Russian Journal by Andrea Lee

Russian Journal Reviews

• 
  Zanna

  I was inspired to buy this after reading an extract from it in
  this collection. Somehow Lee manages to convey the uncanniness of being elsewhere. In the introduction she mentions that she is a slow writer, and her simple yet highly evocative prose bears the marks of careful craft.
  
  Written in 1979, this journal is a snapshot of late Soviet life in Moscow (and occasionally Leningrad) as filtered through the experience of a young African American woman. She moves through Soviet society as a student, with no strong political beliefs but much empathy for the oppressed. She does not set out to conduct a survey or to present a particular opinion, rather she makes friends, and writes about the conversations, visits and outings she has with them. She is acutely aware, and constantly reminded, of the considerable privilege she experiences as a foreigner, especially from the USA, in the Soviet Union, where quality food and clothes and other goods were out of reach for most citizens.
  
  One of my favourite chapters is 'Mayakovsky Billboard', about the Russians' enhanced appreciation of beauty due to not being constantly bombarded with colourful advertisements:

  Everywhere we go in Moscow, we find a frantic enthusiasm for any kind of natural or man-made beauty. At parties, pretty girls are feted with an innocent, extravagant adulation from men and women alike; ordinary people show a passion for art and literature which might be suspect as a pose in America. The deepest roots of this quality of Russian life are hard to discern, and I am setting aside the ugly fact of government censorship of the arts, which obviously plays its own perverse role in intensifying enthusiasm for beauty. I mean to observe only that a more austere environment seems to favour sensitivity. This isn't a new idea at all, of course. People on islands, in prisons, in monasteries have all discovered the same thing. But it's a remarkable feeling to have my mind clearing up week by week, like a lens that was filmed and dim, until, just as the year goes dark with winter, I've started to see the subtle points of light in this grey city

  I also like this well-articulated version of the staple feminist complaint about the working woman's 'second shift':

  Vera is a self-professed liberated woman who, when she is not shopping or studying, can work herself into a fine rage about the status of women in Russia. According to her, the relative equality of men and women in the labour force has not changed traditional attitudes. 'Basically we women have two roles,' Vera said, pulling off a piece of duck meat and eating it with relish, 'We work all day alongside men, and then the bell rings, the men go home and open a bottle of vodka. What do we do? We start our second lives: standing in lines, carrying bundles, cooking, knitting, sewing, scrubbing, serving the men at the table. They're smart. They give us International Women's Day - posters and flowers once a year - and never lift a finger the rest of the time.'
• 
  Chris

  Bought this at the Wards Corner bookstore back when I used to scour it every weekend for used books. I was fascinated with Russia at the time and actually paid for a brand new hardback book (I think I bought Nicholas and Alexandra around then as well). It was completely worth the money, too, as I reread it constantly. Over the years I wondered what happened to Lee and her husband (Googling suggests they've divorced and she's remarried) and all the people she met, especially in the post-Soviet era.
  
  A snapshot of a time that was coming to an end, sooner than any of us might have expected.
• 
  Alan

  Author captured some timeless characteristics of the Russian people. At least between late 1970's and 1992. I was in Russian 1990-92 and the author evoked memories of my similar experiences. The book is easily read and captures the humanity of each character: full of life, strength and weakness. Note: There is a full chapter on the author's visit to triple-agent Victor Louis' "dacha" outside Peredelkino.
• 
  Simon

  A fascinating time capsule. Lee writes with real intelligence and sensitivity about all aspects of her year in Communist Russia, covering politics, food, fashion, ideology and psychology with a fresh, light touch. She can outline a personality, describe a person's appearance and paint a picture of the time and place with a minimum of deft brushstrokes, bringing the land and its people to memorable life. She also shows admirable balance, showing not just the horrors of the situation in which Muscovites found themselves living in the 1970s, but also the many pleasures and beauties to be found in Russia.
• 
  Urenna Sander

  During 1978—1979, twenty-five-year olds, Andrea Lee, a grad student at Harvard in English and her husband, Tom, sponsored by a government exchange of scholars, was a Harvard doctorate candidate in Russian history. He had studied the language, spoke near-native Russian, and spent time in Russia prior to having his wife as his companion. They resided at Moscow University for 10 months, and then Leningrad State University for the remaining two.
  
  Gifted with an ear for languages, Lee quickly picked up the total stock of words in Russian. She journalized their entire stay. They spent eight months, living on campus in a small, two room apartment, which was considered a luxury. Apartments that housed Soviet students had four to six people in two rooms. A radio, placed in each students’ apartment, had one station, Moscow Radio, which could not be turned off.
  
  Lee described Grigorii, their neighbor, a journalism student, stalwart in his beliefs concerning his country. However, he appeared fascinated with Donna Summers, and continually played her song, “Love to Love You Baby,” much to the annoyance of Soviet students. Later, Lee and Tom discovered Grigorii’s job was to befriend and report on foreign students.
  
  In the journal, she changed the names of their Russian friends and acquaintances. Lee wrote of their attraction and loathing for our Western lifestyle. Those attracted loved Wrangler jeans, which were popular in the seventies. The black market avidly sold men and women’s Western apparel, perfumes, makeup, and music. The ones loyal and committed to their party thought themselves physically and spiritually stronger than the West.
  
