Monday Rachel Maddow had Yulia Navalny on her show, the widow of Alexei Navalny. She was there to plug a new book, not hers, but written by her husband in the final months of his life. Rachel said she compulsively read the whole thing, while not intending to, because it was unputdownable. She also said it was extremely moving.
So I ordered a copy, and it was delivered to me yesterday, the day it was published.
Rachel was right. It's unputdownable.
I don't know if there was a talented ghostwriter (none is mentioned) or whether Navalny himself was a world-class writer, but the stories, the pacing, the details about growing up in Gorbachev's Soviet Union are riveting. I'm only a third of the way through it, but already I can't wait to finish it. And it's a big book, 480 pages.
Navalny's decision to return to Russia, after recovering in Germany from a near-fatal poisoning by Putin's regime, remains inexplicable. According to Yulia he never considered NOT going back, because Russia was his country and he needed to do everything he could to bring about democracy in Russia. I don't know whether that's bravery or stupidity. The immensity of his death is magnified by this magnificent book, so I guess "stupidity" wasn't one of his defining traits.
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