Stealing from a Deep Place: Travels in Southeastern Europe

by Brian Hall

Chronicles the author's travels by bicycle through the mountainous roads of Romania and Bulgaria, a journey from which he garnered an empathetic understanding of people and politics behind the Iron Curtain

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Cycling

Paperback

First published August 1, 1988

Reviews

[Chris Wares · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brian Hall's cycle ride across Romania and Bulgaria in 1982 is eight years ahead of Georgina Haring and nine years earlier than Dervla Murphy's journey. The revolution is still seven years off and you get a good impression of the growing deprivation suffered under the Ceaucescu regime.

The comparative prosperity of Bulgaria, where at least in the countryside they seemed to have plenty of food, underlines the fact that Romanias economy was going seriously off track even for an Eastern Bloc country.

Hall weaves in a decent amount of history with a light touch and the addition of Bulgaria gave an interesting expansion beyond the current borders.

The book concludes with a third part devoted to Budapest where Hall is living with his girlfriend and is readable but feels like a different book. There's something about a journey, the travelling towards somewhere, that gives a travel book structure. The Hungarian part of the book was a series of snapshots that didn't have any real coherence.

I'm pleased I came across this book. Maybe because it's a written by an American rather than a Brit this book seemed to be off the general radar and a bit of a find. I have added his book on Yugoslavia to To Read list!

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve owned this book for many years. I was greatly intrigued by the author’s travels through three very familiar (to me) lands. However, I failed to realize that his travels were in the early 1980’s!!!

I cannot imagine the bravery that such a solo trip would have required at that point in geo-political and technological history!

As I journeyed with him, I learned or relearned loads of stereotypically accurate portrayals of each of these countries and their peoples, by one another as well as true outsiders.

I also was surprisingly shocked that so little has truly changed in the past 40 years. I could feel and hear and smell and see in his journeys those of my own in recent years.

For anyone who has spent any time in these countries (Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria), this is a cathartic read.

For anyone looking to understand these countries (Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria), this is quite an accessible read.

[Matthew Gibble · Rating 2 out of 5]

I lived in Romania and have spent much time in Budapest. Having been a life long cyclist I thoroughly enjoyed the portions of this book from Romania and Bulgaria.

But I struggled mightily with the author's time in Budapest. It varied so much from the first ⅔ and my attention waned greatly.

[Bookworm · Rating 4 out of 5]

1981, back during the Iron Curtain, a Harvard graduate biked around the “enemy” side Iron Curtain in Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary.
Only he didn’t find enemies.
He found good, kind people doing the best they could regardless of the dumb politics (literally) surrounding them.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is the travelogue that came out of a recent-Harvard-graduate Hall riding his bike through Eastern Europe for two years in the early 1980's. Hall had received a literary grant and literally embarked on his writing career with this effort, his first published book. It is very well written and entertaining; we certainly see not just glimpses, but fully developed examples of the writer's gift with prose. He does a great job of taking us to these places, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.

The best part of this book is the section on Bulgaria. Here Hall is at his best: observant, informative, intelligent and mildly unbecoming. He seems to blend easily into his scenes as the best travel writers do. What is perhaps most important, however, on a subcutaneous level, is that in this section Hall has not yet developed the arrogance in his voice which will infect his later work. In Bulgaria he expresses himself more like the wandering traveler, recounting the experiences of new places, new characters and the daily adventures of life that travel brings. This is excellent work.

In the other sections, especially Hungary, you can see the beginnings of the more knowledgeable, more sophisticated, more worldly mental attitude that will be a theme in Hall's work and which is very evident in The Impossible Country, written some seven years later. I felt like too often I could either not be sure, except for times when I was positive, whether Hall held contempt for the people in his scenes. I don't particularly care for this kind of travel writing, but it does make me contemplate whether it is a valid perspective, since I don't believe we have to be nice about everyone we encounter on our travels. But sometimes I wonder, as I did with The Impossible Country, if at times Hall is just being mean.

All that said, Brian Hall is an excellent writer. His work is exceptional from his earliest beginnings and I will continue to read it. But it makes me wonder if, as I read his later work when he is truly growing into manhood and adulthood, if his perspective will soften about the people he encounters or if it will solidify into the voice of the arrogant American.

[Stoil · Rating 4 out of 5]

The classification I would want to give this book is simply "very nice".

The author focuses less on his actual travels than on sociological, political and cultural ruminations in connection to the countries he visits. He provides quite objective representations of Soviet-era South-eastern Europe.

I believe the author is very objective and reports political situations without any hidden bias (he states his opinions and thoughts separately to the facts).

Overall, a very nice book. It would have benefited, though, if it were more thorough. For example, as I am Bulgarian, I was very excited to read about his journey through Bulgaria but it is very superficially described, the author even entirely neglecting a very big portion of his journey (from Troyan to Bansko).

[Iva · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Hall's clear prose. His bicycle trip through Bulgaria and Romania included many interesting people and experiences. He seemed to have run out of steam in Hungary and concentrated on one family but did give a good overview of Hungary's history. I came away knowing about the unfortunate situation in Romania and Bulgaria--the corruption, the lack of food and inability to progress. Hall is an excellent story teller and I look forward to reading his other books.