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Soroka
TV, vodka, sex, and the Russian mafia —this is a story from ‘the end of history,’ that brief
period of time in the 1990s when it seemed like anything was possible for Russia and the world.
A young American documentary filmmaker travels to Siberia in the winter of 1994. He
finds work in Tomsk at a privately owned television station where the staff is young, hopeful,
and ready to contribute to the democratization of their country following the collapse of the
USSR.
He befriends his colleagues and begins a romance with a woman on staff. While he seeks
to hide behind his camera and his position as a foreigner, his relationship with the TV station
and with his colleague becomes an all-encompassing, barreling heartbreak.
This book is equally hilarious, sad, and romantic. Above all it is a literary attempt at
capturing a time and a place and a time of life.
period of time in the 1990s when it seemed like anything was possible for Russia and the world.
A young American documentary filmmaker travels to Siberia in the winter of 1994. He
finds work in Tomsk at a privately owned television station where the staff is young, hopeful,
and ready to contribute to the democratization of their country following the collapse of the
USSR.
He befriends his colleagues and begins a romance with a woman on staff. While he seeks
to hide behind his camera and his position as a foreigner, his relationship with the TV station
and with his colleague becomes an all-encompassing, barreling heartbreak.
This book is equally hilarious, sad, and romantic. Above all it is a literary attempt at
capturing a time and a place and a time of life.
447 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 3, 2025
1 person is currently reading
1 person want to read
About the author
Corin Cummings
4 books5 followersCorin Cummings (b. 1971) grew up in Vermont. In 1989 he was part of a performing group that toured parts of the USSR, and was among the first American students to stay with Soviet host families. He was in Russia when the Berlin wall came down. He returned to Russia in 1994 and lived in Tomsk, Siberia, where he worked at one of the country's first independent TV stations. Cummings graduated from Marlboro College and the School for International Training in 1995. He wrote an honors thesis entitled "Shades of Journalism: An apprenticeship in Literary Journalism." He interned and worked briefly at the Columbia Journalism Review in New York City. We worked as a freelance journalist and published in a number of newspapers and small magazines.
Cummings took a job at a small Internet agency in Portland, OR, in 1997. Within 6 months he ran the company's largest client, Visa.com. Two years later Cummings moved to Toronto, ON, to open an office for the agency to serve its second largest client, Molson.com. Cummings gave up on journalism and decided to concentrate on fiction. In 2001 he took up the offer of an expat friend to go live and write in Tanzania for several months. Since 2004 Cummings has worked as a freelance Internet business consultant in order to afford more time to write. He was married in 2005. His first son was born in 2008, his second in 2011. He is a stay-at-home dad. He continues to write and lives in Montreal, QC.
Cummings took a job at a small Internet agency in Portland, OR, in 1997. Within 6 months he ran the company's largest client, Visa.com. Two years later Cummings moved to Toronto, ON, to open an office for the agency to serve its second largest client, Molson.com. Cummings gave up on journalism and decided to concentrate on fiction. In 2001 he took up the offer of an expat friend to go live and write in Tanzania for several months. Since 2004 Cummings has worked as a freelance Internet business consultant in order to afford more time to write. He was married in 2005. His first son was born in 2008, his second in 2011. He is a stay-at-home dad. He continues to write and lives in Montreal, QC.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 26, 2025
Soroko drops you into a fascinating, unfamiliar world: a Siberian TV station just after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Through the eyes of an American drift among Russians, trying to make sense of a new reality, Corin Cummings captures the chaos, absurdity, and unexpected beauty of this transitional moment in history. It reminds me of The Sun Also Rises—a kind of spiritual hung over searching, were meaning is as elusive as sobriety. Darkly, funny, occasionally bleak, and always vivid.
December 26, 2025
In 1994, Connor Chessick, a young American documentary filmmaker, travels to Siberia. The geopolitics of his youth has collapsed. The Cold War is over, and the “Evil Empire” of the Soviet Union has become the new Wild West. President Boris Yeltsin is ushering in democratic and Capitalistic reforms. Russia is open for business and prime territory for adventure for the young Chessick.
