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Desperate to escape South Texas, Stephanie Elizondo Griest dreamed of becoming a foreign correspondent. So she headed to Russia looking for some excitement—commencing what would become a four-year, twelve-nation Communist bloc tour that shattered her preconceived notions of the "Evil Empire."
In Around the Bloc, Griest relates her experiences as a volunteer at a children's shelter in Moscow, a propaganda polisher at the office of the Chinese Communist Party's English-language mouthpiece in Beijing, and a belly dancer among the rumba queens of Havana. She falls in love with an ex-soldier who narrowly avoided radiation cleanup duties at Chernobyl, hangs out with Cuban hip-hop artists, and comes to difficult realizations about the meaning of democracy.
is the absorbing story of a young journalist driven by a desire to witness the effects of Communism. Along the way, she learns the Russian mathematical equation for buying dinner-party vodka (one bottle per guest, plus an extra), stumbles upon Beijing's underground gay scene, marches with 100,000 mothers demanding Elián González's return to Cuba, and gains a new appreciation for the Mexican culture she left behind.
| Price | Condition | Delivery | Seller | Action |
| $99.99 | Digital |
| WonderClub |
Noah Fox
reviewed Around the Bloc: My Life in Moscow, Beijing, and Havana on August 01, 2010
Around the Bloc: My Life in Moscow, Beijing, and Havana
A mostly delightful account of the author's time spent living in three Communist countries: Russia (although it was 5 years past Communism when she lived there), China, and Cuba.
The big downside was Griest's tendency to come across very "ugly American" at certain points in the book. I especially found her never-wavering belief that everyone wants to be like America to be grating, particularly by time she got to her third country, after she had been repeatedly told that people pretty much don't. I mean, really, how hard is it to understand that peoples of different countries have different values and not everybody thinks that America is the most awesome place in the world?
However, Griest did seem relatively self-aware of her own "ugly American" tendencies, which made up for it to some extent. And, otherwise, her writing was very accessible, fun, and interesting. I found her chapter on Russia particularly informative and insightful. I zipped through this book very fast.
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