Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe

by Kapka Kassabova

In this extraordinary work of narrative reportage, Kapka Kassabova returns to Bulgaria, from where she emigrated as a girl twenty-five years previously, to explore the border it shares with Turkey and Greece. When she was a child, the border zone was rumored to be an easier crossing point into the West than the Berlin Wall, and it swarmed with soldiers and spies. On holidays in the “Red Riviera” on the Black Sea, she remembers playing on the beach only miles from a bristling electrified fence whose barbs pointed inward toward the enemy: the citizens of the totalitarian regime.

Kassabova discovers a place that has been shaped by successive forces of history: the Soviet and Ottoman empires, and, older still, myth and legend. Her exquisite portraits of fire walkers, smugglers, treasure hunters, botanists, and border guards populate the book. There are also the ragged men and women who have walked across Turkey from Syria and Iraq. But there seem to be nonhuman forces at work here too: This densely forested landscape is rich with curative springs and Thracian tombs, and the tug of the ancient world, of circular time and animism, is never far off.

Border is a scintillating, immersive travel narrative that is also a shadow history of the Cold War, a sideways look at the migration crisis troubling Europe, and a deep, witchy descent into interior and exterior geographies.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, History, Bulgaria, Memoir, Bulgarian Literature, Politics

400 pages, Paperback

First published February 2, 2017

About the author

Kapka Kassabova was born and raised in Sofia, Bulgaria in the 1970s and 1980s. Her family emigrated to New Zealand just after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and she spent her late teens and twenties in New Zealand where she studied French Literature, and published two poetry collections and the Commonwealth-Writers Prize-winner for debut fiction in Asia-Pacific, Reconnaissance.

In 2004, Kapka moved to Scotland and published Street Without a Name (Portobello, 2008). It is a story of the last Communist childhood and a journey across post-communist Bulgaria. It was short-listed for the Dolman Travel Book Award.

The music memoir Twelve Minutes of Love (Portobello 2011), a tale of Argentine tango, obsession and the search for home, was short-listed for the Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Book Awards.

Villa Pacifica (Alma Books 2011), a novel with an equatorial setting, came out at the same time.

Border: a journey to the edge of Europe (2017 Granta/ Greywolf) is an exploration of Europe's remotest border region.

Her essays and articles have appeared in The Guardian, The Times Literary Supplement, Vogue, The Sunday Times, The Scottish Review of Books, The NZ Listener, The New Statesman, and 1843 Magazine.

Reviews

[Metodi Markov · Rating 1 out of 5]

С Касабова явно няма да се разберем. Тя продължава да е разкрачена между два свята и да се опитва да изпреде поне тънка нишка за мост между тях, безуспешно според мен. Не е никак добре, когато имаш прекарана граница в главата си...

Това не е роман, нито пътепис, а е просто един тюрлюгювеч, наготвен бързичко за впечатлителните чужденци, които хал хабер си нямат, що и къде е България! Затова не съм учуден от наградите и от топлия прием на чуждата критика - каквото искат да четат, това им е поднесено.

Издържах 90 страници и се отказвам, имам толкова много други заглавия, които ме очакват.

Ако "Граница" беше писана преди 10-15 години, можеше и да ми е по-интересна, но много от фактите изнесени в началото ѝ са дъвкани и предъвквани в нета от носталгици, врагове на режима и фенове на конспирациите (Людмила с тюрбана, Ванга, Баст, траки, нестинари, иманяри и още подобни убавини...). До степен, да не са ми никак интригуващи.

Лош късмет е и излизането по почти същото време на дебютния роман на Мирослав Пенков - "Щъркелите и планината". Същите места, хора, събития, но красиво и талантливо описани.

За едно е права авторката, грехота е да не се изучават в училище от децата ни Горянското движение и безбройните безумия и престъпления на комунизма.

P.S. И тая ужасяващо оранжева корица, бррр...

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 4 out of 5]

After emigrating from Bulgaria, the author returns after an absence of twenty-five years. Implicitly to the borders where Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece come together. This book explains what she found.

Thought she did an amazing job, mixing culture, with history and current affairs. Fire cult, the Greek Orthodox Church, Spartacus and the Thracians, bean readers. Great descriptions of the natural world and past descriptions of historical significance. Life at the borders, the violence that ensued when one tries to cross over into another country.

At times it was confusing as much information is covered. It was though informative and about region of which I knew little.

Narrated by Carrie James and I thought she did well, was easy to understand.

[Jan-Maat]

I was strongly drawn to this book, but ultimately I was not in the right state of mind to enjoy it, and by half the half way point I noticed that I was fairly tired and keen for the book to end quickly, but really it is not a book that has to be read quickly, you could dip into it over a long time.

The author left Bulgaria at some point in her teens, and went with her parents to New Zealand, later in life she moved to Scotland and during this book she explores the border region between Bulgaria, Turkey, and Greece.