  Lee wrote that in the West, we grew up in a world of advertisements, jingles, billboards, etc. In Russia, there were no competing brands to advertise their wares; there was only one brand, the State brand. Yet Lee believed living in simplistic surroundings made her ‘inner life more intense.’ She and her husband were more attentive to beauty. …”a more austere environment seems to favor sensitivity.” Having no comforts or luxuries, in a disciplined society, Lee believed she saw things with more clarity.
  
  At a public bathing facility, she saw Russian women as sturdily built or bulging grotesquely. Yet they revealed a compelling appeal to Lee because they were unpretentious and unself-conscious of their bodies.
  
  Lee aptly wrote about friends and acquaintances physical appearances. I admired her ability that from their faces, she recorded or discerned what she believed were their inner feelings and conflicting emotions.
  
  An issue that caused anxiety for Russians was losing their residence. A valuable commodity was owning an apartment, and there was an extensive waiting list. If you fell out of favor with the Party, you could lose your apartment and cause trouble for your parents.
  
  Poet, Rima, Lee’s best friend, lived with her parents, ex-husband, and seven-year-old daughter. Her fiancé, Vasia, was a nineteen-year-old poet and drifter, whom she often spent the night with. With tight restrictions on housing in Moscow, it was impossible to move out, even if you didn’t like your ex. Rima couldn’t afford to be emotional.
  
  Before leaving Russia, Lee and Rima secretly taught English to Russian Jews about to emigrate to America. One of her students told Lee that a man’s success in Russia depended on who you are or whom you know. To get anywhere, you have to be a Party member.
  
  Lee liked that in America, she could converse without censoring her thoughts, and could wander freely without passport or identification. Maybe this is minor to some, but where she and Tom had been, it was delightful and, while in Poland, en route home to America, they became giddy and excited. “…we felt released from a subtle deadly confinement, which, we only now realized, had sapped our spirits for months.”
  
  There are many stories in Lee’s journal that are book worthy. I like her writing style in her journal. It’s both serious and playful. Her thoughts and feelings on her one year experience there is easily perceived.
  
  This is the third book I’ve read by Lee, a former Philadelphian, who now resides in Italy.
• 
  Jennifer Culhane

  I had to read this novel 25 years ago for a college course. It is one of my favorite books still to this very day. The vivid detail Andrea Lee shared with her readers of what life was like on daily basis in the Soviet Union was enlightening and interesting. I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in the history and mystery surrounding the Soviet Union.
• 
  Denise Spicer

  The Harvard educated author goes to Russia with her husband to enroll in graduate studies. The book consists of her observations of people she meets -- tour guides, other students, black market salesmen, intellectual and artsy types, rich Communist elites.
  There are descriptions of popular Moscow night spots, food markets, factories, jogging in parks, "hippies", the Tolstoy Estate.
  Page 101 consists of a short chapter on the Stalin Museum in Gori, Soviet Georgia.
  Page 126 has a chapter on the author's experience with a clandestine teaching of an English language class for Jews who plan to emigrate.
  There is a description of Leningrad and the Winter Palace where they attend a B. B. King blues concert and even have a chance to speak to him during intermissions.
  Page 193 has a chapter on Easter, page 209 describes the May Day celebration, and page 225 is a description of the dacha of a movie actress.
  
• 
  Robert

  rather trite observations by a person who appears to know little of Russian history or culture
• 
  Todd

  A decent human interest story, the wife of an American studying for a year in Moscow chronicles her life and especially her contact with Soviets. She tries to keep away from politics, though of course, the impact of the Soviet political and economic system cannot be excluded from the book. While such a book may seem outdated today, given that the Soviet Union is nothing more than a reference in history books anymore, the fact that so many people try to replicate elements of the Soviet political/economic system (socialism) even still means that seeing the impact of this on real people keeps the book relevant. Unfortunately, Lee takes the liberty of changing the names of her contacts to protect the innocent, meaning we really just have to take her word for it; on the other hand, she gives no reason to suspect that she deliberately wrote fiction.
  
  Often, Lee's observations, or those of her Soviet friends, are quite telling. For instance, when one of her friend recounts the story of another's suffering at the hands of the authorities, he says, "The danger always exists...But it is not often the kind of danger you envision. For most of us, it is an ugly, petty danger. The long arm ends in greedy little men." (p 48)
  
  Lee's participation in the May Day celebrations led her to observe, "It was an impression I was to have all day: of humanity dwarfed by monumental art and ideas." (p 208) Even the Communist leaders weren't immune from this effect: "I recognized Brezhnev--older and frailer than in his photographs, with a mournful majesty to his aged features and an unhealthy dark-red mottled flush on his heavy cheeks; Kosygin; Andropov. They really do exist, was my first thought. How little they are--and how tired!" (p 212)
  
  When Lee describes the security present for the fireworks display at the celebration's end, she notes, "I, however, was filled with a sour anger at the authorities who had seen fit to pervert an innocent spectacle into a monument to needless caution and repressive fear. If children, as the soldier had said, needed troops for supervision while watching May Day fireworks, it was only, I thought, because this country treats its citizens like children it can't trust with any independent judgment or activity." (p 215) Wise words as we turn ourselves into a regulation nation, with bureaucrats just as determined to decide what is good for everyone else and what ought to be forbidden; it is no accident the surprise Brexit referendum result came days after the EU revealed its latest plan to regulate electric water boilers. Again, the work remains relevant, although the Soviet Union is no more.
  
