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Siberian Education

by Nicolai Lilin (Goodreads Author)

3.64 of 5 stars 3.64 · rating details · 555 ratings · 94 reviews

"Marvelous and illuminating. . . . Forces us to reassess our notions of good and evil."—Irvine Welsh

In a contested, lawless region between Moldova and Ukraine known as Transnistria, a tightly knit group of "honest criminals"—exiled there by Stalin-live according to strict codes of ritualized respect and fierce loyalty. Here, tattoos tell the story of a man's life, "honest"...more

Published (first published 2009)

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Feb 27, 2012 Giulia rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ricevere un’educazione siberiana in Transnistria significa crescere imparando a seguire delle regole ferree che riguardano ogni aspetto della vita all’interno della comunità: il rispetto per le donne, gli anziani, i disabili più di chiunque altro, considerati degli esseri umani superiori, angeli inviati dal Signore. Significa imparare a parlare in un certo modo: mai dire le cose in maniera troppo diretta; bisogna avere una lingua umile. Vivere nella più austera umiltà nel vestirsi, nel mangiare,...more Ricevere un’educazione siberiana in Transnistria significa crescere imparando a seguire delle regole ferree che riguardano ogni aspetto della vita all’interno della comunità: il rispetto per le donne, gli anziani, i disabili più di chiunque altro, considerati degli esseri umani superiori, angeli inviati dal Signore. Significa imparare a parlare in un certo modo: mai dire le cose in maniera troppo diretta; bisogna avere una lingua umile. Vivere nella più austera umiltà nel vestirsi, nel mangiare, in tutto. Dare importanza ai valori importanti e denigrare apertamente volgarità come il denaro: se lo tocchi o lo nomini vieni contaminato dalla sua impurità. Tutto ciò sembrerebbe un bell’affresco di una comunità di eletti da Dio. Un paradiso in terra.. E invece no. Si tratta dell’etichetta, dei codici morali di una comunità di criminali esiliati dalla Siberia e trasferitisi in Transnistria. Quindi si parla di etica criminale. Di criminali onesti.

È ovvio che un criminale non può essere onesto. E nessuno in questo libro (ci tengo a precisarlo perché ci sono troppe malelingue in giro) fa un’apologia del gentil criminale. Manco per niente.

Questo libro è un racconto. Nicolai Lilin racconta in prima persona la sua infanzia e la sua adolescenza. Racconta di come è cresciuto, di come è stato educato per diventare un criminale onesto, che rispetta le leggi delle Autorità anziane e segue il codice alla lettera, anche se questo lo porta a trovarsi immischiato in risse più o meno violente. Anche se finisce in carcere più volte. Ci racconta le sue disavventure, ci spiega bene le usanze della sua gente, criminali Urca siberiani.

È un libro scritto in Italiano, che non è la lingua madre di Lilin. Quindi il suo Italiano è lungi dall’essere impeccabile. Ma, fatemelo dire, è migliore di quello di tanti Italiani che scrivono in Italiano.

Il suo racconto unisce la voce plasmata dal distacco e dalla crescita di Nicolai adulto a quella disincantata di Kolima (il suo soprannome) bambino. Un bambino che non poteva rendersi conto della contraddizione intrinseca nell’usare l’onestà per definire un criminale.

Solo crescendo riesce pian piano a rendersi conto che c’è una nota che stona, che qualcosa non torna. Se ne accorge quando trova la vendetta, e non è dolce come si aspettava.

È un racconto che è anche una testimonianza. Di come un popolo è stato vessato prima dagli zar, poi dai comunisti. Fatemi essere banale, voglio esserlo. Questa testimonianza ci ricorda anche che non è esistita solo la Germania nazista. Si moriva e si veniva torturati anche nei gulag comunisti. E questo libro racconta anche di questo. È un pugno nello stomaco quando Nicolai racconta di quello che vi accadeva.

Così come si rimane basiti quando ci racconta cosa accadeva nel carcere minorile dove è stato detenuto per nove mesi e dove è entrato in contatto con gente che non solo stuprava e torturava, ma dava persino un nome alle atrocità che perpetrava. Ci può essere qualcosa di più maligno?

Ci sono anche i ricordi dolci: i discorsi col nonno, la pesca al fiume con gli amici, le serate passate a recitare le poesie di Puškin.

