From the Bookshelf of Around the World in 80 Books…

Other Russias

Victoria Lomasko,

Thomas Campbell (Translation)

Start date: November 7, 2018

Finish date: December 11, 2018

Discussion: RUSSIA: Other Russias

Why we're reading this: Our choice for Russia is Other Russias. What does it mean to live in Russia today? What is it like to gro…more
[close] Our choice for Russia is Other Russias. What does it mean to live in Russia today? What is it like to grow up in a forgotten city, to be a migrant worker or to grow old and seek solace in the Orthodox church?

For the past eight years, graphic artist and activist Victoria Lomasko has been travelling around Russia and talking to people as she draws their stories. She spent time in dying villages where schoolteachers outnumber students; she stayed with sex workers in the city of Nizhny Novgorod; she went to juvenile prisons and spoke to kids who have no contact with the outside world; and she attended every major political rally in Moscow.

Discussion from December 6 - 11.

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What Members Thought

Dec 10, 2018 Becki Iverson rated it it was amazing

For the first time pretty much all year I got AHEAD on reading for my global book club! This was so eye opening to read. I love graphic novels and the format is especially helpful here, as it allows us to see the diverse kinds of people Lomasko describes. It's easy to forget living so far away in America and amidst all the propaganda we get about Russia just how damn big it is (literally continent+ sized) and how many infinite groups of people live there. There's a stereotypical U.S.S.R. type bu ...more

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Jan 01, 2019 Elizabeth rated it really liked it

Shelves: graphic-novels, around-the-world, russia-slavic

A very unique graphic novel (Lomasko calls her work “graphic reportage”) that gives a voice to the downtrodden in Putin’s Russia through art. We meet enslaved women lured from Kazakhstan under a false promise of work, sex workers, juvenile delinquents taking art classes in prison, children of ethnic minority migrant workers in rural schools that are pressed for resources, and LGBT Russians putting on queer film festivals amidst bomb threats. The second part of the book focuses on recent activism A very unique graphic novel (Lomasko calls her work “graphic reportage”) that gives a voice to the downtrodden in Putin’s Russia through art. We meet enslaved women lured from Kazakhstan under a false promise of work, sex workers, juvenile delinquents taking art classes in prison, children of ethnic minority migrant workers in rural schools that are pressed for resources, and LGBT Russians putting on queer film festivals amidst bomb threats. The second part of the book focuses on recent activism in Russia during the years 2008 to 2016, from Pussy Riot to protests surrounding Putin’s re-election, truckers pushing back against steep tolls to locals who don’t want their parks converted into Orthodox churches. Lomasko documents several trials of activists, and this was quite eye-opening; the women in the band Pussy Riot, for example, faced years of jail time for "hooliganism" and "inciting religious hatred" after publicly speaking out against the president. I also found it interesting how some activists were suspicious of all parties and emphasized that they wanted to avoid “politics” and stick to a single issue.

The book’s format is a bit different than other graphic novels I’ve read. There is mostly one drawing per page which is accompanied by large chunks of text, and some drawings are more sketchy than others, since Lomasko makes a point of drawing all her subjects in real time (and in some cases had time limits). The introduction emphasizes some differences of culture and tradition that influenced the style, for instance there is apparently a taboo against life drawing in post-Soviet Russia (thus the drawing in and of itself is a form of protest). Lomasko also explains that her activism builds off of a tradition of “albums produced by Russian soldiers, concentration camp inmates, and people who experienced the Nazi siege of Leningrad. In many cases, urgent work like this was the only kind of reporting that was done in these brutal conditions — these albums were the sole acts of witness.” All in all I liked this new (to me) style of artistic activism and appreciated the chance to get distinct glimpse into certain aspects of contemporary Russian society that are not frequently covered here in the US. ...more

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May 31, 2018 Cait marked it as to-read

Shelves: russia

Jan 31, 2019 Kara Cypher marked it as to-read

Jun 22, 2019 Sylvia Bull rated it really liked it

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