Travels in Siberia

May 15, 2012 Chrissie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bio, soviet-union, travel, history, audio, russia

Wow, even the last chapter was superb - Siberian climate change and what this may portend for the future.

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I am almost, almost done with Travels in Siberia which will be given four stars. From start to finish it has been very interesting, and the travel experiences are entertaining. Maybe it is better to read this rather than listen to it, as I am doing. You have to stop all the time and rewind. It is important to have access to maps. I assume the paper book has them. T...more

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Nov 20, 2011 Seth rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: russian-literature, non-fiction

Although I usually don’t read non-fiction, I am happily making an exception for Ian Frazier’s books, which are written in a compelling factual style. So far I have read On the Rez and now Travels in Siberia. A staff member at the New Yorker, Frazier has written about his favorite hobby of fishing, the Great Plains, Native Americans, Russia, and many other topics. He manages to make all of them absolutely fascinating. What unifies his writing is a love for particular places.

A year or so ago, I he...more Although I usually don’t read non-fiction, I am happily making an exception for Ian Frazier’s books, which are written in a compelling factual style. So far I have read On the Rez and now Travels in Siberia. A staff member at the New Yorker, Frazier has written about his favorite hobby of fishing, the Great Plains, Native Americans, Russia, and many other topics. He manages to make all of them absolutely fascinating. What unifies his writing is a love for particular places.

A year or so ago, I heard the author speak about Travels in Siberia at Politics and Prose bookstore in Washington, DC. I took this one picture.

As you can see, he was wearing a baseball or fishing cap—a trademark. Ian—or Sandy, as his friends call him—hails from Ohio, where people go by nicknames. He told us that earlier in the day he had visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, where he tracked down the name of an acquaintance from his hometown on the commemorative wall designed by Maya Lin. He learned for the first time the real name of this individual, who was known to everyone as Buddy.

Frazier’s attachment to Ohio plays a role in Travels in Siberia because he recounts the adventures of the many Ohioans—both famous and not—who explored Siberia. They include the celebrated American diplomat George Frost Kennan and his great-uncle George Kennan, who explored czarist Russia by dog sled on a mission to establish a telegraph link between Europe and the United States via Siberia—a project that was called off. So there were actually two George Kennans involved with Russia and the latter was named for the first. This is just one example of the insights to be gained from Frazier’s heavily researched work. By reading this book, you benefit not only from a detailed account of Frazier’s multiple journeys to Siberia but also from his meticulous research.

Also worth mentioning are the author's fine sketches scattered throughout the book and gracing the cover that illustrate key landscape scenes. So Frazier is not only a fine writer, but also an equally talented researcher and artist!

Traveling in Siberia entails hardship and Frazier’s experiences were no exception. Frazier had a bit of a personality clash with his guide for whom he gains grudging respect on account of his toughness and mechanical ingenuity. In addition, the author struggles with the Russian language, which amounts to a significant handicap. But he tries! And the Russian expressions he shares with us are very helpful. Make no mistake about it. This book constitutes a crowning intellectual achievement.
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Nov 23, 2010 Trish rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: adventure, asia, nonfiction, russia, travel

Travels in Siberia is BIG, and I thought the expanse of white cover particularly appropriate, too--just like the place. It seems peculiar to describe a trip (several trips, actually) across Siberia and say honestly at the end: "nothing much happened," but that about sums it up. For a traveller, nothing (unexpected) happening can be a very good thing, and readers can take heart that we had such a pleasant and wryly funny guide to the biggest country on earth ("too big, really"). I, for one, was...more

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Feb 07, 2012 Beverly Woodcock rated it 3 of 5 stars

Not the best book club choice for winter in Maine! So far my impression is - why would anyone pick this as a vacation spot? Actually, finishing this book I liked it more than I thought I would. I learned quite a bit about Russia and Siberia and the history was interspersed with humorous anecdotes about travel experiences all over Russia. I discovered that there is 1/12 th of the globe I don't care to visit, but this was an interesting read .

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May 18, 2011 Elly Sands rated it 5 of 5 stars

When I was just a kid my Dad use to say when it was cold out "It feels like we live in Siberia." At the time of course, I knew nothing about Siberia but I sure do now! This book went way beyond my expectations. It held my interest in all 471 pages. It felt like I was sitting in that "so called" van driving along the endless road with the author and his two Russian companions. I learned so much about the geography, history, people, politics, culture and even the bathrooms in this amazing stretch...more

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Dec 15, 2012 Mikey B. rated it 4 of 5 stars

The author is a good writer and there is humour throughout this travelogue. He goes on five trips to Siberia. The first is by airplane to the Lake Baikal region and the second exploring the area within the Arctic Circle. The fourth trip is to Northern Siberia and his last trip is to Novosibirsk. The major portion of the book (his third trip) is his cross country road trip from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok by motor vehicle – a distance of immense proportions. To prepare himself for his Siberia j...more

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Apr 01, 2013 Dpdwyer rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: travel

