Customer Reviews

The Lost Heart of Asia

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

British travel writer Colin Thubron is one of the most accomplished representatives of the trade. The trilogy about his exploits in the former Soviet Union: 'Among the Russians', 'Siberia', and 'The Lost Heart of Asia' are literary masterpieces.

Thubron has that rare ability to find the strangest out-of-the way places, meet weird people, and then render his observations and encounters in beautiful prose.

It is always dangerous - and somehow also unfair - to compare writers, for every writer deserves to judged on the basis of his own merits. However, perusing the oeuvre of Thubron, his descriptions often remind one of fellow travel-writer Norman Lewis (heralded by Graham Greene as the best of the twentieth-century), while his prose appears to betray Conradian influences.

Thubron takes us on a simultaneous journey through the enormous landmass of Central Asia and history. Most of the lands he visits lie along the Silk Road. Throughout the centuries these steppes and mountain ranges were invaded by Scythians, Huns, Mongols, Turks, and Russians. Prosperous cities such as Samarkand and Bukhara saw the great Buddhist and Islamic civilizations come and go. Under the Communist Soviet Union they were reduced to squalid backwaters. Polution has destroyed the region's lakes and rivers, and disastrous agrarian reforms have depleted the soil, turning once fertile lands into desert.

Along the route Thubron meets some amazing characters. Somehow he manages to find that curious balance between being an observer, not getting in the way of the narrative, and establishing a true rapport with the people he meets, so as to give us a rare insight into their lifes.

In view of the current worldwide attention for Central-Asia, and the new 'Great Game' that is presently being played out there, everybody who is trying to understand this enigmatic area should read 'The Lost Heart of Asia'.

I ordered this book after having been blown away by his later book --the third book in his Soviet Union trilogy --IN SIBERIA, which I thought was absolutely amazing and incredibly involving and one of the best travel essays I ahve ever encountered--this book was good, but not quite up to my expectations which may have been too high based on the earlier read--in any event Thurbon is truly my hero, my soul -mate and I admit I have lived vicariously through these two books -- he is, if half of his adventures are true, an amazingly persistent and daring traveler. He has obviously done extensive research in anticipation of his travels to these remote and apparently soemwhat dangerous spots and I look forward to spending more time this Summer sharing more of his adventures --though many iof his earlier books are, unfortunately, currently out-of-print.

Mr. Thurbron's prose is beautiful and informative, and he offers a depth of understanding of this little-known area of the world that is generally not seen in travel logs. This book is particularly helpful in understanding the consequences of Soviet Communism and the Cold War on the environmental and socio-economic issues confronting Central Asia today. This was a real joy to read and has opened my eyes to the importance of this region of the world to modern politics.

From the get go it is abundantly evident that Colin Thubron is an extremely talented writer. He has a way with words that I have not seen in any other travel writing I read; his book is the first I have went through that transcended a quaint, shallow, "Let's Go Travel Guide" type of narrative that storms through cities in a few days, marvels at surface elements, then moves on. There is nothing rushed about Thubron's writing style, his descriptions are thought out, in depth, and delicate. This unique distinction I think is vital for anyone doing travel writing in Central Asia: in the minds of Westerners (who will compose the bulk of people reading this kind of writing), Central Asia is a vacuum, both geographically, culturally, and historically. Few Westerners know much about this area, which is a shame, since geographically, culturally, and historically Central Asia is perhaps one of the most evocative places in the world. It is therefore vital for any travel writing to bring Central Asia to life, which Thubron definitely succeeds at.

It is also clear that Thubron is an excellent traveller, so this book is an good read not only to learn about Central Asia, but also to learn about travelling in general. Despite claims of modesty at the beginning of the book, Thubron seems to have a pretty solid command of Russian, which has permitted him to conduct complex conversations with the people he meets along the ways about politics, history, culture, and religion. Morever, Thubron has a unique talent in being able to locate people who are willing to talk to him about these things, which he does often. Finally, Thubron seems to have a near encylopaedic knowledge of the history of the area, indicating quite a load of research before he set off on his travels. Every place he goes, from large cities like Ashgabat and Tashkent, to tiny villages and even long abandoned forts, Thubron is able to provide extensive historical commentary, which goes far in "brining Central Asia to life."

All this is five star material, except for one particular issue I ran into several times reading The Lost Heart of Asia. All throughout the writing, I continuously detected subtle tinges of superiority and prejudice. As I mentioned before, Thubron is a talented and obviously culturally aware author, having travelled to Central Asia in the first place, so this prejudice is not blatant or blunt, but the subtlety of it all almost makes it worse. For example, Thubron often chats with locals about the history of their cities, cultural heroes, etc. Many times, these locals are historically inaccurate, and Thubron seems to have a smug glee in correcting these inaccuracies, sometimes in the actual conversation, sometimes in the narrative. I see no fault in pointing out historical inaccuracies, but the manner in which Thubron does it ("actually...; but...") harbors a sense superiority. Never does Thubron bother to analyze the unfortunate state of education in the thrid world as an explanation for this, instead, readers are left with the idea that English people just know better. Sometimes, Thubron just seems plain contrarian, like when the caretaker of Tamerlane's tomb pridefully counts Tamerlane as a Turk; Thubron finds it necessary to remind him Tamerlane actually was of Mongol and Tajik (Persian) descent. This bleeds into pettiness: culturally, Tamerlane was from a Turkic environment, and so can legitimately be claimed by Turks as a Turkic icon. I could easily see Thubron criticizing Americans for praising George Washington, since biologically George Washington was of British stock, not "American."

