Fruits of the post-Soviet period

The relatively large number of English-speaking expats spending time in the post-Soviet space in the 1990's is starting to yield excellent works of fiction by some of those ex-expats. Last weekend's Moscow Times Context section had a review by the author of (one of?) the first books of this sort - Katherine Shonk, author of The Red Passport - of the latest, Tom Bissell's God Lives in St. Petersburg. As has already been noted by Laurence Jarvik in a post on the Argus, this one looks like it will be worth reading for sure. Based on Shonk's review, I've already ordered a copy and can only hope it's as good as billed:

Out of Control
When expatriates crack up abroad, who or what is to blame? It's as much the person as the place in Tom Bissell's collection of stories about Americans traveling through Central Asia.
By Katherine Shonk [...]

When expatriates crack up abroad, who or what is to blame? It's easy to pin an overseas crisis -- whether of faith, conscience or confidence -- on the host nation itself. Exotic locales are breeding grounds for alienation, fear and loneliness; depravity and depression often follow. But expatriates arrive with their own baggage. Reckless as gamblers, idealistic as missionaries (and often one or both by trade), they seek more fulfilling lives in places they don't know very well. No surprise that when they crash, they crash hard.

"God Lives in St. Petersburg," which, despite its title, is set primarily in post-Soviet Central Asia, is populated by expatriates crashing spectacularly. Whether saving souls in Samarkand, documenting war in Afghanistan, or pleasure-tripping in Almaty, American characters stake their claims to salvation, adventure and the spoils that wealthy visitors to poor nations expect as their due. In the process, they retrace the psychological and cultural missteps of the most deluded crusaders and colonialists.

A Peace Corps volunteer in Uzbekistan during the mid-1990s, Bissell returned in 2001 to research the depletion of the Aral Sea. His first book, "Chasing the Sea," was an enthralling, hour-by-hour account of the trip. Bissell's writing conveys a passion for this part of the world and an intense curiosity about the motives of Central Asians and visiting Westerners alike.

The American travelers in "God Lives in St. Petersburg" are multi-faceted, which is to say they are often unlikable. Bandits, soldiers and kidnappers punish them for their carelessness and naivete, and the threat of violence is a constant. "Aral" explains how Amanda Reese, an environmental biologist visiting the Aral Sea as part of a small UN delegation, winds up the captive of a man who may or may not be a government spy. In a risky and satisfying twist, the story's focus switches from petulant Amanda and her arrogant colleagues to characters more worthy of the reader's sympathy.

"Expensive Trips Nowhere" finds New Yorkers Douglas and Jayne in the wilds of Kazakhstan, enduring another of the senseless vacations he has been springing on her since inheriting money from his parents. "Steppe makes strong what is strong ... Makes weak what is weak," cautions war veteran Viktor, their contemptuous Russian guide. Throughout the trek, Douglas, a man who once accidentally broke his wife's arm in a game of touch football, is handed new and bigger opportunities to disappoint her.

Bissell's stories are long and bursting at the seams with clever dialogue, well-sculpted settings and full characters. It is a rare pleasure to find a young writer (Bissell was born in 1974) handcrafting prose with such patient care. Constructed in the tried-and-true shape of a roller coaster, the stories chug to dramatic and emotional peaks, then plunge earthward, leaving the reader shaken and dazzled.

Shaken and dazzled...sort of like the way I always used to feel after brief trips to Russia. After living in Moscow for 3 years (this is now the second time I've lived in this country for such a long time - the first time I was a wee foreign service brat in Leningrad), this place has still not entirely lost its power to shake or dazzle me in ways both positive and negative.

I mentioned to my assistant at work today that I was shocked by the unwillingness of a certain service provider to quickly remedy a situation which they admitted was their fault. She was surprised that I could still be outraged over such a situation after working in this environment for so long. The reason for my outrage, though, is quite simple. There have always been smart and competent people in this country. In recent years, many of them have started operating businesses which demonstrate an understanding of what proper client service is all about. So it's not as though it is impossible to find a good service experience in Russia. Unfortunately, everyone here has such low expectations that they don't force service providers to work harder or better.

This is not just an extended gripe about getting things done in Russia (though I could go off on one of those, I don't think there's enough space here for all I'd have to say); there's a political parallel to be drawn here. Just like many Russians expect that their local plumber will show up drunk as a skunk at 11 in the morning, they expect that their political leaders will be either thieves or dictators, or worst of all a combination of the two. Sadly, I think the current group in power has started to demonstrate the worst of both of those traits. Whereas the Yeltsin "family" may have lined their pockets, at least they didn't try to tell the citizens what to think (OK, except during the 1996 presidential campaign). Obviously this is a rather simplistic parallel that may not actually mean anything, but I think it's worth pondering at least for a moment.