Customer Reviews

Hunted Through Central Asia

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Pavel Nazaroff was a Russian "burjui" (bourgeois) and a prominent figure in efforts to overthrow the Bolsheviks who had assumed power in Tashkent in 1918. He was imprisoned, released during a short-lived counter-revolution, and then spent many months hiding amongst the local Muslim population and wandering through Russian Central Asia in disguise before escaping to Sinkiang.

Although I wouldn't award this at times torpor-inducing account of his adventures any more stars than the previous reviewers, I do feel they are being a little hard on the author. His constant vilification of the Bolsheviks, though tiresome to the detached modern reader, is forgivable, bearing in mind they destroyed his world and tried their best to kill him. He could hardly tell us much about his anti-Soviet activities without endangering people left behind in Tashkent; indeed, it's surprising he admits any involvement at all. And the ripping yarns penned by British spies active in this region at this time (Bailey, Teague-Jones et al) tell us no more about their authors' politics and emotions, never mind the historical context. It just wasn't the done thing.

But the jacket blurb, promising "hair-breadth `scapes and survival against all odds" is indeed misleadingly OTT. You will enjoy this book more if you approach it as a work of travel or exploration in the vein of Freya Stark, Aurel Stein or Sven Hedin. Such tomes were very popular in their day and botanical, geological and anthropological observations - which Nazaroff copiously supplies - were de rigeur. Nowadays they fail to enthral, as we can get a glut of this kind of stuff on the National Geographic channel. Even so, Nazaroff's enthusiasm for nature is engaging and his scientific musings are not without interest. His description of a Kirghiz woman nibbling the seams of her husband's clothes to pop the lice lurking there (thus achieving simultaneous pest control and food supplementation) is an image that will stay with me a lot longer than I particularly want it to. Perhaps an idea for a new stunt in certain celeb-based TV reality shows?

The review by A Customer sums it up perfectly. What should have been a very exciting tale turns into a rather dull botany field trip. A great shame as Nazaroff obviously has a sense of humour which is unfortunately only intermittently displayed. It is the first time anything bearing Peter Hopkirk's name has disappointed.

It's difficult to see how such an exciting synopsis can lead to so dull a read. There are moments of drama, but Nazaroff manages to swamp them with irrelevant descriptions of the flora, fauna and geology of the region.

The representations of people are often stereotypical - all Bolsheviks are leather-clad demons - and the author makes no attempt to put his own situation, or the wild action surely going on around him, in any sort of context.

There is little exploration of his own politics and emotions - he had to leave his wife and family behind, and saw his dream of a White victory over the Red Army turn to dust. None of this is discussed in any meaningful political, military or personal way.

This is a minor side note to an exciting period of history. It fails to illustrate the tension and danger of that time, or of the personal impact that must have had.