I wondered, admittedly after the half way point about languages and time scales, she knows Bulgarian but mentions gasp Google translate at one point, and several other people seem to be translating others to her in places, but I wonder how much she understood of what people were actually saying to her and not just when the linguistic chain might have been Kurdish to Turkish to Google translate, on another occasion it turns out that her guide who had been translating from Greek to Bulgarian to her does not actually speak Greek that well, if there were other translators travelling with her, she does not name them or acknowledge their presence.

Towards the end of the book she mentions that she was in these border areas for two years, but the prose is fairly timeless, I dis not sense any progression of the seasons or if she came and went out of the region, only her journeys within it - but that is not so unusual a feature of travel writing.

Reading I began to think of Rebecca West and Black Lamb and Grey Falcon - though in truth the two do not overlap - Kassabova does not touch on Macedonia (the former Yugoslav Republic known as Macedonia) , nor une macedonie either.

My first thought was that the two were a contrasting pair West as an example of a form of travel writing that presents itself as authoritative and objective, Kassabova as a voice which is impersonal and connected within the landscape. Over further pages I began to feel certain similarities both travel through time and space, both travel from the physical world into the metaphysical realm of myth repeated stories of Thracian, or Roman, or Egyptian treasures inside caves or minesreminded me of Christ stopped at Eboli as well , both are idealistic works but here in contrasting ways West celebrates a virile Serb nation that will check the rising fascist powers in the Europe of her day; Kassabova has lived through the consequences of that, several times her vision is of the continuity of belief and practise arising from human contact with the strange atmosphere of certain places or challenging experiences, and also the human community as one of common suffering.

In this account because of the border first between Nato and the Warsaw Pact, latterly between the EU and Turkey, and as a consequences of these and older hard borders, deportations, persecutions, militarisation, division, loss and death, going back to a Bulgarian Khan who slaughtered his boyars to remove any opposition to converting ancient Bulgaria to Christianity.

Kassabova tells haunting tales that smell of coffee, yoghurt and tobacco, all written in impeccable English offering hope to all those who aspire to to be published in that language even if it was not the ne they were brought up speaking.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic! Kassabova’s writing is personal, haunting, and intriguing; she weaves history, legend, politics, war, family, and the day-to-day of the people in the dense and mountainous Bulgarian-Turkish-Greek border zone that was once forbidden territory. Here empires rose and fell, borders shifted, people were displaced or renamed, and languages suppressed. For those of us whose families came from this region it’s recognizable and aching.

This travelogue is well researched and beautifully written, even suspenseful at times. Highly recommended.

They were dressed in sleeveless woollen cardigans, baggy trousers, and rubber galoshes. I felt it like a presence: the spirit of the Balkans was here, in this garden thick with greenery. The true spirit of the Balkans that hangs on, no matter how renamed and resettled, imagined and invented. Our bitter beloved borderless Balkans.

[Yovko Lambrev · Rating 5 out of 5]

С Капка Касабова се оказваме връстници. По-голяма е от мен с едва няколко месеца. Съзнавам това, докато прелиствам първите страници на „Граница“ и откривам съпадения във времето и гледните точки към събитията от сходен с моя възрастов ракурс. Не вярвам обаче, че тази книга ме докосна толкова дълбоко само заради това.

Написана е виртуозно. Рядко може да се открие толкова много поезия в проза, която е само донякъде документалистика, само донякъде пътепис, но най-вече е съпреживяване… на онези балкански трагедии, които още кървят. Съпреживяването им по най-истинския възможен начин – като лични, човешки истории, които засядат в гърлото.

Не мисля че съм чел по-човеколюбива книга напоследък. С историите си за прокудените, заселените, избягалите и завърналите се заради световните и балканските военни сблъсъци или пък заради желязната завеса, с историите за убитите и убийците им, „Граница“ е учебник по човеколюбие. И трагедиите на загубилите своите любими хора и тези на техните палачи са разказани честно, без драма или стремеж за възмездие – произнасянето на присъдите е оставено в ръцете на времето, а то, оказва се, е суров съдник.

Границата формално е тази между България, Гърция и Турция, но книгата я мести и размива непрекъснато, защото хората от едната страна и от другата са толкова еднакви, че човек се пита колко много политическа жлъчка е разсипана върху ни, но тя пак не стига да спрем да бъдем хора и комшии… въпреки кръвопролитията, предателствата и… границите в собствените ни глави.

Историята започва от Странджа, нестинарите, граничните застави на комунистическа България, пропълзява към Родопите, оттам през Гърция и Турция, за да завърши отново в Странджа. А по пътя разказва за бягащите от комунизма, от войните – от тогава до днес – за тогавашните бежанци и за днешните бежански лагери. За тогавашните изверги, и за днешната безчовечност. За добротата и за предателите. За легендите и преданията. За омразата и за любовта. За спасените и за пожертваните (българи, гърци, турци, помаци, евреи, цигани). За прокудените и преселените (българи, гърци, турци, помаци, евреи, цигани). За преименуваните насила… и по няколко пъти. За нас – вечните бежанци – балканците, каквито и иначе да се наричаме.

