Dressed Up for a Riot: Misadventures in Putin's Moscow

Вряд ли книгу прочтут сторонники популярной теории «либералы слили протест», но Миша на голубом глазу выдает деталь, которая для меня оставалась непонятной: а как у журналиста Сергея Пархоменко вообще появились переговорные позиции (с мэрией и АП) по месту проведения митинга «За честные выборы»? А это, оказывается, веселые хипстеры из «Жан-Жака» (важные герои этой книги, которые сначала обожали автора за то, что он из Нью-Йорка и типа Набоков нашего поколения, а потом прокляли за поход в глянец), потрудились: пасынок Пархоменко Илья Файбисович сделал его админом группы ФБ, в которой было уже несколько десятков тысяч участников. В остальном же книга, несмотря на периодическое очевидное сведение счетов, must read для всех очевидцев событий, людей из мира медиа и кино, которые захотят увидеть себя со стороны. Хорол, что кто-то взял на себя труд остроумно описать все то, что остальным кажется рутиной, например, феномен Собчак, которая помимо воли автора также становится важной героиней книги (длинноты с описанием нашей политической реальности для американцев можно пропускать, но там все аккуратно изложено, претензий по фактам, несмотря на очень личный фокус, почти нет).

I am one of the target audiences for this book: Russian/American and interested in an analysis of recent Russian politics and culture. Similar immigrant identity to Idov. And yet, in spite of all of that I could not get myself to like this book at all. It reads like being at a fancy, snobby dinner party with someone who is constantly namedropping people and expecting you to be impressed that he knows them,shits on everyone who's more talented than him (Pelevin, Sorokin, etc.), and expects you to be impressed with him, rather than talking to you, talking at you almost the entire time. So, I guess it's not unlike getting a taste of what running with the GQ Russia crowd is like, after all. His wife and daughter float like ghosts in the background while he checks Twitter for the millionth time to find out who did what and where. I was expecting a much more personal, nuanced memoir. For a much ,much better memoir of the Russian fashion industry that's done with heart, vim, and humor, read Alina Doletskaya's memoir.

3.5<br /><br /><b>“Ukraine was exactly like Russia, except it wasn’t. Even the word Ukraine meant <i>“heartland”</i> in its own language or <i>“outskirts”</i> in Russian, the two interpretations uncannily reflecting the two vantage points. Ever since the breakup of the U.S.S.R., the largest of the former Soviet republics occupied a strange place in the Russian psyche. Ukraine was a cautionary tale and an aspirational one, a provincial backwater that also happened to be more confidently European. While Russia spent centuries flailing around in search of its identity, Ukraine’s was self-evident, grounded in its own rich soil. Its language, to the Muscovite ear, sounded like a parody of Russian but underpinned a robust pop culture that often left Moscow behind, especially when it came to music. Similarly, the political Kiev often seemed like a joke—fisticuffs in the Parliament, a merry-go-round of shifting alliances at the top—but at least IT WAS ALIVE; the chaos was the best proof that things weren’t staged.”</b><br /><br />Knjiga je poduža reportaža o moskovskoj kulturnoj i opozicionoj sceni iz vremena (2012-2014) dok je Michael Idov službovao na mestu glavnog urednika magazina GQ Россия. Izvrsno se dopunjuje sa knjigom<br /><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31429068-ni-ta-nije-istina-i-sve-je-mogu-e?ac=1&amp;from_search=true&amp;qid=gw22NTmgHr&amp;rank=1" rel="nofollow noopener">Ništa nije istina i sve je moguće</a> Petera Pomerantseva. Obe su zanimljive hronike apsurdne, ruske svakodnevice, pune pasusa u kojima promiču Pelevin, Sorokin i brojna druga zvučna imena.<br /><br />Osim sveprisutne, sistemske korupcije, dokumentuju, pre svega, uvođenje drakonske kontrole nad ruskim medijima - pedantno striktne nakon ruske aneksije Krima; pri čemu je preferencijalna metoda vlasti, plansko obesmišljavanje čak i najbenignijih informativnih sadržaja i silovita estradizacija kako profesija tako i svih segmenata života. Nude, dakle, odgovore na pitanja - zašto nema opozicije, čime je ruska javnost pasivizirana, pa i kompletno paralisana; i otkad je počelo to, sad već uveliko i odigrano, isterivanje <b>pameti</b> iz zemlje.<br /><br />Domaćoj publici obe su instruktivne, koliko zbog ruskog rata u Ukrajini, toliko i zbog lokalno, poražavajuće prepoznatljivljih, mehanizama kontinuiranog “ispiranja mozga” koje, očigledno, autokratske zemlje prepisuju jedna od druge. <br /> <br />Podsetiću vas ujedno i da su sutra/danas (već kad ko čita) izbori u Srbiji, na svim nivoima, što je, ma koliko unapred izgubljeno, farsično ili uzaludno, retka prilika kad se i 'miševi' nešto pitaju! <br />Ovo su knjige koje beleže kako su Rusi tu olako stečenu demokratsku privilegiju, za sada, izgubili.

