Newby, Eric. Big Red Train Ride: a Ride on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Penguin, 1978.
Reason read: the first electric trains were introduced in the month of July.
Six thousand miles. Seven time zones. The big, red Trans-Siberian train ride took Eric Newby and his wife from Moscow to the Pacific.
Eric Newby and his wife, Wanda, embarked on an epic journey across Siberia back in the late 1970s. All along the way, Newby peers into the habitations of USSR locals with curiosity and humor. His words could be lyrical in addition to being sarcastic and humorous.
It is interesting to read Fear by Anatoli Ryabakov at the same time as The Big Red Train Ride. Reading about Stalin from the fictional and historical perspectives, especially during 1936 – 1938 and the rein of Great Terror. Both books report the arrest of seven million people (not including the criminals) and the death toll during Stalin’s time to be somewhere around twenty million souls. When talking about the Siberian exiles Newby did not mention the Russians who were perceived to have made fun of Stalin and were banished or murdered simply as a result of his paranoia.
It goes without saying that Big Red Train Ride is a bit dated. Written in 1977, there is a great deal of “this will be done” statements. For example, he used the future tense when talking about a railway to be finished in 1980. When Newby was trying to take photographs of certain stations I thought of my sister and her smart phone. She takes stealthy pictures of people all the time. Her subjects are none the wiser. Meanwhile Newby was getting yelled at left and right.
As an aside, I appreciated the humor in Big Red Train Ride. Newby was not a fan of knobbly knees.
Lines I liked, “It was certainly Saturday, unless sit was Sunday” (p 72). I get that way, too. Especially on Monhegan. Here’s another that reminded me of the island, “…a grey stretch of water on a rocky, fog-bound coast” (p 260).
As an aside, my papa loved trains. He died earlier this month so I cannot help but think of him and how he would have loved this journey.
Author fact: I have four books by Eric Newby on my list. Round Ireland in Slow Gear and Love and War in the Apennines are left to read. I am looking forward to Love and War because my friend has always wanted me to see the Apennines. I am planning a trip this spring.
Book trivia: there are some interesting black and white photographs included in The Big Red Train Ride.
Music: “Auld Lang Syne”, “One Day Over the Urals”, Judy Garland, and “Lord Dismiss Us with Your Blessing”.
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Making Tracks By Train” (p 138).
~*LunaSea*~ 