Anima - by Kapka Kassabova (Paperback)

About the Book

A dramatic evocation of the intimate bond between people and animals in one of Europe's last wild places

Book Synopsis

In Anima, Kapka Kassabova introduces us to the "pastiri" people--the shepherds struggling to hold on to an ancient way of life in which humans and animals exist in profound interdependence. Following her three previous books set in the Balkans, and with an increasinging interest in the degraded state of our planet and culture, Kassabova reaches further into the spirit of place than she ever has before. In this extraordinary portrayal of pastoral life, she investigates the heroic efforts to sustain the oldest surviving breeds of our domesticated animals, and she shows us the epic, orchestrated activity of transhumance--the seasonal movement, on foot, of a vast herd of sheep, working in tandem with dogs. She also becomes more and more attuned to the isolation and sacrifices inherent in the lives shaped by this work.

Weaving together lyrical writing about place with a sweeping sense of the traumatic histories that have shaped this mountainous region of Bulgaria, Kassabova shows how environmental change and industrial capitalism are endangering older, sustainable ways of living, and by extension she reveals the limited nature of so much of modern life. But shining through Kassabova's passionate, intimate response to the monoculture that is "Anthropos" is her indelible portrait of a circulating interdependence of people and animals that might point to a healthier way to live.

Review Quotes

"Fascinating. . . . At its heart, this is an emotional story about the bonds between humans, animals, and the land. A lush ode to 'one of the oldest nomadic peoples to have entered modernity with their animals.'" --Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"What [Kassabova] finds is a world that appears at once out of time--bedeviled by wolf attacks and sheep theft--and entirely contemporary, with industrialization and the pull of consumerism threatening to finally consign the shepherds, and the rare animal breeds they cultivate, to extinction. As Kassabova deepens her relationships with her subjects, she is both confronted and enchanted by their lonely, often harshly beautiful existence."--The New Yorker

"Kassabova lovingly chronicles the solitude and toil of the Karakachans, a once-nomadic Balkan people whose existence is now threatened by global warming and industrialization."--The New York Times Book Review

"Kassabova's lyrical sensibility will transport readers. . . . This pensive travelogue captures the rigors and attractions of a vanishing way of life." --Publishers Weekly

"A book that mesmerises with its sense of adventure and epic sweep, this is creative nonfiction at its best." --Monique Roffey, The Guardian (UK)

"Kassabova is iron-hard and courageous, both on the page and in life." --Mark Cocker, The Spectator (UK)

"Kassabova's prose constantly moves and surprises, unfolding from one image into the next, like the flock."--Erika Howsare, Los Angeles Review of Books

About the Author

Kapka Kassabova is a writer of narrative nonfiction, poetry, and fiction. She grew up in Sofia, Bulgaria, and lives in the Scottish Highlands. She is the author of Elixir, To the Lake, and Border, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.