Riveting. . . A wonderfully funny and poignant portrait of a small nation in a state of collapse. . . gloriously readable. . .
One of the nonfiction titles of the year, it is destined for literary accolades and popular success -- Luke Harding * Observer *
An
astonishing and deeply resonant memoir about growing up in the last days of the last Stalinist outpost of the 20th century. . . What makes it so unforgettable is that we see this world, one about which we know so little, through the eyes of a child.. . It is more fundamentally about humanity, and about the confusions and wonders of childhood.
Ypi weaves magic in this book: I was entranced from beginning to end -- Laura Hackett * Sunday Times *
Utterly engrossing . . . Ypi's memoir is brilliantly observed, politically nuanced and - best of all - funny.
An essential book, just as much for Britons as Albanians -- Stuart Jeffries * Guardian *
Fantastically engaging. . . A breakout book. . . Such an engrossing story that it is (almost) unsurprising that it is already being translated into eleven languages. If a film follows, don't be surprised -- Tim Judah * Financial Times *
Five stars. . . deserves to be added to the history curriculum * Daily Telegraph *
This vivid rendering of life amid cultural collapse is
nothing short of a masterpiece * Publishers Weekly *
Remarkable and highly original . . . Both an affecting coming-of-age story and a first-hand meditation on the politics of freedom -- Caroline Sanderson * Editor's Choice, Bookseller *
A probing personal history, poignant and moving. A young life unfolding amidst great historical change - ideology, war, loss, uncertainty.
This is history brought memorably and powerfully to life -- Tara Westover, author of Educated
A lyrical memoir, of deep and affecting power, of the sweet smell of humanity mingled with flesh, blood and hope -- Philippe Sands, author of East West Street
Free is astonishing. Lea Ypi has a natural gift for storytelling. It brims with life, warmth, and texture, as well as her keen intelligence.
A gripping, often hilarious, poignant, psychologically acute masterpiece and the best book I've read so far this year -- Olivia Sudjic, author of Asylum Road
Lea Ypi's teenage journey through the endtimes of Albanian communism
tells a universal story: ours is an age of collapsed illusions for many generations. Written by one of Europe's foremost left-wing thinkers, this is an unmissable book for anyone engaged in the politics of resistance -- Paul Mason, author of Postcapitalism
This extraordinary coming-of-age story is like an Albanian
Educated but it is so much more than that.
It beautifully brings together the personal and the political to create an unforgettable account of oppression, freedom and what it means to acquire knowledge about the world.
Funny, moving but also deadly serious, this book will be read for years to come -- David Runciman, author of How Democracy Ends
A new classic that bursts out of the global silence of Albania to tell us human truths about the politics of the past hundred years. . . It unfolds with revelation after revelation - both familial and national - as if written by a master novelist. As if it were, say, a novella by Tolstoy. That this very serious book is so much fun to read is a compliment to its
graceful, witty, honest writer.
A literary triumph -- Amy Wilentz, author of Farewell, Fred Voodoo
Illuminating and subversive,
Free asks us to consider what happens to our ideals when they come into contact with imperfect places and people and what can be salvaged from the wreckage of the past -- Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran
A young girl grows up in a repressive Communist state, where public certainties are happily accepted and private truths are hidden; as that world falls away, she has to make her own sense of life, based on conflicting advice, fragments of information and, above all, her own stubborn curiosity.
Thought-provoking, deliciously funny, poignant, sharply observed and beautifully written, this is a childhood memoir like very few others -- a really marvellous book -- Noel Malcolm, author of Agents of Empire
Free is one of those very rare books that shows how history shapes people's lives and their politics.
Lea Ypi is such a brilliant, powerful writer that her story becomes your story -- Ivan Krastev, author of The Light that Failed
Lea Ypi is a pathbreaking philosopher who is also becoming one of the most important public thinkers of our time. Here she draws on her unique historical experience to shed new light on the questions of freedom that matter to all of us.
This extraordinary book is both personally moving and politically revolutionary. If we take its lessons to heart, it can help to set us free -- Martin Hagglund, author of This Life
I haven't in many years read a memoir from this part of the world as
warmly inviting as this one. Written by an intellectual with story-telling gifts,
Free makes life on the ground in Albania vivid and immediate -- Vivian Gornick, author of Unfinished Business
Lea Ypi has a wonderful gift for showing and not telling. In Free she demonstrates with humour, humanity and a sometimes painful honesty, how political communities without human rights will always end in cruelty. True freedom must be from both oppression and neglect
-- Shami Chakrabarti
