Black earth city: A year in the heart of Russia

by Charlotte Hobson

The story of a young woman's heady encounter with Russia - and a society in collapse. In 1991, Charlotte Hobson went to study for a year in the provincial town of Voronezh. She captures the lives of her young contemporaries as the Soviet Union breaks up around Viktor, and his brutal memories of military service; Lola who sleeps with her fellow students for a share of their dinner; Yakov, blowing a million roubles of the Salvation Army's money on a taxi to Minsk to see a girl. Here too is the author's story and Mitya's. Their love affair begins in a mood of wild optimism. Anything, it seems, is possible. Until in spring the snow thaws, and reveals the black earth beneath.

Genres: Russia, Nonfiction, Travel, Biography, Memoir, Biography Memoir, History

243 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

A young British woman spends a year at university in a provincial Russian city and tells about it understatedly, unassumingly. This book is not about her and I admired that, while at the same time wanting it to be a little more about her, maybe selfishly wanting her to make sense of aspects of my own experience in Ukraine. Lots to chuckle over and nod my head in recognition:

"Russians have none of the contored, apologetic manner of the English. If you start out with 'Would you possibly be so kind as to help me, if you've got a moment, to point out where the post office might be?' any Russian who is not a bureaucrat or an official will look at you as though you are mad. Soon I learned to ask simply, 'Where's the post office?' Equally, the Russian habit of saying in a commanding manner, 'Give me one cigarette!' soon stopped sounding rude. Both the tone and the sentiment behind it, which assumes that the cigarette-rich person will always share them with the poor, came to feel quite natural."

[Moushumi Ghosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful memoir of being a foreign student in a Russian city, Voronezh, written with a large heart and full of youthful love, folly and vodka. All the more precious because it takes place at a historic time in 1991, when the Soviet Union ceased to exist and Russia emerged out of its Phoenix-like ashes. It is a lost world that I was sorry to leave behind. It's as much an insider's view as it possibly could be for an anglichanka (English girl). It's not an easy time but it is flavoured with nostalgia making it forever gilded in memory.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a biographical account of the author’s student year in Russia, in the early 1990s. Names have been altered, and the details of some incidents also changed. But the bulk of the account is factual.

The author arrived shortly after the coup that began the fall of Communism, and spent her year amongst locals, learning the language and culture as part of the student community. So the account is a mixture of her personal life, the people she got to know, anecdotes from others, and comments on politics.

The writing is good, the pace works well. I got quite a good idea of what life was like in this era. However, the book didn’t ever feel like a coherent whole. It begins very well with the story of how Charlotte came to be studying Russian, and why she decided to go to the small, poverty-stricken town of Voronezh. But it doesn’t mention what she expected, or much about her feelings at all.

The characters all merged together in my mind and I found it impossible to remember who was whom. Maybe it was deliberate that they all melded into one, but it didn’t make for gripping reading, even though some of the stories told were fascinating.

I also found the endless vodka-drinking and joint-rolling to be tedious in the extreme. It seemed to occupy far too much of the narrative, when I’m sure there must have been many interesting things left out.

Recommended in a low-key way to anyone who would like to know what Russia was like from an outsider’s point of view in 1991.

[Margaret Comer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved these scenes of provincial Russia. Although it's set at a very specific time - the end of the USSR and the beginning of the 'shock therapy' transition to capitalism and democracy - Charlotte Hobson's depictions of Russian life through the eyes of a foreign student feel familiar, almost like I lived these scenes myself. I also got way too drunk on vodka in a crumbling dorm, gone to Russian language class to find it derailed in favour of a polemic about Great Russia, and trudged through swamps of bureaucracy. As Peter Pomerantsav's foreword points out, the West has a tendency to essentialize and exoticize Russia and the Russians - but of course they are just people like us, living life looking for the same things, albeit sometimes in extraordinary circumstances. The book touches on issues like the post-collapse conflicts, inflation, alcoholism, and corruption, but the focus is very much on how these impact the daily lives of Charlotte's friends. There is no attempt to ascribe everything to the mysterious 'Russian soul' - instead, there are brief but insightful examinations of history, culture, and politics as they lead to the situation in Voronezh. The book is full of colourful detail and lovingly remembered characters with fascinating stories, as well as judiciously chosen Russian words (with glossary) when translations just won't do. It's a quick read but an enjoyable window into Russia at a critical transition point (although some things never change) - highly recommend.