This book is brilliant. It's darkly comic and entertaining while also being informative. Idov's humor mirrors my own in a lot of ways, and I really enjoyed his book! The best part about this for me was seeing the events I followed on twitter and the news re-analyzed from a different perspective, put in chronological and/or logical (I know.) order. Loved this book and am looking forward to more work from M. Idov!

A terribly cynical and somewhat pretentious book that I found impossible to tear away from my eyes. The section on Kapkovianism crushed any disillusionment I had of a 'liberal' Moscow - in fact this book managed to crush many of my disillusionments regarding Russia. Maybe that's the point?

This is a delightful, often breezy, and always interesting, narrative of the author's two years in Moscow as the editor of a fashion glossy magazine - at a turning point in Russian politics, as opposition to Putin was evidently co-opted and effectively crushed. The book is a easy to read, clearly written, and a pleasure to read - the one complaint I will make though is that since 99.9% of the names of Russian personalities (media, political, literary, etc) figures are mostly not instantly recognizable, when they're cited pages after they've been initially mentioned, you have no idea who they are or what the reason is they're being cited. There is no index or index of "characters" - so you have to flip back through the book to find out who that person is, and thus figure out why he or she is being mentioned at that particular point in the book. However, even so, I found I got a lot out of reading the book - a lot of insight into today's Russia, especially the split that's occurred in that society between those who simply accept Putin's rather dictatorial rule, and those who still persist in trying to put up a resistance, have demonstrations etc. The book humanizes Russians - which is a good thing considering today's hysteria over Russiagate. Regular pro-democracy Russians and Americans have a common foe as it were - Putin. Russians suffer all sorts of hard knocks in trying to express disapproval of Putin - peaceful demonstrators are routinely arrested, and the independent press (or whatever is left of it) is marginalized. Most political parties are co-opted by Putin or his oligarchs, and the Russian parliament is therefore not much of a counterweight to Putin. Therefore, the system there is essentially one-man rule. Corruption is rampant - many investigative reporters who have reported on gov corruption have died under violent or mysterious circumstances. There are all sorts of censorship laws. Thus, Russia has fallen under a near-dictatorship once again despite having gotten rid of actual dictatorship about 25 years ago. I would recommend this book to anyone who seeks direct insight that is even oftentimes funny, into life in Russia today. It will not disappoint!

Fantastic read. Born in Russia, raised in Latvia and then primarily Cleveland, Ohio, Michael Idov returns to Russia in 2012 to take a job as editor of GQ magazine. This is his account of the life of Moscow's creative intelligentsia in that period. With dazzling prose and incisive wit, he brings to life the various hallmarks of Moscow society in the 2010's: angst and protest energy coopted into hipsterdom and bourgeois comforts; the paradoxes of late Putinism, Kapkovism, the Crimean annexation, etc. His exploration of widespread cynicism and egotism as a form of resignation and a defense mechanism is rather interesting. I.e., trying for something better is hopeless, so I might as well get every last drop of hedonistic enjoyment or selfish career advancement that I can... This is definitely one of the best books about contemporary Russia that I've encountered.<br />

For anyone who lived through the brief excitement of Moscow opposition protests of 2011-12, for anyone who read Afisha, Bolshoy Gorod and GQ, followed the new generation of talented reporters and all the controversies of failed opposition leaders, and saw the city changing before their eyes. Too close for comfort, but too good to put down.

