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The Gentleman From Finland: Adventures On The Trans-siberian Express | 
 enlarge | Author: Robert M. Goldstein
Publisher: Rivendell Publishing Northwest
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $11.96
You Save: $2.99 (20%)
New (6) Used (6) Collectible (1) from $2.99
Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 1168982
Media: Paperback
Pages: 230
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.2 x 0.6
ISBN: 0976328801
Dewey Decimal Number: 915.70485
EAN: 9780976328803
ASIN: 0976328801
Publication Date: April 15, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 7 to 12 days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 Enjoyable read June 15, 2005
Marilyn Sheck
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
The Gentleman From Finland is one of the most enjoyable books I've read lately. It was sometimes hilariously funny (people looked at me strangely when I was laughing out loud on the bus), at at other times poignant. The author's descriptions of the people and places enabled me to see what he saw and feel what he felt. I shivered with cold in Novosibiersk and wondered at the Munchkin army in the hotel lobby. The characters he met on his travels were memorable. The desolation of the Russian landscape and the realities of life in 1980's Soviet Russia were chilling. And the personal evolution of the author during this trip made it an almost spiritual experience. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes humor, travelogues, trains, or Russian history.
A memorable snapshot of one man's encounter with a nation August 6, 2005
Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA)
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
Set in 1987, The Gentleman from Finland: Adventures on the Trans-Siberian Express is a memoir chronicling mishaps that escalate almost into the realm of the bizarre. The author, a short, swarthy Mexican-American-Russian-Jew, boards what he believes to be the Trans-Siberian Express yet discovers two days later that he is on the wrong train, traversing the Soviet Union with a voucher that mistakenly identifies him as a Finn. He speaks almost no Russian, and is lost amid a strange land - an old woman steals his shoes, smugglers stash contraband under his bunk, and a beautiful woman rescues him from disaster yet mysteriously keeps reappearing, leading him to fear that she is with the KGB. Sometimes wryly humorous, other times fraught with tension, The Gentleman from Finland is a truly unique travelogue offering a memorable snapshot of one man's encounter with a nation.
A Heartwarming adventure June 14, 2005
Jane H. Nellams (Seattle, WA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Robert Goldstein takes us with him on the Trans-Siberian Express as he makes his way across Russia on his wits alone. Without language skills, temporarily on the wrong train, and off-schedule, he alternately shares his ability to connect with people and his loneliness, his humor and wisdom, and ultimately his successful journey both in travels and soul-searching. I learned so much about history and geography of this vast unknown land. Goldstein's writing draws the reader in -- making the reader a "fly-on-the-wall" observer to this poignant adventure.
I sincerely hope that he continues writing about his travels. I look forward to his next book.
The Gentleman From Finland is a Great Ride June 15, 2005
Daniel Becker (San Jose, CA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I have read a number of travel memoirs, but rarely have I read one as funny and well-written as The Gentleman From Finland. The book works on a number of levels: as a laugh-out-loud tale of an innocent abroad; as an insider look at a Soviet Union that no longer exists; and as a poignant rumination on families and the past. Goldstein is particularly adept at capturing the absurdities of the situations in which he finds himself, whether it is seeking something to eat on the train or trying to get a room at a hotel where he is not due until the next day and thus does not exist. Thank god that Goldstein was willing to take this trip on the reader's behalf, because God knows I wouldn't want to do it. But I'm sure glad he did and chose to write about it.
A Tale of Mistaken Identity July 11, 2005
Patricia Lauderdale (Campbell, CA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Don't be mislead by the title: the "Gentleman from Finland" is in actuality a Silicon Valley baby-boomer whose childhood
fascination with trains results, through a series of
misunderstandings, in this ill-prepared and torturous journey across the desolate Russian wasteland on the Siberian Express.
Through his adventures and extensive background reading, the author makes the history, geography and politics of this obscure region not only palatable, but genuinely entertaining.
It isn't necessary to be an armchair travel buff to appreciate this fast-moving view of a thoroughly unfamiliar part of the world or to identify with the traveller's thoughts and emotions as he gamely makes the best of his uncomfortable situation.
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