an ‘intelligentsia’ family living in the centre of the arguably most beautiful city in the world. The book is a successful attempt to re-capture thoughts, feelings, experiences and growing pains of a sensitive but not an entirely sensible boy.
The book is a tribute to our parents and grandparents as well as to our own generation. It is a must read for our children ! Look out for my 15 year old son’s review when he is done with it.
Truthful but sweet, nostalgic, yet not sentimental. Adrian Mole Back in the USSR!
Remembering the old joke about the Soviet leader Brezhnev responding to praises of his latest book with ‘if it is so good I should really read it too’, here is your chance, ladies and gentlemen, for a trip down the memory lane.
Vasilina Bindley
The author is very accurate about our neighbourhood, our school and our university, but most importantly, about the daily life and routines of a child growing up in an ‘intelligentsia’ family living in the centre of the arguably most beautiful city in the world. The book is a successful attempt to re-capture thoughts, feelings, experiences and growing pains of a sensitive but not an entirely sensible boy.
The book is a tribute to our parents and grandparents as well as to our own generation. It is a must read for our children ! Look out for my 15 year old son’s review when he is done with it.
Truthful but sweet, nostalgic, yet not sentimental. Adrian Mole Back in the USSR!
Remembering the old joke about the Soviet leader Brezhnev responding to praises of his latest book with ‘if it is so good I should really read it too’, here is your chance, ladies and gentlemen, for a trip down the memory lane.
Vasilina Bindley
January 10, 2018
The Life and Times of a Soviet Kid is a lighthearted window into the life of a young man growing up at the end of the soviet union, when communism was little more than a farcical technicality. This view inevitably makes for a sarcastic, witty memoir with a real focus on giving the reader a granular insight into the everyday realities and banalities the author experienced. The writing style is very conversational, and I agree with other reviewers who highlight how one feels the author is in the room telling you his story. This book is a rare "social history" written about the soviet union that should appeal to anyone with the slightest bit of curiosity and a dry sense of humor. It kept me captivated with its blunt and surprising revelations throughout. Highly recommend.
April 19, 2018
Very funny, nostalgic, sometimes sad but very vivid and honest description of MY soviet childhood! Thank you, Sergey, for collecting all the forgotten details and nuances of our everyday “normal” life that may seem a little bizarre from today’s perspective.
I want my kids to read this book (when they are old enough) to know more about their parents.
I also strongly recommend everyone born and raised in USSR to read this book! And if you are interested in this period of Soviet/Russian history it would be an insightful and enjoyable read.
I want my kids to read this book (when they are old enough) to know more about their parents.
I also strongly recommend everyone born and raised in USSR to read this book! And if you are interested in this period of Soviet/Russian history it would be an insightful and enjoyable read.
December 1, 2017
This is one extraordinary book. If you don't read this, then you are so not in the cool posse. If you read true stories a ton like me, or regardless of the possibility that you don't, begin now, with this one. Honestly, do it. I cracking cherished this. I read all the sample chapters in one sitting, I couldn't stop. I really think if I had the whole book I could read it all uninterrupted. Sergey is an incredible storyteller. Seriously recommend.
January 25, 2021
Being an American about the same age as the author and having visited Leningrad and Moscow myself in 1988, it was really interesting to hear how someone grew up on the other half of the Cold War divide. Naturally, the author's poking (fun at) the Bear made for some hilarious and outrageous anecdotes. But, sadly, it appears that materialism can be fostered both in a society with plenty and a society with lack.
January 13, 2018
I really enjoyed this book and it grabbed my attention from the first page. Written with wit and honesty, Sergey evokes really poignant memories from his Soviet childhood. I really recommend this work for it's immersive and entertaining style and how informative it is (I knew very little about the period!) Looking forward to what's next from this author..
November 30, 2017
There are some authors that seem to sit in the same room with you as their words pour across your soul. This is one of those. From fondly remembered moments to withdrawn testaments, from tongue in cheek humor to flat our revelations, this is masterful.
May 4, 2018
I won this book as part of a Goodreads giveaway.