[Anne Hawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating book! The author was a college student from England who was in college in Voronezh during the tumultuous year which saw the break up of the USSR. Life there was changing daily and 70 years of anger and repression boiled up and was expressed in a chaotic existence. She showed what was happening in the lives of families and students who lived in a hostel/apartment as they tried to cope with the enormous changes in their lives.

The book is filled with raw emotion and pain. I felt very discouraged when I was reading it, but it was very compelling. It is well written and the author's style draws you in until you feel the despair of the people who are struggling as if they were drowning. At times, I felt overwhelmed by the obstacles these people are dealing.

[Elie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised at the strength of Hobson's storytelling and her humor, both of which carry the narrative of her time as a study-abroad in the early days of post-Soviet Russia. Her characters are vibrant and mostly drunk, and her ability to mock herself and find humor in strange situations is rare in travel writing or memoir. The book jacket says she's working on her first novel, and I'll keep my eye out for it.

[Jeff P · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book because of the praise given to it by writer Charles Cumming in the afterword to his thriller "Judas 62". He used the book to help him paint his own very convincing description of life for an Englishman teaching (undercover) in a language school in the Russian city of Voronezh in the early 1990s. And this book is the real thing, telling it how it was for an English student spending a year there in the same period (although in her case she was a real student, not a spy in disguise!). It's a fascinating book, showing a side of life that most Westerners wouldn't know existed. The author changed names, and probably altered a few factual details as well, but other than that it purports to be an accurate account of her stay. I have to be honest and say that it made me very glad that I never had to endure a year like that - the drinking alone would have put me off alcohol for life. My only reservation is that I didn't feel that I got to know the author as well as I would have liked. There were quite a few things that I would have liked to ask her about over, um, a drink. Perhaps this was intentional; perhaps because she wanted to draw a veil over a wild time in her life. Anyway, it's a good read and one that I would also recommend.

[Ciaran Monaghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this as it felt like a bit of a nostalgia trip, remembering my own year of study in Russia. I'm not sure everyone would get as much out of it. However, if you are interested in Russia, it does give a funny and warm insight into life in a smaller Russian city. It is also particularly interesting as the author arrived at the moment that the country was transitioning from the Soviet period into the new era of capitalism. She experienced the shortages in shops and hyperinflation, as well as seeing the new wild-west business world that was developing, where the most ruthless, not the brightest or the best, were making their way to the top.

[Stu Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A memoir of the author's year studying at a college in Voronezh, Russia. It was a monumental college year ('91-'92), in the middle of which the Soviet Union ceased to exist. This book works on many levels....it's an young english woman observing Russian culture, it's a look at how change came quickly and dug deep and almost hurt a lot of people (maybe the beginning of the communism nostalgia) and it's a look at life in a quiet Russian city. If your like me and fascinated with Russia, it's highly recommended

[Nubra Jarial · Rating 2 out of 5]

Average. I did not feel like it was much more than a college life account. I suppose that is the point but I was hoping for a book about Russians as they are.
This is more about youth culture and features many characters who view Russian culture as backward and are hence looking to emigrate. I'm no stranger to this as a class of such folks exists in my country too, however I wouldn't call a book about them a book about India. It's simply a sliver of society and a version exists in all countries.
It was too narrow in its scope for me.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dancing between deft characterisation and a dark appreciation of what she finds in small town Russia, the author takes us on a fascinating journey around the time of Perestroika. Her characters run wild through the pages, dealing with a country in turmoil in their own (sometimes strange) inventive ways. This book delivers darkness and humour in equal measure and also gives us a saga of international drugs, sex and rock and roll from the students with whom she shared her spartan but lively hostel. One for my book group! Not a dull moment.