Lilin inizia a raccontarti un episodio e finisce col perdersi nella sua memoria, in mille digressioni. Forse in qualche occasione queste ti fanno perdere un po’ il filo del discorso. Ma chi se ne frega? Voglio dire, in ogni pagina viene raccontata una storia nuova. Ogni due righe un’usanza diversa, i svariati rituali che scandiscono la vita quotidiana: da come bere il tè all’intricata simbologia dei tatuaggi siberiani. Simboli che si trovano alla fine di ogni capitolo e che sono disegni di particolari di tatuaggi eseguiti dall’autore in persona, che ha un laboratorio a Milano. Con i suoi tatuaggi e con il suo libro vuole continuare a raccontare la tradizione del popolo degli Urca, il suo popolo. Spesso ci si dimentica il valore della memoria. Lilin non lo fa e racconta la sua storia così come lui se la ricorda. Ed è molto interessante.
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Oct 14, 2012 Giuseppe rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Nell'unico update di lettura che avevo scritto, dicevo "un po' piatto nella narrazione ma interessante nei contenuti". Poiché non conoscevo la Transnistria ed il popolo (o etnia o clan o gruppo) degli Urca, che nel romanzo vengono descritti, ho cominciato a navigare in rete senza trovare nessun riscontro. Morale della favola, mi sono imbattuto in diversi articoli di questo tenore.

Insomma, come si direbbe in inglese un "hoax" o, da noi, una bufala. Nulla di male che il popolo degli Urca non esist...more

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Mar 18, 2013 Aronne rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Il libro inizia raccontando l'"edulcorata" educazione siberiana, tra risse, uso e significato delle armi, Il nostro Kolima forma la sua personalità ed apprende l'arte ed il senso dei tatuaggi, dei sistiemi di comnicazione, delle regola da utilizzare quando si comunica con i criminali più anziani.
Guidato in questo percorso da straordinari personaggi (Nonno Kuzja. l'amico Mel)
In questo mondo violento non manca una certa poesia , rappresentata dallo speciali rapporto dei siberian con i malati di m...more

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Dec 28, 2011 Isa K. rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Siberian Education starts off with the following disclaimer:

This memoir is based on the author's own experiences. Names have been changed, characters combined and events compressed. Certain episodes are imaginative recreation, and those episodes are not intended to portray actual events.

The first part of that disclaimer is fairly standard, the second part is not and it can't help but color your judgement of this ludicrously violent tale of honor of among thieves. I kind of wonder if this disclai...more Siberian Education starts off with the following disclaimer:

This memoir is based on the author's own experiences. Names have been changed, characters combined and events compressed. Certain episodes are imaginative recreation, and those episodes are not intended to portray actual events.

The first part of that disclaimer is fairly standard, the second part is not and it can't help but color your judgement of this ludicrously violent tale of honor of among thieves. I kind of wonder if this disclaimer was in the original (italian) release of this book or if it was something they added later in the wake of the waves of popular memoirs where shit was just made up (*cough* James Fry), because it seems to me that it's stupid to structure the book as a inside look into the elaborate rituals and rules of the criminal underworld if you're going to have a 'oh yeah some of this is total bullshit' disclaimer hanging over it.

This book is absurdly violent and directionless. The chapters are far too long ("My Birthday" weighing in at a staggering 150 some-odd pages. A SINGLE CHAPTER) and ladened with so many digressions you begin to lose track of what's going on. It would have been better to split each digression into its own chapter where the many colorful characters of the criminal community could be introduced in their own context and then referenced as they became important in Nicolai's escapades.

Actually it would have been much better to structure the book around Nicolai's relationship with his best friend Mel rather than trying to force it into becoming some strange ethnography of Russian criminal culture. Mel is Nicolai's constant companion, a clueless thug incapable of understanding the rules that govern their society nor the strategy required to thrive within them. Nevertheless his loyalty and earnestness keeps him from being shut out of Nicolai's life even as he brings progressively more trouble to the table. It's Nicolai's realization that he will never be able to build a future for himself outside the criminal world until he casts off Mel that's the turning point of the book.

By making the focus the rules and customs the writer did a great disservice to what could have been a really interesting read. To begin with you won't find much here that you can't gleam from other (far more credible) sources. Descriptions of rules and practices that are unique to this story seems so absurdly impractical, the punishments for breaking even the tiniest rules so extreme, one can scarcely imagine any society surviving like this for very long. Russian organized crime does have elaborate culture and rituals, but those are always secondary to survival and business. Lilin's description of them comes off as very idealistic and childish if not outright fabrication (and with such a disclaimer hanging over the book...).

Almost lost among the violence and romanticism of crime is the book's most profound point: the ugliness and inherent unfairness of justice. Nicolai lives in a world where official justice is run by corrupt and sadistic figures, conditions in prisons so brutal reform practically impossible. Criminal honor exists to establish law and order in this vacuum (Robert Friedman made this point himself in Red Mafiya), and Siberian Education details Nicolai's slow disenchantment with the justice all the rules support. The violence ultimately restores and resolves nothing, the criminal life that was once a matter of basic survival under a harsh Soviet system is slowly becoming about money and power, "honest thieves" are always under attack by lowly criminals, etc, etc, etc.

