Stories I Stole from Georgia

by Wendell Steavenson

Book Overview

Fed up with working for Time magazine in London, Wendell Steavenson spent two years in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. Stories I Stole captures the exuberance of a fledgling nation of local despots, mountain tribes, blood feuds, and an unlimited flow of red wine. From President Shevardnadze's rigged elections to horse races high in the mountains; from the eerie roadside artifacts of the Soviet era to the farcical power outages in the dead of...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 080214067X
• ISBN13: 9780802140678
• Release Date: February 2004
• Publisher: Grove Press
• Length: 277 Pages
• Weight: 0.82 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Brilliant work: Don't miss it !!

This impressive debut works on too many levels to winnow down to a brief review. Ms. Steavenson reminds me a bit of Isaac Bashevis Singer as she brings us into worlds we generally know only through newspaper and television reports. Her attention to detail and her encapsulations of characters and situations and the bigger picture are masterful, particularly at such a relatively young age. She knows what to leave out, so that what's powerful remains. Unlike some reviewers below, I thought the elements she included about her personal life were arresting and completely integrated. Extremely high recommendation for a work that also has the bonus features of a decent map, a glossary of ethnic groups, and background reading for those who want to pursue related works.

I loved this book.

Knowing virtually nothing of the Caucasus I felt a little overwhelmed at first; but Steavenson quickly won me over with her absorbing writing and storytelling. I felt like I was right there with her. She has an incredible insight into human nature. I can't wait to read it over again, and expect to like it even better the second time around.

A wonderful achievement

This is an absolutely delightful book, both for people who have been to the Caucasus and to those who simply want to read an enchanting fusion of attentive observation and personal reflection. In some ways I think this book even should find its way onto reading lists of university courses on this region, because it is so rich in rendering the texture of life in Georgia, its metaphysical quality. The former Soviet Union can be a profound shock. The typical western mindset is to improve, to think of solutions, to think "if only they started to...". This makes much writing about the personal experiences in the former Soviet Union (and, in particular, the Caucasus) into a report from a narrow frontline of friction between incompatible perspectives. Wendell Steavenson is much more sophisticated, suspending the typical perspective, allowing her a fuller, more comprehensive account.You will definitely enjoy the book.

Georgian adventures

I felt like I was right there with her seeing what she saw, drinking all that alcohol, and having adventures in Georgia! this book gives you an idea of how Georgian people really are.

Brilliant Taste of Post-Soviet Life

Former Time magazine writer Steavenson hits upon a nice variation to the armchair travel genre with this wonderful little book on the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. Rather than trying to systematically detail the small country's tangled web of ethnicities and chaotic recent history, she recounts her time there through twenty chapters/stories. These loosely connected and loosely chronological stories provide a remarkably nuanced portrait of a country where nothing works, government seems largely irrelevant, and the people are remarkable. Weaving in many of her own friendships and a relationship with a photojournalist, she covers rigged elections, ethnic tensions, the nearby war in Chechnya, and mainly daily life with remarkable sensitivity. The nice thing is that she doesn't do so with the usual world-weariness of the foreign corespondent, but with a depth of feeling that never falls into sentimentalism or condescension It's a curiously individual work in that there's no real reason for her to be there, there is no larger theme she hangs her stories on, and no gimmicks. Just honest stories about a country where a strange civil war and two secessionist wars over the last decade have utterly destroyed the economy and left the country with little hope. A definite must read for anyone interested in the Caucuses or the fate of post-Soviet republics.