Dato Turashvili has such a vivid writing voice, and in the unique manner of Georgians, he touches even heavy topics with a playful sense of humor. I rDato Turashvili has such a vivid writing voice, and in the unique manner of Georgians, he touches even heavy topics with a playful sense of humor. I really enjoyed this collection of 'American fairy tales', and appreciated the presence of some critical reflections on the US, which I personally feel aren't shared often enough in Georgia.
One of my favorite excerpts:
"Ken Brown was the first ambassador of the United States to Georgia, a man who realized after coming to our country that the only way to win the respect of our people is to attend a funeral...[he] was so kind-hearted that he attended funerals not simply under orders from D.C. but of his own free will, because of his love for Georgians. He soon became skilled at giving Georgian toasts, and he also loved the special food eaten during funeral banquets. His favorite dish was lobio (beans) and as he ate it his eyes would brim with tears of regret for all those years past in which he had known nothing of Georgia."...more
This book was recommended by a friend studying medicine, who said I would love it, and she was SO right! I didn’t know anything about bacteriophages, This book was recommended by a friend studying medicine, who said I would love it, and she was SO right! I didn’t know anything about bacteriophages, but found myself absolutely swept up in this page-turner of scientific intrigue, especially when it came to the history of the study & use of the phage within the Republic of Georgia. I found myself rooting for this underdog, overlooked, unique medical treatment, scorned by the west due to its Soviet-associations, and the inherent challenge of getting FDA-approval. Considering the seriousness of antibiotic resistance in today’s world, this is absolutely something that should be explored to its full potential.
Here are some notable excerpts:
“There are a few places in the world today where you can walk into a pharmacy and buy a packet of smartly branded medical-grade bacteriophages. After a brief chat with a pharmacist, you swing a few milliliters of yellowish liquid from a small glass ampule or rub a phage-infused ointment onto your spots or abscess or wounds, and hope the trillions of viruses you have just ingested or absorbed can counter whatever bacterial malady is plaguing you. One of these places is Georgia, the mountainous former Soviet state squeezed between Russia’s southernmost tip and Turkey. In Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, crumbling Soviet-era tower blocks rise up between grand old wood-fronted apartments, ancient churches, mosques and fortresses. The concrete-coloured river Mtkvari runs fast and high through the city’s discombobulating mix of Georgian, European, Soviet and Middle Eastern architecture. Road signs, shops fronts and billboards are all embellished with the unique and ancient looping lettering of the Georgian alphabet, a script unlike any other in the world. Every year hundreds of foreign patients make the difficult journey to Tbilisi seeking a therapy the rest of the world abandoned long ago.”
“Despite the sometimes stunning results that could be achieved with these viruses, official studies remained haphazardly planned and the phages themselves were poorly understood - making huge swaths of literature hard to interpret or believe. To the notoriously monolingual scientific world. The more convincing studies published in Georgian, Russian and even those in French might as well not have existed.”
“The Georgians are a notoriously hospitable bunch but I sense they are tired of telling the world what they can do. People are still ‘discovering’ the little-known Soviet treatment almost twenty-five years after journalists first reported from the Eliava Institute. Chanishvili has met countless journalists before me, and isn’t hugely optimistic that the narrative will change anytime soon.”
“An oft-cited statistic is that by 2050, at least ten million people will die each year from antibiotic-resistant infections. But what is less well published is that up to 90% of those deaths are predicted to occur in Africa and Asia, where antibiotic use is soaring and access to alternatives is poor. So, while investment is now pouring into ‘phage therapy 2.0’, via glamorous West Coast start-ups and gleaming European teaching hospitals, the focus of our efforts in the war against deadly bacteria should arguably be focused on approaches that can deliver for the resource-poor countries in the global south.”
“Even if the results of the latest clinical trials are positive, the same old questions remain: how will regulators approve a treatment when the actual mix of viruses used may be different for each patient? Do we really know enough about the complex, cell-popping, gene-swapping behavior of phages to use them regularly in our bodies? Should cocktails of phages be developed that might work on a wide range of patients with similar conditions, or should each and every patient have a bespoke set of phages found for their particular strain of bacteria? Do doctors really understand what will happen when phages are injected into the body, and how should they respond when resistance to the phages they are using emerges? How can such complex and labor-intensive medicine ever be available to millions of people?”...more
This is an ideal "coffee table" book, full of beautiful pictures and bilingual descriptions of Georgia!