Frazier is a writer with a wonderful sense of humor and a lifelong passion for Siberia. For the first half of this longish book he had my full attention, but toward the end the sheer repetitive bleakness just wore me down. As in the two quotes below, the book is full of sharp observation and description:

“Travel, like much else in life, can be more fun to read about than to do. When I’m reading a travel book and the protagonist sets out on a journey and the harbor lights drop behind, I imagine en...more

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Feb 18, 2013 Mitchell rated it 4 of 5 stars

In many ways this is two books. There's the history book and the travel book. I think Frazier is for the most part a better history writer than travel writer. As a Russia specialist who has been to a small chunk of Siberia, I was fascinated by the many stories Frazier dredged up of intrepid Siberian travelers, including some Americans, and obscure historical figures and battles as well as descriptions of seldom visited places. I was, however, a little frustrated by his tendency to start a good s...more In many ways this is two books. There's the history book and the travel book. I think Frazier is for the most part a better history writer than travel writer. As a Russia specialist who has been to a small chunk of Siberia, I was fascinated by the many stories Frazier dredged up of intrepid Siberian travelers, including some Americans, and obscure historical figures and battles as well as descriptions of seldom visited places. I was, however, a little frustrated by his tendency to start a good story sometimes and just bypass it. I had to go online to find out who the Chicago lawyer was that ran a Bolshevik republic in the Far East. The story of the Old Believer family found in the middle of a wilderness is well-known to Russians, but he skips past it. Frazier is also to be commended for having reached some places that very few venture to go to as well as for his excellent commentary on the Gulag system and how both Russians and the world in general do not pay enough attention to its history.

The book is focused on Siberia, but Frazier writes considerably about the rest of Russia as well. Indeed, he travels there. He also writes some excellent chapters on the Alaska-Siberia "border region" although I would have preferred if he just wrote one whole section on that rather than jumping back and forth to it.

One thing that can make things a little confusing with this book is that he fails to date very much until about two thirds of the way through. The reader will learn that there is good reason for this. Nevertheless, I found myself scratching my head over descriptions that sounded dated to me. It was because they were.

As for the travel writing, some of Frazier's commentary on Russia is fantastic and other is a little hackneyed. He does offer some new twists on common themes such as when he talks about the beauty of Russian women while reciting for the reader passages of Ambassador John Quincy Adams' diary in which the future president frequently ranted about how ugly he thought Russian women were.

I did, however, find his tendency to dwell on the minutia of his trip a little tedious. Like a lot of travel writers he seems to think the reader is as fascinated with where he shopped, how he planned, his satellite phone, and how he hired people to be more interesting than it actually is. I would have preferred that he spent those pages on other topics like the ones I mention above. frazier also has an odd tendency to heap criticism on a place while at the same time admitting that he only saw the outskirts. He did this with one town that I personally have been to and while I won't say the place is a garden spot it is hardly the horror that he makes it out to be. At the same time there is one town that I have been to that really is a horror that he makes a brief positive mention of. If you are going to be a travel writer than you need to recognize that you can't judge a place if all you have seen is its outskirts.

The non-specialist ought to be aware that even Siberia is not quite as difficult a place to travel as he makes it out to be. For some strange reason he and his guides seemed determined to "rough it" and it's unclear as to why exactly. Budget? It is possible to survive on something besides undercooked kielbasa in Siberia. If Frazier had tried doing so he could have both spared himself as well as his readers detailed descriptions of his food poisoning incidents. All the same, it is well worth putting up with in order to get through what is in most respects an awesome book. Specialists and non-specialists alike will learn a great deal from it.(less)

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Nov 14, 2012 Rick Skwiot rated it 3 of 5 stars

In Ian Frazier’s hefty new Travels in Siberia, one comes to feel affection for the Russians struggling there, if not the author. But the real protagonist of this travel book/history/memoir is the land itself.

As Frazier demonstrates, its vastness, riches, hard history, and potential future are hard to grasp. The people who inhabit Siberia, whom Frazier encounters on numerous trips there over two decades time, are also often difficult to fathom, seeming extra-human in their endurance, inventivene...more

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Oct 28, 2012 Louise rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: russia, siberia

Ian Frazer chronicles his 5 trips to Siberia in engaging prose. He integrates the travelogue with interesting material from his extensive reading. While I presume much of this was created as short pieces, it has the feel that it was written as a complete work. While most of the pages turn themselves, the best parts are those of the 2001 and 2005 (2006?) trips.

I usually put down books that don't get me "there" in 20 pages. Frazer's writing was so good, I stayed with him through the first 150 page...more Ian Frazer chronicles his 5 trips to Siberia in engaging prose. He integrates the travelogue with interesting material from his extensive reading. While I presume much of this was created as short pieces, it has the feel that it was written as a complete work. While most of the pages turn themselves, the best parts are those of the 2001 and 2005 (2006?) trips.

I usually put down books that don't get me "there" in 20 pages. Frazer's writing was so good, I stayed with him through the first 150 pages even though there was very little on his Siberian travels at this point. Instead, there was good history and background on Siberia, a description of how he prepared for his trips and a description of his time in Alaska.

