The Border

January 4, 2021
In this ambitious travelogue, journalist Fatland (Sovietistan) documents her multiyear odyssey along Russia’s 60,932-kilometer-long border with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and North Korea. Noting that Norway is “the only one of its 14 neighbors that has not been invaded or at war with Russia in the past five hundred years,” Fatland ask “what does it mean to have the world’s largest country as your neighbor?” She answers with colorful accounts of her experiences and observations cruising the ice-crusted Northeast Passage (which makes up two-thirds of Russia’s boundary), riding horseback in Mongolia (“The Siberian wind... was unrelenting and cut through all the layers of wool until I could no longer feel my legs”), and kayaking the waterways between Norway and Russia (“The river gurgled; every now and then a big fat salmon would leap up”). She also provides a dense history of each place she visits, including sites of recent conflict, such as Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, and weaves her travel narrative with stories of people whose lives have been affected by Russia’s geopolitical ambitions. Armchair adventurers and Russian history buffs are in for a treat. Photos.

February 1, 2021
More expansive than the circumference of the earth itself, Russia's border is the longest in the world. Fatland has strung together the histories of the 14 countries along this border to create a detailed mosaic of Russia's influence on its neighbors. She journeyed over two years from North Korea, where she was allowed in on a highly regulated trip under the guise of a tourist, to Norway, where Russia is a short shopping trip away. Whether spotting the onion dome of St. Sophia's Church in China or viewing the Stalin souvenirs on offer at the museum behind his humble brick home in Georgia, Fatland finds traces of Russia's influence are everywhere. The power of Russia is particularly evident in the stories Fatland hears from the people she meets, such as the Mongolian man whose grandfather hid all signs of his Buddhist faith after Stalin's crackdown and who became a monk himself at 13 years old in 1992, once it was legal again. Fatland offers a comprehensive look at the places and people impacted by their enormous next-door neighbor.

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April 2, 2021

Fatland (Sovietstan) chronicles her travels through the nations that surround Russia and investigates the impact of the massive shadow cast over these smaller counties by Russia (and the Soviet Union before it). She writes knowledgably about the countries she passes through, and talks to locals about how their nations's history has been shaped by Russia. Though broken into short chapters about specific locales, this book is difficult to read cover to cover; it is more effectively read in short bursts, one chapter per sitting. Fatland assumes that readers know the history of many of these countries, which can make it difficult to comprehend the snippets of background she offers. The result is that some of the chapters, like the ones about Chernobyl and North Korea, read quickly, while many of the other chapters can be difficult to wade through and place in world history. VERDICT Will appeal to fans of travel books who enjoy additional background and history of destinations; particularly good for readers familiar with the areas around Russia.--Stacy Shaw, Denver

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