So basically there's some interesting stuff here but if you're looking for a book about the ins and outs of criminal communities there are much better options. (less)

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Apr 22, 2011 Carol rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, memoirs-bio

This is such a strange book from a very strange country. This country seems to be in a 50 year time warp, with Lenin statues still standing. The Transnistria postage,passports and money are not accepted in any other country. This country is not even recognized by the UN or other countries.I wasn't familiar with Transnistria, had never even heard of it. So,I researched it on the Internet

It is a country that broke off the Moldavia to the west and has on its east is the Ukraine. Here this country...more This is such a strange book from a very strange country. This country seems to be in a 50 year time warp, with Lenin statues still standing. The Transnistria postage,passports and money are not accepted in any other country. This country is not even recognized by the UN or other countries.I wasn't familiar with Transnistria, had never even heard of it. So,I researched it on the Internet

It is a country that broke off the Moldavia to the west and has on its east is the Ukraine. Here this country is known, it is supposed to be the human trafficking it in the world, drug trafficking and is thought to be manufacturing dirty bombs. That is my short introduction to the country. What the author, Nicolai Lilin covers are what it was like growing up there and his events in his life.

The author talks of a culture built around weapons. There are rituals built around the weapons. The author states that when he was a child, he did not want toys, he wanted weapons!

There are 'sinful weapons' for criminal purposes and 'honest weapons' for hunting. He goes into great detail about the culture of the tattoos. I have to stop reading at times because of the tremendous amount of violence in this man's life. This book is so disturbing and life in Transnitisa is so brutal. I am not relating the worst of what is written in this book.

There is a deep hatred of the police. In fact, this even enters the way that people relate to them. The differences between our society and their is overwhelming but I will leave that to you to find out the details.

The writing is straight forward and I would even say blunt. The author explains the language, many words are code for other meanings. You cannot learn the languages spoken by the people in the country and have a real idea of the meaning. This book is very difficult to read because of its content. It is very gritty and so awful that you may not want to read much of it at a time. I have a weak stomach and this book really gets to it.

I reccommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about the Transnistria culture and had a stronger stomach than I.

This book was received from Library Thing and in no way influenced by review. My thoughts are my own.(less)

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Jan 08, 2012 Kelanth, numquam risit ubi dracones vivunt rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: narrativa

Che noia, che barba, che barba, che noia. Questo libro mi sembra proprio uno specchietto per le allodole, una tipica operazione commerciale per vendere libri, non per il contenuto ma per il personaggio che le scrive (?), una sorta di Melissa P. a sfondo storico/thriller/che so altro.

Un miscuglio di ricordi (?) messi uno in fila all'altro senza molto senso. Mentre stai leggendo la storia ti capita di essere trascinato in due, tre digressioni continue senza più raccapezzarti quando infine torni al...more

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Feb 15, 2011 Simone Sarasso rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Questo libro, che narra l'infanzia e l'adolescenza di un ragazzo (nemmeno trentenne, Lilin è nato nel 1980) della Transnistria, cresciuto con la legge criminale degli Urca siberiani, finito a combattere una guerra non sua con un AK-47 in spalla, sopravvissuto al conflitto e finalmente trasferitosi a Torino, dove lavora(va. Da qualche tempo lo studio è gestito da altre persone. Ma Nicolai dice che lo riprenderà in mano presto) come tatuatore, per quanto mi riguarda è il romanzo di formazione più...more

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Apr 24, 2013 Bjorn rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"To live outside the law you must be honest," Bob Dylan sang once, and few books I've read stick as closely to that as Siberian Education, the story of Nicolai Lilin's youth in the contested republic of Transnistria (Moldova/Russia). According to Lilin, this is where Stalin sent more or less the entire Siberian mob back in the day, and they've all settled there and carried on their business. We get to follow the young Nicolai from childhood - starting with the first time he sees the police come...more "To live outside the law you must be honest," Bob Dylan sang once, and few books I've read stick as closely to that as Siberian Education, the story of Nicolai Lilin's youth in the contested republic of Transnistria (Moldova/Russia). According to Lilin, this is where Stalin sent more or less the entire Siberian mob back in the day, and they've all settled there and carried on their business. We get to follow the young Nicolai from childhood - starting with the first time he sees the police come into their home to arrest his grandfather, only to get sent packing outgunned, humiliated and ridiculed - until he turns 18, by which time he's been to juvenile prison twice, seen a lot of violence (really, a LOT) and taken active part in much of it himself.