The 2001 trip is a tale of 3 guys, a lot of vodka and even more mosquitoes. Besides the recount of people and places there are some amazing car and driver stories. The descriptions of the trash/litter (you can literally find the part you need for your broken down car in these piles of trash), the weddings on the road and travel in an auto transport rail car (and night in the train yard in the box car) are amazing. The trip home, in the aftermath of 9/11 is as movingly told as it must have been lived.

The fourth trip has some narrative highlights, such as travel on ice roads, "tourist accommodations" and a climax (if a travel book has such a thing) of a trip to a former prison camp. This trip has some verbatim interviews with people who have interesting things to say. Supposedly Frazer has more tapes from these trips, and their transcripts, along with an intro of the person and place would make excellent book on its own.

The fifth trip in 2009 is short but interesting by way of comparison to past experiences. A great piece of prose is the comparison of the 2009 Aeroflot flight to those of the (recent) past.

I was struck by the number of museums in Siberia (even tiny towns have them) and the ingenuity of the Russian people. Frazer encounters fully handmade structures, built without even a factory made nail. Guide/colleague/driver Sergei Lunev can fix a car without tools.

The book's weakness is its photos. The photo of Georgette Mossbacher doesn't belong, most readers will know what Lenin looked like, and the Decembrists waste a page. A few visuals begging to be seen are those of Siberians (i.e. the Even children in traditional garb or a road wedding bride or museum guides with artifacts), accommodations (or campsites), roads (particularly crossing a puddle on an ice road) or the vehicular rail transport. The line drawings, with few exceptions, are too generic to add to the narrative. One exception on p. 377 fully defines the point Fraser is making about the surprising amount of ornate detail found in the town of Severobaikalsk. All graphics are forgiven due to the excellent map that shows all the cities discussed in the book.

I found this through the 2010 NY Times top 100 book list and it surely is. The writing and the integration of research are superb. (less)

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Aug 21, 2012 Micaela rated it 5 of 5 stars

Travels in Siberia is one of the best non-fiction books I have ever read. It is funnny, engaging, smart, and has made me rethink the five stars I have attributed to other books. In trying to figure out how Frazier accomplishes the feat of making Siberia into a page-turner I looked carefully at some of its outstanding craft features, some of which are 1)intriguing first lines to paragraphs and sections, 2)tangents that sprocket off of main subjects but are fascinating in themselves, 3) a humble n...more

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Aug 11, 2012 Riley rated it 3 of 5 stars

Ian Frazier writes about topics that always interest me, but his books have always failed to click nonetheless. About halfway through this travelogue on Siberia, I realized what the problem was. Frazier often lacks focus, and jumps around from tangent to tangent too much for my taste.

For instance this passage, about the number of Ohioans (Frazier's native state) who have gone to Siberia:

"That's five people from Ohio visiting and writing about Siberia in the space of fifteen years, or an average...more Ian Frazier writes about topics that always interest me, but his books have always failed to click nonetheless. About halfway through this travelogue on Siberia, I realized what the problem was. Frazier often lacks focus, and jumps around from tangent to tangent too much for my taste.

For instance this passage, about the number of Ohioans (Frazier's native state) who have gone to Siberia:

"That's five people from Ohio visiting and writing about Siberia in the space of fifteen years, or an average of one Ohioan every three years. How can this oddity by explained? Were these people all inspired in their youth by stories about George Kennan, and did they want to be like him? Or did the official closing of the American frontier at the end of the nineteenth century make them restless and eager to see some even wilder place, the 'Wild East,' said to resemble the now vanquished Wild West in many ways? Or perhaps something unknown in the flat, open landscape of the middle of America produces in a few of its citizens a strange affinity for the vastness of Russia. Maybe that happened to me; in any case, I am now at least the seventh person from Ohio to travel in and write about Siberia."

Anyway.

In all fairness, some of the book was interesting and insightful. I particularly liked his writing on the Decembrists, the failed revolutionaries who tried to overthrow imperial Russia in 1825. Another, also tangential, example:

"Deep down, they simply could not imagine themselves the equals of the tsar. Everything in their upbringing, religion, military training, and sense of duty obstructed that idea. During the uprising, Nicholas brought out his seven-year-old son, presented him to a battalion of loyal troops, and let some of them hold him: how strongly that act would have resonated with his young adversaries, and shaken their will to follow through! With the Decembrists as a point of comparison, I have increased my respect for America's Founding Fathers and the men they led, who seem to have believed even in their unconscious that King George III of England really was no better than they were. They were fortunate, perhaps, that to them King George was kind of a theoretical idea, being so distant from them physically. True equality is a difficult concept to hold in the mind. I believe we Americans have lost our grip on it today. I know that in my case, I can tell myself that I'm just as good as a billionaire and even believe that it is true. But when I'm in the actual presence of a powerful person, my own concept of equality gets blurry, and I have a regrettable tendency to truckle, if only to be polite."(less)