This book reminded me a lot of Mao's Last Dance, also a memoir about growing up in a Communist country and later leaving forever and putting down roots in another country.
I loved the author's candor and inclusion of the social history interwoven seamlessly throughout. It's well written, fascinating and incredibly detailed. I am quite impressed at Sergey's level of recount about his life; almost to the point where I'm wondering if anything was heightened or colored in order to fit into the sequence...
This is so minor but I really did not like the large print or font chosen for the present day entries. Secondly, his overall tone was a bit hard to characterize. It would've been a postive message had he stuck with the whole "I love all things foreign and am so glad I live outside Russia/Soviet Union but nothing can unmake me a Soviet kid deep down inside." Sergey mentioned that it took him 10 years to shed his Soviet way of thinking but I'd argue that it was a part of him and that to shed it would mean loss of his personality and character. He said he felt happy and relieved that his grandma's death gave him complete unattachment of the USSR yet he left and lived abroad for decades before her death. Now he won't ever have to go there and feel all this "Soviet guilt." (What...?) He was also super lucky to have foreign family ties, small luxuries and zero home pressure as a kid so his many claims of deprivement seems self indulgent.
I would've liked to get a first hand look at his thoughts of visiting a foreign country for the first time even if it was for only a chapter or even a page. Zip! Nada! Those juicy morsels are not included at all!
Also, a 16 year old starting college is awfully young--the author didn't mention whether that was normal or what. Did that make their high school only a year long? Questions, questions...
This book reminded me a lot of Mao's Last Dance, also a memoir about growing up in a Communist country and later leaving forever and putting down roots in another country.
I loved the author's candor and inclusion of the social history interwoven seamlessly throughout. It's well written, fascinating and incredibly detailed. I am quite impressed at Sergey's level of recount about his life; almost to the point where I'm wondering if anything was heightened or colored in order to fit into the sequence...
This is so minor but I really did not like the large print or font chosen for the present day entries. Secondly, his overall tone was a bit hard to characterize. It would've been a postive message had he stuck with the whole "I love all things foreign and am so glad I live outside Russia/Soviet Union but nothing can unmake me a Soviet kid deep down inside." Sergey mentioned that it took him 10 years to shed his Soviet way of thinking but I'd argue that it was a part of him and that to shed it would mean loss of his personality and character. He said he felt happy and relieved that his grandma's death gave him complete unattachment of the USSR yet he left and lived abroad for decades before her death. Now he won't ever have to go there and feel all this "Soviet guilt." (What...?) He was also super lucky to have foreign family ties, small luxuries and zero home pressure as a kid so his many claims of deprivement seems self indulgent.
I would've liked to get a first hand look at his thoughts of visiting a foreign country for the first time even if it was for only a chapter or even a page. Zip! Nada! Those juicy morsels are not included at all!
Also, a 16 year old starting college is awfully young--the author didn't mention whether that was normal or what. Did that make their high school only a year long? Questions, questions...
March 15, 2018
4.5 stars
Everything is Normal is an everyday memoir of daily life in 70s and 80s Leningrad. Reading this may seem a little boring to those reading this for history, especially for those uninterested in social history. For me, however, reading this book was a profound experience in learning about the childhood and early adulthood of my parents. I would talk to them about so many things mentioned in this book, and they would discuss things personal to them that they wouldn't have even have thought to mention had it not been for the questions this book created. All things in here were corroborated by real former Soviets (read: my family). It talked a lot about the education system, something extremely important, obviously, when describing one's childhood. The completely different lifestyle and its poor, repressed qualities shine through in this book, providing a perfect example of the issues with tyrannical government and the inscrutability of Soviet life to those who haven't experienced it. The inclusion of some classic Sovet anecdotes added some humour, though I think my rolling on the floor was because I remembered many of them. Grechishkin is a lucid narrator and has a typical enough story that it applies to everyone. He is likable and honest about his actions, describing the forcedness of many aspects of Soviet living. Honestly, I think this is the best book I've read thus far in summing up the late Soviet experience, and a mandatory read for people interested in this and for those who believe in communism.
