Patriot: A Memoir

This remarkable memoir and prison diary could only have been executed (a deliberate word choice) by a man of incredible courage, persistence, and humor, who was executed by a weak coward lacking in any conscience or humanity. It begins with his painfully vivid description of his poisoning in August 2020, the life-saving act of Angela Merkel in convincing Putin to allow Navalny to be transferred to Berlin, and his months of recovery. Then follows his memoir, including a happy childhood about 434 miles from Chernobyl, the overwhelming impact of the disaster on the residents, and the government's complete inability to build new homes or to provide the consumer goods needed to sustain life ("Your old tracksuit was gone, and who was going to show more sew you a new one - Karl Marx?"). The corruption that funded government officials and oligarchs’ lavish lifestyles, with mansions and mistresses, and Navalny's overwhelming love for his sad country, sets him on the path to become a lawyer and a candidate for the opposition. With a cadre of brave anti-corruption activists, he campaigns and runs for office despite the personal risks to his family, and the most remarkable parts of the book are not the prison diaries that come later, with the absurdity and indignities of solitary confinement, the show trials and corrupt judges, the hunger strike - but his simple explanation for his return from Germany and his ongoing political work - that he did it all for the love of his country. He is an incredible writer and spends much of his words reassuring the reader that he accepts the likely outcome of his actions because his faith and conscience would not allow an easier course. The palpable pain and regret of this daring life, seemingly futile now, makes you feel that you have lost a true friend when his death comes in February, 2024 in a prison camp above the Arctic Circle. show less

Alexei Navalny is dead, but his cause will never die until Russia is free. I regarded this book as a must-read as soon as I saw it, though I live in Canada and have zero Russian heritage. He was a martyr for democracy - an almost unimaginable necessity here (thus far) - which makes him fascinating and directly confronts one with the question: could I be so brave, to defend with my life these privileges I enjoy?

The first half of this book is a short biography, becoming more brisk towards its end when Navalny was writing from prison - and sometimes rewriting, after portions were confiscated. The latter half is a prison diary, interspersed with contemporary entries posted to the internet. Both parts display jovial light-heartedness and show more commitment to his cause. Again and again, Navalny emphasizes his central messages: Russia must be free, always speak the truth, and do not fear Putin's regime. Simple, everyday concepts that he amply demonstrated can terrify Putin and his cronies when applied consistently. I could not uncover anything magical at the root of his conviction. He simply made it his choice and part of his identity, a part that could not be harmed by any trumped up charge or act of privation fruitlessly aimed at silencing him.

That Alexei was able to write this memoir and diary, and that his wife got it into print for the world to read, is a remarkable victory for his cause and the Russian people. It is in all ways regrettable that Russia lost this man, especially when he was the impetus for the Ankara prisoner exchange that was too late to save him. He was a shining light in a dark period of his country's history, a period that may continue for the foreseeable future but must inevitably end. Others follow in his footsteps, lending hope that whatever government replaces Putin's regime will receive Navalny's undying wisdom and spirit. show less

This is one of those memoirs that refuses to fit neatly. It begins as a personal reflection and transforms into a prison diary cut short by Navalny’s tragic, unjust death. The shift in tone and urgency is intense and emotional. Navalny is complex and compelling, passionate, fearless, sharp, funny, and relentlessly focused on exposing corruption in Russia. His clarity about the danger he faced is disturbing. He knew the cost of his defiance. That made listening so difficult, we know how it ends. Structurally, this is not a perfect memoir. It’s abrupt, unresolved, and fragmented. It’s a reminder of the real and devastating cost of speaking out. It made me furious, moved, and uncertain about what hope even looks like in a world that show more silences voices like his. A vital listen, even if it’s a hard one. show less

But one day I simply made the decision not to be afraid. from Patriot by Alexei Navalny

I went into this book expecting to be inspired, but I also expected to be depressed by it. Navlany’s recount of the rise of Putin’s corrupt government and life under an authoritarian dictatorship is horrifying, especially while watching the present US administration endeavor to establish its own authoritarian control.

But I discovered that Nalvany was also a goofy guy with a sense of the absurd. However bad things became, that sense of humor came through.

On his son’s birthday, he wished he could have had a normal day with his son. “Let’s face it,” he quips, “you don’t get to choose your parents. Some kids get stuck with jailbirds.” show more Reading English history and about the War of the Roses, he decides that Game of Thrones “is pretty much copied from them. Only dragons were added.”

I was completely engaged by Navalny’s narrative.

He was a man of conviction and faith. The birth of his daughter altered him from atheist to a believer. The book ends with”My job is to seek the Kingdom of God and is righteousness, and leave it to good old Jesus and the rest of his family to deal with everything else. […] As they say in prison here: they will take my punches for me.”

Navalny was committed to staying the course. He understood that authoritarian dictatorships were hard to topple. And he knew he would die in prison unless Putin was disposed, freeing him.

Navalny begins his story with the day he was poisoned for his anti-Putin activism. After recovery abroad, he elected to return to his homeland and continue the fight against corruption. He was arrested at the airport.