  The above gives a taste of some of the wisdom Lee shares from her experience, but does no justice to her many very interesting description of places and especially people, too numerous to recount here. If such profiles are interesting to you, you'd enjoy reading this on that merit alone. For those with an interest in Soviet history, this gives a human portrait far from geopolitical events and helps to round out one's reading list. Even if one only cares about liberty and freedom, this book makes a telling cautionary tale of the only alternative to liberty. A good read.
• 
  Carol

  I received this book from a good friend in the early 80s. I discovered it again on the shelf and decided to revisit it. Andrea Lee chose to represent the Russia she experienced in 1978-79 by beautiful portraits of Russian people. There are students, young party members and a band of hippies...twenty years behind their time. We witness the babushki, sweeping the streets and looking with disapproval on the young, denim clad Soviets. A wonderful book that has not lost it's charm in the more than 30 years since it's publication. Reading it reminded my of our visit to China 5 years ago. Similar in that the Chinese are very loyal to their country, proud of where they are economically and yet, so enamoured by all things American.
  
  I looked her up and she has works of fiction. I will be looking for some of her other books to read.
• 
  Camille

  This book felt less like a journal and more like a recounting of events with lots of literary flourishes. As critical as Lee is of those Russians she encounters who are either affirmed party loyalists or shady KGB spies, her tales read like the same sort of shallow observations that must have filled KGB files. The images she paints and the characters she describes are colorful and interesting, but the utter lack of plot or point does them all a massive disservice.
• 
  Olga

  The writing is too complex and colourful for no apparent reason; the epithets and metaphors sound really forced. The gist of the author's experience in Russia is a mixture of pity and self-importance without a trace of respect for the people around her, whether she liked them or not. I wouldn't say that Russia is more or better than what is described in this book: the book just does not begin to describe it at all as it is entirely focused on the vanity of its author.
• 
  Stephanie

  This travel memoir dates back to the late 70s- early 80s, and gives an insightful in-depth glimpse into life in Russia at the end of the Cold War. The author writes short pieces on individuals she meets, painting colorful pictures of their lives. I enjoy the personal touch she gives... it makes me wish I could meet these people now and see how their lives have changed.
  
  
• 
  Ashlie

  I liked it. That's about it. This was very interesting to read while I live in a bordering country to Russia--also I plan to make a trip to Russia soon. She gave very good insight in a melodramatic way as to what it is like for an American to be in Russia.
• 
  Jukka

  Russian Journal - Andrea Lee
  Really good read. Soviet Unnion, before Glasnost. Has account of man that learned English by memorizing the dictionary. More review later.
• 
  umang

  First read 12/2007.
  Re-read 11/2009.
  
  A great winter read...the vivid descriptions of all the seasons (even the dead of winter! in Russia!) are unforgettable
• 
  Tammy

  Recommended in the book, Tolstoy and the Purple Chair.
• 
  Emily

  My favorite book on Russia!
• 
  Roberta

  Very well written as well as very interesting.
• 
  Merricat Blackwood

  Fun and lively and carefully observed. Lee is minimally interested in big Soviet topics like surveillance or censorship or the desperate Moscow housing shortage. Her descriptive power is trained on individuals and how they are warped by that life: the Party brats obsessed with buying black market blue jeans, the mediocre artists who spend all their time at parties complaining that their genius is being stifled. The whole thing is definitely colored by a certain romantic class prejudice. When Lee meets a Russian who sighs over the loss of his aristocratic home and "his" village, she swoons; when she meets a man who comes from three generations of workers and tells her he's proud that his ancestors made the revolution, she condescends and portrays him as a little brainwashed.
• 
  Elli

  i read this for class and it was super cool. It’s about a black student who comes to russia to study and about her experiences. I love how respectful she was to the culture but still said what she wanted to say. Also you can see that she cares bc she takes time to really learn about why and how things work even though they seem weird at first.
• 
  Stephanie

  This memoir recounts Andrea's experiences in Soviet Russia during the late 1970's. Andrea lives in Moscow and briefly St. Petersburg for 10 months with her academic husband and she recounts various characters they meet and the surveillance that is a regular part of life for everyone.
• 
  Greta

  Reading Andrea Lee's Russian Journal was like revisiting Moscow & Leningrad in 1973. Her experiences and observations as an exchange student in 1978 were very similar to those we had as a group of students from the American College in Paris. In a time of peace, I would love to go there again.
• 
  Brigid

  One of the best books written about the Soviet Union at that time. You must read it if you are at all interested in that place and time. I’ve read it more than once, and it always astounds me how acutely she was able to see the Soviet Union for what it was, especially given her age, the restrictions they were no doubt under, and the closeness of the subject she was observing. One of my favorites.