The word "honesty" is indeed used a lot here, and almost exclusively by and about people who live outside the law. This is a society which has evolved under pressure from the outside, and survived through both political purges, the rise and fall of empires, a state that actively wants to get rid of them, and obviously the fact that they all get sent to jail or get killed regularly. In return, they've become a tight-knit community with very strict rules, where family and faith are sacred, where the young and strong look out for the weak and old, where everyone works together for the common good, and all that jazz. This isn't just organized crime, it's a society organized around crime. Very well organized. And I say that not to hold it up as an ideal or anything, but because of this odd effect: as Lilin gets deeper into how this society works, all the unspoken rules, all the moral imperatives, all the hidden-to-outsiders meanings, all the things that we take for granted about how the world works without necessarily questioning them suddenly become the text. It becomes more than just a book about how a group of people live (and kill, and die), but also why, how a lot of things that people both here and there take for granted are actually that way for a reason - not quite a philosophical treatise on the construction of society, ethics and moral relativism, but, y'know. Quite fascinating at times.

That's the good. The bad? Well for starters, as always with these sorts of books, you have to decide how to approach it. After all, this is an author who has no issues with telling us in detail how he's hurt others and seen people get hurt. Sure, almost every act of violence described in the book is committed either against police (who are pretty much seen as non-human) or against other criminals (often children, but criminals all the same), but ultimately I assume all these criminals have to rob someone, and while Lilin's silence about that works well as part of setting up how their world works (do you think of Chinese child labour every time you put on a pair of sneakers?), it doesn't make the book any less disturbing. You can take issue with this, or you can read it as a pure objective reportage: "Here's what happens, the naked truth, from the point of view of someone who was there. Questions?" (And then get out your Black Books DVDs and watch the episode where they try to hold a reading for an autobiography by a former gangster.) But there's still a certain feel of wanting to have the cake and beat it too - to entertain and shock with details about the criminal life, while still mostly letting us keep our safe distance from it. And to be honest (sorry), the descriptions of slashed tendons, busted heads and prison rapes soon lose their shock value and become just really repetitive.

Part of that is because of the text itself. Somewhere in Italy, an editor hasn't done his job. Not only is Lilin's prose amateurish to say the least, but the pacing is way off. Lilin tells his story in a series of episodes, each of which keeps getting interrupted so he can explain the meaning of every minute detail, give backstories of every character, and relate anecdotes from years earlier. A good writer might have pulled it off - especially the last 100 pages, before the book ends rather abruptly, read like an attempt to imitate the last 20-30 minutes of Goodfellas - but here, it just feels like he's constantly losing track.

At the end, we're left with a book that fulfills its blurb of being "a snapshot of a violent world," as such it has its merits and if you're into that sort of thing by all means give it a go; but it could have used autofocus, a wide-angle lens, and some retouching.(less)

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Feb 06, 2013 PescePirata rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Ho vissuto la mia vita come un lupo degno, ho cacciato molto e ho diviso con i miei fratelli tante prede, così adesso sto morendo felice. Invece tu vivrai la tua vita nella vergogna, da solo, in un mondo a cui non appartieni, perché hai rifiutato la dignità di lupo libero per avere la pancia piena. Sei diventato indegno. Ovunque andrai, tutti ti tratteranno con disprezzo, non appartieni né al mondo dei lupi né a quello degli uomini... Così capirai che la fame viene e passa, ma la dignità una vo...more "Ho vissuto la mia vita come un lupo degno, ho cacciato molto e ho diviso con i miei fratelli tante prede, così adesso sto morendo felice. Invece tu vivrai la tua vita nella vergogna, da solo, in un mondo a cui non appartieni, perché hai rifiutato la dignità di lupo libero per avere la pancia piena. Sei diventato indegno. Ovunque andrai, tutti ti tratteranno con disprezzo, non appartieni né al mondo dei lupi né a quello degli uomini... Così capirai che la fame viene e passa, ma la dignità una volta persa non torna più."
Queste le parole di un lupo anziano a un giovane lupo che per sfuggire alla fame si è sottomesso all'uomo. Si tratta di una vecchia fiaba russa che viene presa come spunto dai criminali siberiani per tracciare la loro filosofia di vita.

I criminali siberiani, che tentano di vivere la loro vita con onestà, sono uomini religiosi, devoti, che rifuggono la proprietà di oggetti atti a mostrare la loro ricchezza al mondo. Tutto quello che rubano - solo alle banche e al regime - viene speso in icone e armi. Sono poche le cose materiali che hanno importanza per un onesto criminale: il cappello a otto punte e la picca, il coltello.
Più importanti sono i tatuaggi. Ogni criminale porta sulla propria pelle la storia della sua vita, tatuata con maestria secondo simboli, schemi e chiavi di lettura che possono essere compresi solo da altri criminali.
Tra aneddoti familiari, qualche digressione dalla Seconda Guerra Mondiale alla Guerra Fredda, fino alla Guerra cecena, attraverso le storie degli uomini che il giovane criminale siberiano Nicolai "Kolima" Lilin delinea un mondo violento, incredibile e curioso, nel quale la violenza non è mai gratuita, la "scalata sociale" all'interno della comunità criminale avviene per merito e, andando avanti nella lettura, ci si accorge che alla fine della fiera è sempre e solo una la cosa che gli uomini cercano e chiedono: rispetto.

