jatinnagpal's review

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3.0

Well, it's just a bunch of detailed interviews, from what it seems is over 2 decades ago. Maybe a fine book, but after reading through it I've no idea what the guy who put it in his Recommended Books List had in mind while doing that. Maybe I'll figure that out with time, maybe he had nothing in mind and just picked stuff at random, who knows.

Either way, this was at least an easy read and not badly written.

dajna's review against another edition

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3.0

I'm not sure how astonishingly frank and how astonishingly staged these interviews were, but this man has an answer for everything.
The book portraits a driven, self-made man who, almost by accident, became president of Russia.
He is also a good family man, as described by his teachers, his wife, his daughters and his friends.
The book scraps away a lot of the mystic aurea that has been surrounding Putin recently, but it doesn't add much to the story of the most important man of 2015.

ronsos's review

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2.0

This wasn't what I was hoping for. It was informative in its own way I suppose. It seemed very dated and targeted more toward a domestic (Russian) audience circa 2000.

ziki's review

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2.0

cose interessanti da sapere senza accollarsi delle interviste abbastanza gne:
- Putin tiene al collo una collana con croce che si è fatto benedire in terra santa
- parlando di come mai Putin si lasciò con la sua compagna storica dell’Università, il suo amico dice che “vovka è della bilancia”
- all’interno del municipio di s Pietroburgo mentre tutti toglievano i quadri di Lenin negli uffici e li sostituivano con quelli di Yeltsin, Putin fu l’unico ad appendere un ritratto di Pietro il Grande

lilypad72's review against another edition

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reflective fast-paced

0.25

anthoniodarling's review against another edition

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informative reflective fast-paced

3.0

liac's review against another edition

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challenging informative tense fast-paced

5.0

skamlig's review against another edition

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informative medium-paced

3.0

welshrebel1776's review against another edition

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informative medium-paced

3.5

e_flah's review against another edition

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3.0

While I wouldn't describe it as "astonishingly frank," First Person is an interesting glimpse into Vladimir Putin's mindset. His comments on the war in Chechnya, the future of Russia, and NATO were perhaps the most interesting portions of the book. I wish the reporters had dug a little deeper into some of the controversies surrounding Putin's rise to power but understand the reasons why they didn't. As required reading for class goes, First Person was reasonably enjoyable and is definitely worth a read if you're a Russia watcher.
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