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Street Without A Name: Childhood And Other Misadventures In Bulgaria (2008)

by Kapka Kassabova(Favorite Author)

3.61 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1846271231 (ISBN13: 9781846271236)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Portobello Books

review 1: Dark and fascinating; an intense and personal portrait of a tragically overlooked country. My favorite bit was the memoir in the first third, but her travels around Bulgaria are intriguing as well. I loved learning about the history of 1/8th of my roots, and taking a little tour around the country. But I was left really wondering what happened to Kapka between landing in New Zealand and moving to the Scottish Highlands--and I wish she had more hope for her native land.
review 2: The best part of this book was the fact that the author grew up in the neighborhood I live in, so I recognized many of the streets and local landmarks she references (hey, there's a photo of our McDonald's!). Other than this novelty factor, though, this book really paled in comparison t... moreo other Bulgarian books I've read (and international coming-of-age stories in general - Persepolis comes to mind as a similar story but is far better), not only in quality of writing but also, ironically, in giving a compelling portrayal of Bulgaria and the Balkan region. The frequent and direct comparisons to Orwell's 1984 were heavy handed and sounded trite and adolescent (my Bulgarian 10th graders who just finished reading 1984 could pick apart some of the flawed parallels in a heartbeat), reducing this complex country and people into a kind of archetype, and while I did like some of the stories surrounding Kassabova's education in the French lycee in Sofia and the subsequent lack of a sense of place for herself and her classmates, the contemporary parts of the book with the author road-tripping around Bulgaria were fragmented, hard to follow, and frankly seemed exploitative - as did much of the book overall. I don't know much about the author, but I very much got a sense of, "I know how I will break out as a writer - I will Write a Book about my Obscure Country and it will be my Literary Niche" and thus the road trip felt like a means to that end rather than a sincere and organic reflection on her country of birth. Also, the book needs a way better editor/proofreader - i.e., someone who can get the spelling of "Libya" correct on a consistent basis. less

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