L'autore è di origine siberiana, cresciuto in Transnistria e attualmente risiede in Italia, dove se non ho capito male fa il tatuatore. "Educazione siberiana" è il suo romanzo d'esordio, scritto direttamente in italiano. A fine mese uscirà la trasposizione cinematografica del romanzo, diretto da Gabriele Salvatores.

Geara Tsuliwaënsis

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http://www.pescepirata.it/aspiranti_s...(less)

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Nov 29, 2012 Babak Fakhamzadeh rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: memoires, eastern-europe

Reasonably funny, in an absurdist way, and presented as a memoir, though I have a hard time to accept that even remotely at face value. The book is supposedly the author's life story, having grown up in Transnistria from Siberian criminal exiles and having fought for Russia against Chechnya.
Though possible, in principle, the author's blanket use of the adverb 'Siberian' smells of deliberate and increasingly annoying hyperbole. 'Siberian' criminals, 'Siberian' families, 'Siberian' custom etc. Fa...more Reasonably funny, in an absurdist way, and presented as a memoir, though I have a hard time to accept that even remotely at face value. The book is supposedly the author's life story, having grown up in Transnistria from Siberian criminal exiles and having fought for Russia against Chechnya.
Though possible, in principle, the author's blanket use of the adverb 'Siberian' smells of deliberate and increasingly annoying hyperbole. 'Siberian' criminals, 'Siberian' families, 'Siberian' custom etc. Fact is, Siberia is so big and so diverse, that an adverb used like that is in itself rather nonsensical.
Additionally, Lilin appears to know so many Siberian criminals that his extended family seems to have been responsible for every single major crime in the USSR for decade after decade.

The book, cut up in to loosely related chapters, becomes a bit tedious as a result of it slowly losing it's credibility. The fact that the book claims the author was born in 1981, while it appears, according to Wikipedia, he was actually born in 1980 doesn't help. As doesn't his regular claim of the fluidity and ease of independent movement inside the Soviet Union as well as it's satellite states.
However, probably my biggest issue is with the authors implied moral ambiguity. "at these moments I found it moving to see how simple he was, and how beautiful and pure his simplicity was", the author says of himself after reciting a poem to an old man who had murdered so many, his nickname had become the name of the knife he killed with, while we learn little of the old man but his appreciation of a poem and him beating to death two 'junkies', supposedly exemplifying the old man's moral standing.

The last chapter handles the author's entry into the Russian army, supposedly in 1998 or 1999, after receiving a draft notice at home. By that time, Transnistria had already declared itself independent from Moldova, let alone Russia, for six years. How exactly is this likely?
In the end, perhaps all this book is, is a cross between an idealization of the author's past and a social commentary on the effects of the Soviet system.(less)

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May 22, 2012 Jeffreyh.hammond added it · review of another edition

le emozioni che si provano leggendo questo libro sono contrastanti. la durezza, il destino segnato in tenera età, l'onore che viene inculcato fin da piccoli e che rovina la gente allo stesso modo in ogni parte del mondo, è la base per l'educazione siberiana di questa comunità sradicata e trasferita in Transnistra. a parte le lezioni sul "galateo" criminale, si nota subito una assenza dei genitori e una libertà d'azione, che sebbene rispettosa della tradizione, è comunque un punto fermo per i rag...more le emozioni che si provano leggendo questo libro sono contrastanti. la durezza, il destino segnato in tenera età, l'onore che viene inculcato fin da piccoli e che rovina la gente allo stesso modo in ogni parte del mondo, è la base per l'educazione siberiana di questa comunità sradicata e trasferita in Transnistra. a parte le lezioni sul "galateo" criminale, si nota subito una assenza dei genitori e una libertà d'azione, che sebbene rispettosa della tradizione, è comunque un punto fermo per i ragazzi siberiani. le lotte (spesso omicide) tra i vari gruppi, il regolamento dei conti dopo essersi consultati con gli anziani del gruppo, la difesa dei disabili e dei malati mentali che vengono considerati "voluti da Dio", il rispetto delle icone sacre e la vita di ognuno che si legge sul proprio corpo tatuato (e si badi bene, il tatuaggio si "vive", non si applica per semplice esibizione), sono all'ordine del giorno. le storie della povera gente si alternano alla quotidianità criminale. anche il carcere minorile è vista come una ineluttabilità, come un percorso obbligato, tanto che viene chiamato "casa". eppure il regime di vita che l'impero Sovietico permetteva in quei luoghi, era terribile, e i più deboli, vittime di stupri e soprusi, avevano vita breve. le donne siberiane sono trattate col massimo rispetto, perchè saranno loro a trainare la famiglia nelle avversità. Solo l'esercito russo riuscirà con il servizio militare, che a sua volta assoggetterà a suo modo altri individui, a tentare di salvare i destini di questi ragazzi, la cui fine impietosa (nella maggior parte dei casi) sarà elencata dall'autore nelle pagine finali, quasi a voler indicare l'inevitabile destino cui la vita ha deciso per questi ragazzi.

