Fed up with working for "Time" magazine in London, Wendell Steavenson moved to Georgia on a whim. "Stories I Stole" relates her time there in 20 vodka-fuelled episodes drawn from all over the country - tales of love, friendship and powercuts, of duelling (Georgian style), of horse races in the mountains, wars and refugees, broken hearts, fixed elections, drinking sessions and a room containing a thousand roses.
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The Caucasus is a region that captivates writers. Whether it is Philip Marsden on Armenia or Neal Ascherson on the Black Sea, books inspired here rarely disappoint; now Stories I Stole, Wendell Steavenson's moving hybrid of reportage and bildungsroman set in Georgia, is the latest entry to this canon.
Steavenson's unusual title betrays the honesty which distinguishes her book. Leaving Time magazine for Tblisi is a strange career move, but Steavenson does not try to dress it up with false excuses; instead, revealing a world of poverty intertwined with drunken camaraderie and undiluted joyousness, her choice explains itself through her experiences. While her anecdotes are episodic, it becomes clear that this randomness is essential to life in Tblisi, where best friends may shoot each other, the electricity supply is as predictable as the political situation, and a person's humanity is judged by their ability to drink toasts into the morning--and survive.
With her training as a reporter, Steavenson's sentences are often curt, and she can describe places with long lists that mask their emotional atmosphere. However, this is more than compensated for by her honesty, the stark beauty of her evocations of landscape, and the sense that she has really penetrated the surface of Georgia. She writes with obvious love of this messed-up place and its people, and this is enough: "Georgia," she writes, "would make a fool out of anyone with the temerity of prediction. The best we can do is to respect our family, love our friends, open a bottle of wine, drink it, and then open another one."--Toby Green --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
'Lively, atmospheric, honest, perceptive; a terrific account of Georgia's post-Soviet mess from a fresh and intelligent new writer' -- Anna Reid, author of Borderland
‘a sparkling, poetical hymn to the most romantic and dangerous land in the world... -- Simon Sebag-Montefiore, author of Prince of Princes: The Life of Potemkin
‘anything but a travelogue… This is the first published book of a practised and very gifted writer... -- Neal Ascherson, Observer --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
‘a sparkling, poetical hymn to the most romantic and dangerous land in the world... -- Simon Sebag-Montefiore, author of Prince of Princes: The Life of Potemkin
‘anything but a travelogue… This is the first published book of a practised and very gifted writer... -- Neal Ascherson, Observer --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
THERE WAS A MAP of the world on the wall in my office and for some reason I had stuck a pin in Tbilisi. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
THERE WAS A MAP of the world on the wall in my office and for some reason I had stuck a pin in Tbilisi. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By A. Ross
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover
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.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I read "Stories I Stole" last weekend and haven't enjoyed a book so much since Tony Hawkes' "Playing The Moldovans At Tennis". But, while Hawkes used a silly drunken bet as the supposed premise of his comically contrived mission (you don't have to be much of a cynic to guess that his real reason for travelling to Moldova to write a best-seller), Steavenson seems to have had only a sense of world-weariness as her reason for choosing to go and live in Georgia.
"Bored young woman visits obscure country" may not be the most promising scenario for any book, but SIS somehow avoids the sentimentality or condescension of much travel writing. It's also a step or two removed from the travelogue/humour genre: for the most part, Georgians come across not as "funny foreigners" so much as friends and neighbours who are getting on with their lives, often in circumstances that happen to be highly bizarre.
Georgia being the enigma that it is, there was no shortage of good stories for Steavenson to tell about it. She recounts them well - observing one, taking note and then moving on to the next. The effect's highly satisfying, and she artfully wraps up the book by drawing as inconclusive a conclusion as the subject deserves. My one little complaint about the book is that I think she might've got more mileage out of the "thousand red roses" episode. Mind you, she would have had to try really, really hard...
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
I've been living in Georgia for most of the last year and, well, these stories tell what it's like living here, both the good bits and the bad bits. The book is very well written and really captures the spirit of the place, partly because the author doesn't bother trying to impose a structure on a country that doesn't have one.
If you want a comprehensive history or academic analysis of Georgian politics, turn elsewhere. But if you enjoy a fantastic read full of good stories about a crazy place, look no further.
If you want a comprehensive history or academic analysis of Georgian politics, turn elsewhere. But if you enjoy a fantastic read full of good stories about a crazy place, look no further.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Kidnap Victim reviews
I spent six years working in Georgia as a banking expert on behalf of the European Commission. In June 2002 I was kidnapped and held for five months in difficult circumstances -... Read more
Published on 13 May 2006 by Peter Shaw
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rich, compelling, human.
‘Stories I Stole’ is a wonderfully, rich, human account of Wendell Steavenson’s experiences of life in the former Soviet state of Georgia. Read more
Published on 1 Oct 2003 by Siberian Spireite
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great.
Exciting for me to discover a book that is so direct, honest and brilliantly observed. If you have ever travelled, you'll appreciate it's style, which manages to convey what it is... Read more
Published on 15 Aug 2002 by "njshea"
5.0 out of 5 stars
Passion in the Caucasus
In Stories I Stole, Ms. Steavenson captures the heart and vitality of a nation riding the highs and lows of life to its fullest. Read more
Published on 18 July 2002 by Sparkly
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent
An excellent book, the ultimate introduction to
the Caucasus, written in laughter and pain. Ms Steavensons personal involvment makes the stolen stories her own. Read more
the Caucasus, written in laughter and pain. Ms Steavensons personal involvment makes the stolen stories her own. Read more
Published on 31 Jan 2002
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