Spring in Siberia by Artem Mozgovoy

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Spring in Siberia, Artem Muzgovoy
"Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely " Lord Acton, 1887.
Book Club discussion
The book starts with a depressing sense of foreboding and misery exemplified by the dark winter walk to school. It goes on to describe an overwhelmingly dark and mostly unhappy childhood in the isolated depth of Siberia as the Soviet Union came to an end. Through his eyes we witness the collapse of a state and of order as the gangsters take over in the chaos of the Yeltsin years leading to the seizure of power by the arch gangster, Putin. The death of a embryonic democracy under economic failure. The parallels with 1930s Germany are striking.
It paints a dismal picture of life in Russia and for Alexey one of a hopeless struggle in an uncaring and corrupt state. Readers said the sense of poverty was striking and the depth of poverty in a supposedly modern state, the UUSR, was astonishing. Alexey grew up in slum conditions in a mining town in Siberia (I identified as Topki).It was said that Alexey seemed very naïve both as a young boy and as a teenager, but it was pointed out he would know no other life. Constant beatings and bullying because of his perceived homosexuality tainted his life. It seemed the bullies were aware of his gay sexuality before he was. It was said it was an incredibly sad book. When they made their brief trip to the west, why didn't they stay? Despite all this though, readers had learned a lot and were glad they had read it.



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