"Quando gli facevo domande su questo suo ruolo di uomo di pace, mi rispondeva che la guerra la fa chi non segue i principi veri, chi non ha dignità. Perchè non esiste niente a questo mondo che non possa essere condiviso per accontentare tutti." (less)

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May 20, 2012 Evie Byrne added it · review of another edition

This book is so fully of amazing scenes and dark, funny details that I'd say it's definitely worth reading, even if it might be 70% BS.

Overall, I'm not so bothered about its relative veracity as I am by its narrative flaws. There are many. It reads like a collection of reminiscences gathered into a stack of notes and handed over to you in a greasy bundle. The story wanders here and there for most of the book, then latches on one long, violent almost cinematic adventure (which however is also fu...more

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Feb 13, 2012 Tyler rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

2.5/5.

I have the same problem with this book as some other people did, namely the fact that it says some of the events are imaginary. I'm okay with not being able to remember every single detail and conversation because that's impossible, so long as the author tries to be as close to reality as possible.

But my problem is I have no idea what's true or what's not. I expected, not unreasonably, a hard hitting non-fiction memoir, like it's supposed to be. I can't say what the author actually went t...more 2.5/5.

I have the same problem with this book as some other people did, namely the fact that it says some of the events are imaginary. I'm okay with not being able to remember every single detail and conversation because that's impossible, so long as the author tries to be as close to reality as possible.

But my problem is I have no idea what's true or what's not. I expected, not unreasonably, a hard hitting non-fiction memoir, like it's supposed to be. I can't say what the author actually went through because I don't know, and this particular group of criminals I'm not real knowledgeable about so I don't know what's true or not. However, the fact it says some shit is imaginary just makes me wonder. Why are these kids so good at everything? I mean, it sounds very exaggerated.

I did enjoy hearing about the actual aspects of the criminal underground, and like I said, since I don't know much about it... I take the author's word for it in terms of the customs, rules and regulations. When the book settles down and talks like that it's a fascinating read, for sure. I'm fine with him calling criminals honest people because I'm not one of those people who think all criminals are "bad" and I question the whole concept. Basically I'm understanding and try to understand both sides. I feel like I learned some when reading this, but then again, what is imaginary and what isn't? I actually admire certain aspects of their philosophy.

Aside from that, it kind of reads like a Hollywood action movie in ways. A lot of violence, so if that's your thing you should enjoy it. I just feel it's dampened by the fact I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S REAL! I mean, when you read anything non-fiction you have to be skeptical, but it's just not convincing.

Certain parts of the book just go on way too long. Some don't go on long enough. He jumps back and forth between things, and some of it is interesting, some is not. The part about the girl with autism that comes in near the end of the book spoke to me, for example, and I liked the beginning and end. But the author has a habit of just going on and on about the least interesting things, and that took me out of the book a bit.

So I'm disappointed by it but it's not an awful read. A 2.5 basically means decent to me, so it's worth picking up if you're looking for something like this... but there are better, way better, books about this kind of thing and I don't feel this book does the criminals justice.(less)

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Jan 16, 2011 Frank rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: acquisto

Un libro che racconta una realtà strana, fuori dallo standard, ma con tradizioni radicate dalle quali non si può prescindere.
E’ la vita all’interno della comunità degli Urka siberiani che vivono in Transnistria, una terra situata dalle parti ella Moldavia, nella quale Stalin deportava i criminali.
Tra gli Urka è vietato un certo tipo di reato: non si stupra, non c’è l’usura, non si fanno estorsioni. Si può truffare, ma solo lo Stato oppure i ricchi e si può uccidere, ma solo per motivi validi.
La...more

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Mar 07, 2013 Ametista rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ebook

Kolima è un ragazzo cresciuto tra la "criminalità onesta" della Transnistra, unica voce narrante che ci accompagna lungo il greto del suo percorso sin dall'infanzia.
L'ambiente in cui cresce ha una struttura gerarchica dominata da profondo rispetto verso le autorità anziane, in cui i bambini vengono inseriti come se far parte della criminalità fosse un passaggio culturale ed evolutivo.
La comunità degli Urca siberiani viene descritta come gente il cui rispetto sovrasta ogni cosa. Vi sono regole, r...more

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Mar 07, 2013 Marc Nash rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In my review of Lilin's other book "Free Fall", I said that his writing about the war in Chechnya knocked the spots off Vietnam War books. And in this, his earlier memoir about his childhood, Siberian criminal culture is laid bare and knocks all Mafia tales into a cocked hat. Exotic, brutal and frankly bizarre, it's a tale of an old culture with all its values and mores that seem to derive from another planet. But the book is undeniably fascinating.

