u/BusySignificance723

As a South Asian, a big part of our history syllabus in high school was learning about the Indian independence struggle. From Bhagat Singh to Rani Lakshmibai to Subash Chandra Bose - I distinctly remember reading about them and realising two big questions had formed in my mind.

Q1 - What gave them such incredible courage and selflessness that even death was an acceptable fate?

Q2 - Are there such people in today’s society, who try to do so much when having so little themselves? Or have we lost most of us to mindless social media, desensitised by the happenings around us.

And then I come across Alexei’s story. I am surprised this book isn’t more popular. Alexei was the leader of the Russian opposition party. His poisoning in 2020 was well documented. He started writing this memoir then - and eventually it turned into a prison diary, highlighting his brutal living conditions in Russian prisons. From being charged with fabricated criminal cases to not being allowed basic medical care and not being able to meet his family - Alexei documents so much. He is as resourceful as they come, and managed to smuggle out his prison diary to be able to publish this book.

But the one thing I would strongly encourage you to read this book for is to be a first hand witness to his optimism, selflessness, self control and the ultimate poster boy of having an attitude of gratitude. If you’re currently struggling with something in life - give this book a read. Let Alexei teach you how to always, ALWAYS be able to spot the silver lining.

What an inspirational man - and I hope his incredible wife and kids (who continue his mission) are able to see their goal realized.

5/5 stars-this story deserves every eyeball. And I’m not even a fan of politics!

PS- I live in the States now and the description of what was happening in Russia was strangely reminiscent to what’s happening here now…

I haven’t done audiobooks in a long time. I used to not consider them the same as reading. Research shows that they are indeed the same. I picked this one up based on reccos here and because Meryl Streep narrated it. First my review of the book and story. It’s set in the world of acting and broadway and I’ve never read a book with these elements before. It’s an alien world to me but I appreciate it a lot more now. The book itself is an easy breezy read - no major emotional turmoils, no traumatising plot lines. In fact the character just lets life happen to her. She’s naive but determined and though she makes few crucial choices, these change her entire life. The story is told by the main character to her grown up daughters during the pandemic (she recounts her youth) and it’s an engaging coming of age story. Now let me review Meryl’s performance. Freakin fab and worth it just to listen to her. Even if you’ve read the book consider the audiobook. I’d give her an Oscar for this alone frankly. 4/5 ⭐️