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robjoeol's review against another edition
2.0
It's a travelogue encompassing large swathes of the Soviet Union during it's final years in the 80's. Thurbon has a beat-up Morris Minor car and does a series of road trips to experience the region. It's an interesting snapshot of that period, and gives a subjective insight into the mind and soul of the motley groups of people residing within the Soviet Union. Thurbon has some memorable encounters and projects himself into a wide spectrum of experiences visiting the soviet states from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, and to the interior of Russia. I really enjoyed the personal exchanges with dissidents and his prescribed tours with guides, he is largely reticent with his hosts, but in the narrative he doesn't hide his disdain for the soviet system and it's acolytes, but his affection and fascination for the people and the country does shines through. The descriptions of architecture and some historical accounts make the narrative drag for me in places, but overall it is a reasonably informative and entertaining account of life and the tribulations of the communist era. I don't know if I would be enthusiastic enough to read one of this other books on Russia, but I will look to see if they are considered better or worse than this, and decide later when I want to pick up another travel book.
jaydee05's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
slow-paced
3.75
I don’t normally read books like this but it was interesting.
deweydecimator's review against another edition
Among the Russians by Colin Thubron (2001)
mousieta's review against another edition
4.0
I found myself completely engrossed in this book. It is a travel log of the author's time in Russia in 1980. It reads as a sort of series of vignettes as he flits from one encounter to the next. The people he meets are fascinating and bleak.
He is quite descriptive and I truly enjoyed the passages in which he describes his encounters with the land, the nature of the Soviet Union.
In some ways the story was almost too short - I wish he'd spent more time on analysis (especially on his experiences with the KGB toward the end) - though I don't know if it would be as much of a travel log that way.
One thing that did bother me, however, was the editing. I read the ebook version and found it riddled with errors, sometimes 2-3 on a page. It was littered with misspellings, unclear punctuation, etc. that at times made sentences almost unintelligible.
He is quite descriptive and I truly enjoyed the passages in which he describes his encounters with the land, the nature of the Soviet Union.
In some ways the story was almost too short - I wish he'd spent more time on analysis (especially on his experiences with the KGB toward the end) - though I don't know if it would be as much of a travel log that way.
One thing that did bother me, however, was the editing. I read the ebook version and found it riddled with errors, sometimes 2-3 on a page. It was littered with misspellings, unclear punctuation, etc. that at times made sentences almost unintelligible.
rbkegley's review
2.0
I had higher hopes for this book than it wound up delivering. Thubron drove a British Morris car across a huge area of the Cold War-era Soviet Union, staying in campgrounds and the occasional hotel, and meeting people. Stylistically Thubron's writing was hard for me to enjoy at times; it seemed so detached, and even his meetings with dissidents, arranged through mutual friends, come off (to me) as repetitive and uninteresting. Perhaps he's reflected the general malaise of the USSR a decade before its collapse, I can't say. If you want something more lively, try out Paul Theroux's "The Great Railway Bazaar", which recounts a train journey across the USSR in the early 1970's.
scottishclaire's review against another edition
4.0
Thubron’s travel writing is excellent, but what is most interesting about this read is the people he meets and relationships he fosters with them.
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