Book Review: (OT) The Terrible Country

A Terrible County by Keith Gessen (Viking, 2018, 338 pages, $26.00, available in the Howard County, MD, public library)

If you have nothing else to do, you may enjoy the first 75 or so pages and then read the remainder more rapidly. But that is a lot to ask of anyone who has not lived in Russia or studied Russia or been a poor, starving grad student in New York City or in a megalopolis abroad, like Bangkok. Fortunately, I was a poor, starving grad student and lived in a third-world country, but not Russia. And I do have a 93-year-old friend who needs some assistance walking and hearing. So I did have a few things in common with someone who loved A Terrible Country and I grew to like the book (in the end, I loved it). With a too-long introduction it then reads nearly as slowly until the very end, which may or may not be believable – without knowing Russian and Soviet history and literature, the reader may not know what is truth and what is fiction.

Have you read the classic The Ugly American?

The Terrible Country may or may not remind you of that book: you can take the boy out of the country but can you take the country out of the boy? Who does one become when one leaves the country of one’s birth at age 6 and then returns for a year as an adult? He knows the language and the history and culture but didn’t live through it: there are things one can only understand only by living them - it's sort of like osmosis.

The Terrible Country starts out interestingly enough as you become familiar with Russia today but after the setting is known, the narrative becomes tedious and you wonder if anything will ever happen. (It does, slowly.)

The Plot

A newly-minted unemployed PhD in Russian Lit goes to Moscow to take care of his grandmother and relieve his brother of the 'duty.' It is difficult to obtain a university position in the US, so the opportunity for further study is timely but Russia is a terrible country. Grandmother turns 90 and has lived through history but doesn't recall it all. Our PhD's experiences and new friends make up the plot which finally pulls you in and grabs you in the end, making you want to discuss all that the book encompasses. Finally, an excellent book!

Mostly for Reviewers

When I was a university student and took a one-on-one literature course reading five books and writing about them, I subconsciously wrote the ‘reports’ in the voice of the author. Perhaps that is why A Terrible County starts out so painfully slowly (for readers who have not been expatriates themselves) and has little plot: perhaps great Russian literature does the same, as well, and since the author is bi-lingual and a journalist, even a book reviewer himself, that might very well be the explanation.

I have never understood why there are so few maps in books like A Terrible Country. Author Keith Gessen would have kept the interest of non-Russian scholars if he had either not been such a name-dropper (of historical figures and streets and other place names) or had at least provided maps of Moscow (Russia, not Idaho). After all, long Russian names are hard to pronounce and impossible to remember.

I suspect that when I read a book for review that is difficult to wade through, that I focus on peripherals (but sometimes with a good book as well). I would have appreciated a table of contents especially since the chapters were titled. And I would have appreciated more plot and less introduction than about 75 pages. It is necessary to set the stage, however, more than about 20% is too much. Perhaps 10% is more palatable and will keep more readers interested.

I am curious as to what others think of a book when I am reading one for review and am curious to read their reviews – until I have finished mine and then I am rife to go on to other books and life. But this time, I did read all the ‘reviews’ on Amazon that garnered a one-star and one that earned five stars.

Title – I subconsciously try to understand the meaning behind the title of a book I read. Sometimes the author has no say in the choice. In this case, I don’t know but I did count the title, a terrible country, mentioned about eight times.

Cover – the cover depicts grandma in her pink coat and the family dacha (?) in the woods but upside down, simplistically meaning the dacha has turned lives upside down?

Quotes – I also look at who loved the book enough to read it all perhaps and provide a quote for the marketing department. Sometimes it is provided by the spouse of the small publisher who lives in the same state. Often the recommendation is ‘written’ by another author of similar books. In this case, I cannot say that the quotes convinced me to buy or read the book – I had given my word that I would read at least 50 pages (I read all 338 but not in order) and I know no names of those who recommended A Terrible Country.

Acknowledgements – A reviewer may also be curious as to who the author thanks. If, for example, some of those ‘thankees’ are also known to the reviewer, it lends credence to the book. Or, if this section is written humorously or tells about a section of the author’s life, it gives more dimension to the overall story.

Also by Keith Gessen