Having immigrated to New York from the Soviet Union as a teen, Michael Idov returns to Russia in 2012 to run the Russian GQ, then transitions into working as a scriptwriter. This is a very comprehensive account of Putin's second term in office and all the political and social turmoil of the contemporary Russia. The writer is clearly torn between the desire to live an ethical life, and the desire for a successful life (with power, money, and glory) -- and he presents his conflict with a decent amount of self-reflection.

Overall I was disappointed with this book - why?<br /><br />My expectation was to gain some insights into Putin's Russia from someone who had lived and worked in Moscow from 2011 through 2014. Mr. Idov was the editor-in-chief for GQ-Russia during the period. The title of the book, "Dressed Up for a Riot" subtly connects his GQ employment with the period when Pussy Riot was arrested and the aftermath of that, along with the rise and then decline of significant opposition to Putin. The sub-title, "Misadventures in Putin's Moscow" to me is suggestive of American travel narratives where the author, through no fault of his own, keeps getting into various difficult situations that are relayed in the book with some hilarity. Which is not what is going on in this book at all, so an odd (and inaccurate) choice. <br /><br />There is no doubt Mr. Idov is a smart and intelligent guy, and a good writer. His parents and he (at a young age) left post-Soviet Latvia in 1992 to move to the US. Twenty years later, he is selected to be the editor-in-chief of the Russian edition of GQ for Conde Nast. The book is a collection of his observations about Russia - or some aspects of Russia - during the time he had that position.<br /><br />The book is about 260 pages long. It takes about 60 pages of background before the reader (and Idov) arrive at his starting his position in Moscow with GQ. The next chapter is mostly about the challenges of gaining control of his assigned task, running the magazine. While this is all happening in a Russian context and "very Russian" (I suppose), the cast of characters are from the odd narrowly focused world he was inhabiting, a part of something like Russian high society (I guess that is how best to characterize them).<br /><br />For the next three chapters, the focus is more on the Putin regime and organized opposition to it, but almost entirely the opposition from those within the circles he traveled in. I don't know who Mr. Idov thinks of as his reader here, but for most people this provides a fairly unbalanced picture of opposition to Putin among Russians generally.<br /><br />Possibly the most interesting aspect of this narrative is Mr. Idov's description of his own migration from almost active participation in the anti-Putin movement (which he concedes isn't in keeping with being a journalist) to someone who is more interested in is successful in this version of Putin's Russia on his own terms. This transformation follows his migration from being the less-than-satisfactory editor of GQ to being a fully successfully developer of and writer for new television series for the Russian market, which includes close associations with many different people who have given up on any significant activities in opposition to Putin in favor career success and a "we can get along with his leadership" attitude. It's a surprising admission.<br /><br />The final chapter starts with the Russian invasion of Ukrainian Crimea after the Sochi Olympics and works through various events with perhaps a larger scope of discussion than much of the rest of the book for its 40 pages. The main point is that things become such that Mr. Idov and his family leave Moscow for Berlin - he has had enough of Russia, although he will keep his apartment in Moscow and he's glad his daughter, age three, now speaks fluent Russian. Nevertheless, even having failed with GQ he is pleased with his success with TV, including the Londongrad series (about an agency that solves wealthy Russians' problems when living in the UK - there is a trailer here: <a href="https://youtu.be/R6a2duHWqgM" rel="nofollow noopener">https://youtu.be/R6a2duHWqgM</a>).<br /><br />Alas he is disappointed that his idea for a series about an American (basically about himself) who comes to Russia as a journalist is only realized by a Russian network that steals the idea - "How I Became Russian" (or perhaps, How I became a Russian) that he feels warps the concept and turns it into yet more pro-Russian, anti-American propaganda. (Which it certainly does - here is an episode online: <a href="https://youtu.be/FNPyVY8v9Kw" rel="nofollow noopener">https://youtu.be/FNPyVY8v9Kw</a>.)<br /><br />I'm not sure how to characterize this book - I guess it seems like inside baseball, more or less. What most people would get out of this to improve an understanding of Russia. Too much Michael Idov and his world and not enough observations of Russia outside the world.