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Jun 17, 2012 Holly Morrow added it

Anyone who has traveled on a modest budget through epic landscapes knows that human beings can only sustain a sense of awe and wonder for so long, before more mundane concerns creep in – the driver’s smoking, your companion’s regrettable choice in music, your desire for a snack or pee break. This makes one feel unpoetic and small-minded, so travel writers generally leave it out. It is part of the charm of Ian Frazier’s “Travels in Siberia” that that takes up about a third (i.e. a realistic and a...more Anyone who has traveled on a modest budget through epic landscapes knows that human beings can only sustain a sense of awe and wonder for so long, before more mundane concerns creep in – the driver’s smoking, your companion’s regrettable choice in music, your desire for a snack or pee break. This makes one feel unpoetic and small-minded, so travel writers generally leave it out. It is part of the charm of Ian Frazier’s “Travels in Siberia” that that takes up about a third (i.e. a realistic and accurate) part of his story of his journey across the remote hinterlands of Russia. The book is his recounting of a trip (actually several trips) across Siberia where nothing much of consequence happens. I think its safe to say that no one will be optioning the rights to this book to make it into a movie. He doesn’t have a goal for this voyage, other than an interest in Siberia’s role in Russia’s history and a morbid fascination with the gulag. Frazier describes himself as “sick with Russia-love,” a country he is totally enthralled with, at the same time that he recognizes all its craziness and general state of disrepair. It took me a while to get into his book – Frazier’s writing is meandering and understated, but it occasionally rewards you with a beautiful, and very funny, passage, that is all the more enjoyable for not being overly polished and thought-over (or frequent). The book is at times strangely constructed – he will, for example, recount his discussion with a scientist at one of the deep-Siberian Russian Academy of Sciences by saying – “and then Sergei said:” and quote him directly for two and a half pages. And then end of chapter. No commentary, no summing up of why Frazier found this encounter particularly interesting, touching, indicative of Russian character, or otherwise noteworthy. And there is no minor Siberian historical figure too arcane to be worthy of several paragraphs’ discussion. The book shifts between the decidedly non-epic day-to-day trials of a long car trip in Siberia (mosquitoes, vehicular difficulties, etc), and researched digressions about Siberia – mostly a place where people have been sent for misbehavior (as differently defined in tsarist and Communist times) but occasionally the site of heroic (and stoic) feats of nation-building. I found I had to settle in to Frazier's style and tamp down my impatience, and then I really enjoyed it.(less)

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Apr 28, 2012 Jonathan rated it 2 of 5 stars

A travel book by someone who clearly hates to travel. Tempered slightly with self-effacement, his incessant whining and intermittent panic attacks make for a grating journey. By the middle of the book one is left empathizing heavily with his unfortunate guides. He would have been better off learning how to politely toss back a few shots of vodka than his hours spent studiously attempting to learn the Russian language. His autistic obsession with museums and prison camps might have been a source...more

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Apr 02, 2012 Boyd Addlesperger rated it 5 of 5 stars

Travels to Siberia might be my favourite book of the year....so far. Frazier suffers....or rather experiences, "Russia love"....a condition that leads him to travel to Siberia five times and to European Russia several more times. His travel narrative is interrupted by bits of history--the Decembrists, Pushkin, the gulag. The travel narrative is so compelling that I feel a tinge of disappointment each time he turns to history--which, in turn, is so fascinating that I regret it when he returns to...more

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Mar 10, 2012 Ms.pegasus rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: all students; anyone interested in Russia, or travel books

Recommended to Ms.pegasus by: interest in Siberia after reading THE TIGER

Shelves: history, russia, nonfiction

Siberia – Frazier recognizes from the outset what a powerfully monolithic image comes to mind. It's geographical dimensions are difficult to comprehend. The continental United States stretches across four time zones; Siberia across eight. It extends for 3,000 miles beyond the Urals. Such a vast expanse cannot be summarized in one word, such as “cold,” or “snow,” or even its descriptive synonyms of extreme remoteness, as Frazier so uniquely puts it, “out-of-it-ness.” Much of western Siberia is ma...more Siberia – Frazier recognizes from the outset what a powerfully monolithic image comes to mind. It's geographical dimensions are difficult to comprehend. The continental United States stretches across four time zones; Siberia across eight. It extends for 3,000 miles beyond the Urals. Such a vast expanse cannot be summarized in one word, such as “cold,” or “snow,” or even its descriptive synonyms of extreme remoteness, as Frazier so uniquely puts it, “out-of-it-ness.” Much of western Siberia is marshland, sustained by the great north-south flowing rivers whose frozen estuaries cause spring flooding upstream The huge expanse of continuous land results in extreme temperatures. Hot, stifling rides are part or this travel saga, as are mosquitoes that make the Canadian woods insects seem benign annoyances by comparison. Such a wealth of variation leads Frazier to conclude that Siberia can only be experienced by crossing it.