The Siberians here don't even live in Siberia,...more In my review of Lilin's other book "Free Fall", I said that his writing about the war in Chechnya knocked the spots off Vietnam War books. And in this, his earlier memoir about his childhood, Siberian criminal culture is laid bare and knocks all Mafia tales into a cocked hat. Exotic, brutal and frankly bizarre, it's a tale of an old culture with all its values and mores that seem to derive from another planet. But the book is undeniably fascinating.

The Siberians here don't even live in Siberia, but in a region between Moldova and Ukraine after exile under the Communists as Siberia became the preserve of the Gulags and the local 'honest' criminals were displaced in the prisons by political prisoners. A fiercely proud and independent criminal culture who stubbornly resisted integration under the Communists, now find themselves trying to preserve their independent traditions in the face of the new Russia and Capitalism. They have a strange mix of Orthodox religion and criminality, in which God is used in elliptical codes that the police and authorities can't pierce. They refer to themselves as men of honour, bringing the justice of God to their criminal, anti-authoritarian activities. The bodycount is high in the book, for those who dishonour the strange etiquette built of honourable behaviour. And yet this etiquette is utterly predicated on respect like any Mafiosa, albeit one more embedded on your actual deeds, rather than naked shows of power. The language and etiquette apart from being religious is also rather poetic and lyrical, because it's formal. "Dignified criminals introduce themselves, exchange greetings and wish each other every blessing even before they start killing each other". It's like something out of Shakespeare's portrayals of high nobility.

They are criminals and yet their code demands they remain humble. They eschew flagrant shows of wealth. The money is really only spent on every day living, guns and religious icons. They despise gangsters who wear gold, instead they have their copious tattoos tell their stories for them. At the time of writing this novel, Lilin was a professional tattooist in Italy, bringing his native skills with him. It's hard to see quite why these criminals worked so hard to rob for money, when they didn't really spend it, other than helping out less fortunate members of their community, which usually meant widows of other criminals who maybe wouldn't have needed financial help if their men hadn't worked so fatally hard being criminals... In fact the most money appearing in the book was for a community raised reward to track down the perpetrators of the rape of an autistic girl. And the strange rules of the community meant that only the juveniles could go about seeking out the perpetrators and seeking justice, because they equated to the same age of the victim. This chapter was seriously fascinating and alienating in equal counts.

A postcard from a seriously exotic outpost of the world.

(less)

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Mar 03, 2013 Le Paginestrappate rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

http://lepaginestrappate.wordpress.co...

[...] Le “cose” che Lilin racconta POTREBBERO essere una calamita. Un mondo quasi mai narrato, a noi sconosciuto. Una realtà portata fuori dalle case in cui è vissuta, allontanata dalle croci sulle armi, dalla sacralità del modo di ammazzare, e che cambia modo di narrarsi: nel clan il racconto non è la scrittura, ma il disegno sul corpo… sono i tatuaggi indelebili sulla pelle che raccontano storie individuali, ricche di simboli, dolori, sentimenti, scelte,...more

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Apr 09, 2011 Jay Mccready rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I know I got this book for free, but at the risk of sounding biased I absolutely loved this book! It's written in a straight forward style that's direct and to the point which I found to be really refreshing. You will not find flowery language, run on sentences or fluff here.

This is a no holds barred account of growing up in a community where violence is a way of life and it was chilling, disturbing and enlightening all at the same time. I was fascinated by the dichotomy of their culture with t...more

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Jul 27, 2011 James Perkins rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Vicious and brutal, this memoir is a portrait of an extreme childhood in an entire society of criminals where they live by their own system of rough justice. The police and the government are corrupt, and to be a felon is an honour, since they maintain some semblance of order in an otherwise forgotten, lawless backwater. As you read, you don't know which way to think: on one page, the narrator is running with his gang, beating his rivals to a pulp; on the next, he's eating cakes with his grandmo...more

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Jan 17, 2013 Sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: dysfunctional-beings, memoir-essay, non-fiction

At first I didn't enjoy how often the narrator would take us out of the current action. Like, when they're hunting for the rapist of his friend he would stop and start giving a completely different story on a character they had just talked to- it reminded me of how my grandfather would tell stories. Oh yes, we had a lot to eat that winter. Turnips mostly. Did I ever tell you about how turnips caused another fight....

