The Gentleman From Finland: Adventures On The Trans-siberian Express - Softcover

Goldstein, Robert M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0976328801 ISBN 13: 9780976328803

Publisher: Rivendell Pub Nw, 2005

Synopsis

Two days aboard what he believes is the Trans-Siberian Express, the author discovers he's on the wrong train. It is 1987, and he is traveling in the Soviet Union, holding a train ticket that mistakenly identifies him as a Finn. In fact, he is a short, dark-skinned Mexican-American-Russian-Jew, who speaks only enough Russian to proclaim that he is Bob, the tourist from America. As the trip unfolds, what begins as the fulfillment of a childhood dream becomes a journey with a cast of characters worthy of a Russian novel. A grim old woman takes his only pair of shoes. Smugglers stash contraband booze under his bunk, then ply him with alcohol and delicacies. A beautiful Russian woman rescues the author from disaster in one city, only to mysteriously reappear in another, fueling his growing paranoia that she is a KGB agent. Throughout the story, Goldstein interjects historical anecdotes, as well as his own family's past in czarist Russia. The Gentleman from Finland is a sometimes hilarious, sometimes poignant story of the misadventures of a traveler who discovers that a journey on the world's longest rail line is much more than just a big train ride.

About this title

From the Publisher:

This book is for fans of well-crafted travel memoirs. The book transports the reader back to a time when the Cold War was still in frost. The author skillfully conveys the tone of the times by telling the story of his bizarre trip through the characters he meets and the odd circumstances that he finds himself in. At times laugh-out loud funny and at other times thought provokingly serious, this book - a third place winner of the Pacific Northwest Writer's Association Library Award for nonfiction - is a guaranteed page-turner.

About the Author:

Robert Goldstein was born in Los Angeles, but grew up not far from the train tracks in Santa Clara, California. After graduating from Oregon State University with a degree in technical journalism, he worked as a newspaper reporter for the Walla Walla Union Bulletin and Bellevue Journal-American. In the late 1980s, his career took a different direction after he received his master's degree in public administration from the University of Washington. Since that time he has held administrative posts in California and Washington state. He has traveled extensively, and has published articles on Nepal, the Soviet Union, Israel, Bhutan, China, and the Arctic. Currently, he is the chief financial officer of The Seattle Public Library. He lives in Seattle.

About this edition

• Publisher: Rivendell Pub Nw
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0976328801
• ISBN 13: 9780976328803
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 230