The heart of these travels, however, are the people Frazier meets. His uneasy relationship with his chief guide/driver, Sergei Mikhailovich Lunev, a bear of a man who was also head of the robotics lab at St. Petersburg State Polytechnical University, and Sergei's assistant, Vladimir (Volodya) Chumak an experienced alpinist and building restorer are the framework for this combination roadtrip/historical tour. Frazier has some presentiment of their relationship early in the trip: “During our earlier, polite phase, I had had the illusion that I was in charge of this expedition. Now I began to feel that they were the ones taking the trip and I was along for the ride.” It's an interesting relationship. Frazier's Russian is rudimentary at best. His goals are difficult to comprehend to the Russians. (His interest in visiting some former Stalinist era prisons is met with actual hostility). The situation is totally foreign – from the contrary vehicle carrying them to the improvisational accommodations they find. One can only marvel at Frazier's ability to deal with both the emotional and physical stress. It would be interesting to know what Sergei and Volodya thought of the same incidents. At one point, they have a hearty laugh over Frazier's suggestion that he try to buy a guidebook for campgrounds in the vicinity of their route. There's a closeness that develops, though it stops short of actually friendship.

Frazier remarks how different St. Petersburg seems when approached from the east, rather than the west. A fantastical aura surrounds it, like an apparition tranformed into reality. It is this element of context that transfixes the reader. Contradictions abound. Savoring a meal of fresh garden vegetables, only to bite into a large pebble; following the Old Trakt, the historic route prisoners took on their way to the gulags of Siberia as it fades in and out of villages and muddy ruts; admiring the colorful exuberance of the drivers of some all-terrain vehicles (vezdekhots) on the tundra, while realizing how destructive the vehicles are to the fragile tundra.

TRAVELS IN SIBERIA actually covers several Siberian trips over a span of some sixteen years. It includes a flight from Nome across the Bering Straits to Chukotka, and an exploration northward from Vladivostok as well as the overland trek from west to east. Individual readers will find favorite parts and historically well-versed readers will gain the most, for the amount of description is at times overwhelming. Yet, there are enough incidents to engage the the element of Schadenfreude we all share and have come to anticipate in any good travel adventure. Frazier, however, judiciously keeps himself in the background as he explores the lives of the people he meets in Siberia over both time and distance.(less)

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Nov 07, 2011 Pete rated it 4 of 5 stars

Having never read anything by Ian Frazier before, my hopes were initially high for this book. I've long been fascinated by Siberia, much in the same way that the author is. (I haven't hopped a flight to Novosibirsk yet, but you never know.) About a third of the way through the book I found myself tiring of what I considered to be Frazier's constant manic-depressive descriptions of what he was experiencing. Something lovely, then something terrible. A nice conversation, then getting into some kin...more

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Sep 15, 2011 Birgit rated it 4 of 5 stars

If nothing else, the author is being honest - portraying himself as who he is, a) a gifted writer who can be witty, profound and petty, and b) a fairly average privileged middle-aged American male with all the cliches that go with that (no alcohol or tobacco, whiny if things aren't up to his spoilt expectations, self-indulgent, fearful, and needy).

Having said that, the book is engrossing, fascinating and fabulous. If you have the remotest interest in Russia, like or love Russian literature, and...more

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Sep 06, 2011 Bruce rated it 4 of 5 stars

Ian Frazier has a love affair with Siberia. In this delightfully conversational book, he relates his five trips in Siberia, touching briefly on his five or six additional trips to western Russia. More than a travelogue, the book includes fascinating accounts of Siberian history, anthropology, culture, and geography. Characters with whom Frazier travels come alive, as do the many people he meets along the way. Almost all his Siberian trips occurred after the breakup of the Soviet Union, and his o...more

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Apr 26, 2011 Ben Peters rated it 4 of 5 stars

In Travels in Siberia, Ian Frazier takes on the other great plains, Siberia. An interminable stretch of forgotten folk and forest, Siberia grants Russia, "the greatest horrible country," much of what makes it both great and horrible. Siberia gives Russia its shortest description: big, northern, and eastern. Frazier's 544-page Siberia makes good on that short description.

However hard to summarize, Frazier's style makes this extended travel meditation both a delicious and descriptive read. Profou...more In Travels in Siberia, Ian Frazier takes on the other great plains, Siberia. An interminable stretch of forgotten folk and forest, Siberia grants Russia, "the greatest horrible country," much of what makes it both great and horrible. Siberia gives Russia its shortest description: big, northern, and eastern. Frazier's 544-page Siberia makes good on that short description.

