Embark on a captivating journey across the vast Russian steppe aboard the iconic Trans-Siberian Railway in this modern tale of self-discovery and introspection. The narrator, known only as D, begins his westward voyage in Vladivostok, traversing the ever-changing landscapes that unfold before him. As time moves inexorably onward, the everyday lives of the passengers intertwine with the rhythmic churning of the train’s propellers, contrasting sharply with the raw silence of the natural world beyond the windows.As the journey progresses, D’s physical expedition takes an unexpected turn, delving into the depths of his own psyche. A haunting presence, N, permeates the narrative, her essence imbued in the natural world, particularly at the breathtaking Lake Baikal in Siberia. N represents the one who got away, leaving a void and a profound fragility within D’s soul, scattering her ghostly influence across the many places his footsteps tread.Immersed in the tranquil vistas of the external world, D finds himself enamoured by the everyday characters he encounters along the way. As he navigates the complexities of his inner turmoil and the beauty of his surroundings, the narrator embarks on a transformative odyssey. The D who began his journey in Vladivostok will inevitably be different from the one who arrives in Moscow at journey’s end, but what will this transformation entail? Join D on this introspective voyage as he unravels the mysteries of his past, present, and future on the Trans-Siberian Railway.

He is a man of solitude. His world is that of the quiet and distilled. Each night, he sits at his desk as the clock strikes midnight. He journeys inward to that bottomless pit of conflict, prompted by memory, in search of an image fused with the imagination in order to reveal truth through character and the creative narrative process. The words become sentences and they are formed. And so it all begins. This was his first attempt and successful completion of a full-length book. His name is Daniel C.A. Christianson.

Customer Reviews

4.6

76 reviews

Rene Bonnaire

I had been reading a lot of the writings of Karl Ove Knausgaard over the last decade and now another Scandinavian writer comes along for me to read. There was so much backstory to try and understand the vast breath of Knausgaard's novels whereas this novel is very different and also very mysterious. There is a subtlety to its beauty and the author chose a concise and brief narrative style of writing to tell his tale across the huge canvas of Russia. There are very few characters and the ones that become present are only briefly mentioned in passing. Most of the plot is driven by the mind of the protagonist D. We know very little of his back story only that he is plagued with the memories of his lost love N. We don't even know if N is a real person. Perhaps she is not and perhaps the entire narrative of the book is a retelling of a past trauma and using the moving train and magnificent landscapes of Russia and in particular Siberia to show such trauma. I must confess that I do like such mysterious books because after I complete reading them the many questions that I had along that story continue to occupy my mind in the present. The other certainty I can conclude from reading this book is that it is obvious that the author Christianson has a deep love and knowledge of Russia but perhaps he longs for the Russia of the past and not that of the Soviet Union and Russia of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Justine Regarde

I read this book in English recently but I would love to read it in French or one of the other romance dialects because many of the narrative scenes especially the romantic scenes written to and about N are filled with such beautiful passages and words of longing that I wonder how they would sound in French, Italian, Spanish or maybe even German? The scenes that I felt closest to were the scenes at Lake Baikal when D is longing for N and imagines that she is here with him as he would take her across the lake on a boat. The scene at Kirov park where D is sitting on a bench waiting for N is hauntingly sad. The reader knows that N will not come. Even D knows deep down that she will not come and yet he continues to wait for her because he believes in the love that they once had for each other. The scene at the pond in Yekaterinburg as D watches a father and son play with toy water boats is equally as sad because the internal sufferings and regrets are laid bare for the reader to see and to feel. My favourite scene was the epistolary letter that D wrote to N sitting on a bench beside a statue of lovers in Omsk. Letter writing is so rare now in the digital age within the 21st century. We mostly send emails and texts now. Everything is so instant but I like the writing of a love letter because it is intimate and the writer takes its time to pen the words that he chooses from within the depths of his own soul. I don't even know if N is a real person but if I received a love letter like the one that D had written N then it would feel very real and special for me. I applaud the author Daniel C.A. Christianson for writing such a beautiful and moving book.
Ana Luiza Dupont

I am not sure what to think about this book. I read a lot of travel books and I do know what kind of narrative I am drawn to. In most travel books I have read the reader is brought into a world and on a journey of that particular place by the narrator. The reader very much becomes part of the environment in which the story is set. We get to experience what the narrator has also experienced and by the end we do know that environment like we know our own environment at home. East to West is not that kind of book. It was not written in the way that I had expected it to be written but still there was something original and pure about this book. The reader is brought into the mind and soul of the protagonist D and in the beginning it does feel like another travel book but then the internal musings and traumas of the narrator begin to be revealed layer by layer and nothing remains hidden. It is as though the narrator decided to remove all the chains around his neck and create something that is very raw and visceral. At times the narration is quite explosive with a certain anger behind those words while at other times there is such a gentleness and sensitivity with the words that the narrator uses. It is obvious that the natural environment and mammoth size of Russia plays a significant role because it needed a setting and place as vast as Russia to be able to slowly show the full introspection of the narrator. It is very clear that the protagonist D has a great admiration and love for Russia and specifically its period of flourishing and renaissance in old Rus. Perhaps his lost love N is Russian and he searches for her in such a vast space because the love they once had is comparable to such a vast and beautiful setting like that of lake baikal in siberia.
Jim C

