A Tour of Russia

I was hesitant about picking up this book. On the one hand I love to be an arm chair tourist and this was published by BBC and was written by an apparantly notable journalist from the UK. On the other hand, I hadn't heard of Jonathan Dimbleby and the very name "Dimbleby" sounded slightly ludicrous. But I took a chance. I can't report a raging success. Nor was it a complete waste of time. I was lively enough to keep me going, but it wasn't terribly satisfying.

There was too much Dimbleby and not enough Russia. I hate travelogues where the presenter keeps injecting himself and his past into what should be a tour of a distant and exciting place.

The tour was an interesting concept. It ran in 5 segments across Russia, so you could get a feel for that massive land. The people he met were interesting. That and the bit of Russian history he threw in was sufficient spice to keep me going, but I was left unsatisfied. More real content was needed. Maybe as an appetizer taken with a goal to get you to tour Russia, this is sufficient. But for an armchair tourist, one with no plans to go, this wasn't enough to let me close the book and feel I had seen Russia and met her people.

I wouldn't discourage you from reading it. But I wouldn't encourage you either. For history, Dimbleby kept quoting Orlando Figes' Natasha's Dance. For insight into the Russian psyche, he kept pointing to 19th century Russian literature. So those books and a more conventional traveller's guide would be a good substitute for this book.