The parallel between rescued dancing bears in Bulgaria and citizens of relatively newly democratized nations is a compelling idea. The writing is easy to read, and the viewpoints captured (particularly in the latter section focusing on people, not bears) are eye-opening. I'd love to read a little more analysis to give a sense of how prevalent the nostalgic attitudes are within those societies and whether they differ significantly between generations. (Also, my paltry understanding of Europe's complexities has been driven home.)

I don’t know if it was the translation or the writing, but i found the book a little confusing at parts. Especially the second half, I struggled to see what the message was. The title was a little misleading, because there wasn’t complete nostalgia (Greece or Estonia chapters) or there wasn’t a complete loss of “tyranny” (Cuba chapter). The first half, that was just about dancing bears, that was really interesting, and a cohesive story, but the second was a bit flat. I appreciate what he was trying to do, the thematic connections, but it didn’t quite land for me. But enough negatives. Standout chapters for me included the Georgian chapter, the Cuban chapter, and the Albanian (along with the first half).

“When something needs to be done for society, I go and do it. I’ve produced a wall newspaper for the employees and classes for single mothers bringing up children on their own. In the Communist era, everyone would have respected me. But now that we have capitalism, they look at me as if I’m an idiot.”

I thought I was reading a book about people with regrets about the fall of communism using former dancing bear keepers as a metaphor, but the organisation of the book made it so that for the first third, I was really just reading about the latter. While I personally found the structure strange, I still enjoyed the interludes about poverty, smuggling cheese over the Ukrainian border, Albanian bunkers and hobbits in Poland.

This is a breezy, quirky, funny travelogue that might even be better as an audible book. Having said that, I think the author may have been going for a deep allegorical examination of the psychological effects of regime change on the populations that are suddenly freed from tyranny. Either way the book is entertaining and I recommend it to most readers. Read the kindle highlights and judge for yourself; the writing is consistent throughout.

There's an introduction that discusses the overall theme of governmental change throughout Europe and of the release of performing bears in Bulgaria and how the two are related. (All of the stories that follow are anecdotal and I think the connection is absurdly gimmicky but very entertaining nonetheless.)

Part 1 is composed of 10 short titled chapters and is about the performing bears and their gypsy owners. The author has a good eye for an interesting angle and manages to make the whole thing simultaneously hilarious and sad.

Part 2 is also composed of 10 short chapters (same chapter titles) and is about the various peoples of Europe (mostly, the first chapter is about Cubans) freed (not in their opinion) from communist rule. Each of these chapters begins with an epigraph taken from a story from the same chapter in part 1. I liked the stories of part 1 better and didn't particularly like chapters 5 (Estonia) and 6 (Poland) but the chapters are short and that's not a reason to skip this book.

4 stars for the first half of the book and 2.5 for the second half.

The first half is poetic and devastating. The author paints such a clear picture of how complicated the movement from communism to democracy was for countries in the Eastern Bloc. I would recommend any American read this section of the book and experience how multifaceted that transition was and continues to be.

The second half was not as well organized, but the first-hand accounts by people all over the world are worth the read.

I seemed to like the first portion more, featuring the Bears and their keepers. Though I did like the parallels to the second portion. While not completely engrossing, it kept me interested.