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

4.7

97 reviews

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.
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.
Estelle Larsson

When I saw Russia in the title of this book I immediately was intrigued even though Russia has had a very troubled past and a very questionable political system stories produced from there are nearly always honest ones and filled with poignancy and meaning. I think the author of this book is probably Scandinavian so perhaps he has spent time in Russia and maybe even the Russia of the past. After reading it I sense that the author has a deep love for Russia and especially the Russia of its origin, what Christianson called Old Rus. I never heard of a place called Old Rus before but from my research it was the birth place and cradle of its culture and with its center at modern day Kiev in Ukraine. The protagonist is in love with the Russian landscape and this is most deeply felt in Siberia and at Lake Baikal. The protagonist is plagued with memories from his past and a love he never names but who he refers to by the letter N. Who is this secretive woman named N? I don't think she is real otherwise he would have given her a name but I think N is a metaphor for Old Rus and the culture he and Russia would love to return to one day.
Jozef Feldman

I was recommended this book by a colleague of mine recently who read it and who thought I might like it as I like long train journeys and I am fascinated with the history and landscapes of Russia. I have yet to visit Russia and I think it will be a while before I will reach there due to the ongoing conflict with Ukraine. In the meantime I can imagine what is like to travel through in the words of the author of this very interesting and thought provoking book. It was different to other travel books that I have read. In fact, I don't think it is a travel book per se. It reads more like a fictional novel although the author did state in his preface that it is a non fictional journey but with fictional narratives inserted at certain parts of the book. I really liked the references to world history and specifically to the holocaust. I feel in the 21st century that so much of the world are forgetting what happened to the Jewish people during the second world war while others are even saying that the holocaust did not happen. We need writers like Christianson to continue to speak about such crimes against humanity otherwise we will reach the stage when nobody will ever talk about such crimes again. I liked how the author divided up his narratives with life on the train with life away from the train and on land. It meant for such an interesting read as I felt as a reader that I was about the see and feel what the protagonist was seeing and feeling. I could empathise with the protagonist with the loss of his once love and how he is plagued with memories of her from his past. He moves from east to west but even with such movement he is always thinking about his love. We only know her as N. She is a mystery to the reader and perhaps she is an invention of the author's mind.
Georgia O'Keefe

At the core of this book is a very insecure and deeply sensitive man who dreams about becoming a writer because there is nothing else in this world that will ever compare to writing words on a page for D after the departure of N from his life and the subsequent death of that love. The guru's from his writing life are those Russian writers from the 19th century and the golden age of Russian literature. Chekhov, Dostoevysky and Tolstoy are the giants and masters of the craft of writing whom D desires to follow but who must first dip his toes into the life of writing and expose himself fully to such a life. Perhaps if N never departed his life then D might not have written about such a loss and such loneliness, heart-ache, darkness and melancholy but that is exactly what happened and now D must follow such a lonely life. N is forever a memory from his life. He cannot or won't forget her but still he must follow the path of the artist. The final line is so powerful: 'I can finally proclaim these words: I am a writer.' Perhaps D always knew it but now he must truly be a writer. A most fascinating story even if it wasn't real.