Chessick had been in Russia in the autumn of 1989, during the moment the Berlin Wall fell. On a high school youth exchange, the youthful American witnessed a pivotal moment in history, more than he ever expected. Five years later, he is compelled to return. World-shifting events are happening, and he wants to be part of it. Using connections gained from his earlier visit, he arranges to work at a privately owned television station, among the first sources of independent media in the New Russia.
What he finds there, however, is once again often more than he bargained for: mafia violence, political assassination, environmental degradation, rampant alcoholism, deep poverty, no clear path to a better future. And increasing challenges for his documentary. Will the station loan him a camera? Often not. Does he know what story he wants to tell? The swirls of chaos around him make it hard for him to get his bearings.
And then there’s Alina, the beautiful Russian girl from marketing he begins a relationship with. Here is the heart of the novel, though this book is far from a romance. Connor and Alina match well. They have good times, have deep conversations, and appear to have the foundation for a lasting connection. Except Connor doesn’t plan to stay, and he doesn’t plan to bring home a Russian bride. Alina would welcome a move to America, but with blunt Russian fatalism (a trait characterized broadly in the novel) she accepts Connor’s conclusion. He refuses to have sex without a condom, for example, taking no risks on a Russian baby, though Alina tempts and teases him repeatedly.
Chessick’s journey mirrors that of Soroka’s author, Corin Cummings, who made both the 1989 and 1994 trips, though what we have here is a novel, not a memoir. Still, it is a portrait of a place and moment in time, one made more poignant by our own world-shifting era. Whatever promise of democratic and economic reform existed in the 1990s in Russia, that window has long ago closed as an Oligarchic dictatorship emerged. The seeds of this outcome are peppered throughout Cummings’s novel. Chessick never completed his documentary, but Soroka serves well in its place.
Chessick interviews a reformist politician who states:
If we allow an outlaw society to continue to take root, it will continue to grow. We need to fight corruption or it will be what defines our future. What I’m saying is that we are in danger of having corruption itself govern us, not just now or for the time being as if it were merely a rough spot, a growing pain, but going forward and for the rest of our lives. What we have is just as before, but instead of Communists, Capitalists.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss, The Who sang. Crony capitalism, we might note, is not just for Russia now. And the chaos of 1990s Russia might have been a harbinger, not an aberration. Thirty years later this pivotal moment in history throws up new questions and potential insights. This is a timely novel, written in direct descriptive prose, presenting the world as if seen through a view finder. That is, with as few filters as possible. Dig it.
Chessick had been in Russia in the autumn of 1989, during the moment the Berlin Wall fell. On a high school youth exchange, the youthful American witnessed a pivotal moment in history, more than he ever expected. Five years later, he is compelled to return. World-shifting events are happening, and he wants to be part of it. Using connections gained from his earlier visit, he arranges to work at a privately owned television station, among the first sources of independent media in the New Russia.
What he finds there, however, is once again often more than he bargained for: mafia violence, political assassination, environmental degradation, rampant alcoholism, deep poverty, no clear path to a better future. And increasing challenges for his documentary. Will the station loan him a camera? Often not. Does he know what story he wants to tell? The swirls of chaos around him make it hard for him to get his bearings.
And then there’s Alina, the beautiful Russian girl from marketing he begins a relationship with. Here is the heart of the novel, though this book is far from a romance. Connor and Alina match well. They have good times, have deep conversations, and appear to have the foundation for a lasting connection. Except Connor doesn’t plan to stay, and he doesn’t plan to bring home a Russian bride. Alina would welcome a move to America, but with blunt Russian fatalism (a trait characterized broadly in the novel) she accepts Connor’s conclusion. He refuses to have sex without a condom, for example, taking no risks on a Russian baby, though Alina tempts and teases him repeatedly.
