Synopses & Reviews
A Dazzling Russian travelogue from the bestselling author of Great Plains
In his astonishing new work, Ian Frazier, one of our greatest and most entertaining storytellers, trains his perceptive, generous eye on Siberia, the storied expanse of Asiatic Russia whose grim renown is but one explanation among hundreds for the regions fascinating, enduring appeal. In Travels in Siberia, Frazier reveals Siberias role in history—its science, economics, and politics—with great passion and enthusiasm, ensuring that well never think about it in the same way again.
With great empathy and epic sweep, Frazier tells the stories of Siberias most famous exiles, from the well-known—Dostoyevsky, Lenin (twice), Stalin (numerous times)—to the lesser known (like Natalie Lopukhin, banished by the empress for copying her dresses) to those who experienced unimaginable suffering in Siberian camps under the Soviet regime, forever immortalized by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in The Gulag Archipelago.
Travels in Siberia is also a unique chronicle of Russia since the end of the Soviet Union, a personal account of adventures among Russian friends and acquaintances, and, above all, a unique, captivating, totally Frazierian take on what he calls the “amazingness” of Russia—a country that, for all its tragic history, somehow still manages to be funny. Travels in Siberia will undoubtedly take its place as one of the twenty-first centurys indispensable contributions to the travel-writing genre.
Review
“The audios 16-hour length feels appropriate, given the time and space needed even to scratch the surface of the vastness of Asiatic Russia. A sprawling, enthusiastic glimpse of a land that is so much more than cold and ice.” - Library Journal
Review
“[Travels in Siberia is] an uproarious, sometimes dark yarn filled with dubious meals, broken-down vehicles, abandoned slave-labor camps and ubiquitous statues of Lenin—On the Road meets The Gulag Archipelago . . . As he demonstrated in Great Plains, Frazier is the most amiable of obsessives . . . he peels away Russias stolid veneer to reveal the quirkiness and humanity beneath . . . Frazier has the gumption and sense of wonder shared by every great travel writer, from Bruce Chatwin to Redmond OHanlon, as well as the ability to make us see how the most trivial or ephemeral detail is part of the essential texture of a place . . . [An] endlessly fascinating tale.” —Joshua Hammer, The New York Times Book Review
“Siberia provides Frazier the perfect canvas to paint what may be his masterpiece. Frazier told the story of the Great Plains (his eponymous 1989 bestseller) and Native American life (“On the Rez, 2000) by mixing history, reportage, and memoir, but what makes him special is his brilliant, if quirky sense of humor . . . When confronted with a place as serious as Siberia, it helps to have Fraziers comic leavening . . . Travels in Siberia is a typically sprawling Frazier book. Underneath a rich smear of his pen-and-ink sketches and his research (Frazier is an unusual travel writer in that not only is he very funny, but he is very serious, and he offers nearly 40 pages worth of endnotes and a bibliography of scores of books on Siberia) are the threads of five trips he took to the region since 1993. From the Alaska side, he hopscotched around Chukotkas Chukchi Peninsula. For a satirist like Frazier, it was like shooting fish in a barrel, and he restrained himself, only rarely cracking a joke. “Chukchi girls dancing with a telephone lineman from California is a sight seen almost never, and then not more than once” — or noting that the two stuffed bears displayed in the Anchorage airport were killed by dentists . . . He then explores the question of why there are no historical markers or memorials at the Siberian gulag, as there are at some other sites of atrocity like Dachau and Auschwitz. The terrible crimes are still incompletely acknowledged, he argues, because the camps embodied Stalin and “the world has not yet decided what to say about Stalin.” It is a simple point but a powerful one and like much of the book, both Fraziers images and his insights about the camps linger long after you stop shivering.” —James Zug, The Boston Globe
