Riot Days

Reading: RIOT DAYS, by #PussyRiot member MariaAlyokhina. A women's prison memoir like no other! One tough cookie! -- @MargaretAtwood
A future cult classic * Vogue *
In oppressive political systems, some of the most effective weapons are sarcasm and dark humour. It is exactly these weapons that are employed by Masha Alyokhina in the brilliantly written Riot Days. Once you begin reading, you are completely disarmed, unable to put it down until the last page -- Marina Abramovic
Riot Days could so easily have been a straightforward, from-the-horse's-mouth confessional account of one of the most publicised political protests of recent years. Alyokhina takes on a far greater challenge: creating a text that is not just a reflection on a piece of art, but becomes one itself, and one that, in many places, lives up to her own criteria of protest: that it must be "desperate, sudden, and joyous" -- Rachel Hewitt * Guardian *
The literary equivalent of guerrilla street art -- Marc Bennetts * The Times *
Urgent and bold -- Anna Aslanyan * Financial Times *
[An] energetic and enjoyable prison diary ... A search for meaningful protest in an age in which presidents often appear to be playful performance artists -- Peter Pomerantsev * Spectator *
Alyokhina's eye for surreal detail gives Riot Days a welcome dose of dark humor ... Through the chinks in the abusive system, Alyokhina glimpses human beings * The New York Times Book Review *
Strong, brave, honest, touching, bitter and sad -- Vladimir Sorokin, master of contemporary Russian literature
One of the most brilliant and inspiring things I've read in years. Couldn't put it down. This book is freedom -- Chris Kraus, author of 'I Love Dick'
Accessible and inspiring * Huck Magazine *
Fascinating and important ... What's most striking is its universality * Refinery 29 *
Iconoclastic * Livres Hebdo *