However hard to summarize, Frazier's style makes this extended travel meditation both a delicious and descriptive read. Profound and plain at the same time, his voice is fittingly exploratory throughout, offering rolling insight, pauses, and unconnected vignettes as his five trips into Siberia unfold. A lesser author might overburden his reader with his obvious authority on the subject. Instead, Frazier's open approach to the big questions, combined with a command of revealing detail, a style at once amiable and obsessive, situates us right in his used delivery van entourage making its way across eight time zones of eclectic people and places. No one knows the highs and lows of Siberia beforehand; this book uncovers them one by one--and they are many, from the plains razed by the Mongol hordes to the silent ruins of the Gulag, to a long line of Russophiles (both Westerners like John Reed and George Kennon as well as Russian prison-writers like Bakunin, Dostoevsky, Chekhov) possessed by an inexplicable sort of "dread Russia love," to the crumbling infrastructure of the Soviet past, to the unforgettable mosquitoes that both justify and defy all human hate for the blood-sucking beasts, to the quiet space between everything else--all this, and so much more Russian suffering mixed with the serenity and solitude of Siberia, we discover in real time along with him.

On a personal note, this book revived in me all sorts of images, smells, memories, and other sensory residues I picked up on the Asiatic edge of Russia and that continue to animate my wonder for the country. Like a trip to Siberia itself, this book comes highly recommended for those for whom vivid portraits of despair and austere beauty will not disappoint. (less)

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Mar 05, 2011 Susan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Just finished it and ended up really liking it, though I started out less then enthusiastic. I was listening to it and am usually less than thrilled when an author reads his own book. It also seemed to me he was mispronouncing Russian works, but then what do I know--just a little Russian though my sister who coached me was very particular about pronunciation.

It also took me awhile to realize that the travels of the title was really was meant to be plural--he writes about a total of 5 trips to Si...more

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Dec 09, 2010 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction, russian

When I returned from spending several months in Russia as a graduate student, a friend asked what it was like and whether I enjoyed it. My reply was something like, “It was great, I loved it, never go there.”
Russia is a place guaranteed to frustrate anyone who has to have things go according to plan, expects problems to be solved quickly and transparently, and likes things orderly and sanitized in that uniquely American way (my friend was all three). Plans fall apart, problems are addressed with...more When I returned from spending several months in Russia as a graduate student, a friend asked what it was like and whether I enjoyed it. My reply was something like, “It was great, I loved it, never go there.”
Russia is a place guaranteed to frustrate anyone who has to have things go according to plan, expects problems to be solved quickly and transparently, and likes things orderly and sanitized in that uniquely American way (my friend was all three). Plans fall apart, problems are addressed with a shrug (and perhaps a bribe), and, to put it politely, standards of cleanliness differ overseas.
But Russia is also a place of striking beauty — natural as well as artistic — warm hospitality and an incredibly complex cultural and historical tradition.
This contrast is probably why, in “Travels in Siberia,” Ian Frazier calls Russia “the greatest horrible country in the world.”
Frazier has what he calls “Russia-Love,” and those who have it know exactly what this is -- not being able to get enough of this great and horrible country. Frazier’s fascination is not with the cultural and historical centers of western Russia, but the vast, wild frontiers of Siberia.
And Siberia is about as vast as it gets: Flying to Novosibirsk from Moscow, I looked out the plane window and saw nothing but green. No roads, no towns, no buildings, nothing but miles of trees. Had I gone in the winter, it would have been uninterrupted miles of white. Frazier made several trips to Siberia, including in the winter, and the view from the ground is endless steppe, thick forests and the blanketing dark of night.
This very readable book details his travels to and across Siberia — one trip was by van from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok — and his observations of the people and the landscapes, warts and all. He encounters swarms of biting insects, village poets, unexpected churches, sprawling rivers, brutal cold, and the largest bust of Lenin in the world.
He exhaustively read travel books by foreigners visiting Siberia — including a 19th-century account by George Kennan, the namesake of Cold War historian George F. Kennan — and keeps an eye out for things they saw or places they visited.
But Frazier also delves deeply into the history of Siberia, from the time of Genghis Khan through the tsars, the Soviets and the modern era; the fur trade, the construction of the railroads and the tapping of mineral wealth. And, of course, the worldwide image of Siberia as a place of banishment and imprisonment. “Using a place as punishment may or may not be fair to the people who are punished there,” he writes, “but it always demeans and does a disservice to the place.”
In Siberia, Frazier was quite interested in seeing some gulags, even a marker Kennan mentioned that lay along the route taken by a century’s worth of exiles. His guide, however, was not at all interested in showing him any prisons, dismissing his requests without explanation. When they finally happened across an old one, the guide was nervous about getting out and looking around, but Frazier insisted. “What struck me then and still strikes me now was the place’s overwhelming aura of absence. The deserted prison camp just sat there -- unexcused, un-torn-down, unexplained. ... ‘No comment,’ the site seemed to say.”
Frazier’s subject is huge and unwieldy, but his book grabs hold of it and shows us many facets. The history offered is not comprehensive — nor does it claim to be — but touches on crucial figures and events as well as some that are lesser-known but no less interesting. The travelogues are fascinating and he’s included a few of his own sketches of places he visited.
And his writing is thoughtful, even meditative at points, but never bogs down; instead he compels the reader forward, making us want to know what else happened. His descriptions give us a sense of this land beyond the thousands-of-miles, biggest-coldest-longest geographical facts, Frazier brings even the bleakest places to life — not that most of us would want to go there, but that’s the point: He went, we can enjoy reading about it. (less)