“Its always easy to figure out whether you should read the latest book by Ian Frazier: If hes written it, then youll want to read it . . . Much more than ‘travel writing, [Travels in Siberia] covers memoir, history, literature, politics and more. There are many reasons to love it, including the fantastic ending, possibly the best of any book in recent memory. Travels in Siberia is a masterpiece of nonfiction writing—tragic, bizarre and funny. Once again, the inimitable Frazier has managed to create a genre of his very own.” —Carmela Ciuraru, San Francisco Chronicle
“[Travel writing] . . . is revived by Ian Fraziers Travels in Siberia, which evinces a passion as profound as Homanss zeal for dance: Fraziers ‘Russia-love . . . Between excursions to towns like Neudachino (‘Unhappyville), he ponders a question that has puzzled many a visitor: ‘how Russia can be so great and so horrible simultaneously. In exploring this paradox, Frazier describes the physical world with a keen eye . . . Some of his descriptions read like medieval nightmares: the mosquitoes of western Siberia, so numerous that they gather in fierce black clouds; or the feeling of being locked, for almost two days, in a windowless train compartment beneath a ceiling so low that it is impossible to stand. Frazier candidly addresses Siberias tragedies and opportunities, even as his narrative offers, like explorer stories of old (crossing the Sahara, hacking through the Congo, landing in Tahiti with Captain Cook), all the thrills of armchair travel.” —Ben Moser, Harpers
“Ian Frazier, a staff writer for The New Yorker, is a master of nonfiction narrative. As with his previous travel classics Great Plains and On the Rez, Fraziers Travels in Siberia not only explores the geography of a remote, seemingly barren region, but also illuminates its dark history and resilient spirit. Frazier isnt just a chronicler—hes a central character . . . After reading Fraziers passionate travelogue and history of Siberia, youll never again view the region as a big, empty space on a map. Frazier brings Siberia into vivid, monochromatic focus.” —Minneapolis Star-Tribune
Review
“[Travels in Siberia is] an uproarious, sometimes dark yarn filled with dubious meals, broken-down vehicles, abandoned slave-labor camps and ubiquitous statues of Lenin—On the Road meets The Gulag Archipelago . . . As he demonstrated in Great Plains, Frazier is the most amiable of obsessives . . . he peels away Russias stolid veneer to reveal the quirkiness and humanity beneath . . . Frazier has the gumption and sense of wonder shared by every great travel writer, from Bruce Chatwin to Redmond OHanlon, as well as the ability to make us see how the most trivial or ephemeral detail is part of the essential texture of a place . . . [An] endlessly fascinating tale.” —Joshua Hammer, The New York Times Book Review
“Frazier is a sophisticated, intense writer who—Twain-like—uses a deceptive style of naiveté and comic self-deprecation to carry serious perceptions.…Always beautifully written, often very funny, serious, and moving in its cumulative impact.” —The New York Review of Books
“While the hand- and mind-numbing trip through geographic purgatory couldnt have been a joy, the humor and genuine awe Frazier injects into his depictions are the stuff of a great vicarious vacation.
Review
andldquo;A generation of travel writers owes a debt to Therouxandrsquo;s immersive, first-person narratives, captured with unflinching, sometimes merciless candor.andrdquo; andmdash; New York Times Book Review
Review
andquot;Free of the sense of alienation that marked his recent travelogues, this luminous sojourn is Therouxand#39;s best outing in years.andquot;and#160;andmdash;
Publishers Weekly, starredand#160;and#160;andquot;As thoughtful as it is evocative, the book offers insight into a significant region and its people and customs. An epically compelling travel memoir.andquot;and#160;andmdash;
Kirkus Reviews, starredand#160;
andldquo;A generation of travel writers owes a debt to Therouxandrsquo;s immersive, first-person narratives, captured with unflinching, sometimes merciless candor.andrdquo; andmdash;New York Times Book Review
Synopsis
A Dazzling Russian travelogue from the bestselling author of Great Plains
In Travels in Siberia, Ian Frazier trains his eye for unforgettable detail on Siberia, that vast expanse of Asiatic Russia. He explores many aspects of this storied, often grim region, which takes up one-seventh of the land on earth. He writes about the geography, the resources, the native peoples, the history, the forty-below midwinter afternoons, the bugs.
