| Among the Russians (Picador Travel Classics) |  | Author: Colin Thubron
Publisher: Picador
Category: Book
Buy Used: $26.24
Used (5) from $26.24
Avg. Customer Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 1774016
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 7.2 x 4.8 x 1.2
ISBN: 0330339508
EAN: 9780330339506
ASIN: 0330339508
Publication Date: June 9, 1995
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Here is a fresh perspective on the last tumultuous years of the Soviet Union and an exquisitely poetic travelogue.With a keen grasp of Russia's history, a deep appreciation for its architecture and iconography, and an inexhaustible enthusiasm for its people and its culture, Colin Thubron is the perfect guide to a country most of us will never get to know firsthand. Here, we can walk down western Russia's country roads, rest in its villages, and explore some of the most engaging cities in the world. Beautifully written and infinitely insightful, Among the Russians is vivid, compelling travel writing that will also appeal to readers of history and current events—and to anyone captivated by the shape and texture of one of the world's most enigmatic culture.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
 Brilliant, insightful, captivating read ! June 20, 2008
If this gives any indication of enjoying a book :
I read it in two gulps / just could not put it down !
This writer is just captivating .
I ESPECIALLY was charmed by the poignant descriptions of peoples' faces ..
A MUST READ especially , if you are curious to understand the puzzling dichotomy of repression
and, too authentic warmth and hunger for beauty that comprises this fascinating country, Russia..
Spaceba!
 Stand Up the Real Colin Thubron! October 16, 2007
I wondered, when ordering "Among the Russians", whether the fact that it had been written a quarter of a century ago, about a world that had apparently disappeared, would detract from the impact of the journey. I need not have worried as it has the immediacy of a trip completed yesterday.
The book perhaps - and understandably so - does not quite have the fine polish of the recent "Shadow of the Silk Road", my first experience of Thubron, but is none the less beautifully written and absolutely fascinating. The combination of the unorthodox travel arrangements for the time (a car), the poetic and precise (I checked Google Images while reading "Shadow of the Silk Road"!) descriptions of places, the intimate and thoughtful portraits of people and, particularly impressive, the provision of a detailed historical context, make for a compelling read. Extra thrills, including a dramatic conclusion to the book, were thoughtfully provided by the KGB.
With all this it might seem unnecessarily querulous to ask for more. But in both these books we are left with a feeling that the author has, perhaps unconsciously, fenced off a part of his personality and his activities. In this age of "letting it all hang out" we are sometimes left with unanswered questions, sometimes on simple practical matters.
On the one hand, a voyage, especially a solitary one, involves constant and often stressful interaction between the traveler and his surroundings. We do see a lot of this but are often left trying to imagine details. On the other, it is often marked by long periods of silence when the traveler, a long way from home, will reflect on his life, loves, beliefs and hopes. Aside from a few memorable incidents, we do not see very much of this.
A writer is fully entitled to reveal, or to hide, as much as himself as he chooses. But a bit more of Colin Thubron, the man, would give his travel books an additional vital dimension. Perhaps - after reading "In Siberia" - I should try his novels!
A Glimpse into Life in Communist Russia in the 1980s May 18, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Colin Thubron's _Among the Russians_ (1983) offers a compelling picture of the Soviet Union in 1980, at the moment of its serious, irrevocable decline. Thubron examines day-to-day life in Western Russia, Estonia, Belarus ("White Russia"), Ukraine, and Georgia, near the end of Leonid Brezhnev's premiership. He finds despair and cynicism, as well as an unshakeable sense of humor about life under communist rule.
Thubron's work is a travel narrative, an account of a car trip that he took alone in 1980 that was planned and approved by the Intotourist, the Soviet tourism board. Traveling as a "building company director," Thubron meets many people along the way. He talks with Russian and eastern bloc tourists at the campsites where he spends the night, locals in cities and towns, and dissidents whose addresses he has received from associates in Great Britain. Thubron also describes run-ins with police officials who are shocked to see a foreigner traveling alone by car in a British car. The first question he is asked while registering for his first overnight campsite stay is "Are you a group?," which Thubron describes as a "quintessential Russian question."
Intermingled with his descriptions of the landscape and important historical sites, Thubron recounts various escapades, stories of people offering to buy his clothes (especially his jeans), of the advances lonely women who see him as a way to escape to the West (or to have an escape for a day), of many vodka guzzling evenings, of officious Intourist tourist guides, and of the talk of dissidents who seem unconcerned that their homes are bugged. Thubron offers his own insights about lesser known sites, like the Josef Stalin museum in Gori, Georgia, Stalin's hometown. In an exciting passage near the end of the work, Thubron describes how security personel in two white Volgas tail him all the way to the Romanian border.
Throughout, Thubron expresses a Western sensibility and skepticism about the Soviet Union. His narrative mixes a blend of awe for the accomplishments of the Russian people and horror for what the Russians have endured and suffered. In fact, the book begins with an admission of his long-held fears about Russia, dating back to grade school when he first viewed in awe maps of the Soviet Union stretching across the globe.
Thubron's prose style is both poetic and urbane (with an impressive vocabulary); he recounts many unforgettable episodes. The book ends where it begins with Thubron marveling at the vastness of Russia, an impression that the reader will remember, too.
Useful. March 10, 2007
This is a good account of traveling through Russia in recent times. For a similar travel narrative try Tent Life in Siberia: An Incredible Account of Siberian Adventure, Travel, and Survival - minus 120 years and a vehicle, but with the engaging addition of battling against the brutality of the Siberian climate.
Detailed account of travels through a vast land July 21, 2004
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
As an interested reader of the Soviet Union and Russian culture, I picked this book up two years after I read In Siberia. I was amazed at the amount of detail the author poured into his journeys across the Soviet Union. He was able to visit the Russian citizens, homesteads of famous icons of years back (Tolstoy among them) and see cathedrals we can only see in pictures. His writing style and demeanor may strike readers as distant and unattached but he went over there to observe and he did not observe this place through rose-colored lenses-he showed us what Russia was really like in 1980. If you strictly want to read about Russia, you may be disappointed when you read the material towards the end which is about Georgia and Armenia, but my ignorance of those former republics were replaced with notions that they might be more beautiful and more interesting than all of Western Russia. The whole way through you will be captivated, appalled and intrigued with his journey. This is a must-read for anyone interested in Russian culture.
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