Free: Coming of Age at the End of History

This is a fascinating insight into the life of a young girl growing up in the final days of the Soviet Union and then the early days of Albanian independence. We are taken into the mind of the child, whose parents try to protect her from the worst atrocities of the communist era by talking in code, and then the adolescent who learns what it is to be “free” both as a young woman coming of age and as a citizen of a country coming to terms with independence and the “freedom” of democracy. The writing is at times poetic and at times brutally realistic; Ypi does not hold back from revealing the everyday dishonesties and the effects of continual brain-washing in a politically dangerous world yet also brings a sense of hope and optimism laced with humour and inevitable cynicism. The result is a memoir that is both moving and haunting, leaving the reader questioning what we really mean by freedom and democracy in a world of inequality, corruption and consumerism.

The personal story of one family is set against the backdrop of huge shifts in political history across Europe, yet never loses sight of the perspective of the child awakening to the realities of life: the little kindnesses and cruelties that are part of the human condition. I finished this book feeling that I had learned a lot about recent history but also that I had come to know this one young woman intimately. I would definitely recommend it to those wishing to understand the backdrop to current tensions across Europe and the former Soviet Union whilst enjoying a good read!

A fascinating account of a place, culture and a time of change that I knew almost nothing about before I began reading. Although I feel I have a better understanding about the history and the ideologies now, I found this a surprisingly slow read and sometimes, a bit of a struggle. There are some vivid and memorable family anecdotes but also some lengthy explanatory parts where the tone of the writing felt more academic and less immediately engaging. Overall, though, I am glad that I read it and it has made me want to find out more about the events described.
V Ryrie
Hunstanworth Village Hall Bookclub

An interesting biography which is thought provoking with serious messages and more than a little political propaganda!

Fascinating and challenging memoir of a girl growing up in communist Albania. I knew absolutely nothing about Albania when I started and this book certainly opened my eyes to what life was like there in the 80s and 90s. It's fascinating to see the complexity of the country's transition from communism to capitalism and it very much challenged my idea of capitalism automatically providing more "freedom" for the people.

The strength of this memoir is in the vignettes, like the story of the signature coca cola can on the cover, or of the bully stealing her hubba bubba wrapper for its smell. These images, told through the eyes of a child, really bring that world to life. The story does an impressive job of presenting her childish view of the world without either rose-tinted glasses or an overly dark view of her childhood. Rather, Ypi and her family come across as completely normal people, with a normal array of strengths and flaws.

On a broader scale, though, the book tends to jump from story to story, slipping from her childish view to her adult perspective and moving back and forwards in time with little warning. The individual stories are insightful, but it's difficult to get any sort of overall perspective. In her conclusion, Ypi claims that she wrote the book as an explanation of the political system on the individuals involved, but these overarching themes never come through all that clearly. Even in the second half of the book, when Ypi is older and has more understanding of what's happening, we still don't get much of an idea of the political and philosophical discussions of the time.

Overall, Ypi's book is a unique exploration of a place and time that I knew nothing about. It certainly opened my eyes, but in many areas left me bewildered by the choppy narrative style.

A great read , telling me about a country and events which happened during my lifetime but which I have no recollection of. The philosophical debate on freedom which challenged my own thinking and have led to intense debates with fellow readers.

Reading this memoir proved very informative as it is set in a location and during a period of which I had very little knowledge.

The collapse of the communist state in Albania produced a disintegration of both the local community and wider Albania society which has caused reverberations that are still being felt today with the high rates of Albanian emigration. The viewpoints which the author adopts to present her story (i.e. from her younger self as a child) allows for a warming injection of humour and innocence that makes her story very readable. As the story progresses , and she develops from a young girl to a woman. I was surprised that she adhered to believing in Marxist ideology. Thinking more deeply though, I think that the chaotic transition from state control to ‘freedom’ and capitalism created the conditions that brought on the civil war and a great deal of harm to her community. As a result, this must have had a distinctly harmful impact on the authors perception of capitalism. Understanding the conditions that led to this has given me a much greater understanding of how much difficult it must be for countries to transition successfully, and also the impact that this has on the general population.

- Helen (Escape bookgroup HMPS Stocken)

Not sure about it

A book about the fall of communism in Albania from the perspective of the (child) author. I know very little about the country or its history, so found it educational, and it led me to research various subjects raised along the way. Fascinating.

This is a memoir written by Lea Ypi who, in the opening stages of the book is an 11 year old living in Albania towards the end of the communist era. She feels as though she is free and can make choices about what she does, so struggles to understand the growing public resentment under the current regime and the determination to create a more free society. As the years go by society changes dramatically but it is not obvious to her how it is necessarily better. There is a lot of philosophical debate about the relative merits of life “before” and “after”, delivered through the eyes of a child as well as a lot of factual information about the political changes that took place.

I am finding it very difficult to write this review for reasons which I am ashamed to admit - I am completely ignorant in all matters political and historical. As such I found this book challenging for all the wrong reasons. Basically I didn’t have more than a cursory understanding of the terms that were used or the arguments that were put forward. Although I will try to summarise good and not-so-good points, it should be borne in mind that my viewpoints may not have much validity in the real world.

On the plus side, I loved the way that the story was written from the naïve viewpoint of an 11 year old who clearly sees things very differently from an adult. In some ways this makes her an unreliable narrator but the author does a very good job of remembering how she felt about things at that age and these simplistic insights contributed a great deal to my understanding of the situation. Her world seemed just fine to her and she saw no reason for it to change. In fact, influenced by her teacher at school, she revered Stalin and thought he could do no wrong. Some of her observations are also very entertaining.
By the end of the book I was a great deal more knowledgeable about the recent political history of Albania than I had been when I started – I appreciate that that’s not saying much in my case, but believe me when I say it was very significant.
I also found it fascinating to consider the problems that can arise from a rapid change from one political system to another and the relative merits of both.
Initially I struggled with the writing style - it felt like the narrative was jumping around too much and was a bit messy. However, persistence solved that problem and I got into the swing of it as the book progressed.

My biggest issue with the book was that I found it a really hard slog, a direct result of my ignorance. Trying to follow philosophical arguments when the vocabulary is almost like a foreign language is not easy but the fault lies entirely at my door and not with the author.

Despite my (self-inflicted) reservations about this book, I would recommend it to others. Particularly to those who enjoy reading about cultures and societies that are different from our own.