This is a great look at the history of Russia. I enjoyed it a lot.

Fascinating read on the history of Russia, but more importantly, a peek inside the ever-changing lives of its inhabitants. Highly recommended!

A sort-of travel book by an American woman who speaks Russian. In 1995 she spent several months traveling across Russia as part of one of the very first real-time updating travel blogs; she did the same journey in 2005, then for the Washington Post; and now she's done it again in 2015, this time as the basis for this book. Each time she meets the same people (well, mostly: some have died, moved away, or simply don't want to talk to her again) and tries to assess how their lives have changed over the last ten or twenty years. I call it a "sort-of" travel book because it's not meant to be a guide for tourists or to convey the physical experience of her journey. Rather it's an attempt to explain the culture and people of Russia to her audience of Westerners, since they believe – as least according to several of her encounters – that Russia is full of "bears in the streets".

Dickey visits a wide variety of people: lighthouse keepers in Vladivostok, a rabbi in Birobidzhan (capital of the Jewish Autonomous Region), farmers in Buryatia who trace their history back to Genghis Khan, scientists studying Lake Baikal, a gay man in Novosibirsk, an excessively wealthy family in Chelyabinsk near the Ural mountains, the mother of a soldier in Kazan, a rap star in Moscow, and a 98-year-old woman in St Petersburg, old enough to remember the last tsar, among others. The selection is a bit random, but they all end up having interesting stories or perspectives, and Dickey's writing is warm, funny, and friendly. A recurring theme is Dickey worrying about telling these off-and-on friends of hers about her life: back in America, she's married to another woman. However, each time she ends up coming out, she finds acceptance and nonchalance.

My one critique of the book is that I wanted more about politics. Well, look at the news any day for the last year; of course I did. I know the American perspective, but I would have liked to hear something about the "average Russian" (as much as such a thing exists) view. But she actively avoids discussing anything remotely political; the few times someone else brings it up, she changes the topic as soon as possible. And I understand wanting to avoid fights! Whether out of fear because she's alone, respect because she's a guest, or just kindness because no one likes hurt feelings, it is completely relatable to focus on what you have in common instead of on disagreements. And yet I was just so curious and over and over again Dickey refuses to go there. Besides all of that, her trip was in 2015 – it's not her fault, but in some ways that already seems so outdated in terms of American/Russian politics.

Ah, well. It's still a very enjoyable book, if a bit shallower than I wanted it to be.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2022827566

I enjoyed this book for the most part, but it did get a little dull and boring in some places.

What a timely book, coming out during this period in history when sensational Russian headlines seem to make the news on a daily basis. The author's three trips to Russia, each a decade apart, show an ever changing country and its people. Reminiscent of the British documentary series, Seven Up (if you haven't seen it WATCH IT!), Dickey revisits as many of the same people as possible on each journey and it is fascinating to tag along and see what changes have occurred over the years.

A very enjoyable book!

Lisa Dickey's Bears in the Streets is an incredible reflection on the author's three trips to Russia, each set ten years apart, told in the format of each chapter comparing the three experiences by city. It's a masterful accomplishment, interspersed every and now and then with photos and full of personal connections the author forged over thirty years.

Dickey traveled in 1995 with a photographer she met in Russia, visiting small towns and large cities and making their ways across the post-Cold War country via train, bus, car, etc. Along the way she made friends, staying with Russian families and having sometimes incredibly touching experiences. Ten years later, Dickey went back with a different photographer and caught up with some of those same people, listening to how their lives had changed. And ten years after that, in 2015, she made the trip solo and in the middle of the ruble krizis, seeing how the country had changed and how the people she knew had grown.

I absolutely enjoyed this semi-travel diary, semi-social commentary on the changing faces of a country I've never had the pleasure of traveling to. The author does an incredible job investigating questions of religion, minorities, economics, and impressions of the US while acknowledging her own potential biases and limitations as an American tourist in fully grasping Russian views. The chapters are well-written and succinct, always centered around one city and her experience there every decade. In this manner, the reader can easily see the similarities and differences over time and more fully appreciate the stories of Russian individuals that Dickey is tryin to tell. Perhaps most touching for me were her times with a farmer family in Galtai and a five-generation family she met in St. Petersburg.

I highly recommend this for anyone who has interest in travel diaries, a unique perspective on the changes in Russia, or a good memoir!

Thanks the the publisher for an ARC in exchange for a fair review!

A very interesting book. The three different time lines work so well together.

1995, 2005, 2015, not overly noted years and yet throughout this travel novel the sheer growth and contrast is well noted. Through little tech to the wonders of the modern age, Author Lisa Dickey takes her readers through a side of Russia that the Western World rarely gets to see. Without creating caricatures of the Russian people, we are taken from the far eastern coast through several off beaten towns, meeting people and learning their stories. With 20 years, and 3 trips to draw from, there are a plethora of stories from which Dickey could choose from. She seems to have chosen not only the ones which make her readers laugh but also ones that have personal meaning to her. Without alienating her readers, she blends together her life and the lives she’s capturing through stories and photos, to give us as honest a view as she can.

Lisa Dickey’s latest piece left me with a warm feeling. Similar to watch families greet each other at an airport during the holidays, or seeing people return home after a long tour in the military, I found myself smiling along as I read. Even with the ongoing feelings of discontent that spread during this election, towards our own government and our relationship with Russia, this book left me with a reminder that countries are made up of more than just their heads of state. Not to be cliche, but it showed that Russians are people too. We have so many stereotypes about each other from bears roaming the streets of Russia, to the typical loud uncouth American, it’s nice to see things from another view. It leaves me wondering if things would go better if we could solve all problems with a good meal and some homemade liquor. I would recommend this to people who enjoy travel and food books, an interest in Russia wouldn’t hurt but is not a requirement. I would have to recommend more bears next time as none showed up until 61% but then again I’m just an American looking for Bears in the Streets of Russia.

*This eBook was provided by NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press in exchange for honest feedback*

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. A very interesting and at times humorous account of the author's 3 trips to Russia in 1995, 2005 and 2015. A lot of good factual information too that was interesting and history of Russia. Highly recommended.

The author first sets off in 1995, shortly after the breakup of the Soviet Union, with photojournalist Gary Motoso. A three month journey that encompasses a cross section of this huge country, talking to a wide range of people, chronicling how their lives are going now that the Soviet Union has collapsed. She will repeat this same journey, meeting the same people, at least those that she can find, those still alive and lastly again in 2015.

What sets this book apart is the wide range of areas and people she talks to learning the changing status of their lives. She visits the Jewish Community in Birobidzhan, talking to their rabbi and others. She goes to Chita, in Eastern Siberia talking to the small business trying to seize opportunities to increase their fortune. Galtai, where she talk to the Buryat farmers who still slaughter sheep in the way taught by Genghis Khan. Will admit to skimming this part as it is quite graphic. She repeats an expedition of Lake Biakhal and visits the gay scene in Novosibirsk. Gay herself, something she was hesitant to mention in this country, and learns if the viewpoint on homosexuality is becoming more accepting. Regular people, regular lives, so interesting to learn of these vast differences and how they are viewed.

The views of these Russians on not only their own country but on Putin, American /Russian relations, what they believe, how they see their country progressing. The fold they eat, how they celebrate and yes much alcohol. Well written, plainly, easy to follow, including pictures of the various people thirty years apart, this is the very best of armchair travel.

ARC from Netgalley.