I especially loved this depiction of Pshavi:
"IThis is an ideal "coffee table" book, full of beautiful pictures and bilingual descriptions of Georgia!
I especially loved this depiction of Pshavi:
"In the 1920s, a teacher sent to Pshavi from the capital wrote in his memoirs that in Aragvis Chala, Aragvi Grove, the Pshavians carved poetry into the trees and that passers-by answered them with their own intercut lines."...more
I LOVED this book! This was such a vivid story about life in Georgia during the end of Shevardnadze's era/the beginning of Saakashvili's, and it's incI LOVED this book! This was such a vivid story about life in Georgia during the end of Shevardnadze's era/the beginning of Saakashvili's, and it's incredible to me that a foreigner could re-create the voice of a young Georgian man so authentically. I loved how the main character referred to god as the "Tamada in the sky", and all of the dialogue felt SO real. (For all the people who left negative reviews saying the book didn't have a plot, I think you may have missed that this story isn't meant to be a fast-paced action novel. It's more of a bildungsroman, as a young man reflects, observes, travels, and ultimately - grows and changes at the same time as his country is drastically changing. Through the voice of the main character, we are also led to reflect and ask ourselves questions. What could be more truly fascinating than that?) There were so many moments I had to pause and read passages aloud to my Georgian husband because they were so good! Without giving away any spoilers, I loved the ending.
Here are some of my favorite passages:
"We lived in Paradise. Here we have dancing, love, wine, sun, ancient culture, and beauty. But no money. Therefore, we have become a little unfashionable because, these days, money is the hero of the world."
"If Malkhazi's lips were an art museum, the cigarette was the permanent installation."
"'What if you had the chance,' I asked, 'to leave Georgia, to work on a ship, but you could never come back?' Malkhazi didn't answer. He only became more village-heavy, gloomily glaring at the sea. Under his breath, Malkhazi quoted our poet Alexander Gomiashvili: 'Among these mountains I was born, their songs and legends made me strong.' After that we just sat silently and stared at the sea."
"I wanted to tell Anthony that if he really understood the generosity of Georgians he would cry all day. Or maybe for a week. Our generosity during our feasts is really not reasonable behavior."
"Irakli was hushing everyone again. He wanted to talk about his time in Afghanistan, how he was captured in the middle of his night from his village and thrown, blindfolded, out of the airplane. I knew this story well because he always talked about how when he returned to Tbilisi and heard that his mother had died, his inner kamikaze escaped and he attacked a policeman who was directing traffic. 'What's wrong with you?' the policeman asked. 'I'm simply doing my job.' So Irakli explained to him how he had just gotten back from Afghanistan and he felt like a crazy man. The policeman, according to Irakli said, 'I understand you. If it would help, you may kick me again.' And with those words he was cured. 'Ah, the suffering of the Georgians,' Irakli was moaning with his hand over his heart. 'One heart is not big enough to carry it all. That's why we need each other."
"Since the Soviet Union became broken, the Russians cannot forgive us. It's a complicated story, an ancient story of jealousy. We were the crown jewel of the Russian empire. Now Russia is feeling nostalgia for us, which is normal, except that it has become a dangerous type of Imperial Nostalgia. It seems a bad fate that God gave us such kind of neighbors."
"Georgians have huge hearts. When we love, it is like something crazy. But when we hate, it is something terrible. Whole mountain villages have been destroyed because someone's enormous heart became poisoned and started a nine-generation vendetta."
"The Georgian woman smokes like a ship... the Georgian woman also knows how to flutter her handkerchief to turn a man into a slave so that all he desires is to carry her up the stairs."...more
Anderson's writing about Georgia is gorgeous while also being richly informative. You really do feel as though you're walking through the mountains alAnderson's writing about Georgia is gorgeous while also being richly informative. You really do feel as though you're walking through the mountains along with him.
Some of my favorite passages:
"The great pleasure in such journeys is in seeing and feeling what no map can tell, no matter for how long pored over in the quiet of a room at home or in the basement of the Royal Geographical Society. Of course, the romance of maps lies in their mystery, in the names of far-off places in strange tongues, such a powerful seduction: Ilisu, Shatili, Ushguli, Batumi, Tbilisi, Baku."