But towards the end of the book it became less intrusive and actually more inter...more

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Mar 26, 2013 Damiano Battaglia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Non è un romanzo. Non c'è una trama. La linea temporale non ha particolare valore. Mi sono fatto questa idea: se scuotessi il libro mischiandone i capitoli, probabilmente la leggibilità e la godibilità non ne uscirebbero danneggiate.
Si, ci sono (o ci sarebbero) gli elementi del romanzo di formazione, ma il percorso di crescita di Nicolai "Kolima" Lilin è narrato per singoli episodi. Episodi nei quali i personaggi e le loro vite sono strumenti per tratteggiare i contorni di un ambiente, quello cr...more

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Apr 18, 2011 Travis Smith rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: first-reads-win

Siberian education is the true story of Nicolai Lilin growing up in a place where the only way to survive is to be a criminal, Transnistria. The story starts off with a quick fire fight scene to give you an idea of what this world is all about then it goes to the beginning with his childhood. It is so different to read about all the traditions they have, normally when you think of criminal’s tradition and rituals are the last thing you think of but in his world rituals are everything. It’s stran...more

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May 16, 2011 Audra Deeer rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: memoir-biography

Nicolai Lilin grew up as a member of a society of “honest criminals” in the small republic of Transnistria (between Moldova and the Ukraine)—a highly disputed area and still not officially recognized as a state. This is a culture that adheres to a strict and complicated moral code and does not recognize the authority of the state, but rather, of their own community. Tattoos are used to tell one’s story and superstitions are believed alongside their Siberian Orthodox Christian faith. For many rea...more

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Dec 29, 2010 abo rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Negli anni ’30 il regime comunista russo manda in esilio buona parte della comunità criminale siberiana degli Urca. Alcuni degli esuli approdano in Transnistria, piccolo stato dell’est europeo tra Ucraina e Moldavia, dove si stabiliscono e continuano a delinquere.
Ed è qui, più precisamente nella città di Bender, quartiere Basso Fiume, che nasce Nicolai Lilin, detto Kolima. Pur lontano dalla terra di origine della famiglia, Nicolai riceve un’educazione siberiana con tutti i crismi.
Il sacro rispet...more

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Apr 22, 2011 Kevin rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: abandoned, first-reads

This was a First Reads giveaway for which I am grateful, but I finally had to abandon this one, which is unfortunate because many of the stories were interesting but I just could not get into it. The writing style (or lack thereof) was one factor in my decision as it was simply too vague and jumped around from vignette to vignette with little to no rhyme or reason. It was difficult to follow since there was no continuous storyline. I understand that should be expected with an autobiography but i...more

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Sep 13, 2011 Rob rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It's hard to believe what this man has gone through growing up in transnistria, his childhood makes the adult lives of hardened western criminals look tame. He calmly describes situations and events that occurred from what feels like a slightly detached first person perspective. The gang fights, assaults and murders that he witnesses and takes part in seem oddly justified by the clear rules his criminal community live by.

The detailed background the author gives of the local culture in low river...more

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May 03, 2011 Scott K. rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: goodreads-first-reads-win, books-i-own, books-read-in-2011

I went into “Siberian Education” with high hopes but was let down almost immediately. The last sentence of the Author’s Note states “Certain episodes are imaginative recreation, and those episodes are not intended to portray actual events”. This is where Nicolai Lilin lost me. As I read the book I kept thinking, “Did this really happen or is it ‘imaginative recreation’?” The whole point of a non-fiction memoir is that the events are real. I can accept (and even expect) some embellishments, but n...more

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Oct 31, 2011 Deb rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read it because my husband read it and recommended it. While it's not something that I would typically pick off the shelf, it was interesting. I enjoyed reading about his upbringing and that of the honest criminals. The way it was put together seemed a little awkward, though. The first part introduces the reader to the culture, the nuances, career options, etc. The second follows one particular story/event. The third is a short synopsis of the current status of the characters he wrote about. H...more

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May 09, 2011 Sasha rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was an interesting account of author Lilin's childhood growing up in a Siberian criminal community near Ukraine. The "honest criminals" who live there are paradoxically religious and rigidly civilized, living by a strict moral code and denouncing political or government authority. The criminals have a type of Robin Hood philosophy, robbing the wealthy or the government, yet living humble and simple lives despite accumulated riches. Cop killing is honored and encouraged, as is lengthy p...more

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Apr 09, 2013 Anna Blutarsky rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Questo libro non è nè una biografia (anche se è scritto come tale, in prima persona, come protagonista un Nicolai..); nè é abbastanza fiction per attuare quella sospensione della realtà che serve a godersi le cose più assurde (qui non sono assurde, sono verosimili, ma questa doppia natura di stile risulta comunque evidente e fastidiosa). Per un lettore italiano probabilmente l'argomento non è nemmeno un po' nuovo o sorprendente. Poteva scriverlo solo come un romanzo come tanti. Era meglio.Detto...more

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About Nicolai Lilin

Nicolai Lilin is a Russian writer of Siberian origin. He was born and grew up in Transnistria, which declared its independence in 1990 but has never been recognized as a state.
In 2004 he moved to Italy. In 2009 he published in Italy for Einaudi "Siberian education", his first novel, written directly in Italian. The book has been translated into 19 languages and distributed in 24 countries, and ha...more

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