Прочетете тази книга! Когато и да го направите, ще бъде ужасно късно. Това, за което се разказва в „Граница“ така или иначе вече се е случило и не може да се промени, но не бива да се забравя. Защото към бъдещето можем да гледаме не с границите в главите ни, а само с безграничността на човеколюбието си – поне ако искаме различно бъдеще за идните поколения.

P.S. Заслуга за прекрасния текст трябва да бъде отдадена и на Невена Дишлиева – Кръстева за прекрасния превод, защото книгата е изначално написана на английски език.

[Kaloyana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Тази книга за мен беше излизане от литературната ми зона на комфорт. Не съм човек, който си пада по историческите факти и не обичам да чета ��ного за история. Проблемът ми е, че не помня дати, години и имена.
Но тази книга много ми хареса. Да, има исторически препратки, легенди и случки, но това няма как да не бъде така, за да бъдат разкази историите на хората по границата. Страхотен език има Капка Касабова и е интелигентен и мъдър разказвач. Перото ѝ е много обиграно.
Учудващото е, че книгата е писана на английски, а преводът на Невена Дишлиева-Кръстева е толкова изкусен, че човек не може да заподозре, че текстът е бил на друг език. Великолепно изпипана работа.
Това е една книга, която е истинска приказка, на ръба на мистериозното, вълшебното, което е толкова земно и характерно за Границата.
Наши балкански истории, на кръстопътя между Космоса и Хаоса.

[Jennifer (Insert Lit Pun)]

Loooved this. Already pre-ordered her next book.

[Masha N · Rating 2 out of 5]

Non-fiction is not something I often read, yet when I open such a book, I expect it to be ... valid. This book, unfortunately, isn't. I was very excited about it initially because I think the idea to write about that border is brilliant, and I expected a lot from it. Yet, what I found bugs me a lot.
It feels like she has a message she wants to broadcast, rather than a story (very much like the state she hates so much), and that makes her modify her story to fit the message. She makes assumptions about people, jumps to conclusions, imagines things about them that could not even be true. Yet she does it because it fits the story. I found that to.be quite hypocritical.
This made me wonder whether a writer should write about their experiences in a way that would allow them to go back to the place and talk to all those people again. Or maybe this doesn't matter, as long as the book is successful?
Another thing is that the whole book seems to be a collection of rumours, what someone said to someone, what people believed in three hundred years ago... I understand it can be interesting to hear about that but Kapka not only presents those opinions and rumours, she also claims them. She portrays them as valid sources of information. And that invalidates the entire book!
Finally, I believe that the driving force behind writing a book should not be hate. I am not a writer and I have no idea about the forces that make people do art but I am convinced that hate doesn't produce a lot. Hate radiated from the pages of the book. And yes, I understand that Kapka hates the establishment, hates the Border, hates the history about this place... Yet I keep wondering if there was anything at all around there that she loved.
I haven't yet finished the book.

Update. I found one more problem with this book. And the problem is that the book is not for those from the Eastern Block, it's for the people from the other side of the border. Maybe it was the initial idea, or the fact that the author has spent so much time abroad. She doesn't provide the background for the book. And this is fair enough, it's impossible to explain the entirety of the Eastern culture in a book. Yet, when the lack of knowledge of culture is combined with Kapka's representation of the most ordinary Eastern European things as something with a hidden meaning and something very dramatic, it produces a very weird effect for those who don't come from Bulgaria. And, I think, this biases the opinions of the readers and gives them wrong information. This is not the core information but the background. And, still, when the tones of the background are changed, it changes the whole perception of the book.

[Emiliya Bozhilova · Rating 2 out of 5]

На втори прочит:
От дистанцията на времето: това е най-слабата книга в четирилогията на Капка Касабова. Оставя впечатлението, че авторката просто разглежда човешки и природни забележителности подобно на масов турист в “екзотична” дестинация. Вникване липсва, и прочитът ще е по-успешен за чужденци. Следващите две книги вече са плод на по-личен контакт и съответно са по-силни.

Първоначално ревю:
Хареса ми:
+ лиричността
+ търсенето на идентичност - колко трудно упраженение е това всъщност, една книга и един живот не стигат, и упражнението далеч не е само за емигранти.

Не ми хареса:
- авторката си носи своите здрави щампи в главата, и не може да се избави от тях - като всеки човек, всъщност. А именно щампите често и затварят широко очите тъкмо в хода на сюжета. Не установява истински контакт с нито един от героите си, просто не е в състояние да забрави предварителните си нагласи, и украсява техни постъпки и реакции не спрямо случката, а спрямо своята нагласа към нея.

Касабова не е обективна - вижда само това, което иска да види, и не чува какво ѝ се казва. Предубедена е, и ползва събития и герои, за да ги напасне към вече готова щампа, а не да извлече познание от тях и да ги разбере. Не личи чак много задълбочено проучване да е правила. А интерпретациите ѝ на моменти са меко казано спорни.

Но като вид роман книгата е добре написана. Стилът е прекрасен, чете се леко и с истинска наслада. Но нека читателят не се подвежда за жанра - това не е документалистика, нито дори пътепис, а роман.