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Nov 06, 2010 Tony added it

Shelves: travel

Frazier, Ian. TRAVELS IN SIBERIA. (2010). ***. Mr. Frazier has written some great stuff in the past. His book “Great Plains” is a classic. This one, however, goes on and on (511 pages without the index) without any continuous thread running through it. It’s great to read to pick up lots of factoids, like: Siberia spans eight time zones, there is no actual entity named Siberia, the Trans-Siberian Railway – totally electric – would be equal to twice the length of I-80 from New York to California i...more

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Nov 18, 2012 Shonna Froebel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Though nonfiction, this is an epic of a book. Telling of not only his own trips to Siberia (five in total) but also of others travels, this book provides an interesting view of a symbolic but little known part of the world. Frazier covers history, geography, literature, and politics in this amazing book. Frazier took on learning Russian to better equip himself for his travels, and talks about the greatest triumph: getting Russians to laugh on purpose. There is sadness and humour and so much more...more

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Dec 09, 2010 Bookmarks Magazine rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: jan-feb-2011

Accustomed to pointing out the absurdities of everyday life, humorists, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, are uniquely qualified to recognize these absurdities in other places. Frazier is no exception. Hailed by the Boston Globe and the San Francisco Chronicle as a masterpiece, Travels in Siberia is both laugh-out-loud hilarious and thoughtfully serious (as evidenced by 40 pages of endnotes and a bibliography). Despite the hazards Frazier faces, his unyielding curiosity and infectious sen...more

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Aug 09, 2012 Lobstergirl rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Baldr

Shelves: memoir, russia

A largely entertaining and delightful read. I'd read the excerpts of it in The New Yorker, and I've slowly been developing a fascination with Siberia myself (Frazier's is an obsession), so I knew I'd have to read this eventually. Siberia reveals itself to be a mysterious place, where they speak a difficult and confusing foreign language called Russian, and enormous heaps of trash lie everywhere (though the trash has a much smaller paper component than in America, and also here in America we don'...more A largely entertaining and delightful read. I'd read the excerpts of it in The New Yorker, and I've slowly been developing a fascination with Siberia myself (Frazier's is an obsession), so I knew I'd have to read this eventually. Siberia reveals itself to be a mysterious place, where they speak a difficult and confusing foreign language called Russian, and enormous heaps of trash lie everywhere (though the trash has a much smaller paper component than in America, and also here in America we don't have the same trash heaps usually, because we've created these wonderful things called landfills), and stunningly beautiful women parade the streets, highways, byways, city squares of many Siberian cities and towns. The beauty of the Siberian women was perhaps the most mysterious aspect of Siberia in Frazier's telling, because, how to explain it? None of the explanations he semi-gives seem terribly rational, and besides he's a man, so I don't completely trust his evaluation of womanly beauty to begin with.

The two other most entertaining aspects of Frazier's travels are the mosquitoes - at times, so dense that Frazier and his guides have to go about their business in beekeeping headgear - and the hilarious unreliability of their van, which breaks down, refuses to start, or loses major parts every few days or so. One wonders, isn't there a window somewhere between August and winter, when the mosquito population comes close to dying off, but it's not yet -40º?

The downside of Frazier's book is that there's actually way too much history. I came for the travel, not for the history (I'll get my history from other books), which is delivered in an annoyingly cutesy fashion, such as: "Many people who you might not think of as ever having been in Russia, were." (I smell a lingering John McPhee in that sentence, another very famous New Yorker writer whom Frazier thanks in his acknowledgements.) "Whistler's mother, of the well-known painting, got up from her straight-back chair long enough to go to Russia with Whistler's father..." The long section on the Decembrists bored me, but I understand even more having finished the book why Frazier had to include it. His Russian guides were too embarrassed to tell the locals that Frazier was writing a book about Siberia, so they told people it was going to be about the Decembrists, the 19th century Russian failed revolutionary heroes and a noble and satisfactory book topic.

There's an excellent map at the beginning of the book, showing primary cities, major rivers, and the Trans-Siberian Railway and Baikal-Amur Mainline. What the map lacks (why?) are the routes of Frazier's two primary trips. It's not that difficult to pick out Frazier's routes on your own, but a couple colored or dotted lines would have been helpful.(less)

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Jan 12, 2011 Voracious rated it 3 of 5 stars

The most engaging travel writing uses the same narrative techniques of great fiction to capture the reader's imagination--character, description, plot--usually cast on an exotic and difficult landscape. By these standards, Travels in Siberia hardly succeeds. It lacks the comedic sense of strangeness and absurdity that one finds, for example, in writers like Paul Theroux and Eric Newby. Frazier's persona is often cranky, frightened and uneasy. His obsession with Russian culture is remarkable, as...more

