nonfiction audio - travelogue (Russia, ~2012) with humor. (~8hrs, read by the author)
Many amusing conversations with friendly Russian people while traveling around Siberia. The governmental bureaucracy creates situations that are often illogical and unbelievably inefficient, but everyone gets along splendidly. ( )

David Greene was an NPR correspondent based in Moscow prior to becoming a host of Morning Edition in 2012. Midnight in Siberia is his reporting memoir of a trip on the Trans-Siberian Railway. As he does with much of his reporting, Greene focuses on individuals and how their stories reveal larger truths, or in the case of Russia, complexities. He did tell his own story--documenting his travel with Sergei, his NPR colleague and translator--especially when it demonstrated the frustration and fascination of Russian society or when it showed how he learned t0 appreciate a vibrant Russian culture the pulses beneath that sometimes chaotic world.

Greene found a balance of the personal and the public, and I feel like I have a better understanding of Russia beyond the headlines. It was particularly fascinating that many of the Russians he encountered, outside of Moscow, liked Putin and felt like their country needed a strong man to create order. They had lived through the disastrous attempts at democracy and capitalism and were happy with some order even if it didn't always make sense. Greene also highlights the irony that those protesting in 2012 or so were also those who had benefited the most from Putin's reforms.

I did feel like he had a sometimes overly rosy view of his own country, especially its justice system and contrast between rich and poor. it may be that he didn't want to get too far into the weeds of comparing the two countries. This was meant to show the way Russians viewed their own lives and Greene connected with them in their homes and the towns where they found both joy and grief. Ultimately, he wrote an ode to the Russian people and their landscape of home. ( )

One of those books which might have been better served by not having the author read it. Even if the author is an NPR reporter. ( )

Joy's review: This book is everything I want a travel narrative to be. It's a place I will probably never go, it includes well-researched background and history, there are interesting antidotes, it's well-written, and it has deep cultural insights. Greene spent two years in Russia as the bureau chief for NPR; his in-dept knowledge of the country makes his observations and insights nuanced and meaningful. If you like travel narratives, you'll like this book. ( )

The train information, travel recollections, Russian history, and personal interviews were wonderful. The author's repeated use of the word "stability" and his over emphasis on that term as an ideological goal (especially later in the book) detracted somewhat from the overall read. The trip pics were a welcome addition. Overall, an interesting book and worth the read. ( )