The Border

I read this while on a brief holiday in the south of the South Island (of New Zealand), and found it hard to put down. I am not sure what I expected, but this was less academic and far more readable than I anticipated from a book slightly under 600 pages. It is obviously topical with the ongoing war in Ukraine, and having read the section of this book which deals with Ukraine - has been foreshadowed strongly.

For the largest part this is a travel book, which is likely where the enjoyment has ramped up for me. It explains the authors journey through the many counties and territories, and the things she sees, the people she talks to. The reason for her journey however, is to determine how sharing a border with Russia effects these countries and how their experiences compare. This of course is driven by the history each country has with Russia (or the Soviet Union), and therefore history is threaded through the narrative. For me as a reader Erika Fatland has got the mix exactly right - just enough history to support the analysis without the unessential coming through.

Coming from Norway, one of the fourteen countries which border Russia, Fatland has a direct connection with her topic, and speaking fluent Russian (as well as seven other languages!!) offers her a huge advantage over other non-Russian speaking travellers in many (but not all) of the borderlands. Trained as an anthropologist, she has written previous books, including her first travel book Sovietistan, published in 2015, was an account of her travels through five post-Soviet Central Asian nations, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan - this is on my to-obtain list. The Border was published in 2017 (in Norwegian) and in English in 2020. To put this in context, Russia had annexed Crimea (2014) and Donetsk and Lugansk had announced themselves as People's Republics (only Russia recognises these breakaway states of the Ukraine).

Fatland is not afraid of mixing her timeline, throwing us into the final part of her journey first - a voyage along the Northern coastline of Russia - amusingly for me with an expedition company from New Zealand owned and operated by a friend, which does Antarctic, sub-Antarctic and Russian ship expeditions. By chance Fatland secures a place on the first Northeast Passage trip they run (although not right now!), which drew me into this book, having that personal connection.

She then jumps back to the first place she visits on her twenty-thousand-kilometre journey, North Korea, and takes us from the end of that countries travels to the beginning! Then, enough of this time-shifting, she plays out the remainder of her journey in a more time-linear fashion.

She has managed to interview many people in the course of her travels, many controversial or speaking out at risk to themselves, so we are told names and details are frequently altered to provide them protection. Most speak out against the oppression and corruption of their respective governments. In places, due to travel restrictions, Fatland is forced to take group tours (North Korea, Chernobyl, Baikonur Cosmodrome), and at times roughs it in very poor accommodation, it is largely for short periods of time. For the most part she stays in good, but modest accommodation, as you would want when travelling extensively over a period of three years!

More than anything, this book demonstrates the breadth of difference between those countries bordering Russia. From east to west they couldn't be more different, and while at times the change from country to country is gradual, sometimes it is not. This perhaps drives home how complex the running of the Soviet Union must have been - to deal with such diverse cultures and peoples and to attempt to homogenise them was an impossible task, as we have seen over the years with the inability to reconcile with the Muslim population in Chechnya and Ingushetia.

I didn't note specific memorable anecdotes while reading, as the whole book was just so well-flowing (which must be testament to the translation), so I haven't identified any quotes, and I see that this book has not yet hit the popularity on GR that it deserves - no quotes on here either.

I can certainly recommend this book - particularly for those with more interest in travel than history; or those who only want a short relevant history to accompany their travel; or those who want the overview to the question - how has bordering Russia effected life in adjacent countries? For those looking for academic or deep history, you may come away without enough information to satisfy.

5 stars.

Fem stjerner for å være fengende og lettlest. Tre stjerner fordi boken i et forsøk på å være alt likevel ender opp med å bare blir litt av hvert.