Through Siberia by Accident
by Dervla Murphy
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Through Siberia by Accident is a book about a journey that didn't happen - and what happened instead. Dervla Murphy never had any intention of spending three months in the vast territories of Siberia. Instead she had planned to go to Ussuriland, because it appealed to her as a place free from tourism. But by accident, or rather because she had an accident - a painful leg injury -, she found herself stymied in Eastern Siberia, a place she knew very little about. Although hardly able to walk, show more her subsequent experiences, in an unexpected place, and in an incapacitated state, provided many pleasant surprises. Above all she was struck by the extraordinary hospitality, generosity and helpfulness of the Siberians who made this strange phenomenon - a maimed Irish babushka - so welcome in their towns and homes. This book is an extraordinary story of fortitude and resourcefulness as Dervla Murphy finds friendship and culture in a seemingly monotonous, bleak and inhospitable place far from what we know as 'civilised'. Through Siberia by Accident is a voyage of Siberian self-discovery. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
Septuagenarian Murphy’s plan to solo-cycle thousands of miles through one of the most sparsely-populated and harsh environments on earth is foiled by a knee-knackering slip in a train toilet and then a further leg-wrenching misstep while recuperating at a spa on the shores of Lake Baikal. Hence the title. Of course she still manages to get around, to-ing and fro-ing on the Baikal-Amur Mainline or BAM, the Trans-Siberian’s cursed northern double, and enjoying, in typical “Type 3 fun” Murphy fashion, a tragicomic bus odyssey from Yakutsk to the benighted mining town of Neryungri. And despite her linguistic ineptitude she fills her book with the usual plurality of voices, many of them “children of BAM” who worked, or whose show more parents or even grandparents worked, on the decades-long railway project and became Siberianised in the process. Putin has recently ascended to the throne and the Russians in their Russian way have both the intelligence to know they’re in for a bad time and the fatalism to know there’s not much they can do about it (other than join the bastards if you’re willing and able). Here’s the perceptive Olga from Severobaikalsk, diagnosing her own country’s situation and that of America 23 years in the future:
Putin wants to keep democracy out! Under Yeltsin, even under Gorbachev, we relaxed and felt more free to criticize openly. Since 1 January 2000 that’s been changing, at first slowly, now faster and faster. Putin cuts back on support for most state institutions but gives extra power and funding to law-enforcement agencies. The police beat up opposition political meetings. The Kremlin again controls most of the media, taken over from the big-business gangs who’d got control by the end of Yeltsin’s time. Putin loves the Americans’ “War Against Terrorism”, all groups he doesn’t like can be called “terrorists”, given no media space to make their arguments, imprisoned without trial for ever. When the US is doing that to groups they don’t like, the West can’t criticize Putin for doing the same!Sometimes one gets the impression that Murphy, irrationally guilty at not delivering on her initial plan, tries to compensate with tangentially-relevant background and research — e.g. excursuses on the history of vodka in Russia, or the evolution of the Russian church and its relations with the state — which while not uninteresting don’t add much to her Siberian story. This book should be shorter, but like all her books it’s a uniquely human adventure tale, a diagnostic of a place, a time, and a people based on listening, patience, perseverance, and plenty of the local pivo. show less
Best book on Russians EVER!!!
Strongly recommend to anyone interested in Russia/Russians. I am Russian. And I am all ears when it comes to foreigners trying to explore and explain the essence of this enormous country and its controversial folk. That is why I try not to miss such kinds of books. Mostly what I fish out is just a crusade for confirmation of deep rooted stereotypes/myths or very shallow account a-la Marco Polo.
I must say this book is a precious exception. With surprising astuteness she slices open the notorious "Russian soul" and identifies motives underlying many Russian behavior modes, views, philosophy etc.
All during the journey to the most godforsaken (or government/Moscow forsaken) places.
I am impressed! Many of her show more conclusions really stroke me and find the whole account astonishingly trustworthy.
Of course exposing some unpleasant features of current (or ancestral) mindset and collective unconscious might hurt some purists or idealists, but isn't bitter truth better than sweet fables?
I strongly recommend the book to all my foreign friends and for you as well. show less
Strongly recommend to anyone interested in Russia/Russians. I am Russian. And I am all ears when it comes to foreigners trying to explore and explain the essence of this enormous country and its controversial folk. That is why I try not to miss such kinds of books. Mostly what I fish out is just a crusade for confirmation of deep rooted stereotypes/myths or very shallow account a-la Marco Polo.
I must say this book is a precious exception. With surprising astuteness she slices open the notorious "Russian soul" and identifies motives underlying many Russian behavior modes, views, philosophy etc.
All during the journey to the most godforsaken (or government/Moscow forsaken) places.
I am impressed! Many of her show more conclusions really stroke me and find the whole account astonishingly trustworthy.
Of course exposing some unpleasant features of current (or ancestral) mindset and collective unconscious might hurt some purists or idealists, but isn't bitter truth better than sweet fables?
I strongly recommend the book to all my foreign friends and for you as well. show less
A marvellous and inspirational account of Dervla's travels in Siberian Russia in 2002. She describes the place and the people with such warmth and sympathy and clearly has so much fun travelling there; despite her age and many years of travelling she is not jaded, but always interested in new places and keen to make new friends. She has some difficulties on this trip, but is generally positive. She always writes very well; she makes her accounts personal and engaging, with enough history and a sense of the wider context. A good read.
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Author Information
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 2005
- Important places
- Siberia, Russia
- Dedication
- For the Zvegintzov tribe - Caroline, Serge, Catherine, Anna,
Ford, Nicholas. In their different ways, each contributed to the
unlikely success of a stymied journey
Classifications
- Genres
- Travel, Nonfiction, General Nonfiction, Biography & Memoir
- DDC/MDS
- 910 — History & geography Geography & travel modified standard subdivisions of Geography and travel
- LCC
- DK756.2 .M87 — History of Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania Russia. Soviet Union. Former Soviet Republics – Poland History of Russia. Soviet Union. Former Soviet Republics Local history and description Siberia
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 110
- Popularity
- 295,115
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.66)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 2