2,5⭐️

[Titi Coolda · Rating 5 out of 5]

In creuzetul "Frontierei" sunt alambicate, intr-un stil literar exceptional, mituri ancestrale, legende, Istoria Magna si mici istorii ale unor personaje insolite in normalitatea existentei lor. O carte de calatorie dar si memoir al unei parti din lumea apropiata dar prea putin cunoscuta. Kassabova scrie tare bine iar traducerea este pe masura.

[FlyingBulgarian Svetli H. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Whenever you read a book about something you're familiar with - whether it's about a city you lived in, an event you experienced, a place you vacation in regularly - you are bound to disagree with the author about something.

In this case, I found myself frantically highlighting and underlining bits of the book that struck me as inaccurate. My husband can attest to the many exasperated sighs and groans that came out of me during my excruciating read of this book. A bit of context - this book is about the author, a Bulgarian woman who grew up in New Zealand, crossing the Border between Turkey, Bulgaria and Greece and writing about her experiences in this 'mythical' part of the Balkans. As someone who has crossed the Border between Bulgaria and Turkey and that between Turkey and Greece an average of 10 times a year over a period of 15 years, if not longer, I found most of the things she wrote about to be either painfully wrong or annoying at best.

As a Bulgarian who also grew up outside of Bulgaria, the theme of not really belonging in Bulgaria was probably the only part of the book I could identify with.

Some highlights of the things that bugged me include
- not knowing the difference between a 'zmei' and 'lamya' - two different mythical creatures in Bulgarian folklore tales
- changing the names of the villages and places she visited - even though it's meant to be a documentation of her experiences, by removing the names of the places she visits, there is no way for me to connect or imagine where she's been and removes the authenticity of her travels (in my opinion)
- there is a lot of anger towards Communist Bulgaria from her, and she projects that onto her experiences - that's not really what this book is meant to be about
- she projects her distrust of people into the book - I mean... she goes to a village (can't remember where), sleeps there, and then gets in a car with someone, but then thinks they will murder her... and leaves. I just... no. Just no.
- the Turkish, Bulgarian and Greek dialects represented in the book made me cringe - I don't know of anyone who speaks or is meant to sound like that. (Yes, I also don't know everyone and I am willing to acknowledge that there might be people who do sound like that). I noted that down as a translation error, but realised it's not a translated book.

Now, as a Bulgarian, I am extremely pleased to see a Bulgarian writer write a book about some of my experiences - as a Bulgarian growing up abroad, someone crossing a border so many times, of a region I call home... but aghr. It just wasn't right. It felt at many times that she had no authority or no experience of those places to be able to write about it with umph. Either way, I would read her next book, and I'd be curious to see where her writing career goes. But this book was a NO from me.

UPDATE: I realised another problem too - she is from Sofiya, and that's where she grew up before moving to the West - and then goes to the Border region - which is MILES away from Sofiya - had she written about the border between Macedonia/Serbia/Bulgaria, which is practically next door to Sofiya, I don't think it would have irked me so much!

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kapka Kassabova has given a lot of thought to borders. Growing up in Bulgaria her family enjoyed a beach near Turkey very near to where lives were lost attempting to cross the border. This book recounts her recent visit to Bulgaria’s border with Turkey and Greece. Formerly designed to keep people in, Bulgaria’s borders are now designed to keep people out.

Those attempting to leave iron curtain countries believed the Bulgarian border to be more crossable than the others, but guards had jobs to do and those who lived along it had special permits which gave the forest eyes. A small noise or wrong step would end the fugitive’s dreams of freedom. While most died or were captured, a small number got through.

Today, the barbed wire is still there, but the refugees are mainly Iraqi’s, Kurds and Syrians trying to get into Bulgaria as the gateway to Europe. Kassabova describes refugee camps and the waiting men at Ali’s Café. The author takes a night time hike with locals who know a dangerous path from Bulgaria to Greece. She tours with them again, legally through check points, through rugged terrain and admits to her freak out. She interviews people that live on the “right” or “wrong” side (depending on family history) and how they cope with the refugees and the lack of work in this area.

While she describes the beauty and rugged nature of the region, the strength of this book is the stories of everyday people. There are the people the Strandja forest who have remained after the wars and the industrialization and continue their old tradition of fire walking and prophesy to the strains of accordion, drum and bagpipe music. There is the German artist who was caught at the border and subjected to inhuman treatment before release. There are the people who "live forever", a forest ranger, a lighthouse keeper, a gypsy who guards a monastery, a nurse who treats the evil eye and more.

I know little of this region, so the history was like a stream of sound bites. Some of it was pretty dramatic: Some People had to change their names 3 times; 40,000 Muslims were expelled almost overnight and could drive away but could not ride (or take) their horses, mules, or in fact any animals. There were pieces of Ottoman and ancient Greek history, legend and poetry.

There are no photos. An index would have been helpful since some people re-cur as does the story of the 4 horses.

