Why this book: Proposed by my friend Ernie in my literature reading group, but not selected by the group.  It looked interesting to me and as a short read, I decided to read it.  

Summary in  4 Sentences:  A Russian conscript in modern times (everyone has a cell phone)  is on a train with other conscripts to do their initial duty assignment in Siberia, but he truly dreads the experience and decides to desert along the way.  On the train he has a casual encounter with a French woman a bit older who is running away from her lover.  Events lead to the French woman reluctantly choosing to help the young Russian hide from his Sergeant and ultimately desert.  They reach Vladivostok, and though they have no common language, they feel connected – they have both escaped into an unknown and uncertain future.  

My Impressions More a novella than a novel – a very short read  (127 pp of large print on small pages), but very engaging.  The Russian conscript – a confused young man of 20  – is on a train to Siberia with  other conscripts to begin their obligated time in service,  and he decides he REALLY doesn’t want to do this, is afraid, and decides to desert – somehow.     On the train, he has a chance and fortuitous encounter with a somewhat older (35ish?)  French woman running from what she fears – a committed relationship and all that entails with a Russian man she loves. She has no plan – she is just running away.

This is not a love story – the conscript and the French woman don’t even have a common language  to communicate with each other – but come to a non-verbal understanding. Reluctantly, the French woman chooses to help the young conscript desert by evading the Russian sergeant.

The story is about their visceral connection on the train, his ham-fisted attempts to escape, how she is drawn into his dilemma, how she is also struggling with her own escape – emotionally from her lover.  It was clear to me that both of them had made rash decisions to run from their fears, without thinking through the consequences.  The books concludes with uncertain futures for both of them.  

The young man had been from a broken home and poor family, but was blessed with good looks and physical strength, but damn little self-confidence  The French woman is a sympathetic character who wanted and needed love but was afraid of it.  We don’t get to know her past – only that she’d met her Russian lover in Paris and had agreed to return with him to Russia, and then, as he began what clearly would be a good career that would keep him there, she panicked.  She was cowardly in how she left him, but she showed courage in  choosing to help the young conscript, which entailed risk to her.  Both she and the conscript were taking big chances – we are left to wonder whether and how those courageous decision might transform their lives. 

The book is very well written and sparse.  The protagonists are sympathetic characters but found themselves in a dilemma as a result of their own weakness-of-will and inability/unwillingness to take responsibility for their own decisions.  Then, their rash decisions and circumstances forced them to deal with the consequences – which were yet to be determined.  

The book offers other perspectives.  We get to see how the other passengers on the train react to Siberia, passing by the spectacular Lake Baikal and then we see their resonse to some of the drama on the train and at the stops.  Some of the key take-aways for me were to remind me of the basic humanity of the Russian people and Russian soldiers, as well as the broad and long expanses of Siberia – recall the train scenes in the movie Doctor Zhivago – I’d love to make that train ride when/if  US-Russian relations thaw.   And how young people the world over, so often make decisions they don’t think through based on fear and lack of self confidence,  and then are left facing new and perhaps scarier challenges as a result.   

It was a short book that made an impression on me.  It was worth my time.