"Indeed, the Caucasus was to the Russians what the Wild West was to the Americans, and although there is not quite the Russian equivalent of the Hollywood Western (though the 'Prisoner of the Caucasus', directed by Sergei Bodrov is a contemporary masterpiece), there is no equivalent in American literature of Tolstoy's 'Tales' or Lermontov's 'Hero of our Time'. The effect of such a geographically tiny area on the Russian imagination during the early years of the nineteenth century was profound and gave rise to a whole genre of literature, Russian 'Caucasica', both in poetry and prose, and almost to a special type of sensibility."...more
I've never read anything from a Dagestanian author before, and it was enriching to get a glimpse into life in this unique region through a fictional tI've never read anything from a Dagestanian author before, and it was enriching to get a glimpse into life in this unique region through a fictional tale. I especially loved this moment from the novel:
"My father used to call me over and ask: 'Tell me, Makhmud, what is small and big at the same time?' 'I don't know, Father,' I would answer. 'Dagestan,' my father explained. 'Just think how small it is, and yet how many peoples and customs, languages and arts, animals and plants coexist here... We Dagestanians, all of us, are very different, but we are alike in our honesty, hospitality, our need for justice. Remember that you are Dagestani, my son, and don't exchange that honor for any worldly gold!'"...more
As an expat who's read multiple guides to Georgia, I found this one to be the most thorough. Every conceivable subject relating to living in Georgia As an expat who's read multiple guides to Georgia, I found this one to be the most thorough. Every conceivable subject relating to living in Georgia is well-covered in an easily-navigable format. The descriptions of life in Georgia are entertaining as well as informative, and as the guide suggests, even those who are familiar with expat life here will learn something new! I certainly did!
(On a more personal note, anyone who has visited this beautiful country will likely resonate with these words by the author: "Every time I left, it felt like a piece of me stayed in Georgia, and I always had to come back for it.")...more
Reading these essays has made me reflect on just how powerful Russian propaganda really is. As David J Smith noted, “Moscow counts on the (sometimes nReading these essays has made me reflect on just how powerful Russian propaganda really is. As David J Smith noted, “Moscow counts on the (sometimes naive) abject it of Western analysts, journalists, international organisations, NGOs, and governmental officials. Blowing smoke about faraway places with unpronounceable names is part of its technique… The reality is that the August 2008 war was neither provoked nor a product of miscalculation. It was initiated and waged by Russia for well-articulated geopolitical reasons. Georgia behaved diplomatically- perhaps too long.”
As Pavel Felgenhauer added, “Moscow wanted its military action in Georgia in August 2008 to be seen merely as a reaction to ‘Georgian aggression’ against Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, and against Russian peacekeepers in the region. However, this official Russian position ignores the simple fact that an invasion of such a magnitude would require long-term preparations involving the entire Russian military, including the Army, Air Force, and Navy.” In short, we should all make sure we understand the real version of events, and not Moscow’s narrative. ...more
Ronald Asmus examines the lead-up to the 2008 war, as well as what could have been done to prevent it from ever happening, and ends with the chilling Ronald Asmus examines the lead-up to the 2008 war, as well as what could have been done to prevent it from ever happening, and ends with the chilling point that, "None of the issues that caused the Russo-Georgian war were resolved in August 2008. The potential for future conflict is real."
Reading this book also felt surreal given that many of the lines used to explain Russia's actions against Georgia in 2008 could be directly copied and pasted to apply to Russia's current invasion of Ukraine. Over 10 years later and sadly not much has changed in terms of the West's supportive action to either Georgia or Ukraine in the face of Russian domination.
Anyone interested in the post-soviet sphere, or in a better understanding of current events in general, should read this book.
[Regarding Russia's pretext for invading Georgia:] "The unresolved status of Abkhazia and South Ossetia were, however, only the superficial causes for this war. The real reason was the core conflict between Russia and Georgia over Tbilisi's desire to break free of what had been a quasi-colonial relationship with Moscow to become part of a democratic West. This war was fought because Georgia wanted to guarantee its future security and sovereignty and independence by aligning itself with the West, becoming a member of NATO and eventually the European Union as well- and Moscow was equally determined to prevent it from doing so and to keep it in a Russian sphere of influence."
