PATRIOT: The Life Story and Secret Prison Diaries of Putin’s Most Feared Opponent Hardcover – 22 Oct. 2024

Why did Navalny return to Russia after his poisoning?Maybe many readers will be searching for the answer to that question.Navalny’s response lies at the heart of this book. It reveals a down-to-earth, razor-sharp political thinker with extraordinary courage and resilience, for whom Russia’s future was more important than personal freedom.Instead of being muffled into submission by the oppression of his brutal incarceration, Navalny’s calls to action remain strong and clear throughout. He addresses his followers directly, unveiling the farcical and hypocritical nature of the increasing number of charges against him, understanding both their tactical purpose and their implications.There are so many life lessons in his candid, chatty and funny writing. These pages aren’t laced with impenetrable dogma. The strength of Navalny’s warmth and his humanity as a politician, even as he endures the most appalling conditions, makes his writing ever more compelling.Compiling and publishing Patriot was a triumph for those involved and it is a fitting legacy to an incredible man (he even predicted that it might well be). It’s a passionate call to action for his followers, and a reminder for the rest of us that freedom of expression is to be fought for and cherished.

An incredibly inspiring read. Navalny’s courage, wit, and determination really shine through in this book. It’s even more poignant now, knowing he’s gone — but that just makes his story all the more important to read. A powerful reminder of the cost of standing up to tyranny, and the kind of bravery that truly changes the world.

After finishing this book I sat in silence for five minutes. It's that powerful. And for anybody that believes in freedom and democracy, the almost 500 page journey here alongside Navalny himself will be inspiring. He was a gifted writer - passionate about the cause, charismatic, dedicated, truthful and filled with the light of humanity. He retains his sense of humour right until the end. His bravery is staggering. His defiance is both logical and balanced, rarely despairing. The more he suffers, the more beneficent he seems to become.I don't think he'd want this book to break hearts - although, of course, it does. It stands more as a record of his life's purpose, his compassion for others, his love for his family, his hopes for the future and his concept of what Russia could be if it was given a chance. The message is: Don't be afraid, that's what they want. Act.Of course, from the start we know how the story ends. Navalny didn't, not completely, though he guessed what was likely. His words from prison come to an end and, combined within the book he had already begun during his time in Germany, have been edited into an incredible story that can be read with the pace of a novel. The tragedy is that it is all true, and what might have been is all too clear. Patriot has to be one of the books of the year.

This was a fantastic book about a persons belief in honesty, transparency and integrity which the world leaders would do well to listen to. It was a true testament to a really great man and his family who endured the worst conditions and punishments all because of his unwillingness to join in with a truly corrupt political system. A truly remarkable, courageous man with a sometimes amusing as well as heartbreaking story to tell. I could not recommend this book enough.

Having watched news reports from Russia when Novalny was presenting his counter thrust against the the regime in Russia, one thought that here is a man who might be a "game changer" and bring about a new political reality based on the democratic principles that the West goes on about. When he was poisoned and ended up being taken to the West for treatment, I guess nobody was surprised as this kind of antic was not unknown. In reading this memoir one can get a better understanding of his motives but wonder what "power base" , if you could call it that, he believed he had apart from well wishers. It is almost a year (February 24) since he died in the Arctic Gulag where his memoir finishes. Given the searches and the brutal regime he encountered I wondered how his jottings were smuggled out of prison, especially latterly in prison where contact with his lawyers and others was forbidden. Nevertheless, the book as it stands is a compelling read and my thoughts are that he was always fighting a losing battle and he should have stayed in the West, although that may not have given the safeguards he might have needed. We only only have to witness certain events in the UK over a period of time. He made his wife a widow and orphaned his children for a cause that he was never going to win. He does allude to the fact that he may not live that long in his circumstances, but did not fear the possible inevitable. He was a stoic but stoicism was never going to produce the Russian State he and his followers desired. It is a sad story and deserves to be read so as to understand his ideas and the difficulties he experienced in the final two years of his life in prison which in some parts are Kafkaesque. The book is in translation and I cannot find fault with that aspect. There are one or two "americanisms" where you might call someone a douchebag which is not normal parlance in the United Kingdom, say.