Subtitled “A Year in the heart of Russia”, Black Earth City by Charlotte Hobson [ISBN 1 86207 498 4] is a personal narrative of a student spending a year at an obscure Russian University, and giving a picture of the life in the student hostel and life for the Russians. Written around 10 years later than Thubron’s Among the Russians, this book paints a very similar picture of life in Russia – and also leaves the reader wondering again how the Russian’s bodies can cope with all the vodka.
Subtitled “A Year in the heart of Russia”, Black Earth City by Charlotte Hobson [ISBN 1 86207 498 4] is a personal narrative of a student spending a year at an obscure Russian University, and giving a picture of the life in the student hostel and life for the Russians. Written around 10 years later than Thubron’s Among the Russians, this book paints a very similar picture of life in Russia – and also leaves the reader wondering again how the Russian’s bodies can cope with all the vodka.
Charlotte and her friend Emily decide to go to the University at Voronezh rather than Moscow in their year to learn Russian during their University course. Very much in the sticks they stay in a primitive student hostel filled with all nationalities, and soon they have Russian friends. The book tells the story of their life and the life of the Russians they meet, told through a vodka haze, one feels. Charlotte’s boyfriend Mitya, drinks heavily every night and has no memory of his walk home … but really, there does not seem to be anything much else for the young people, certainly no jobs.
|