Chessick’s journey mirrors that of Soroka’s author, Corin Cummings, who made both the 1989 and 1994 trips, though what we have here is a novel, not a memoir. Still, it is a portrait of a place and moment in time, one made more poignant by our own world-shifting era. Whatever promise of democratic and economic reform existed in the 1990s in Russia, that window has long ago closed as an Oligarchic dictatorship emerged. The seeds of this outcome are peppered throughout Cummings’s novel. Chessick never completed his documentary, but Soroka serves well in its place.
Chessick interviews a reformist politician who states:
If we allow an outlaw society to continue to take root, it will continue to grow. We need to fight corruption or it will be what defines our future. What I’m saying is that we are in danger of having corruption itself govern us, not just now or for the time being as if it were merely a rough spot, a growing pain, but going forward and for the rest of our lives. What we have is just as before, but instead of Communists, Capitalists.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss, The Who sang. Crony capitalism, we might note, is not just for Russia now. And the chaos of 1990s Russia might have been a harbinger, not an aberration. Thirty years later this pivotal moment in history throws up new questions and potential insights. This is a timely novel, written in direct descriptive prose, presenting the world as if seen through a view finder. That is, with as few filters as possible. Dig it.
July 12, 2025
As someone who typically gravitates toward Pulitzer Prize winners, Booker Prize winners, or titles from the New York Times Best Books list, I didn’t expect to be so blown away—but this book completely surprised me, in the best possible way. It’s truly fantastic. I found myself wondering how a novel this good isn’t a bestseller, especially when so many bestsellers don’t come close in quality. If you’re looking for a hidden gem, this is it.
The timing of this story couldn’t be more relevant. Set in a small Russian television station in the early 1990s, at the end of the USSR, it captures a moment that seemed full of potential but was ultimately stifled by deep-rooted corruption. The narrative unfolds against a backdrop of chaos and a society ultimately led by oligarchs. While this political climate isn’t the central focus, as an American living through the second Trump administration, I couldn’t help but draw parallels. The novel subtly—but powerfully—reveals what happens in a society where loyalty is valued above education, skill, and common sense.
At the heart of the book is a young American film maker working at a local TV station in a provincial Russian city. The writing is immersive and richly detailed—I truly felt transported. The awkward disorientation of being far from home, surrounded by a different language, a different culture, and a completely unfamiliar rhythm of life, is rendered with nuance and authenticity.
The characters he encounters are endlessly compelling—funny, flawed, vulnerable, and deeply human. The novel beautifully captures the universal longing for love, connection, and meaning. It also powerfully evokes the rush of young love and lust—that dizzying intensity of feeling it all for the first time.
This book was so engaging I couldn’t put it down. I can tell it will stay with me in the way the books I truly love do.
It deserves to be widely read and celebrated.
The timing of this story couldn’t be more relevant. Set in a small Russian television station in the early 1990s, at the end of the USSR, it captures a moment that seemed full of potential but was ultimately stifled by deep-rooted corruption. The narrative unfolds against a backdrop of chaos and a society ultimately led by oligarchs. While this political climate isn’t the central focus, as an American living through the second Trump administration, I couldn’t help but draw parallels. The novel subtly—but powerfully—reveals what happens in a society where loyalty is valued above education, skill, and common sense.
At the heart of the book is a young American film maker working at a local TV station in a provincial Russian city. The writing is immersive and richly detailed—I truly felt transported. The awkward disorientation of being far from home, surrounded by a different language, a different culture, and a completely unfamiliar rhythm of life, is rendered with nuance and authenticity.
The characters he encounters are endlessly compelling—funny, flawed, vulnerable, and deeply human. The novel beautifully captures the universal longing for love, connection, and meaning. It also powerfully evokes the rush of young love and lust—that dizzying intensity of feeling it all for the first time.
This book was so engaging I couldn’t put it down. I can tell it will stay with me in the way the books I truly love do.
It deserves to be widely read and celebrated.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews