Travel to Russia

In Siberia

Format: Paperback
Author: Colin Thubron
ReleaseDate: 26 December, 2000
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Rating:

In Siberia
What puts this book among the top few is his commitment to the language which permitted him to hear first hand the concerns of those he met, which he reported while allowing the readers to draw their own conclusions. We found Colin Thubron at least the equal of Newby and Theroux with the confidence to depend on his unique description skills without photographic backup. This is an essential reference for inclusion among the few strictly necessary aids to travel through a tortured and fragile land. .

Travel writing at its best
Indeed, one of the few criticisms that I have is that the book is too short. This is a tremendous book, one that I would recommend to anybody that has either spent some time in Siberia or that is simply interested in the region. Thubron glosses over a lot of interesting places. He is undoubtedly more interested in peripheral, off the beaten track places than he is in major cities. He barely describes places such as Novosibirsk, the largest city in Siberia and the third largest in Russia. He similarly doesn't spend much time describing cities like Omsk, Ekaterinburg, and Krasnoyarsk, and he doesn't even make it to Vladivostok. Thubron's forte is describing life in places forgotten by Moscow and unknown to the outside world. I've long been fascinated by Siberia and have spent many hours poring over maps, identifying population points in the far north and wondering how on earth anybody could live there. Well, Thubron visits such places and portrays the difficult conditions of life there. He spends nearly a month in a small town near the Arctic Circle. Since there are obviously no hotels there, he finds a bed in the hospital. He describes how every night the drunks knock on the doors and windows trying to get inside so to find a warm bed for the night. The local doctor is a highly educated man who could have had a successful career in any of Russia's larger cities, and it is fascinating to read his story of how he ended up in this godforsaken place. Thubron also describes how Soviet planning destroyed many of the traditions and ways of life of the native peoples of Russia's far north. The author has a fine ear for detecting racism in his discussions with ordinary Russians, whether it is directed against the ethnic minority groups whose traditions were altered under the Soviets or the Chinese who have immigrated in large numbers to Russia's Far East. Among the more interesting parts of the book is Thubron's stay in Birobidzhan, the capital of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast' in the Far East. This region was originally established to serve as a homeland for Russia's Jews, and many Jews from abroad immigrated there in the early Soviet period. Thubron describes how most of the Jews have emigrated to Israel and those still living there are planning to do so as soon as they find the means. Whatever semblance of a Jewish community that existed there in the past has pretty much evaporated. Thubron also visits a community of Orthodox Old Believers in the Republic of Buryatia and describes how they are trying to hold on to their traditions amid the social upheavals that have engulfed post-Soviet Russia. The book ends with Thubron's visit to Kolyma, the infamous prison camp during Soviet times. He provides a chilling account of the atrocities that occurred there and it is simply eerie reading his description of the buildings that still stand. Overall, Thubron does not provide a great deal of direct political analysis. Rather, his tactic is to understand how the tumultuous events of Russia's history, both recent and distant, have shaped the lives of ordinary people. Thubron is at his best when he lets these ordinary people speak for themselves and relate their experiences. This is truly a great book for anybody interested in Russia, past and present. I only wish that Thubron would write a sequel to this work!.

Hauntingly Perfect
He evokes Siberia in an almost Tolkien-like way, the barreness recalls the vast streches of Tolkiens middle earth. Thubron brings Siberia to life, he gives you the chill of the barren landscape while holding in the warmth of the people. If you even have a passing intrest in Russia or Siberia get this book, it is worth every minute you get lost between the pages. If this book has a failing, that is a big if, it is that it is too short, I wanted to be lost in Thubron's Siberia much longer.

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