Orth begins his journey in Moscow where he had advance "hotel" arrangements through couchsurfing.com. In fact, all of of overnight stays were arranged through this organization. The results were usually comical but sometimes dangerous. Orth stated early in the book that he "wanted to spend time with normal people doing the things that they normally do and not focus on politicians, activists, or intellectuals, as is the usual practice of journalists." The purpose of the trip was to understand what was on young people's minds and to understand the Putin phenomenon and its effect on people.
My first impression of this country was that it was truly poverty stricken. I always believed otherwise. While I knew there were parts that were poor my general impression was that Russia was a comfortable country that I would like to visit one day. This book changed my mind. Russia seems to be the kind of country my church would have a practical mission trip to in order to construct a building or fix one.
My first impression of the book questioned how the author could stand these strange people he stayed with. My next thought was how did these folks become so strange in the first place? Russia is a country of many accomplishments yet the people are quirky and they are living like they are in a third world country.
While their living conditions are not so great, i.e., food and electrical shortages, they seem to love Putin as he is a strong leader. They see him as being able to bring back national pride and that is more important than their personal struggles. When Putin invaded Crimea, they felt proud of the accomplishment. When Putin looks superior to other world leaders they are similarly proud. When Russia gets blamed for interference in international affairs the Russian people feel proud that they have power again.
The author made an in incredibly astute assessment of the world's political situation. During the months before and after his trip the British voted for Brexit, the U.S. elected Trump as President, Igor Dodon became the President of Moldavia and Rumen Radev, the new president of Bulgaria, took over the presidency of the European Union. All of these events happened exactly as Russia would have wished. They all strengthen Putin's position in the world. I haven't heard any of the U.S. news stations report on Putin's political power in the world as the author has reported.
The author never stayed in one place more than a few days. He maximized his interactions with people and summarized his experiences at the end of some of the chapters with what he calls truths about Russia. They are comical but true. An example is Truth #6 "The words 'That's Russia' explain many things for which there is no logical explanation."
However, the book was slow reading perhaps because of the journalistic format. Most of the interesting assessments of the Russian people and of Putin were at the end of the book. The reader does get a feel for what it's like to travel within the country via train and plane. The psyche of the Russian people is evident in the stories the author told from his interactions with his various hosts. You only get that from the format the author used where he shows you what the Russian people said and did when he was with them. He doesn't tell you in a summary. While it seemed the book read slow, I don't know that the reader would be able to surmise the Russian psyche without this particular format. It was necessary.
I find it hard how to rate this book on my 5 star rating list. The author made some incredible political assessments. He showed us what makes Russians tick. However, it was slow reading. Even though I think the way he wrote it was necessary, it was slow reading for me. I am thinking 3 or 4 stars for its entertainment readability but if you consider the book's duty to inform it might be a 5. I cannot decide so I won't rate it. Read it yourself and you decide.
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