256 pages
English language
Published April 12, 2022 by Norton & Company Limited, W. W..
For precocious 11-year-old Lea Ypi, Albania’s Soviet-style socialism held the promise of a preordained future, a guarantee of security among enthusiastic comrades. That is, until she found herself clinging to a stone statue of Joseph Stalin, newly beheaded by student protests.
Communism had failed to deliver the promised utopia. One’s “biography”—class status and other associations long in the past—put strict boundaries around one’s individual future. When Lea’s parents spoke of relatives going to “university” or “graduating,” they were speaking of grave secrets Lea struggled to unveil. And when the early ’90s saw Albania and other Balkan countries exuberantly begin a transition to the “free market,” Western ideals of freedom delivered chaos: a dystopia of pyramid schemes, organized crime, and sex trafficking.
With her elegant, intellectual, French-speaking grandmother; her radical-chic father; and her staunchly anti-socialist, Thatcherite mother to guide her through these disorienting times, Lea had a political education of the …
For precocious 11-year-old Lea Ypi, Albania’s Soviet-style socialism held the promise of a preordained future, a guarantee of security among enthusiastic comrades. That is, until she found herself clinging to a stone statue of Joseph Stalin, newly beheaded by student protests.
Communism had failed to deliver the promised utopia. One’s “biography”—class status and other associations long in the past—put strict boundaries around one’s individual future. When Lea’s parents spoke of relatives going to “university” or “graduating,” they were speaking of grave secrets Lea struggled to unveil. And when the early ’90s saw Albania and other Balkan countries exuberantly begin a transition to the “free market,” Western ideals of freedom delivered chaos: a dystopia of pyramid schemes, organized crime, and sex trafficking.
With her elegant, intellectual, French-speaking grandmother; her radical-chic father; and her staunchly anti-socialist, Thatcherite mother to guide her through these disorienting times, Lea had a political education of the most colorful sort—here recounted with outstanding literary talent. Now one of the world’s most dynamic young political thinkers and a prominent leftist voice in the United Kingdom, Lea offers a fresh and invigorating perspective on the relation between the personal and the political, between values and identity, posing urgent questions about the cost of freedom.
Die formelle Umsetzung ist super. Die Geschichte eines Landes im Übergang/Umbruch von Sozialismus zu Kapitalismus durch die Augen eines Mädchen zu erzählen. Viel don't show, tell, viel bewusste Auslassungen, die manche Dinge noch verstärken. Allein deshalb lohnt sich das Buch. Ich weiß jedoch nicht, ob es wirklich um Freiheit geht.
I cannot truly imagine just how bewildering it must be to have been raised with one set of beliefs, ones which you wholeheartedly embraced and thought you understood, then, just as you were about to embark on your adult life, the society that underpinned those beliefs was abruptly ripped away. You discovered that your immediate family had hidden most of your history from you and your foundations weren't the solid rock you had previously relied upon. This is Lea Ypi's early life and her book, Free, does a wonderful job of allowing readers insights into the nations that were socialist Albania, transitional Albania and, sadly, civil war-ridden Albania.
I was reminded at times of Haya Leah Molnar's memoir, Under A Red Sky, by the way in which Lea Ypi's family kept the truth about themselves from their children which ultimately led to divisions with each generation having very different experiences, …
I cannot truly imagine just how bewildering it must be to have been raised with one set of beliefs, ones which you wholeheartedly embraced and thought you understood, then, just as you were about to embark on your adult life, the society that underpinned those beliefs was abruptly ripped away. You discovered that your immediate family had hidden most of your history from you and your foundations weren't the solid rock you had previously relied upon. This is Lea Ypi's early life and her book, Free, does a wonderful job of allowing readers insights into the nations that were socialist Albania, transitional Albania and, sadly, civil war-ridden Albania.
I was reminded at times of Haya Leah Molnar's memoir, Under A Red Sky, by the way in which Lea Ypi's family kept the truth about themselves from their children which ultimately led to divisions with each generation having very different experiences, expectations and political philosophies. I found it interesting that Ypi is now professor of political theory at the London School of Economics as I could see her being drawn towards philosophical study towards the end of Free as she attempts to make sense of the chaos consuming her country.
Free is a very readable memoir and one which explores and explains quite complex issues in an accessible way. I appreciated how being shown Lea's childhood solely from her younger perspective allowed me to also see why she was so convinced of the benefits of socialism. Her love of 'Uncle Enver' reflected what I learned through reading Enver Hoxha by Blendi Fevziu. There are hints from part-hidden parental conversations that perhaps not everything is as rosy and clear as her teacher, Leta, makes out, but no one can be openly honest and Lea doesn't yet know how many layers of secrets are concealed. I enjoyed Free as a coming-of-age story as well as an eloquent history of post-war Albania.
The story of the author’s coming of age in Albania during the chaotic transition from the failed promises of communism to the failed promise of the ‘free market’. Engagingly written.
Simply incredible book. You don't have to be interested in Albania or Europe specifically to find this story of a young girl in an isolated country absolutely fascinating. Ypi invests her coming-of-age story with so much humor and empathy for her family and neighbors, I was sincerely sorry when it was over and I couldn't follow along with them up to the modern day.
The author is interested in investigating the role of biography, freedom and community in society, but leaves the reader with plenty to turn around and contemplate in her stories and doesn't leave any easy answers.
Haven't loved a memoir this much in ages, am gonna buy plenty of copies for Christmas presents.
