LONGLISTED FOR THE 2025 MOORE PRIZE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS WRITING
Blending the call to action of We Should All Be Feminists with the journalistic rigor of Masha Gessen, "an exquisite feminist critique of Russia's oppressive tactics" (Kirkus Reviews) revealing how modern Russia's history of weaponizing sexual violence plays a crucial role in its current geopolitical strategy
"It's one of those books that can truly change a reader's life. . . . A powerful, unforgettable read." -Andrey Kurkov, award-winning author of Grey Bees and The Silver Bone
"Thoughtful, instructive and deeply harrowing." -Luke Harding, The Guardian
On March 22, 2023, the Swedish Academy organized a conference on threats to democracy and freedom of expression featuring a slate of distinguished speakers including Arundhati Roy, Timothy Snyder, and Sofi Oksanen. Oksanen's address-entitled "Putin's War on Women"- would go on to spark such interest that the acclaimed Finnish writer felt compelled to return to it as the basis for a larger, more in-depth look at Putin's threat to women. The result is Same River, Twice, a devastating book-length essay that incisively builds on the themes and arguments first presented in her powerful speech.
During the Soviet occupation of Estonia, Oksanen's great-aunt was arrested and brutally interrogated overnight. Left permanently traumatized by the experience, she would never speak again. Using her family story as a starting point, Oksanen launches an investigation into the systematic crimes that the Russian government has, for nearly a century, committed with impunity. From the Russian military's entry into Berlin in 1945 to its modern invasion of Ukraine, Russia has continually employed violence against women when combatting its enemies. Life for women in Putin's Russia is little better; gender equality is in decline, women are silenced by the legal system, and rape is used to humiliate victims, especially women in media.
Through Oksanen's sober analysis a disturbing picture emerges: under Putin, misogyny has become foundational to the state's power. It underpins the current regime, serves as a means of weaving international alliances, and forms an essential part of Russia's ongoing genocide in Ukraine, in turn posing a threat to the rights of women and minorities worldwide. As threats to democracy grow stronger across the globe, the powerful and timely Same River, Twice is a warning that cannot not be ignored.
Translated from the Finnish by Owen F. Witesman
Rezensionen / Stimmen
"Growing up on the lines that straddled the Western world and the colonized nations of the Soviet Union, Sofi Oksanen recognized that the borders colonialism drew on maps crossed bodies, too -especially the bodies of women. In Same River, Twice, one of Europe's leading novelists uses her personal experience to shed light on the personal experiences of others: ordinary women trapped in the crossfire of a great geopolitical game." - Benjamin Moser, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Sontag: Her Life and Work
"An exquisite feminist critique of Russia's oppressive tactics." - Kirkus Reviews
"Thoughtful, instructive and deeply harrowing. . . . The book makes a compelling case that misogyny and imperialism are linked." - Luke Harding, The Guardian
"[A] devastating polemic . . .Elegant, passionate . . . Historical and geographical details illuminate, but do not obscure, [Oksanen's] personal and political perspectives." - The Times (UK)
"In a raging, bitter essay, the Finnish writer offers a lucid interpretation of the massive sexual violence practiced by the Russian army in Ukraine." - Le Monde
Sprache
Verlagsort
Verlagsgruppe
HarperCollins Publishers Inc
Maße
Höhe: 206 mm
Breite: 137 mm
Dicke: 17 mm
Gewicht
ISBN-13
978-0-06-343544-5 (9780063435445)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Klassifikation
Finnish Estonian novelist, librettist, and playwright Sofi Oksanen is one of the most awarded literary authors of northern Europe. Her books have been translated into more than forty-six languages and sold over two million copies. Called a "literary phenomenon" by the Times (London), Oksanen has, since making her international breakthrough with Purge, continued to weave historical and contemporary issues into her work through increasingly imaginative and affecting ways. Her most recent work is Same River, Twice: Putin's War on Women. She currently resides in Helsinki.
