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Rating: 
Summary: Andrea Lee Misses The Point
Review: Having lived in Post-Soviet Russia for three years, I picked up Andrea Lee's book with the interest of a wanderer who has found a kindred spirit, someone with whom to compare stories of a similar fish-out-of-water experience. Upon first reading, the differences between our Russias were immediately apparent: Lee's year in Moscow and St. Petersburg was back in the Soviet days, and her life there was more closely regulated and contrived, partially due to the constraints put upon her, both real and imagined, by the Soviet authorities, and partially due to the nature of her visit, seemingly a study-abroad trip taken by her russophile husband with her in tow. Her experiences were thus limited to the State-allowed tourist sites, the geographical and cultural limitations of her two cities of residency, and her own brief explorations.
She and I were both struck during our time by the warmth of the Russian people to foreigeners, and the curiosity of meeting and talking with a "real American." However, her descriptions of her surroundings, the people she meets, and her overall experience are tainted by her own cultural arrogance. At least once in every chapter, she spoils the reader's enjoyment of her impressions with a subtle and perfectly placed insult to the cultural, artistic, or aesthetic sensibilities of the Russian People, if not merely their personal habits. The dormitory in Moscow where she makes her home is "vulgar." A friend eats "greedily, bending over her plate, mumbling through her food." Another friend's hat offends her fashion-conscious eye, and is dismissed as "absurd." Even St. Basil's Cathedral, the 15th-century Byzantine-influenced church standing in Red Square as the very symbol of Russia, cannot escape her critical and self-absorbed judgement: she pronounces it "preposterous."
Lee has a gift for descriptive writing, an ability to bring the reader, through her tastes, smells and sights, right there beside her on the Moscow Metro, in the steambaths, or the home of a Soviet journalist. Unfortunately, her impressive talents are invariable used to convey (perhaps unintendedly) her overall disdain with everything that makes Russia (and the Russian people) truly Russia; indeed, everything not American. Like poorly made borsch, her effort leaves the reader with a bad taste in the mouth.
Rating: 
Summary: Unexpected enjoyment
Review: I picked up this book without great expectations. I was merely doing an assignment for English class, but I found the book to be delightful and interesting. I couldn't seem to put it down, and when I finished, I recounted how much I learned. The descriptions of Ms. Lee's surroundings were detailed so one could easily picture the architecture in one's mind. The descriptions of Russian citizens are most intriguing because of Ms. Lee's opportunity to become close friends, not acquaintences with them. All in all, a good read that teaches a lot.
Rating:
Summary: an arrogant view
Review: The book is written about the 1970's Soviet Union. So those of you who look for a pre-trip information will not find the book useful as Russia has changed dramatically since then (even the customs). The author goes on a tag-a-long study abroad trip with her Russian-Studies husband. They stay at a Moscow State University dorm, which in actuality is a pretty posh place to live in the city. The book is very descriptive of the architecture, the weather, and the people. Unofruntelly, the author portrays things in a negative way. At the very beginning, she condesendingly refers to her appartment building as a "exacake-shaped mple of Stalin-gothic" Througout the book, the author uses her "elevated" aethetic perspective to describe the clothing, the food, the habits of the Russian people. As a native Russian, I was upset about some things written in the book, and I felt the author misunderstood much of what is Russian.
Rating:
Summary: an arrogant view
Review: The book is written about the 1970's Soviet Union. So those of you who look for a pre-trip information will not find the book useful as Russia has changed dramatically since then (even the customs). The author goes on a tag-a-long study abroad trip with her Russian-Studies husband. They stay at a Moscow State University dorm, which in actuality is a pretty posh place to live in the city. The book is very descriptive of the architecture, the weather, and the people. Unofruntelly, the author portrays things in a negative way. At the very beginning, she condesendingly refers to her appartment building as a "exacake-shaped mple of Stalin-gothic" Througout the book, the author uses her "elevated" aethetic perspective to describe the clothing, the food, the habits of the Russian people. As a native Russian, I was upset about some things written in the book, and I felt the author misunderstood much of what is Russian.
Rating:
Summary: Andrea Lee Misses The Point
Review: This was an unexpected gem. Russian Journal is a great read for people who love to travel or who don't travel but want to. It was less a journal and more a love letter to the people of Russia that the author met in the late 1970s. I easily could picture the harsh architecture and the warm people, what a startling contrast! I began the book wondering about Andrea's experiences (will she encounter the KGB? etc.) and by the end I was curious about her friends and wanting to go there myself. I am actually leaving in 15 months for a year long stay.
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