[Banu Yıldıran Genç · Rating 5 out of 5]

svetlana aleksiyeviç kitapları okur gibi okudum. aynı ruh ağırlığı, aynı sürekli bela okuma hali, aynı üzüntü...
kapka kassabova’nın memleketi bulgaristan’a dönüp sınırları dolaşması, oradaki insanlarla konuşması, tarih boyu yaşanan göçler, sürgünler o kadar güzel anlatılmış ki.
bulgaristan deniz kıyısından başlayıp karpatlar, edirne, kırklareli, tekrar karpatlar diye dönüyor tanıklıklar.
osmanlı, balkan savaşı, yunan bulgar savaşı, mübadele, 2. dünya savaşı, komünizm, yunan iç savaşı, komünizmin çökmesi ve suriye savaşı diye gidiyor bu halkın başına gelen felaketler... bitmiyor.
89’da türkiye’ye gelen bulgar türkleri de var ve biz niçin onların hikayelerini hiç okumadık? filmlerini izlemedik ajite trt dizileri hariç.
kapka’nın kurduğu yaratıcı anlatım biçimi niye bizde olamıyor?
kafamda deli sorular...
salt okur iyi ki yayımlamış, seda çıngay mellor iyi ki çevirmiş. biraz tashih problemi vardı ama nazar boncuğu olsun.

[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

BOTW

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08fdwff

Description: When Kapka Kassabova was a child, the borderzone between Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece was rumoured to be an easier crossing point into the West than the Berlin Wall, so it swarmed with soldiers, spies and fugitives.

On holidays close to the border on the Black Sea coast, she remembers playing on the beach, only miles from where an electrified fence bristled, its barbs pointing inwards toward the enemy - the holiday-makers, the potential escapees.

Kapka Kassabova sets out on a journey through a hidden corner of the continent and meets the people of this triple border - Bulgarians, Turks, Greeks, indigenous Balkan Muslims and the latest wave of refugees fleeing conflict further afield. She discovers a region that has been shaped by the successive forces of history - by its own past migration crises, by communism, by Nazi occupation, by the Ottoman Empire and - older still - by the ancient legacy of myths and legends. But there seem to be non-human forces at work here too. It is a land rich with curative springs and Thracian tombs; home to psychic healers and Europe's last fire-worshippers.

As Kapka Kassabova explores this enigmatic region in the company of border guards and treasure hunters, entrepreneurs and botanists, refugees and smugglers, she traces the physical and psychological borders that criss-cross its villages and mountains, and goes in search of the stories that will unlock its secrets.



this densely forested landscape is no longer heavily militarised, but it is scarred by its past.

[Karina Padureanu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Calatoria Kapkai in zona de granita dintre Bulgaria, Turcia si Grecia este o incursiune in istorie, in suflete de oameni si popoare, in locuri mistice si salbatice.
Fetita care a parasit Bulgaria in urma cu 25 de ani se intoarce in tara natala si, spune ea "desi nu mai eram de prin locurile astea, in tara asta zdruncinata a tineretii mele, in secret tot ei ii apartineam in cea mai mare masura".
Este o poveste reala, fascinanta, presarata cu de toate : un antic oras trac scufundat in ape, incercari de evadare din blocul comunist, razboaie, civilizatii, oameni "cu trasaturi nemuritoare ca pamantul", coridoare tracice, Strandja si misterele ei, cantece ale muntilor care "suna ca din alta lume", trandafirul Rosa Damascena si cultivarea tutunului - embleme ale Bulgariei, trecatorile Rodopilor, deportarea unor populatii intregi si agonia lor ("nu-i tacere mai adanca decat tacerea salasurilor umane abandonate"), faruri si "miezuri de deal descarnate" de industrie, pastori solitari, si cate si mai cate...iar cel mai mult mi-a placut ca descris oamenii pe care i-a intalnit - unii hilari, altii nostalgici, altii marcati de destin...

O recomand cu caldura.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this novel for book club.
Author Kapka Kassabova returns to Bulgaria, from where she emigrated as a girl 25 years earlier, to explore the border it shares with Turkey and Greece.
Her many stories vividly paint a picture of each village and character, yet I found myself interested in what I was reading in random parts of the book.
Her story hunting adventures and discoveries were so incredibly sad and I could certainly understand why she just wanted to go back to Scotland (where she lives) and lie in a dark room.

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This extraordinary book ticks so many boxes in terms of content yet is such a pleasure to read. It is insight into Bulgaria under the rule of Todor Zhivkov the influence of his odd-but-very-powerful daughter Lyudmila Zhivkova, who was a combination of female Rasputin and Soviet block New Age guru, and before her mysterious death age 39 had involved countless Bulgarians in a host of weird projects including searching for mythical gold deposits. It would be funny except her antics took place against the background of appalling suffering from things like forced Macedonisation and the persecution of Bulgaria's Turkish minority. This was the same regime that assassinated Grigori Markov on London Bridge, was behind the attempt of Pope John Paul II, and attempted to start up a war between Greece and Turkey in 1971 by burning down the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul. The regime was absurd but not funny.

