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

Rebecca Hamsun

At the heart of this narrative is a novel of existentialism as the author through his protagonist D is depicting a way of life that he wants to inhabit but is stunted in the present by the everyday chaos of modernity. He never mentioned the prominent proponents of existentialism such as Soren Kierkegaard, Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Friedrich Nietzsche although he did briefly refer to Simone de Beauvoir in kirova park when the protagonist was critiquing man's dominance over and abuse of the female species. The subject of philosophy and existentialism is crucial to the entire narrative and its overall meaning as the protagonist from the very moment he steps onto the soil of Russia is contemplating on his own existence and slowly overtime he begins to look internally where all the flaws and fallibilities of his own humanity are laid bare for him to see. The character D connects deeply to the Russian writers from the 19th century and more specifically Chekov, Dostoevsky and Tolstoy who in many ways were very much existential writers and certainly Dostoevsky lived that existential meaning through his dark and poignant narratives. The existential philosophers that the author of this novel clearly admires encouraged people to find their own meaning and values in a world full of contradictions and depravity. The protagonist D as he moves through the vast terrain of Russia is slowly becoming that existential philosopher as he grapples with his own life and especially the loss of his great love N. I don't think the character N is a real life woman but like many others have said she is an idealized heroine type figure that D is traumatized by her departure but in reality D is traumatized by the utter absurdity of life and so he desperately tries to find a grand meaning to his life. In the end the meaning for D is through his writing. He must write in order to fully exist as a person.
Joanna Doyle

Fabulous images of Russia are translated in the written word. I feel the journey on the train. To the experience in the restaurant eating the local cuisine. Can’t wait for the next book
Sebastian Riquelme

I read this memoir earlier in the year. It was somewhat different to other memoirs that I have read as it incorporated various fictional scenes. These fictional scenes while initially deflected from the moving narrative did eventually allow me to see the bigger picture and overall message that the author was trying to portray. I have never visited Siberia before but the closest natural environments that I did visit were Alaska and Canada and when I was reading the scenes set in Siberia it did remind me about the wonder of the natural world that I got to experience at those two places. I also believe that the character N is not a real life person. In fact, she is not a character in the novel at all. She is only revealed through the memories of the protagonist and only briefly makes an appearance in the final scene of the book on red square in Moscow. I think she represents the ideal female form that men fall hopelessly in love with and who pine after forever after they depart their lives. The blonde and golden hair that N has symbolizes the purity of the female and the fading away of N is the departure of all love that we once experienced and hoped that would last forever but in the end love evaporates into the air and dissolves into nothingness just like how all love and human beings will dissolve one day. It is a novel of darkness and light all connected to each other. One cannot live without the other. Maybe that is the true and honest depiction of the Russian soul.
Antoine Moreau

I was recommended to read this book late last year but I only got round to it over the summer and I am so pleased that I did tackle it as it was quite the journey that I was brought on. I read the interview with Christianson and a USA publicist online today and this interview does shed some more light on the many questions that one has upon reading this book across Russia. In the interview, Christianson alludes to this mysterious character named N and he said that she was the one who inspired the birth of these words. This tells me that N is very much a real person and not an imaginary and shadowy figure who is central to the narrative. However, maybe that is what the author wants us to believe and so the character N could still be a figment of his imagination and a grand metaphor for the old way of life in Russia that many slavic people long to return to. My favorite scene in the book is the long monologue at lake baikal. It does go on and on quite a bit but I found the fusion of history, literature, science, religion, politics, psychology and especially philosophy to be so riveting. I might not have always agreed with the author's words but I certainly was engrossed in the many topics and for a while it allowed me to depart from the main narrative only to return later to the moving train. I won't give it 5* but I do feel that it is worth 4*. The author mentioned in the interview that there will be a further four books that will pre-date this book so perhaps the reader will finally get an answer to the question of whether N is a real person or not.
Ana Owens

This is both a bizarre and very interesting book. It is bizarre as I could never tell what was real and what was fictional. However, the narrative was a most interesting one and it flowed seamlessly from beginning to end. I felt the journey was more of a psychological and transformative journey for the protagonist as opposed to it being a physical one. Even if the protagonist never departed the safe confines of his home he could still have undergone such a metamorphosis by shedding his old life of love and sacred memories for his new life of individuality, creativity and endless opportunities and experiences that will come his way if he chooses to live such a new life. The scene set at the pond in the city of Yekaterinburg was particularly sad as the protagonist was watching a father and son playing together and knowing that he will never get to have such experiences with his daughter or son. I feel the best narratives take place outside of the train where the protagonist gets to interact with others and sometimes in not a positive manner. The beauty of life on the train is how the magnificence of the natural landscapes is always there and ever changing as he moves from East to West. The essence of the story is the moments spent at Lake Baikal in Siberia. It is a mythical and pure lake that is so far away from civilization but the purity of such a place is contrasted with the impurity and brokenness of the human entity. D wants to become as pure as the lake but he knows that he is flawed and the time on his clock is ticking closer to destruction.
Jesse Kurowsky

I always enjoy books that bring me not only on a physical journey but prompt me to ponder on my own life and to question how I live that life. This book across Russia is one such book. There were parts of the book that did not appeal to me but around the middle of the narrative and especially in Siberia at Lake Baikal it sprang into life and a whole new world was opened up to me. When I was younger I always associated Siberia as a cold and very harsh environment where so many people succumbed to their deaths in the gulags but Christianson shows the reader another aspect of Siberia alongside the world's largest freshwater lake. I don't believe the character of N is a real life person either. She is symbolic of Russia's old way of life long before the Soviet Union and communism. N is the essence of a purity that once existed in Old Rus and a mythical place that the slavic people desire to return to but perhaps they can no longer find their way to that place due to human greed and depravity. We all long to return to the past where everything felt much more innocent and safe but human weakness hinders such a journey. The fading away of N along the cobblestones on red square is the harsh reality of the behaviors from our past that finally catch up with us in the present. The protagonist tries to move on and become a writer but will he ever be the same without N beside him to love?
Jake Aspinall

I completed my reading of this book while I was travelling on a train although it was not as epic a journey as the one that the protagonist D made when he crosses Russia along the transsiberian railway. However, I would like to make that journey one day. I don't think it will be possible to make such a journey for a long time due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. I wonder if the author returned to Russia in the present would his journey be much different to the one that he experienced many years ago? I like the whole theme of memory that drove the narrative. Who or what are any of us without our past and the memories that we experienced then that continue to shape our present and future. The protagonist was always alone on such long train journeys but wherever he went so too did his past and the pain that he carries from his lost love N. I do disagree with other reviewers where they said that N is only a metaphor for lost love. I do believe she is very much a real person but I do think that she no longer lives in this life and that is why she faded away in the final scene on Red Square in Moscow. It is a very painful and traumatic moment for the protagonist but the ending also brings hope as D can finally move on with his life and he will do so as a writer.
Jonas Carpenter

I have just completed reading this book after having it on bookshelf for the last few months. It is quite a strange story in that I was never sure if it was a fictional or real life story. I believe it is a story based on real life but there are certainly episodes in the story that are very much conjured up from the author's imagination. The character of N is a most interesting part of the overall narrative. She is never a character in the true sense of the plot narrative but she is pivotal to everything that happens for and experienced by the protagonist. I feel the entire books hangs on this mysterious N. I cannot fathom if she is a real life person or simply a metaphor for the physical and psychological trauma experienced by the protagonist. The character D is tormented by his past and memories of this lady named N. He longs for her but she is gone and will never return. The transformation arc is complete in Moscow at the end of the novel when the protagonist knows that he must now dedicate his life to writing.