I've been reading a really depressing book about Bulgaria titled <em>The Good Balkans</em> by a British journalist Jack Hamilton. He paints a colorful picture of life in Bulgaria shortly after the changes--that's the middle to late 1990's and the 2000's--but it seems to start off as a string of love stories but it's actually a string of heavy, disappointing and crushing stories.

In his book, Hamilton traces the recent Bulgarian past in present day Bulgaria--generally the political, social, economic and religious pressures that the country faces today but which have been a big part of the country's past as well.  I'd say that he gets a lot of it right--there are some really wonderful moments, where he gives words to things I've experienced and places I've been. These moments become shared experiences but in the end Bulgaria seems to have trampled on Hamilton.

He ends his book with this thought:
<blockquote>But there are no answers [to] these questions. Bulgaria is very good at hiding the solutions to its mysteries.</blockquote>
And this it seems to me is the easy answer--because it's no answer at all.

Truth be told, this doesn't happen to me much but when I got to the end of the book, I found myself frustrated. Why read this book at all? <!--more-->Why invest all of this time reading the poorly edited 300-page book if all you can tell me at the end is that after plowing through these 30)-pages you don't really see any solutions to the Bulgaria-problem? <em>Awesome</em>. Or actually not so awesome as the case may be.

It's funny, I wasn't looking for a feel good love story or anything about Bulgaria--I mean, I am in the Balkans but I was expecting something somehow more insightful than this book.

I don't normally get down on books--generally I can be happy reading almost anything.  Frankly, I was very happy reading many sections of this book. I just don't like feeling let down by a book. And this book let me down.

Interestingly, the book seems to be currently out of print. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Good-Balkans-Adventures-Bulgaria/dp/0955796903" target="_blank">Amazon.com </a>doesn't have a single copy new or used. I guess it's lucky that I was able to borrow the copy I read from a teacher at school.

It's also lucky that the book isn't much longer than it is because after reading it, I got really down about life Bulgaria. I finished the book late on Saturday morning and when a friend called to see if I wanted to meet her for coffee, I almost said no. I was still thinking about the book--I was still busy being depressed by the book and by Bulgaria.

At one point, I thought: it's a good thing you didn't read this book before moving to Bulgaria. Hopeful it is not. <em>Uplifting</em>? Far from it. <em>Truthful</em>? I think so. Worth reading? If you can get your hands on a copy, probably but just be warned--it's not a feel-good book.

But it was probably perfect preparation for the following combination: me + <em>Under the Yoke</em>.