The book brims with Mongols, half-crazed Orthodox archpriests, fur seekers, ambassadors of the czar bound for Peking, tea caravans, German scientists, American prospectors, intrepid English nurses, and prisoners and exiles of every kind—from Natalie Lopukhin, banished by the czarina for copying her dresses; to the noble Decembrist revolutionaries of the 1820s; to the young men and women of the Peoples Will movement whose fondest hope was to blow up the czar; to those who met still-ungraspable suffering and death in the Siberian camps during Soviet times.
More than just a historical travelogue, Travels in Siberia is also an account of Russia since the end of the Soviet Union and a personal reflection on the all-around amazingness of Russia, a country that still somehow manages to be funny. Siberian travel books have been popular since the thirteenth century, when monks sent by the pope went east to find the Great Khan and wrote about their journeys. Travels in Siberia will take its place as the twenty-first centurys indispensable contribution to the genre.
Synopsis
The bestselling author of "Great Plains" delivers a dazzling Russian travelogue in which he trains his eye for unforgettable detail on Siberia. He explores many aspects of this storied, often grim region and writes about the geography, the resources, the natives people, the history, the 40-below midwinter afternoons, and even the bugs. (Foreign Travel)
Synopsis
More than just a travelogue, Travels in Siberia is also an account of Russia since the end of the Soviet Union and a personal reflection on the all-around amazingness of Russia, a country that still somehow manages to be funny.
Synopsis
New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the YearA Boston Globe Best Book of 2010
A Christian Science Monitor Best Book of 2010
A San Francisco Chronicle Top 10 Books of 2010
A Washington Post Best Book of the Year
A Kansas City Star 100 Best Books of 2010
A St. Louis Post-Dispatch Best of 2010
In this astonishing new work from one of our greatest and most entertaining storytellers, Ian Frazier trains his perceptive, generous eye on Siberia. With great passion and enthusiasm, he reveals Siberias role in history—its science, economics, and politics—and tells the stories of its most famous exiles, such as Dostoyevsky, Lenin, and Stalin. At the same time, Frazier draws a unique portrait of Russia since the end of the Soviet Union, and gives a personal account of adventure among Russian friends and acquaintances. A unique, captivating, totally Frazierian take on what he calls the “amazingness” of Russia—Travels in Siberia is “a masterpiece of nonfiction writing—tragic, bizarre, and funny” (San Francisco Chronicle).
Synopsis
One of the most acclaimed travel writers of our time turns his unflinching eye on an American South too often overlooked.
Synopsis
One of the most acclaimed travel writers of our time turns his unflinching eye on an American South too often overlooked Paul Theroux has spent fifty years crossing the globe, adventuring in the exotic, seeking the rich history and folklore of the far away. Now, for the first time, in his tenth travel book, Theroux explores a piece of America andmdash; theand#160;Deep South. He finds there a paradoxical place, full of incomparable music, unparalleled cuisine, and yet also some of the nationandrsquo;s worst schools, housing, and unemployment rates. Itandrsquo;s these parts of the South, so often ignored, that have caught Therouxandrsquo;s keen travelerandrsquo;s eye.and#160;and#160;On road trips spanning four seasons,and#160;wending along rural highways, Theroux visits gun shows and small-town churches, laborers in Arkansas, and parts of Mississippi where they still call the farm up the road andldquo;the plantation.andrdquo; He talks to mayors and social workers, writers and reverends, the working poor and farming families andmdash; the unsung heroes of the south, the people who, despite it all, never left, and also those who returned home to rebuild a place they could never live without.and#160;and#160;From the writer whose andldquo;great mission has always been to transport us beyond that reading chair, to challenge himself andmdash; and thus, to challenge usandrdquo; (Boston Globe), Deep South is an ode toand#160;a region, vivid and haunting, full of life and loss alike.
About the Author
PAUL THEROUXandnbsp;is the author of many highly acclaimed books. His novels include The Lower River and The Mosquito Coast, and his renowned travel books include Ghost Train to the Eastern Star and Dark Star Safari. He lives in Hawaii and Cape Cod.