I received an eARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
Everything is Normal is an everyday memoir of daily life in 70s and 80s Leningrad. Reading this may seem a little boring to those reading this for history, especially for those uninterested in social history. For me, however, reading this book was a profound experience in learning about the childhood and early adulthood of my parents. I would talk to them about so many things mentioned in this book, and they would discuss things personal to them that they wouldn't have even have thought to mention had it not been for the questions this book created. All things in here were corroborated by real former Soviets (read: my family). It talked a lot about the education system, something extremely important, obviously, when describing one's childhood. The completely different lifestyle and its poor, repressed qualities shine through in this book, providing a perfect example of the issues with tyrannical government and the inscrutability of Soviet life to those who haven't experienced it. The inclusion of some classic Sovet anecdotes added some humour, though I think my rolling on the floor was because I remembered many of them. Grechishkin is a lucid narrator and has a typical enough story that it applies to everyone. He is likable and honest about his actions, describing the forcedness of many aspects of Soviet living. Honestly, I think this is the best book I've read thus far in summing up the late Soviet experience, and a mandatory read for people interested in this and for those who believe in communism.
I received an eARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
April 1, 2018
A FUN TO READ
The book is amazing. In it's core it is a time-and-space machine that allows a reader to live an everyday life in Leningrad, the USSR in the 1980-s - to touch and smell, to study and discover, and to have some fun in reality of retirement and death of the Communism.
In "Everything Is Normal" everything is sincere and true and very informative. Yet not boring because in it's form it is a great piece of literature art, easy and fun to read. However, the easy going text unpretentiously bears the legacy of Russia's great classics, from Gogol's and Dostoevsky's empathy to a small man up to Dovlatov's and Pelevin's light-hearted irony on a constant degradation that a small man has no leverage to resist, to say nothing of a change.
The piece is as amusing as you'd like to have it to escape from a daily routine, Grechishkin is a great storyteller. And it is as deep as you can afford it. It shows how the crazy Soviet believes corrupt relationships within a family, making a happy marriage almost impossible. Or how schizophrenia could be a part of the common sense - a kid had to have a week long confinement to bed for a little flu while climbing roofs, playing at construction sites or blowing up explosives was not a big deal.
This book in some sense is mirroring "The Tin Drum" by Gunter Grass, Nobel Prized fiction story of a boy who did not age thus protesting the raising Nazism. It's an everyday life under regime from the height of a kid. But unlike "The Tin Drum", "Everything Is Normal" is not a Teen Drama and fun to read. The senile Communism is much older then the boy, so the boy knows nothing better. Thus he grows up to overgrow the dim reality and even to be one day more mature and conscious than his teaching grandma.
The book is amazing. In it's core it is a time-and-space machine that allows a reader to live an everyday life in Leningrad, the USSR in the 1980-s - to touch and smell, to study and discover, and to have some fun in reality of retirement and death of the Communism.
In "Everything Is Normal" everything is sincere and true and very informative. Yet not boring because in it's form it is a great piece of literature art, easy and fun to read. However, the easy going text unpretentiously bears the legacy of Russia's great classics, from Gogol's and Dostoevsky's empathy to a small man up to Dovlatov's and Pelevin's light-hearted irony on a constant degradation that a small man has no leverage to resist, to say nothing of a change.
The piece is as amusing as you'd like to have it to escape from a daily routine, Grechishkin is a great storyteller. And it is as deep as you can afford it. It shows how the crazy Soviet believes corrupt relationships within a family, making a happy marriage almost impossible. Or how schizophrenia could be a part of the common sense - a kid had to have a week long confinement to bed for a little flu while climbing roofs, playing at construction sites or blowing up explosives was not a big deal.
This book in some sense is mirroring "The Tin Drum" by Gunter Grass, Nobel Prized fiction story of a boy who did not age thus protesting the raising Nazism. It's an everyday life under regime from the height of a kid. But unlike "The Tin Drum", "Everything Is Normal" is not a Teen Drama and fun to read. The senile Communism is much older then the boy, so the boy knows nothing better. Thus he grows up to overgrow the dim reality and even to be one day more mature and conscious than his teaching grandma.
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