Thoroughly enjoyable read. The author takes you by the hand and gives you a vivid guided tour of the journey. He also immerses you in his inner journey and gives you an honest uncensored account of his life and his lost love. Highly recommended.
Jenny Stead

I read this book recently on the recommendation of a colleague of mine. I have always loved travel tales but this story across Russia is a very different one to other travel tales. The first thing that I found strange but also compelling is how the author mentioned that it is a book of both fiction and non fiction. I have not read many books like this before. I can only assume the fictional narratives relate to the mysterious character named N whom we never hear from and who only briefly makes an appearance on the heated cobblestones of Red Square in the final scene. The protagonist D is also quite an elusive character, deeply introspective and filled with melancholia, pining for his lost love whom he would wait for a 100 years in kirov park if he knew that she would return to him and their love. The author is also filled with mystery. His biography is short, written in the third person and only reveals his internal thoughts. We don't know anything about him. I was told that he is a Swedish man living in Ireland. There is no image of him inside the book and only a silhouette of a man standing outside of a train looking far away into the Russian landscape. Everything about this book is a mystery but that is probably the story and history of Russia. It has always been full of mystery. This book was very different to what I had expected but I am happy that I went into the story and along for a very turbulent ride across Russia along the transsiberian railway.
Hanna Lund

One of the many dreams that I have is to ride the rails of the transsiberian railway across Russia. This dream has occupied my mind and plagued my spirit ever since I was a young girl and when I first read the words of Boris Pasternak. There is something so enigmatic about Russia. Of course its size is colossal taking up so much of planet Earth but equally so is Russia's blood stained history and most of all is its glorious literature on which so many stories, imagined and real became a part of life of this great culture. I don't know when I will be able to fulfill this dream of mine with this ongoing conflict but I hope one day to follow the same path that Christianson made from East to West, from Vladivostok all the way on land to Moscow. When I was reading his story and experiencing his narrative of D I felt that I was on those trains and gazing out at the natural and changing landscapes. I can only imagine what it feels like to stand on the shores of Lake Baikal and look upon something that has lived for millions of years. The story of D&N is a very mysterious one. I don't know if it was a real love story but even if it is only a fictional love story it is filled with passion, longing and ultimately the death of the love that once promised so much. I am convinced that no story set in or about Russia is a bad one. Russia fills the writer with so much energy that leads to the creation of such beautiful and poignant words. I didn't want the end of this novel to come. Instead, I wanted to go back to the beginning at Vladivostok station and begin this story all over again on this wonderful journey across Russia.
Pat Bennett

Fascinating read. It brings to life the train journey across Russia. I have not been to Russia but after reading East to West across Russia I feel I have. It is such a gripping book it leaves a strong desire to do the trip. Maybe when the political scene improve it would be fascinating to sit on the shores of Lake Baikal in Siberia as D did. I believe N is a real person and is D's lost love that he would like to rekindle. Daniel C.A Christianson...you are now a writer. Looking forward to your next book.
Remi Breton

I read this delightful but deeply personal novel a few months ago. I thought that I had a good understanding of the meaning of Christianson's memoir but then last week I read the interview of Christianson with Brian Feinblum, a book publicist from the United States. In the interview Mr Feinblum asks Christianson ten individual questions relating to his novel and to his writing in general. Question 4 really intrigued me where Feinblum asked Christianson about how he decided on the title for his book and its cover design. Christianson's response was very revealing as he stated that above the smoke coming from the moving train one can see the faint outline of a human face. I certainly had not noticed this human face before although it is very faint indeed. However, on closer inspection one can make out a human face and the author stated to Feinblum that this faint outline of a human face is none other than the protagonist's lost love N. This now makes me believe that the character N is a real person. From my close reading of East to West I had come to the conclusion that N could not be a real person but an entity that is not of this world. N represents a utopia figure and a place that D longs to reach one day. I am now wondering if N is a real woman and the lost love of D? If this is so then who is this woman named N? Why didn't the author name her? Why did the author not even name his protagonist? Can we now assume that D is indeed the author Daniel C.A. Christianson or is D an idealised figure too? It still leaves so many questions that are difficult to answer but I really enjoyed this novel. It forced me to look inside my own soul and question how I live my life.