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jenmillie's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
informative
tense
5.0
Intensely interesting non-fiction.
opal360's review against another edition
dark
funny
informative
slow-paced
4.0
Really interesting piece of writing that reads more like a series of sketches than a single monolithic narrative. You can see how the writer found fame as a playwright, from the way she uses dialogue and humour. The book chronicles her journey south to escape the Bolsheviks and - although the events took place over 100 years ago - sadly there is a lot here that resonates today.
lauren_endnotes's review against another edition
Teffi, pen name of the noted Russian humorist and satirist, brings her signature charm to a heavy subject - migration and exile on the heels of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1918. In Memories, Teffi traces her exodus from her home in St. Petersburg - at the time she believed it to be short term absence - through the Ukraine and Crimea, finally to Constantinople, eventually to a life of exile in France and Germany.
Teffi's absolute skill lie in her astute observations and situational humor, and the way she juxtaposes these with the serious nature of the same situations. She is a gifted storyteller and the translators did such a masterful work or bringing this humor to us here - and it truly transcends the 100+ years since Teffi's time.
The first laughs here started when she describes the levels that the bourgeoisie will go to hide their wealth from confiscation by the Red Army - putting diamonds into hard-boiled eggs, which are then chomped by soldiers...
Right alongside these funny stories are ones of sadness and fear of the unknown. Her "escape" from Odessa is the most action-packed sequence in the book, and had me completely riveted.
“There are moments when threads snap – all the threads that tie what is earthly in the soul to the earth itself. Your nearest and dearest become infinitely distant, barely even a memory. Even the events in your past that once mattered most to you grow dim. All of the huge and important thing we call life fades away and you become that primordial nothing out of which the universe was created.”
Teffi's absolute skill lie in her astute observations and situational humor, and the way she juxtaposes these with the serious nature of the same situations. She is a gifted storyteller and the translators did such a masterful work or bringing this humor to us here - and it truly transcends the 100+ years since Teffi's time.
The first laughs here started when she describes the levels that the bourgeoisie will go to hide their wealth from confiscation by the Red Army - putting diamonds into hard-boiled eggs, which are then chomped by soldiers...
Right alongside these funny stories are ones of sadness and fear of the unknown. Her "escape" from Odessa is the most action-packed sequence in the book, and had me completely riveted.
“There are moments when threads snap – all the threads that tie what is earthly in the soul to the earth itself. Your nearest and dearest become infinitely distant, barely even a memory. Even the events in your past that once mattered most to you grow dim. All of the huge and important thing we call life fades away and you become that primordial nothing out of which the universe was created.”
greeniezona's review against another edition
5.0
I had read so many books translated from Russian, but somehow no books by women, which seemed ridiculous. When I set out to remedy that, Teffi was one of those names that I ran into, over and over.
I loved this just like multiple people told me I would. There are a few odd/sour notes when describing people of different races, and Teffi's fame as a writer certainly cushions her experiences, but this memoir of being a refugee in a time of upheaval bears some uncomfortably timely observations.
The constant guessing is what feels most exhausting to imagine. Guessing where it is safe to flee to. Guessing when it is time to pack up once again. The scarcity of information and the constant quest for more. Never knowing if each exile is permanent, if you will ever see any of these series of homes again.
I need to keep an eye out for more of her writing.
I loved this just like multiple people told me I would. There are a few odd/sour notes when describing people of different races, and Teffi's fame as a writer certainly cushions her experiences, but this memoir of being a refugee in a time of upheaval bears some uncomfortably timely observations.
The constant guessing is what feels most exhausting to imagine. Guessing where it is safe to flee to. Guessing when it is time to pack up once again. The scarcity of information and the constant quest for more. Never knowing if each exile is permanent, if you will ever see any of these series of homes again.
I need to keep an eye out for more of her writing.
sarahcax's review
adventurous
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
Memories is made up of thirty-one vignettes Teffi wrote during the Bolshevik Revolution which began in 1917.
Predestined to have been an incredibly bleak story if not for the compelling characters scattered along Teffi’s journey and her warm and light humour throughout to balance the reality of the suffering and displacement of war.
A captivating read for anyone interested in memoir of this period in Russian history, from a great 20th century Russian female author who I feel like is mostly unknown outside of the Russian scope.
“How it warms the soul to discover - amid naked rock, amid eternal snow, beside a cold, dead glacier - a tiny velvety flower, an edelweiss. In this realm of icy death it alone is alive. It says, “Don’t believe in the horror that surrounds us both. Look - I’m alive.””
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and War
Minor: Racism
jeninmotion's review against another edition
4.0
Teffi is funny as hell. One benefit of the audiobook version of this is that Rebecca Crankshaw did voices, so you got a sense of the middle-aged lady humor Teffi was throwing down (she was 46 during the period described in the book) and how very dramatic and hilarious young actresses and theater people are when you're a middle-aged lady writer who is out there to enjoy her fame, her boyfriends, and her comfortable bourgeois life.
What's utterly remarkable about this book, then, is that it's the story of how Teffi, bourgeois liberal writer, endured becoming a refugee during a civil war that also happened during the worst pandemic in recent memory until COVID last year (and Spanish flu was worse in terms of deaths). The absurdity of refugee life - the sheer terror mingled with the sheer boredom in this cosmic joke of a situation - comes to life.
What's utterly remarkable about this book, then, is that it's the story of how Teffi, bourgeois liberal writer, endured becoming a refugee during a civil war that also happened during the worst pandemic in recent memory until COVID last year (and Spanish flu was worse in terms of deaths). The absurdity of refugee life - the sheer terror mingled with the sheer boredom in this cosmic joke of a situation - comes to life.