Third Life

"Third Life" — a continuation of the previously published autobiographical novel by Alexander Podrabinek "Dissidents". The new book — new times: the last years of socialism, the collapse of the USSR, the downfall of communism, a convulsive leap towards democracy,... and a gradual slide back into the Soviet past. Attempts to defend democratic values face the vanity of politicians, the careerism of officials, the bias of human rights advocates, and society's indifference to its own freedom. The book will be interesting to those who expect a repetition in Russia of the dramatic events in the USSR at the end of the 20th century.

FROM THE AUTHOR:

"The flight attendants looked at us with tears in their eyes. They thought that in Moscow, upon exiting the plane, soldiers would greet us and either immediately shoot us on the runway or take us to the terrifying basements of their famous KGB".

"We were already getting ready to sleep on a bench and would have peacefully spent the whole night in the cell, if that evening the Moscow police had not conducted a raid on prostitutes. And so girls of not too heavy behavior began to be placed in our cell".

"Makeshift barricades were being built on the approaches to the White House. What kind of revolution is it without barricades? We all know that the uprising people must necessarily build barricades!"

"We tried to build democracy on sand. But the next wave of history washed away all our constructions, leaving on the shore not even traces of our hopes and efforts. Russia is slowly sliding back into its suffocating past".