This book contains the memoirs of an emigrant who left Georgia twenty years ago and found a home and a role for himself in Europe. It tells the tale of a hugely popular actor whose name has appeared not only on film credits and theatre posters, but also on the walls of apartment blocks in Tbilisi, written there by his fans for all to see.

 

It describes the experiences of a man who, under a rain of bullets on Rustaveli Avenue, is given the strength to reach his home on the slopes of Mtatsminda by the freshly baked bread he clasps to his chest. The book also contains the impressions of a white-skinned man who, as his African friends come to learn, is not merely another Jack – another European invader – but a former subject of a colonial power, just like them.

 

As well as sensations from the everyday life of a man who dreams of playing Hamlet and Holden Caulfield, and who roams the streets filled with thoughts on the eternal questions posed by these characters.

 

But perhaps the most important element of all is Merab Ninidze’s enviable sincerity, with which he turns every one of the events and episodes contained in this book into honest, interesting, and unique reading matter.