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Beyond Siberia: Two Years in a Forgotten Place | 
 enlarge | Author: Sharon Dirlam
Publisher: McSeas Books
Category: Book
Buy New: $14.00
New (4) Used (6) Collectible (1) from $14.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 901337
Format: Unabridged
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.2 x 1
ISBN: 0971282722
EAN: 9780971282728
ASIN: 0971282722
Publication Date: June 1, 2004
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
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Product Description
A true story about the people of Birobidjan, Jewish Autonomous Region, Russia, and two Peace Corps volunteers who came to know and love them.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 Jewish Autonomous Region: who knew? November 25, 2007
I didn't that's for sure. Intrigued, I ordered this book from Amazon.
Sharon Dirlam's report of the two years she and her husband, John McCafferty, spent in Russia's far east is interesting and informative. The time is during the 1990s, so it may be a bit outdated. The personal ways of the Russians I'm sure are not. The book is very much like a long letter assembled from a daily diary. Ms Dirlam is extremely observant, generous and fair. It is a good sample of writing by a Peace Corps volunteer.
The book is a self published low budget production, lacking in photographs except for those on the cover. The binding is poor and my copy began to disintegrate by the time I got to page 20.
I don't think it is appropriate for spouses of authors to write 5 star reviews of their wives books though. It indicates a lack of objectivity and smells of desperation.
The book is worth reading for content and perspective, but most assuredly is not a 5 star production.
Like a good conversation on a plane March 11, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I enjoyed this book and am grateful for Sharon Dirlam making the effort to write it. Ultimately, though, I found the experience a little hollow. The book is a hybrid of a personal accounting of time and a series of reports on people, places and situations encountered. While some of the anecdotes may border on the banal, it does leave the reader with the sense of sharing the day to day rhythm of life in Birobidjan. However, occasional bursts of color do brighten the prose where the author appears to have taken some inspiration from an event or observation - and these make the book worthwhile.
The disappointing part about the book, though, was that it left me without much of a sense of where Sharon starts her journey, what she and her husband were looking for, or whether they found it. The book screams for answers on these point; the reader is gently picked up at the start and gently let down at the end, but there is little attempt to answer "why?" The author appears to lack a willingness to be vulnerable, choosing instead to make the experience more of a polite conversation with the reader; perhaps unconsciously reinforcing the position stated several times in the book that only those who have been through this experience first hand can really appreciate the anecdotes.
 Adventure in the Russian Far East December 27, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
'Beyond Siberia'', Sharon Dirlam's account of her two-year sojourn as a Peace Corps teacher brings an unfamiliar part of Russia to life. I found the structure and writing most engaging! While offering a chronological account of hers and her husband's experiences in Birobidjan, Dirlam includes many fascinating details about the life and culture they encountered. 'Zhag za Zhagem' ['step by step', page 54 and later], we see the philosophical and often humorous responses of their Russian friends to the difficult conditions of their daily lives. Dirlam's experience as a travel writer comes through in her vivid observations and pithy reflections.
This book offers a wonderful and varied cast of characters, succinctly telling anecdotes, valuable insights, and some interesting (and not always obvious) contrasts between Russian ways and those of the US. A particularly telling sequence in this regard is the story of Dirlam's return home midway through her tenure in Birobidjan--on Fourth of July.
When I finished this book, I felt like I'd been given a privileged angle of vision on an intriguing part of the world and its inhabitants, the Russian 'Jewish Autonomous Region' as it was once called. Highly recommended to teachers, Peace Corps volunteers, armchair travellers, and anyone with a curiosity about a little-known part of Russia.
Vivid account of living in Russia December 20, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
"Beyond Siberia:Two Years in a Forgotten Place" is a vivid account of an American's experience of living and working in a remote section of Russia. Dirlam's manages to convey objective and insightful views of the people she learned to respect and learn from. It's an especially useful read for anyone planning to work in the Peace Corps, but for those readers like myself, it is one great learning experience that is lacking in many books about Russia. Highly recommended.
 A Disappointment December 10, 2006
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
As I read these other reviews I'm curious if they were reading the same book that I read. I gave it 2 stars only because I have read worse books. That is not to say that the information in the book is not interesting, or heartfelt, but I just feel poorly written. Dirlam repeats herself in many useless issues, such as the numerous times that she metions the reavealing dress of the russian girls. The book is also a bit scattered, it did not flow well. I would recomend against purchasing this book, rather for an excellent book on siberia read Colin Thurbron's "In Siberia" it will delight and amaze you.
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