Non-fiction
Read & Riot
by Nadya Tolokonnikova
Harper One ★★★★★
Nadya Tolokonnikova wrote this book in English and it was “humbling as hell” because she didn’t always know how to express herself. The Pussy Riot member needn’t make excuses: her message is clear. Our greatest enemy is apathy – and a lack of political consciousness is what Russia’s ruling class wants. Read & Riot is not specifically about President Vladimir Putin and his cohorts, however. And as she has said before, anyone can be Pussy Riot – you just need to “make your government s*** its pants” if you want real democracy, a better quality of life, a free media and environmental responsibility. Tolokonnikova, who spent two years in jail because of an obscenity-laden performance in a cathedral in 2012, writes in frenzied fashion, making you laugh at her shamelessness and cheer her on when she calls for a DIY ethos in politics, which, she says, encourages self-education. Away from the pointers (and not everyone will want to become an “anarchist-hijacker”, or even a shoplifter), Tolokonnikova gives vignettes of her early life in “the most polluted city on the planet” (Norilsk). This book, divided into Words, Deeds and Heroes, ends with a helpful reading list that should make all rebels yell.
I’ve Never Been (Un)happier by Shaheen Bhatt Penguin Books
★★★ ★
“Doesn’t sound like much fun,” a friend joked years ago on picking up a copy of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s 1967 novel One Hundred Years of Solitude. Similarly, readers may be turned off a book that is a first-person account of depression.
But enjoyment is not the aim of I’ve Never Been (Un)happier, by screenwriter Shaheen Bhatt (actor and singer Alia Bhatt’s older sister). In this unrelenting work, the author lays out her darkest moods, revealing that she was diagnosed with clinical depression at 18 years of age and has attempted suicide. The book chronicles how Bhatt came to accept her depression, but much of it is also a shout out to loved ones who may not otherwise know how to behave around sufferers. To her question “Why don’t I know how to be happy,” her father responded: “Stop wasting your energy chasing something that doesn’t exist.
You can’t spend your life feeling bad about feeling bad.” His words shifted something in Bhatt, allowing her to appreciate that “happiness is a one-note emotion that doesn’t challenge you in any way”. This is an intense read perfect for the new Penguin Petit short-reads format.