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An Albanian writer reflects on her personal experience of her country’s transition out of Soviet-style socialism and into civil war.

Growing up, Ypi, a professor of political theory at the London School of Economics, had complete faith in what she was taught in school. At home, she urged her parents to display a picture of Prime Minister Enver Hoxha—whom she and her classmates called “Uncle Enver”—in their living room. At school, she was thrilled to be chosen to join the Pioneers of Enver, a socialist youth group, a year before the rest of her peers. It wasn’t until the country’s first “free and fair election” that Ypi realized her own parents had never supported the repressive government and, in fact, were grateful to see it fall. Even more shocking were the family secrets that her parents, now unafraid, revealed to her in rapid succession: Her beloved grandmother used to be an aristocrat so well connected that she attended a royal wedding; a “former prime minister whom I had grown up despising” was her great-grandfather; and her mother came from a long line of formerly wealthy property owners. In the years that followed, Ypi weathered not only a changing country, but also a changing sense of self, as she released political beliefs she had held for decades. The author’s narrative voice is stunning, expertly balancing humor, pathos, and deep affection for the characters and places that defined her past. She is adept at immersing readers in her childhood experiences of unquestioned loyalty to “The Party” while also maintaining a tongue-in-cheek, critical distance from what she now recognizes as a tyrannical regime. However, while the scenes and characterizations are captivating, the book lacks a clear narrative arc, making the chapters feel more like a loose collection of memories than a cohesive story.

A poignant, humorous memoir about growing up during the decline and fall of the Iron Curtain.