[Ian Hodkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

As William Dalrymple wrote 'one of the most charming travel memoirs to come out of Russia for may years.' Set in the first year of Russia after the dismantling of the one-party system and the splintering of the former bloc into separate states. It's good.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is definitely not a bad book and at times, I really enjoyed Charlotte Hobson's writing but it's just not as interesting as you would expect, given the time period. I did appreciate getting a look into the lives of ordinary Russians though.

[Shatterlings · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the parts that are actually about Russia and Russians, but there’s too much partying and drinking, I was also a student in the nineties so I know how that goes, I wanted to know about Russia in the nineties, this book didn’t really deliver that.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don’t often read non fiction but this was nostalgia for me having spent 3 months in Voronezh in 1988, as part of my course. Our time there was much more low key as before the breakdown of the USSR. Good to remember that experience though.

[Marie (UK) · Rating 1 out of 5]

dull as the proverbial dishwater

[Jojo Szota · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved reading this book. Well written, interesting, absorbing.

[Marta Iwaniuk · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Rob Mackenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another time of hope followed by shattered dreams and despair. How does any goodness survive all the alcohol and toxic masculinity?

[F.R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

One woman’s experiences in a remote Russian city in the early 1990s - so as the USSR is falling apart. Fascinating, empathetic and both strangely alien and oddly familiar.

[Paul Michaels · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sample Quote: "People who developed mental illnesses later in life were spirited away to various destinations. Some were put in institutions; many others ended up in and out of prison for antisocial behaviour. Others became part of the underground world that inhabited the edges of Soviet life and was rather haphazardly concealed from the rest of society. Before the Olympics in 1980, for example, the tramps and alcoholics were simply picked up from the streets of Moscow and dumped a hundred kilometres from the centre of town. By the time they got back to the centre, with any luck, all the foreigners would have left."

[Fee · Rating 3 out of 5]

An inside view of Russia in 1991. A 20 something year old from England tells us about her experiences there, living in a seedy hostel amongst Russians and foreigners alike. Each chapter contains a very human story; thankfully politics wasn't a feature in this book. I enjoyed reading about the things you are never told or are aware of, like the day to day activities. Each chapter is prefaced with a Russian proverb or poem. Rather than making me understand Russia, this book has made me even more curious.

[Booksy]

Great observations about the provincial life in Russia in the 90s, written with humour, witticism and yet with utmost respect for the people and the country. Very enjoyable read... although I so much wanted to know what happened to the love story. A great friend of mine who we worked together back in Russia was also one of those English students who spent a year on language exchange program in Voronezh, so when I saw this book, I knew I must read it, to find out what really happened in Voronezh. Thank you Charlotte Hobson for this great account of a Russian year.

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

C2001: FWFTB: Voronezh, winter, university, Russia, students. Happily, this was another unexpected Jewel to come out of the archives of the library. Beautifully written, evocative, funny and great plotting. It makes you want to know what happened to the various characters including the author. I couldn't stop reading it which is a real give away. Highly and definitely recommended to the normal crew. "You see the kind of society one mixes with in Voronezh,' he said after a while, summoning up a laugh. 'You cannot call it civilised. '

[Jaye · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a really intersesting little book.

Set in the period just after the break-up of the Soviet Union, a young British woman of Russian parentage goes to school in a rather remote part of Russia.

Hobson tells of her experiences and discoveries, some funny and some poignant. It was a fascinating read for anyone interested in Russia, the Soviet Union or recent history.

I did find the promiscuity in the book a bit off-putting, but I still recommend the book.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author was a British college student who was in Russia during the fall of the Soviet Union as a study abroad student. That part is interesting and she does well using her insider/outsider status to write about that time.

[Ree · Rating 4 out of 5]

An autobiographical tale of a student traveling to Russia right after the fall of the Soviet Union.

[Norah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had another go at this while on holiday in Prague, but wasn't interested enough to finish it. Released through Bookcrossing to our new OBCZ Camphillbooks on 4th Nov 2014

[Jodie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really interesting. I loved the authors writing style and completely got sucked in to the book.
4.5 stars

[Sean Chick · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was killed by its dull and lifeless prose.