"The Russo-Georgian war may have been small, but it raised some big questions about the future of European security. That European security system diplomats had spent two decades developing failed in August 2008. The norms, principles, and mechanisms that were supposed to prevent future conflicts were too weak to stop this one. Moscow's justification for the war laid claim to precisely the kind of sphere of influence on its borders this system was supposed to ban. One reason why past security arrangements in twentieth-century Europe failed was that when the tough cases arose - and they often involved far-away countries with complicated names and poorly understood geography - the major powers opted not to go to bat to enforce the rules because either the problem was considered too hard, the country not important enough, or one party involved too powerful not to accommodate. There are echoes of each of these causes in the run-up to the Russo-Georgian war."...more
I was loaned this book by a fellow “Georgian-daughter-in-love”, or a member of the circle of foreign women who has married a Georgian man and moved toI was loaned this book by a fellow “Georgian-daughter-in-love”, or a member of the circle of foreign women who has married a Georgian man and moved to Georgia, like myself. ❤️ It was inspiring to read the biography of Misha Saakashvili’s first wife, and to see Saaksihvili’s rise to political influence through the eyes of the woman who passionately supported him from his student days. As is the case with so many great men, his success was made possible by her intense efforts - her income, her humanitarian work, her raising of their children, and her incredible success in learning both Georgian and Russian in her quest to help improve the country she fell in love with. Through her memoir, she demonstrates her great love of Georgian history and culture, but reading between the lines, one sees it couldn’t have been easy to be Saakashvili’s wife. ...more
I read this novel for a women’s book club in Tbilisi, and I’m so grateful that it was selected as our summer read, because it was a rare & beautiful eI read this novel for a women’s book club in Tbilisi, and I’m so grateful that it was selected as our summer read, because it was a rare & beautiful experience. This is exactly the kind of story I want to read more of- enormous, complex, multigenerational historical narratives told largely from women’s perspectives (with some rich Georgian mysticism mixed in). I loved Haratischwili’s carpet metaphor woven throughout the novel- each of her character’s lives representing bright individual threads in a larger colorful tapestry of love & loss. But the power of the novel wasn’t just in the story of a family and its sufferings through the generations, it was also in the vivid glimpse of the larger shifting landscapes- of the cultural changes, the political revolutions, the wars, and the way that Georgia & Russia themselves altered over a 100 year period. Haratischwili’s descriptions capture the flavor of Tbilisi and the national character of Georgians themselves- of prideful men and incredibly strong women. I enjoyed the selected quotes from political figures, Russian singers, & Georgian poets which set the tone at the beginning of each chapter.
As a criticism, I find narratives that favor those in the upper class during the Russian revolution a bit tired. It’s hard to pity wealthy aristocratic families who had to “give up their servants” as well as share a few extra rooms in their mansions with working class families. I personally disagreed with how the revolution was portrayed (the perspective was not at all sympathetic to the reasons so many people were willing to upend the system which benefited the elite- but instead focused on the inconveniences for those who were knocked down a peg or who had to run off to Europe to maintain their lifestyle). Additionally, the one adamantly communist character (Kostya) could arguably be considered the most antagonist personage in the novel. Overall there was a heavy handed portrayal of soviet philosophy, which felt like textbook Western criticism at times. However, the novel did well to acknowledge the privilege that the Georgian SSR had during Soviet times, as the birthplace of both Stalin & Beria. And politics aside, this work was still epic and beautiful.
(Side note: I was also surprised that Haratischwili entirely skipped over the conflict between Armenia & Azerbaijan, which was significant for a neighboring country -and the entire USSR- at the time. She dove into so many other difficult subject matters, it just seemed odd she didn’t include this historical detail as well. I am also curious to know why she didn’t touch on the 2008 war with Russia, or if this event is meant to be left to the reader to fill in as part of Brilka’s ongoing story.)
I would recommend this novel to anyone with a love of Russian literature. It’s certainly not for the faint of heart, what with rape, suicide, torture, war, & a number of other emotionally heavy topics recurring throughout the text. But as the narrator says, “In good books and films people didn’t say what they meant; they suffered, failed, and regretted.” It’s a very real & vivid novel, with rewarding moments as sweet as the secret chocolate recipe passed down through the family, and it will leave you thinking about the tapestry of your own family history, and the untold stories that might someday disappear if not collected.
Favorite excerpts: “Perhaps that was the day I realized that so many other stories were already written into that of my own short, ordinary life, and had their place alongside the thoughts and memories I was gathering for myself, which helped me to grow...I wanted to bring together the things that had fallen apart. Assemble other people’s memories, which only reveal their connections when a whole is created from a host of individual parts…Who knows how much longer these traces of the past will still be visible.” ...more
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