But the heart of the book is the tale of Bulgaria's borders with Greece and Turkey, so tantalisingly close, and attracting the desperate, stupid, hopeful, mad and all those who-just-couldn't-take-anymore-and-were-willing-to-risk-anything from across the Eastern block countries who took holidays on Bulgaria's Black Sea resorts in order to try to escape to the West. They would wander away from their hotels in shorts, t-shirts and plimsolls clutching not much more then a plastic bag of sandwiches and a bottle of water to cross mountains and forests or swim across turbulent tidal waters. I defy anyone not to read the stories of these young people, and the rigours meant they were almost always incredibly young, and not weep.

Those happy to risk anything didn't always realise that they were risking everything. There was no prison, only a bullet in the head. There were no graves the bodies were abandoned to the wildlife of the extensive exclusion zone surrounding the approaches to the borders. They couldn't count on any help from locals as they made their way towards it. Any Bulgarian who gave as much as a cup of water to one of these hopeful emigres, never mind food, clothing or directions, was committing a capital crime that also impacted on the rest of their family. Active co-operation was demanded you could not be silent or blind, denunciations were demanded and failure to alert the authorities was treated as a form of betraying your country.

But the book is more than side stories, it is also the authors memories of growing up in those times and of what the demise of communism has brought. It is a wonderful and fascinating account and I can not praise it enough. This is an absolute must read.

[Jacob Sebæk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once in ancient times was Thrace, famed by Herodot for fearless warriors and pitied by Herodot for not rising to the kingdoms full potential and be just a little aggressive and up to expansion.

So, many years passed and Thrace was divided by wars time after time, it´s people relocated every time borders were redrawn or the political winds blew in Moslem, Orthodox or Communist/Socialist directions.

The author, born in Bulgaria during the cold war is now revisiting the border areas both finding her own history and the history of the many poor souls who suffered trying to cross borders - by honest mistake or fleeing across the then last frontier of the Warsaw Pact countries.

It is a wonderful tale, full of hope in spite of despair and full of ancient lore still present in one of the most inaccessible corners of Europe.

There is a smell in the air from the distant sea and the tobacco- and sunflower fields and you can feel the frightening darkness spreading through the forests as the sun disappears behind the mountain.

And, you can feel the cautious optimism of the people living in the small villages around the borders on all three sides.
Knowing their history, that their families have been forcefully removed from their homes, forcefully converted and forcefully been given new family names, puts a strain on happy ever after.

"But, Hey, this is where our ancestors lived and now we are back".

However beautifully the story is conveyed to the reader, it is also a chapter - or rather many chapters - we should never forget and try our best to better the situation for the forgotten people of Thrace.

[Lubinka Dimitrova · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's an uncanny sensation that I share with other people from my generation who grew up in the last years of the communist regime in Bulgaria and the first years of the much coveted and still, utterly bitter "democracy" that followed. Books like that speak to us and we feel as if they could be portraying our own experiences from that era. They are sweet and nostalgic, sad and soul crushing, bitter and moving, deeply realistic and strangely fairy-tale-like. Kapka's style is mesmerizing, and her stories will haunt me, for they uncovered some aspects of our common history that - even though we all were vaguely aware of - we didn't actually know - KNOW them. I hate to see history repeat itself again nowadays. The Balkans sure love their eternal seesaw game and seem unable to learn from the mistakes of the past...

Anyways, it's a deeply poetic and moving book. Read it.

PS I only wish that Bulgarian writers made that extra effort to choose better narrators for their work. It was unbearably annoying to hear all those mispronunciations even of the simplest words like our capital's name, while other supposedly bulgarian/turkish/greek words were virtually unrecognizable when butchered in the narrator's mouth.

[Navi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful and evocative meditation on real and imagined borders. I was completely transfixed by the writing in this book. The author is a wordsmith! She weaves together the mythical and mundane in an amazing and surreal way.

The main premise of this book revolves around the author returning back to Bulgaria after emigrating twenty-five years ago. Her aim is to explore the border that Bulgaria shares with Turkey and Greece. I appreciated how the author combines history, mysticism and spirituality with the true accounts of the individuals living near and around the bordered regions. These accounts are told in a respectful and honest manner.

In between the different chapters, the author provides a Bulgarian word with a definition. This enhanced the reading experience for me as it emphasized the importance of place and nature that is evident throughout the narrative.

I highly recommend this book!

[emre · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Tüm ihtiyacım bir seyahate çıkmak" dediğim bu günlerde, Bulgaristan, Yunanistan ve Trakya'ya doğru seyahate çıkmışım, bu seyahati de iyi bir eşlikçi olan Kapka Kassabova ile yapmışım gibi hissettim bitirince. Kassabova dağınık olsa da amacı tam olarak buymuş, o "sınırda olma" hissini dağınıklıkla veriyormuş gibi görünen bir naratif kurmuş, halk öyküleri, dedikodular, kısmen reel politik ve tarih, ama hepsi bir şekilde sınırda, hep sınırın tekinsizliğinde. Bir başka Bulgar yazar olan Miroslav Penkov'un Batının Doğusu isimli öyküsünde bir karakterin babası, oğluna Bulgaristan'ı terk etmesini, Almanya'ya gitmesini öğütlerken "kahpedir bu topraklar, ve kahpelerden kimseye hayır gelmez" diyordu. Kitap boyunca bu sözleri hatırlayıp durdum.