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Jan 11, 2011 Bill rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, history, non-fiction, travel, library-book

boy, siberia is a realllly big place.the entire continental united states and most of europe would fit within its boundaries.the trans-siberian railway from moscow to vladivostock on the coast is 5,771 miles or twice the distance from new jersey to california.that's a long way.it would be really neat to take a trip on that train, but it is probably something that i would like to do but will never get around to actually doing it.

the author actually makes 5 trips to siberia, although he mainly tal...more boy, siberia is a realllly big place.the entire continental united states and most of europe would fit within its boundaries.the trans-siberian railway from moscow to vladivostock on the coast is 5,771 miles or twice the distance from new jersey to california.that's a long way.it would be really neat to take a trip on that train, but it is probably something that i would like to do but will never get around to actually doing it.

the author actually makes 5 trips to siberia, although he mainly talks about two of them,one in the summer and one in the winter.the one in the summer, he along with two guides drive from one end of siberia to the other in a van which seems to break down every few pages,but they do eventually make it, after more than five weeks on the road.siberia in the summer is hot, dusty and full of huge flocks of mosquitos.the winter in siberia is unbelievably cold.in one place the temperature can sometimes be as low as -96.that's fucking cold!i've lived in saskatoon one winter were it was -40 and that's really freezing.

this book is not just a travel memoir, it's also a history of siberia,from the times of genghis khan,to the gulags to which stalin sent millions to their deaths,right up to the present day when russia has become the leading energy-exporting nation in the world and is also the world's leading producer of diamonds.but not everything is great though.the averge life expectancy of a russian man is only 59 years...that's worse than 165 other countries.

all in all, it's a very well written, entertaining book which probably tells you pretty much all you need to know about siberia, so if you're interested in that kind of thing, you should read it.

at the end of the book, the author is sitting in the moscow airport, waiting for his flight,and a teenage girl next to him is reading, in english, the short stories of somerset maugham.he asks her what grade she is in and she tells him grade 10.he then goes on to say that "in millions of air miles, you would be unlikely to sit next to an american tenth grader reading, in any language, the stories of somerset maugham." a pretty sad commentary on the reading habits of north american youth.(less)

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Apr 02, 2011 Mag rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: asia, eastern-europe, russia, to-read-again, paper-copy, audio, travel

It is a very interesting and well written account of Frazier’s ultimate trip across Siberia, few people, and I am sure even few Russians have ever undertaken. Throughout this journey, or many trips he took in the end, Frazier shows true engagement with the country and its history and a real affection for its people. It’s a fascinating account, even though I think that he might have missed something very Russian there. Maybe, the fact that he didn’t drink and went to sleep early, missing night pa...more

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Jan 09, 2013 John rated it 5 of 5 stars

Loved it. I love a good travelogue. I picked this up because I read the bits of it that Frazier published a few years ago, in the New Yorker, and I really enjoyed them...the finished tome did not disappoint. I want to go to Siberia now. Except that's the thing...after reading this book, where would I go? Frazier really did it all - he went to extreme western Siberia, extreme eastern Siberia (via Alaska), all the way across by car in summer, to the frozen north in winter, another trip just becaus...more Loved it. I love a good travelogue. I picked this up because I read the bits of it that Frazier published a few years ago, in the New Yorker, and I really enjoyed them...the finished tome did not disappoint. I want to go to Siberia now. Except that's the thing...after reading this book, where would I go? Frazier really did it all - he went to extreme western Siberia, extreme eastern Siberia (via Alaska), all the way across by car in summer, to the frozen north in winter, another trip just because. And he had already been to Russia proper. I think I couldn't visit Siberia unless I had already done a little of regular Russia, and that would be a major trip in and of itself. And it definitely doesn't count to just drive over the Urals and jump out of the car for a minute. I don't think I would really be comfortable claiming to have "done" Siberia unless I had bathed in Lake Baikal while drinking vodka and wearing a big furry hat. Or hiked the taiga north of Vladivostok. Or something like that.
This may be a bit too much Siberia for some readers, fair warning. It doesn't look too imposing on the bookshelf, but it is 470 pages. I liked it throughout. I love Frazier's style, I really enjoy his sense of humor, and I'm into his historical digressions - he goes into the Decembrists, for example, in great detail. Frazier also seems to have visited every tiny little museum in every decent sized town and city he stopped by - a man after my own heart. I love that there are so many tiny little museums in Siberia, and each apparently run by an eccentric old Russian lady who knows all the good stories and recites poetry and provides cookies. I also appreciate Frazier's sense of what makes a good vignette...there are many wonderful little moments in this book that capture glimpses of life in the many corners of Siberia. And the sketches! I like the sketches. Frazier took few pictures, but includes many little sketches he did of the places he stopped. They fit really well...they almost give the book an old fashioned, 19th century travelogue feel.
So yeah, Siberia. I don't think I would appreciate the extreme bugginess, or the mountains of trash, so I'm thinking I would need to go in the winter. I can deal with -30 temperatures better than I can deal with bugs. Maybe we will warm the planet up enough so that winter in Siberia is only -10, and then I'll have an easier time convincing my wife to come with me. (less)

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