Readalikes: If you enjoyed April's selection . . .

If you enjoyed Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets by Svetlana Alexievich, then you might also enjoy these books and films suggested by our discussion group members:

• Dead Souls and others by Nikolai Gogol
• Notes from Underground and others by Fyodor Dostoevsky
• War and Peace and other by Leo Tolstoy
• Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie
• The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival by John Vaillant
• The House by the Lake: One House, Five Families, and a Hundred Years of German History by Thomas Harding
• Moscow, December 25, 1991: The Last Day of the Soviet Union by Conor O'Clery
• Red Notice: A Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice by Bill Browder
• The Death of Stalin, a graphic novel by Fabien Nury and Thierry Robin--and the movie it inspired with Michael Palin, Steve Buscemi, and Jason Isaacs.
• A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles--Soon to be a television series starring Kenneth Branagh!

April Not Fiction Book Discussions

Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets by Svetlana Alexievich offers readers an intimate look through the genre of oral history at the collapse of Soviet-era communism and the rise of Vladimir Putin and state-run capitalism.

In her Nobel lecture in 2015, Alexievich said,

I do not stand alone at this podium . . . There are voices around me, hundreds of voices. They have always been with me, since childhood. . . . Flaubert called himself a human pen; I would say that I am a human ear. When I walk down the street and catch words, phrases, and exclamations, I always think--how many novels disappear without a trace! Disappear into darkness. We haven't been able to capture the conversational side of human life for literature. We don't appreciate it, we aren't surprised or delighted by it. But it fascinates me, and has made me its captive. I love how humans talk . . . I love the lone human voice. It is my greatest love and passion. 

Secondhand Time is an orchestrated chorus of voices from 1991-2001, from the dissolution of the Soviet Union to Vladimir Putin's election to President of the Russian Federation, and from 2002-2012, the years of Putin's consolidation of power. They range from young to old, staunch supporters of Soviet socialism to advocates of capitalism, majority ethnic Russians to the multitude of minority ethnic groups comprising the many states of the Russian Federation. Writing for The New York Times, Dwight Garner noted, "You can open this document anywhere; it's a kind of enormous radio."

Alexievich's intention is that the larger contours of history and the essence or truth of this history will emerge from this chorus of voices. In her Nobel lecture she explained,

It always troubled me that the truth doesn't fit into one heart, into one mind, that truth is somehow splintered. There's a lot of it, it is varied, and it is strewn about the world . . . So what is it that I do? I collect the everyday life of feelings, thoughts, and words. I collect the life of my time. I'm interested in the history of the soul. The everyday life of the soul, the things that the big picture of history usually omits, or disdains. I work with missing history. . . . I'm interested in little people. The little, great people, is how I would put it, because suffering expands people. In my books these people tell their own, little histories, and big history is told along the way.

Echoing the title of her book, she ends her lecture by asserting,

I will take the liberty of saying that we missed the chance we had in the 1990s. The question was posed: what kind of country should we have? A strong country, or a worthy one where people can live decently? We chose the former--a strong country. . . . A time full of hope has been replaced by a time of fear. The era has turned around and headed back in time. The time we live in now is second-hand . . . 

What do you think? Which of the many voices Alexievich records were most interesting to you? Do the voices blend into a meaningful chorus? Do you have a new understanding or appreciation of the history of the U.S.S.R. and the Russian Federation after reading Secondhand Time? What "big history" emerges from these voices? How would you describe the Russian soul as presented by Alexievich's interviews? What do you think Alexievich means by "secondhand time"? In a critical review for The New Republic, Sophie Pinkham argues that "Alexievich's apparent reliance on other people's voices doesn't mean that she has removed herself from her books; she has only made herself less visible. She edits, reworks, and rearranges her interview texts . . . In doing so, she reduces the historical value of her work, effaces the texture of individual character, and eliminates the rhythm on which drama depends." Would you agree or disagree? Why?

Read Alexievich's Nobel lecture here.

We hope you will join the discussion: Tuesday, April 3, at 6:30 p.m. at Main Library; Thursday, April 19, at 11:00 a.m. at West Ashley Branch Library; and here on the blog.