Also bothering me was the role of Islam in Thubron's narrative. Again, he is not blunt about this, but constantly Thubron seems to evoke Islam as the terrible, ghastly force of barbarism that will soon overtake the region, since he visited the area right after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Often, as people he interviewed discussed their hopes and worries about their new future, Thubron would often quixotically quip, "What about Islam?" as if it were some bogeyman to check under the bed for. Irritatingly, Thubron also found it necessary to ask almost every "progressive" woman he met their thoughts on the dreaded "veil." I truly can understand fears about fundamentalist Islam and women's rights in Central Asia, but this comes across as a slight Islamophobia because Thubron, who rarely inserts his own actual conversation or opinions in the narrative in the first place, only seems to talk about Islam as a terrorizing force and the veil as Islam's only feature vis-a-vis women. I would accept his criticism if he bothered to explore other theological aspects of Islam other than the veil, but he doesn't. Actually, near the end of the book he even seems to look back on the Soviet years nostalgically as days of peace and order.

Thubron is a superb writer, with talent that neither I nor many people could hope to equal in a lifetime. However, his cultural attitudes seem inappropriate for someone as well travelled as he. Perhaps I should read his other books for further background, as I know he travelled extensively through Russia, China, and the Middle East before writing this, so perhaps taken as a whole Thubron's works can elaborate more on his cultural opinions.

A terrific introduction to a part of the world that most people know little about. This is a book that compels you to read on...not because you expect a plot twist or some dangerous turn. No, you read on to find out more about the people and places Mr. Thubron meets during his most amazing journey. Your knowledge of this part of the world grows as you advance page by page, chapter by chapter. It's written in an easy to follow style. The only thing I would have added were more maps to highlight the specific areas we were visiting.

Don't loan this book. You'll never get it back. It's that good. It's that informative. It's that true to life. Reading Colin Thubron's "The Lost Heart of Asia" put me in a part of the world I now want to experience for myself, but probably never will. It helped me understand how history and current events interact on such a diverse region. The Soviets left them with one major gift: A common language.

I've been thinking about Turkestan travel lately, not so much that I plan to do it in person, but more in terms of literature. The whole field of travel literature is such that there are distinct styles among the authors and it's pretty much up to you to select the style that you like. One style that I definitely don't like is the "Yuck" style guaranteed to wrinkle noses, elicit groans, turn stomachs, and produce the reaction "thank God it was her, not me". Authors of this school no doubt garner kudos for having "braved the wilds of X" but it's basically a kind of fraternity/sorority gross-out tour. Still another variety of travel writer finds everyone an idiot, venal, politically incorrect, or somehow unappetizing; definitely not "like us" (which is bad). Everything is awful; if only he'd come here ten years ago---they say it was paradise then, but now, look at all the plastic bottles on the beach. Etc. etc. What about your hometown, buddy ? I'm not exhausting all the possibilities here, but let's turn to two more appealing schools---the Beautiful, Enchanting place group, and the Sad, Wrecked, and Disoriented place group. I could plump for either of these because a) there are some really beautiful places in the world and you can have some great experiences almost anywhere, come to think of it, and b) the world is pretty messed up too, and a lot of places have been wrecked by wars, poverty, and misgovernment, the people have a hard time getting by, and things look pretty grim. I don't require that everything look lovely, but what I do want in a travel book is a writer who doesn't condescend, who doesn't try for laughs at the expense of the people she meets, and who puts in a fair bit of background information on the particular place so that I learn as well as travel vicariously.

Colin Thubron's travel book about the five new/old nations of Central Asia, written in the early 90s, definitely pleases. Speaking a fair amount of Russian, Thubron was able to talk to many people over the several months he spent travelling around. He seems to have had a number of contacts, gleaned in England, but he also met up with various characters along the way. I admired his lyrical descriptions of the land, of places, of ruins, and of conditions, as well as his portrayals of the people he met. His is not a very optimistic view of human nature, nor of the conditions extant in those lands at the time (not that they have vastly improved). The sudden collapse of Russian rule left a vacuum, political, economic, and cultural. Everything turned upside down. Even the most optimistic traveller might have been hard pressed to find upbeat material in the detritus of the Soviet colonial legacy. In none of the five countries does he describe rulers---not even the later-notorious, egomaniacal Saparmurad Niyazov in Turkmenistan. He concentrates solely on the people he meets, who long incessantly for a better material standard of living, who often say that Communism, even Stalin, was better than the present mess. He meets many people who cling to Islam, either in fact, or merely in retrospect, holding onto some dimly-recalled shred of their nearly-erased cultural past. Some of the rather odd characters will touch your soul. Asia had lost its heart long before in the case of these repressed, depressed, and suppressed peoples, condemned to be cotton growers, pollution dumps, or open prisons by successive governments in Moscow. Overall, his is a thoughtful, beautiful book that anyone interested in Central Asia should read.