He recounts his early years finding his political voice during the changing politics in Russia: the fall of the USSR, the rise of gangsters and oligarchs employing capitalism for personal gain, culminating in Putin’s government, founded on corruption and lies.

The second part of the book is his prison diary. Caught in a corrupt system, enduring subtle torture and neglect, he still maintained a sense of humor and humanity.

In many ways, Navalny’s book is a blueprint for activists.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book. show less

Devastating. An extremely difficult book to read at this moment of time when Putin's rotten empire has spread to the place I live and even the beacon of democracy USA and I need to ask myself daily how brave I actually am and what I'm ready to sacrifice for freedom and truth.

I was moved deeply, I cried a lot, lost my appetite and sleep over it, and I can't stop thinking about it.

Redefines "the strength of one's convictions" and prints that out in a bold, defiant language. Inspiring and, in the end, devastating. The people of Russia lost out on a truly patriotic leader and an alternate history.

Patriot: A Memoir, Alexei Navalny-author; Matthew Goode, narrator
Read superbly by Matthew Goode, Navalny’s memoir, although repetitive by the very nature of his life, is eye-opening about Russia’s dictatorship, Putin’s barbaric regime and the corrupt methods of the Kremlin’s penal system, a system in which Navalny spent many years going from one prison to another, each worse than the one before.
Although Navalny had little realistic hope of release from prison at the end of his short life, he never gave up his effort to bring about change in Russia's government. Nothing they did to him could make him give up trying to defeat Putin and what he believed was a regime that abused its power and should be overthrown. His family and his show more supporters cheered him on even though they were also abused, arrested and imprisoned. Still, he was the one who was ultimately imprisoned and never released. He was the one who willingly subjected himself to the Russian system that tried to stop him, again and again. He was tormented and manipulated as they tried to demoralize him. He was arrested and removed from society, forcibly, with the creation of laws that were simply made up to suit any situation necessary, with Putin’s approval. (In some ways, it reminded me of how laws were manipulated to try and stop Donald Trump in the United States, though fortunately with a far different outcome.). Each time Navalny served his sentence, or refuted a charge, a new one was often levied against him, and although they sometimes even defied common sense, they were treated as legitimate in their system of kangaroo courts. At the end, he was labeled a terrorist, and finally he was sent to a penal colony in the Arctic Circle where he soon died from suspicious causes, according to some.
To intimidate Alexei, and to remove any legal recourse he might have, laws were designed to keep him in prison. He was denied basic rights, appropriate creature comforts, medical care, and nutritional needs. He was placed in solitary confinement and punishment cells for periods of time that broke Russia’s own legal codes and penal system rules. They used any means they could think up to try and wear him down and stop him from his protests. He was refused ordinary things like pen and paper, and he was only allowed to use them for brief periods of time. He could not share his food with other prisoners or share theirs, even something so simple like a slice of apple. He was refused adequate clothing. He was under constant surveillance and was subjected to frequent searches of his cell, clothing and body. He had become a lightning rod for dissent, and he was a public enemy. Although he knew that he would probably be arrested often, his legal efforts would likely fail, and his time with his family and ultimately his life would be cut short, he never gave up. He was nothing, if not brave and dedicated to the cause.
An arch enemy of President Putin, he was deliberately poisoned with a nerve agent. Defying the odds, he survived when he was able to get appropriate life-saving treatment in Berlin. He then insisted on returning to Russia, although he knew the odds of another arrest, or another attempted assassination were highly likely. He was devoted to his activism and returned to Russia with his wife, who always supported him. After his recovery and return, he was immediately imprisoned for the final time, and although time after time new charges were invented, his punishments were increased, and his legal rights were abused in an attempt to intimidate and silence him, he never weakened. Although he went on a hunger strike, he was not able to alter the charges against him, and he remained in prison. When he died, he was just 47. The world now wonders whether he died as a result of the nerve agent poisoning’s latent effects, the punishment his body was subjected to in his last few years in prison when he was shuttled from penal colony to penal colony, each one worse than the other, from natural causes due to the abuses his body was forced to endure, or was actually murdered by Putin’s cohorts with orders from the Kremlin.
Alexei Navalny possessed an indomitable spirit, and he was always optimistic in the face of the worst prospects. However, he did succumb, and regardless of the cause, one has to wonder what he actually accomplished from all of his suffering and the inability to be with his family, since Putin is alive and well and still very much in charge of Russia. It is a sad loss to those who supported him. Yulia Navalnaya, his devoted wife, has stepped up to take his place. She too has been threatened with the same fate as her husband if she returns to Russia. She inspires people to continue his effort, but Putin seems firmly entrenched.
It is a hard book to read because it is very long, and the unfortunate outcome is known, but anyone who objects to life in America, should perhaps try to live in Russia and then wake up to a new reality. Britney Griner was forced to, but she had the good fortune to be freed, although she did break their laws. She may now appreciate her country and stop kneeling in protest. Some Americans are still falsely imprisoned there, who are not quite as famous, and they remain in Russian prisons without any hope for real legal recourse, though they proclaim their innocence. show less