Customer Reviews

Brothers on the Bashkaus: A Siberian Paddling Adventure

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4 star:		(2)
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It has been a long dry spell for armchair travel books on Russia. Certainly many such works have been published over the past decade. The problem is that most have been eminently missable.

This book breaks that drought.

You do not have to have an interest in kayaking, rafting or Class V rivers to enjoy Buchanan's account of four Americans' and ten Latvians' trip down one of Siberia's wildest rivers. You simply have to love a good travel story: plans gone awry, hilarious characters met on the road, the clash of cultures, nail-biting adventure and the thrill of new experiences.

When the Americans are told to leave behind their custom-crafted raft (instead, they will build rafts from scratch at their drop-in point, with pontoons made from repurposed germ warfare suits - reuse is the Latvian team's specialty)... when they compare their smoothly stylish life jackets with the grotesque but eminently more effective homemade ones of their Latvian hosts (including one made with soccer balls)... when the hapless Americans bristle under the authoritarian food rationing of the mighty Olga... you almost wish you were along for the ride. Almost. For this crew of 14 will descend from high in the Altai mountains through some of the world's most treacherous rapids, on rafts made from trees they cut themselves, living off the land for over a month, paddling with homemade oars and eating all too much salo (pig fat).

This journey is assuredly more enjoyable from an armchair and surely one of the best travel stories out of Russia in many many years. (Reviewed in Russian Life)

I found this book to be an exciting tail beginning to end. Brothers of the Bashkaus is as much about a white water adventure as it is about a social roller coaster with traveling partners of completely different backgrounds. Eugene Buchanan opens up a window into Russian culture like few have before and shows us how different and yet the same we really are.

I truly enjoyed this book.

"When the language barrier could mean life or death, trust is essential..."

Eugene and three white water companions are hyped up and on their way to Siberia to run a river with international cohorts. When they arrive they are greeted by three unknown Russian rafters who just seem to take over their lives. Communication is difficult, and at best, a bit of broken English is spoken.

The group the Americans intended to meet is unavoidably detained by weather conditions, and is unable to participate. The Russians invite the Americans to join them on their trip down the Bashkaus River. When they are shown movies of the river, it is more dangerous than they had planned to run. Several of the rapids are class V and some class VI (extremely dangerous). After several unsuccessful attempts to contact their planned partners, the Americans decide to join the trip down the Bashkaus--a choice they later question on more than one occasion.

Getting off to a "rough start" doesn't even describe the challenges they endure just trying to reach the drop-off point. Struggling with the language, unfamiliar customs, carrying their gear, and undependable transportation, are just the beginning.

Finally they set off down the river on homemade Russian rafts. All team members are assigned responsibilities. Confidence between the teams is a bit unstable. But as they face the power of the Bashkaus, uniting for the good of the team, a brotherhood of the river starts to grow.

When the common goal to best the Bashkaus becomes frightening, even terrifying at times, quick thinking and sharp minds are essential. The Americans experience the art of survival in a very different way while cooking, food rationing, foraging, and improvising with what is available. Everyone's knowledge and skills are respected and needed, each a valuable part of the whole. Friendship develops into a deep trust and when danger threatens they all pull together. Sleepless nights, hunger, bruises, pains, bugs, and fatigue are overcome by music, camaraderie and sheer will.

Brothers on the Bashkaus is not only adventure at its finest, but an example of real friendships extending beyond international borders.

Armchair Interviews says: The author is editor of Paddling Life Magazine and writes from many years of experience.

This was a rollicking good time read, with serious insight into the differences between East and West, and how a river can overcome them. Not changing or subverting the things that are special about our separate cultures, but forming a team in a crucible of a canyon. The river and the canyon bring out the best that humans have to offer each other, camaraderie, expertise, self sacrifice and the desire to survive and succeed, to fight again another day. The truth is stranger than fiction, and this account of the an early Western invasion of the Russian river running community has more twists and turns than you can imagine. To think about living it and making the decisions that needed to be made, gives you a vicarious thrill and little armchair zest for life and all that is precious about it.

A thrilling story that sets a new standard for adventure writing. Lack of language, bad equipment, and an extreme river in a very remote part of Siberia push a team of Russians and Americans to the limit. But teamwork prevails, and their story is not to be missed. I found the style of writing very enjoyable, and just getting to the river is a huge adventure in itself.Dancing on the Edge of an Endangered Planet

First things first - if you love paddling and adventure - you will enjoy this book. But there is so much more to the fabric of the story. We all hear about teamwork and "we need to be a team" whether it is in our work, school, sports team or even our communities. Buchanan has done a masterful job of describing real team and teamwork in action. This should be required reading for any business team, high school hockey club or any group on which the welfare of the individual rest on the welfare of the group (and whether we like to admit it or not, that really is how most organizations really work).

Completely lacking judgmental tones, he weaves in rich descriptions of the team concept utilized by the Latvian rafters of which Buchanan and his group of American paddlers become a part of. Their survival depended upon it. Big water rafting is inherently dangerous in its own right, but the sheer scale and ferocity of the Bashkaus, and its location ensured that there was no safety net for the American adventurers or their hosts. Although the cultural contrasts are sharp it is the human spirit for adventure, survival and accomplishment that comes forth and formed a solid team, even with a significant language barrier. If this group of real life adventurers had practiced individualism, fractured leadership, disparate objectives, and hubris over informed judgment, then I am sure no one would be around to have written this story.

If you are in a team, or need to get groups working together, get everyone to read the book and have a discussion about what it is to be a team - I'll bet your stumbling blocks will seem mild in comparison to what the Bashkaus dishes out.

My husband and I attended Eugene Buchanan's talk and slide show about this gripping river adventure and just had to buy the book. He wrote it a number of years after the trip, but it was such a defining experience that he wrote it with such immediacy that it seems as if he had just returned from the river. He talked about it the same way. Having heard him speak and seen his slides, I knew how the story ended (the rafters all lived!), but I still found every page to be full of river adventures and cultural insights. We both read this and were taken by it. Since our book tastes are generally as different as Jack Spratt and his wife's about food -- and you can consider this a major recommendation!

Buchanan's narrative of his and three fellow Americans trip to run Siberian whitewater is a classic adventure story. Eugene gives life to his descriptions of nasty Class V+ holes, a diet consisting of mainly pork fat, and an unforturately realistic depiction of the toilet on a Siberian train. A great story, you wish you were there with him.

This book seems to be written for a select audience. If you enjoy reading about the adventures of others, different cultures, or are just a mellow person pursuing the good life, you will probably enjoy this book. It hooked me even though the writing isn't going to win any awards. I bought it for someone who has worked for NOLS and lived in Boulder. It was just so what he would do. Good to know there are others out there like him.