- Paperback: 275 pages
- Publisher: Scribner Book Company (August 2006)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0743289943
- ISBN-13: 978-0743289948
- Product Dimensions: 21.3 x 14.3 x 1.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 322 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #576,241 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
When Kalder tells a passenger on a train to Kazan, the capital of the Russian republic of Tatarstan, that he and his friends are just tourists, she's convinced he's either stupid or lying. After all, who would willingly visit what turns out to be "a fairly sleepy provincial Russian city distinguished by a big mosque" and a McDonald's? But Kalder, a Scottish writer living in the former Soviet Union, is fascinated by the rundown "pseudo-countries" we never hear about in the news, believing them to be symbolic of all humanity. His "appetite for black holes" eventually leads to further travels in Kalmykia, Mari El and Udmurtia. Unfortunately, while his rhetorical enthusiasm remains strong throughout, a certain repetitiveness creeps in. Kalder wanders around the depressingly grim surroundings, cobbles together whatever cultural facts he can find online and has mostly frustrating encounters with the locals ("I don't much like talking to people"). And while his real-life misadventures, like a visit to a sacred pagan grove with a high priest he meets through a mail-order bride distributor, are outlandish enough, he still engages in distracting fabrications and daydreams. Kalder's refusal to set himself up as an international expert is admirable, but his depiction of the remote republics of a "shadow Europe" remains uneven. B&w photos throughout. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Adhering to an "anti-tourist" manifesto that demands the pursuit of the obscure and the bizarre, as well as an acceptance of hardships, Scottish-born Kalder reports on his travels through Eastern European republics little known and rarely visited by outsiders, for example, Tatarstan, Kalmykia, Mari El, and Udmurtia. Kalder lingers over cultural oddities such as Peter the Great's collection of embalmed dead babies, and does an extensive job of interlinking his detailed observations of each place to the larger world. In fact, so focused is he on miniscule facts, they overrun the narrative. Still, Kalder's adventures are daring and make for exciting reading, and he is witty and outspoken enough to raise eyebrows. Yet for all the can-you-believe-it? descriptions and hip commentary, the "why" is missing, the traveler's analysis that enriches the best of travel writing. But even this lack of dimension doesn't keep Kalder's tales of anti-tourist wanderings from being cool, wry, lively, and fun. Mark Eleveld
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
It was my friend Joe who suggested going to Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
It was my friend Joe who suggested going to Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Making good the bad places,
By
This review is from: Lost Cosmonaut: Observations of an Anti-Tourist (Paperback)
Did you know there was a Buddhist republic in Europe? And a desert for that matter? Or a pagan republic? Russia stretches from Eastern Europe to Alaska and contains many semi-autonomous republics - they have their own presidents, their own TV stations, their own heroes and legends and, of course, their own corruption, brutality, and cities dedicated to chess. They just don't have tourists.Kalder sets out as an 'anti-tourist' visiting these undesirable places and casting a realistic eye over them and their prospects; yet the same eye also contains a deep empathy towards these people and their invisible countries. Kalder's black humour carries the book from history to personal encounter (or non-encounter) with ease, and his revelations broaden out the view well beyond four republics you've never heard of. Kalder states at the beginning that 'travel rarely broadens the mind', and travel books even more rarely do so. But this one does, brilliantly.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.6 out of 5 stars (16 customer reviews) 6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Making great the bad places,
By D. Humphries "dhumphd" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Lost Cosmonaut: Observations of an Anti-Tourist (Paperback)
Did you know there was a Buddhist republic in Europe? And a desert for that matter? Or a pagan republic? Russia stretches from Eastern Europe to Alaska and contains many semi-autonomous republics - they have their own presidents, their own TV stations, their own heroes and legends and, of course, their own corruption, brutality, and cities dedicated to chess. They just don't have tourists.Kalder sets out as an 'anti-tourist' visiting these undesirable places and casting a realistic eye over them and their prospects; yet the same eye also contains a deep empathy towards these people and their invisible countries. Kalder's black humour carries the book from history to personal encounter (or non-encounter) with ease, and his revelations broaden out the view well beyond four republics you've never heard of. Kalder states at the beginning that 'travel rarely broadens the mind', and travel books even more rarely do so. But this one does, brilliantly. 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
An awesome meandering journey of nothing and everything,
By Joseph "josephcn" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Lost Cosmonaut: Observations of an Anti-Tourist (Paperback)
This book was an excellent read for those who enjoy imagining yourself appearing on the other side of the world with little or no money. It takes the reader on a visual and personal narrative of exploring obscure regions of Russia. Starting with a more well known region it trails down to the Russified plains of things that used to be. If you enjoy non-fiction reads like Hot House or other honest journeys into abandoned places you will enjoy this book.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
An irreverent dash through lands that time nearly forgot,
By Jacqueline Elizabeth Teti - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Lost Cosmonaut: Observations of an Anti-Tourist (Paperback)
Kalder's 'Lost Cosmonaut' veers between serious and flippant in its treatment of four semi-autonomous Russian republics. He covers Muslims and Stalinists in Tatarstan, pagans and wedding agencies in Mari-El, exiled Buddhists, chess and Chuck Norris in Kalmykia, the Kalashinakov and his own unwillingness to become an 'expert' in Udmurtia. Kalder treats everything with a dry, black Scottish humor, occasionally accompanied by an outburst of entertaining obscenities, but at no point does he patronize the locals with either a scientific chin-stroking wonder or a National Geographic photographic sensibility. Deliberately distanced from the people he meets, the narrative is ironic enough to carry off occasional (and obvious) outrageous lies, like hallucinations in the Russian steppe. Kalder describes life in these republics as a combination of chance, boredom, cold obstruction, hope and self-creation, and the book reads like that itself. If you just want a laugh, it works, if you want to know about these people and places, it works, but if you want something more, it excels.
|
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Travel > Asia > Russia
- Books > Travel > Europe
- Books > Travel > Reference & Tips > Essays & Travelogues
- Books > Travel > Reference & Tips > Travel Writing
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
