Open Mic Night in Moscow, Audrey Murray
Open Mic Night in Moscow, Audrey Murray
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List: $29.99 | Sale: $21.00
Club: $14.99

Open Mic Night in Moscow
And Other Stories from My Search for Black Markets, Soviet Architecture, and Emotionally Unavailable Russian Men

Author: Audrey Murray

Narrator: Emily Woo Zeller

Unabridged: 12 hr 46 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 07/24/2018


Synopsis

The raucous and surprisingly poignant story of a young, Russia-obsessed American writer and comedian who embarked on a solo tour of the former Soviet Republics, never imagining that it would involve kidnappers, garbage bags of money, and encounters with the weird and wonderful from Mongolia to Tajikistan.Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Siberia are not the typical tourist destinations of a twenty-something, nor the places one usually goes to eat, pray, and/or love. But the mix of imperial Russian opulence and Soviet decay, and the allure of emotionally unavailable Russian men proved strangely irresistible to comedian Audrey Murray.At age twenty-eight, while her friends were settling into corporate jobs and serious relationships, Audrey was on a one-way flight to Kazakhstan, the first leg of a nine-month solo voyage through the former USSR. A blend of memoir and offbeat travel guide (black markets in Uzbekistan: 5 stars; getting kidnapped in Turkmenistan: 1 star) this thoughtful, hilarious catalog of a young comedian’s adventures is also a diary of her emotional discoveries about home, love, patriotism, loneliness, and independence.Sometimes surprising, often disconcerting, and always entertaining, Open Mic Night in Moscow will inspire you to take the leap and embark on your own journey into the unknown. And, if you want to visit Chernobyl by way of an insane-asylum-themed bar in Kiev, Audrey can assure you that there’s no other guidebook out there. (She’s looked.)

About Audrey Murray

Audrey Murray is a redhead from Boston who moved to China and became a standup comedian. The co-founder of the Kung Fu Komedy, Audrey was named the funniest person in Shanghai by City Weekend magazine. Audrey is a staff writer for Reductress.com and a regular contributor at Medium.com; her writing has also appeared in The Gothamist, China Economic Review, Nowness, Architizer, and on the wall of her dad’s office. Audrey has appeared on the Lost in America, Listen to This!, and Shanghai Comedy Corner podcasts, on CNN and ICS, and in Shanghai Daily, Time Out, Smart Shanghai, That’s Shanghai, and City Weekend. She recently published her first memoir, Open Mic Night in Moscow.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Audrey on November 28, 2018

I absolutely loved writing this book. (Have not yet had a chance to read it.)......more

Goodreads review by Kelly on August 29, 2018

Expectation: Written by a comedian, so I should laugh at least a little. Reality: Not funny to me at all. Maybe others would find it funny but it just totally fell flat on me. Oh well. Expectation: Travel story of someone around my age and similar upbringing. I should be able to relate to the author p......more

Goodreads review by Erin on March 07, 2023

I.....um....hated this. I am going to try very hard not to just bash this completely. I didn't give it a 1 star because it is a true story and based on someone's life, and to dump all over their experiences seems harsh (now I will proceed to do just that). Arrogant, entitled, under/not-at-all prepared......more

Goodreads review by Ciaran on July 11, 2019

I picked this as I was looking for an audiobook and the title piqued my interest as a Russophile. Then, as the trip she was taking sounded like something I wanted to do myself, I decided to give it a go. It is similar to other off-the-beaten track travelogues where the narrator is under-prepared and......more

Goodreads review by Masha on March 03, 2019

I genuinely really liked this book. Full of adventure, love for Russia (and CIS), Russian language, Russian men (ahem). Funny, but not overly sarcastic. And of course it is great to see a woman travelling alone perspective that we don't see nearly enough in books and movies.......more