Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

Over the years, I have grown wary of the literature (both fiction and non-fiction) produced around Albanian communism and its immediate aftermath. If not going the route of sterile allegories, those who write about Albania's past tend to portray life under Communism in a way that flattens all complexities for the sake of condensing as much pain on the page as possible. And there are several reasons for that, chief being a belief in the power of narrative to bring about justice. But more often than not these stories are published because they respond to the Western market's demand for such narratives, often to justify the need for the neoliberal reforms pushed by the EU and the NGO industrial complex.

Free does not fall into any of these traps. It is nuanced, oftentimes hilarious, a masterful blend of the personal and political, and above all original in its confrontation with Communism and Albania's long transition into a liberal and "democratic" country.

From this side of history (and especially to Western readers), there are many aspects to life under Communism that may seem absurd, or improbable. And in reading about those experiences, there can be a tendency to exoticize them, or to feel pity, both on the part of the reader and the writer. It ends up feeling too expository or not genuine. But Ypi manages to sidestep this minefield by inhabiting and writing from the position of the child she used to be, a charming kid who took everything at face value. In doing so, the complex mechanisms of Communism are always present, but rarely interrogated, which allows us to live as little Lea lived: loving xhaxhi Enver and believing in Stalin, yes, but also exchanging gum wrappers for a chance at a sniff, and feeling genuine happiness at having an empty can of Coke to display on top of the TV.

This first section had me in stitches. It felt so real, including the tendency to remember communism through the lens of humor. There is this frank quality to Ypi's writing that manages to capture the atmosphere of Albania in those years. I can't quite explain it, unless you've experienced it yourself. It's all in the details really, the brands, the shops, the classes, the vocabulary that managed to survive the end of Communism through the decades.

But if the first part of Ypi's book is brilliant in its narrative, the second portion - focusing on Albania in the early 90s - is an absolute tour de force. It is harrowing, poignant, and a masterful analysis of the policies that led to the 1997 civil war; it is also a brilliant takedown of the groups and ideas that were meant to make of Albania a "western" democracy, with a "market economy" and the human costs of these "structural reforms."

It is astounding to read how the vocabulary of neoliberalism swiftly replaced a socialist vocabulary; and what's even more astounding is to realize that it's been 30 years, and we are still stuck in the same carousel. It's the same organizations and structures making the same promises and demands; the same dreams of achieving European standards, of being told to fight for freedom, and rule of law -- all while institutions like the World Bank recommend that our government lower its minimum wage requirements to attract more investments. At a time when, the minimum wage requirement is not enough to survive on. And as people leave en masse, Western-sponsored media publish articles where they speak of lazy Albanian workers who are no longer willing to work for scraps, thus "requiring" companies to hire foreign workers. Meanwhile, Albania's putative socialist Prime Minister jokes that foreign workers are better for business because they don't speak Albanian and thus can't unionize.

This is a thought-provoking book that I'm going to return to over and over. I did have some minor qualms. As an Albanian reader, I found some of the exposition a bit jarring, and I could always feel the Albanian vocabulary underneath the English, which made it a clunky reading experience at times. The discussion about freedom felt forced in, especially toward the beginning. But still, a wonderful read that doesn't fall into the trap of forgetting that life under a so-called authoritarian regime can be just as uneventful and routine as life anywhere else. Sometimes it's just life.