In this intriguing book Colin Thubron travels throughout the mysterious lands of Central Asia, the five "Stans" which had just emerged from the yoke of the Soviet Union. Thubron's travels took place in the early 90's just after these new nations were formed from the disintegrating USSR, and were emerging in a confused state toward the "independence" they couldn't manage, after the colonialism they didn't want. Central Asia has been shrouded in mystery since the dawn of time - surrounded either by impenetrable mountains or never-ending deserts, and spawning obscure peoples who periodically burst out in waves of conquest before settling back into obscurity again. These mostly Moslem peoples (with some imported Caucasians mixed in) obviously never meshed well with the rest of the Soviet empire, with their cultures, languages and histories being suppressed for the past 70 years; and Thubron now reveals their confused state. Here you will meet many sadly interesting people in dreary locations, who are ignorant of their own histories (after Soviet revisionism and flat out lies) and have no idea what the future holds. You will find that Thubron's basic writing style is rather depressing, as he tends to focus on the negative aspects of the locations he visits, usually describing them as dreary and soulless, and he concludes that most of the people he meets have hopeless futures in store. However, his attitudes are not that different from the interviewees themselves. In the end, Thubron proves that this region and its myriad peoples will continue to be shrouded in mystery and obscurity, but in the meantime he provides an enjoyable travelogue of an area and people that few outsiders have or ever will see.

What was it like when the breakdown of the Soviet Union unleashed the desires of Central Asians for self-governance and the expression of ethnic and cultural identities that had matured several centuries back? What happened when "the honeymoon was over" and the independent nations found themselves grappling with the problems of economic self-sufficiency and ethnic rivalries? I highly recommend this book as this was, to my knowledge, one of the first first-person accounts of a culturally and historically complex region that was "opened" to the outside world after the demise of communism in the world's largest nation.

This book also qualifies as a pleasurably readable armchair travelogue. Colin's exquisite prose took me to far-flung, almost mysterious places, peopled by different ethnic groups, some of whom originated thousands of miles to the west, separated also by millennia. The images and sensations of the Pamirs, the Tien Shan, and Kopet Dagh mountains flashed at me as I delved in his travelogue. To the Western reader, this region remains less explored yet has so much to offer with its variegated ethnocultural makeup and its complex and imaginably stunning topography (from Thubron's descriptions and from the few pictures that I have seen of the Pamirs and Tien Shan mountains). Indeed, I am thankful to a friend who gave me this book as a Christmas gift in 1994.

I had been wanting for a while to learn something about Central Asia. It is possibly the only large region of the world that I know nothing about, have never read anything about, never met anyone from, never visited. This book was not a disappointment - a very educational read that has its moments of drama and humor as well. I wish I could say I became a huge fan of Thubron's writing as well as his travelling, but that would not really be the truth.

The area is, of course, very large, and consists of the nations of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kirghizstan, and Tajikistan. The differences between the countries was not at all clear to me, altho there were some. For the most part, people in the area are descended from nomadic Turkic (not Turkish) tribes. Coming from a history of wandering tribes and city-states, most of them are not particularly impressed by nationalism. Throughout the book it has clearly been dominated by two major forces: the Soviet Union and Islam. The Russians have dominated the area militarily and thru the introduction of Communism, but their empire has been crumbling for a while, and at least when this book was written, it was not clear what the future of Central Asia would be. There Islam is a lot mellower than places like Iran. Often it is mixed with old pagan practices, and most of the men Thubron encounters seem to have no problem drinking large quantities of alcohol, regardless of what the prophet had to say about it.

Thubron is a brave man. He apparently traveled alone, altho he did hook up with some people along the way, and was armed only with his knowledge of Russian. He visits the major cities, and was not too favorably impressed with them, finding them dominated by Soviet architecture and full of Russians (and some Ukrainians too). He encounters some interesting people along the way. He chats with holy men and regular guys, tries to avoid getting into trouble with authorities and stays away from the mafias (of which there are supposedly many). He meets a group of men who cannot fathom the Western idea of romantic love for just a woman, independent of a love for children and family, especially sons. At one point a couple of men offer to share a steamed sheep's head with him, and they dig the yummy gray brains out with their fingers and munch them up. Much of what he sees is not especially attractive - poverty, dry lands, and desperation. When he goes into the Pamir Mountains and the other mountainous regions that border western China, things get more stimulating. I found myself searching the internet for photos of the places he describes.

This author takes the reader on a very interesting journey, there is no doubt about that. But his writing occasionally grated on my nerves - he has a weakness for the purple phrase and the obscure word. I did hope for some more visual description at times - I could not always get a good mental picture going of the places he discusses. But Thubron knows enough to lighten up from time to time, to let his subjects speak for themselves, and to allow some dry humor into the narrative. Despite a loquaiciousness that sometimes distracts the reader from the journey, I would travel with him again.