[Sve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Странна е тази книга - не точно роман, не точно пътепис, не точно документалистика.
Авторката пътува в пограничните райони - в Странджа и Родопите, между България и Гърция и изследва как границата маркира живота - нейният и този на десетките хора, които среща.
Въпреки, че книгата се чете много леко, ми отне доста време да я довърша, толкова емоционално наситена, пълна с истории за раздели, безмислена смърт, изгубени надежди и започване отначало. И така сантиментална, взряна в едно "по-добро" минало, което не е ясно дали изобщо е съществувало или просто на всички много им се иска да е било и едно възможно, но не твърде вероятно бъдеще.
Нищо не е сигурно в пространствата и времето на тази книга - всичко се движи по границата между този и онзи свят, между минало и настояще, между лично и общо. Всичко е пропито в една балканска тъга - примирението на хората, родени и живеещи на кръстопът и подмятани насам натам от историята.
Мисля си, че всеки, който е роден на Балканите си струва да прочете тази книга. Макар тя да няма претенциите на научно изследване или може би точно заради това. Защото понякога си струва да прочетем не само историята, написана от победителите, но и тази на победените.

[Jovi Ene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kapka Kassabova s-a născut în 1973 la Sofia, pe când această țară se afla în spatele Cortinei de Fier, dar drumurile vieții au purtat-o spre Noua Zeelandă, apoi spre Scoția. La maturitate, după ce a devenit o scriitoare cunoscută, a plecat la drum pentru a-și retrăi și redescoperi rădăcinile, pendulând timp de doi ani între Bulgaria și Grecia, între Grecia și Turcia, între Turcia și Bulgaria, printre frontierele care au fărâmat și despărțit destinele oamenilor în ultimii 100 și ceva de ani. Plecând de la marele adevăr istoric, ea colindă la pas aceste locuri, descoperind miturile, tradițiile, istoria acestei frontiere, supraviețuind unor momente delicate și discutând cu oamenii simpli ai locului despre felul în care au supraviețuit la rândul lor istoriei, suferințelor și tragediei aduse de politica vremelnică a războiului și a terorii.
Am citit cele 500 de pagini cu Google Maps în față, am încercat să merg prin aceleași locuri cu autoarea, care a scris o carte cu totul și cu totul fascinantă!

[Angelina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Хванала съм се, че за да обява една книга за добра, тя трябва д отговаря на минимум две условия: да звучи адекватно в превод и да ме кара да търся още по темата. Много произведения падат жертва още на първата ми претенция (претенция си е, ама си е моя, какво...) , но съгласете се, че ако трябва да се изпада в безкрайни специфики само за да се опише една народна носия, читателят на хиляди километри от въпросната носия бързичко ще се заеме с нещо друго.
Изненада! Капка Касабова я е писала на английски! А преводът на български е такова бижу, че никога никой не бизаподозрял, че е превод! Това е книга, която много лисва на тукашната литература- книга, която разказва, която не назидава, не лепи етикети, не подчертава историческите събития с двойна червена линия, не си служи със шаблони, не свири на гайда и не пее граовската с претенции, че това е единственоото истинско българско. "Граница" е изследване на Балканите такова, каквото винаги съм си представяла, че трябва да бъде - с еднакво разбиране и емпатия към всички замесени, с осмисляне на общата земя, която делим, с необходимата доза мистицизъм, от която между Босфора и Дунава няма отърване. Четох си я бавно, мислих я, преживявах я, научих страшно много (особено за бегълците от бившите социалистичеси страни, Берлинската стена е нещо, към което имам особено отношение). И по начина, по който истинските аристократи не парадират с външния си вид и произхода си, "Граница" застана без много крясъци в редицата на задължителните съвременни творби, от които има какво да се научи за място, което сме свикнали да приемаме за даденост - България и знанието си, обргадено с граници. Които са много повече наложени, отколкото привични.
Препоръчвам. Разкошна книга.

[Nevena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Много ми хареса. Хем емоционална и лирична, хем си личи колко сериозни са били проучванията на авторката. За една от темите, които засяга (историческа и доста комплексна, между друугото) и аз съм чела доста и се възхитих колко балансирано и нюансирано я резюмира. Това, че Капка Касабова е добра разказвачка, си личи от факта, че е успяла да събере толкова въълнуващи истории от иначе баналния делник по границите на Балканите. Просто притежава чувствителността и въображението, за да свърже точките във фигури, които повечето от нас биха видели. И го прави с един прекрасен литературен усет, при това улавяйки духа на Балканите. А преводът на Невена Дишлиева-Кръстева е блестящ.

[Gabriela Pistol · Rating 3 out of 5]

O scriitură foarte frumoasă și la început mi-a plăcut și ideea de granița fizică vs. graniță mistică, frontieră obiectivă și spirituală, chiar ezoterică, nu doar între țări, ci între lumi.
Apoi, misticismul și subiectivitatea autoarei au înghițit, pe sute de pagini, poveștile oamenilor vii, adevărați, victime ale diferitelor regimuri grecești, turcești, bulgărești. Ale alungaților, proscrișilor, refugiaților. Le-au subminat credibilitatea.
Mai mult reportaj și mai puțină metaforă mi-ar fi plăcut.

[R · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great idea, poor structure, overbearing and annoying narration. Somehow every person she meets in three coutries speaks in the same semi-mystical tone and says basically nothing. All this aside it's not a bad book and got me interested in the region and it's history.

[Nevena Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a masterpiece. A must-read for everyone who wants to know the real Balkans and its people. A must- read for all of us who were born there.

Kapka Kassabova's writing is beautiful, insightful, relatable and sincere and it beautifully conveys the stories of the people from the border and the border itself.

My favourite part of the book:
"They had been married for sixty years, raised seven children, lost one, and to see them sitting together in the cherry dusk of this crumbling village, where they had created a world - through exile, military rule, border terror, poverty, and hard physical toil - well, it left me speechless.
'Come on, ask them questions,' Nevzat encouraged me, and held the camera up to film us. But my mind had gone blank.
They were dressed in sleeveless woollen cardigans, baggy trousers, and rubber galoshes. I felt it like a presence: the true spirit of the Balkans was here, in this garden thick with greenery. The true spirit of the Balkans that hangs on, no matter how renamed and resettled, imagined and invented. Our bitter beloved borderless Balkans."

[Cătălin Nedelciu · Rating 3 out of 5]

E o carte foarte valoroasă, pentru că reflectă perfect tot ce reprezintă impactul unei frontiere pentru comunitățile pe care le separă frontiera în cauză.
Kapka a călătorit de a lungul graniței turco-greco-bulgare și a scris cartea asta atingând subiecte mai interesante sau mai puțin interesante.
Tare mi-au plăcut pasajele despre istoria comunităților de acolo, despre impactul Cortinei de Fier, care trecea pe acolo, despre schimbul de populație pe care l-au făcut cele trei țări, dar și percepțiile și preconcepțiile pe care le au cele trei popoare unele despre celelalte.
Ceva mai puțin m-au interesat pasajele despre mitologie, superstiții, etc, dar e mai mult o preferință personală.
Cred că e o carte minunată, că în orice caz găsești ceva interesant cu care să rezonezi.

[Alexandru Gogoașă · Rating 5 out of 5]

O carte fabuloasa, un scurt manual de istorie, de lingvistică, mitologie, folclor. Un amestec de durere și de speranță.
Mărturisesc că dacă m-ar pune cineva sa povestesc partea de istorie a cărții nu as putea: sunt relatate atâtea strămutări dintr-o țară în alta încât m-au pierdut pe drum. Dramele oamenilor care devin monede de schimb nu cu foarte mult timp in urmă, ci în recentă istorie a Europei te îndeamnă la a fi precaut, la a-ți pune întrebări: oare noua ni se poate întâmpla? Ce as face dacă m-ar obliga statul să mă mut in alta tara ca și când ai muta o vită dintr-un grajd in altul? A fost Romania lui Ceaușescu norocoasă că nu a avut parte de un astfel de război ideologic( cel puțin eu nu știu de el)?
Evenimentele nu se petrec departe de noi, in Bulgaria, mai exact la granița acesteia cu Turcia și cu Grecia, o zona extrem de tensionată cat a durat Războiul Rece, dar și în timpul Războaielor Balcanice și nu numai.
Autoarea, de origine bulgară, încearcă să pătrundă sensul cuvântului "Frontiera " dincolo de explicația dintr-un dicționar, cercetează și vorbește cu foarte mulți oameni de diferite naționalități( turci bulgari, bulgari turci, greci, bosniaci, albanezi, bulgari musulmani și tot așa - un sistem foarte complicat cu multe variabile ) și reda mărturiile acestora și le analizează scurt fara a se lansa in teze complicate care oricum nu cred că ar aduce un răspuns.
Pentru mine, care sunt născut după '89 mi-a fost puțin greu sa țin pasul cu evenimentele relatate aici, istorice, și cumva sa le înțeleg, deși țin să cred că oricine citește cartea aceasta se confrunta cu o astfel de problema. "Butoiul cu pulbere al Europei" cum ni se spune la școală la care aș adăuga și Turcia în acest butoi.
Recomand aceasta carte, complexă, dureroasa, actuala și cu probleme ce nu par a se fi terminat și care nu sunt departe de noi. Iar atunci când ne-a fost greu sau când ne este greu sa ne gândim că altora le-a fost de 10 ori mai greu, mai ales când ești obligat să îți rupi rădăcinile și să încerci să crești în alt pământ care nu este al tău, mai ales când ești obligat să te convertesti la alte religii (atenție că și musulmanii au fost obligați să treacă la creștinismul ortodox ), să înveți alta limbă și să devii altcineva. Chiar autoarea care sta în Scoția spune în carte că își dorește totuși să moară în Bulgaria, sa se întoarcă și să își trăiască ultimele zile pe pământul ei natal.
Oare noile generații mai au simțul acesta al originilor ?
Va las sa descoperiți o carte fascinanta!