Book Review: After The Freeze by Gilli Robson, 2018
Edward Tsang 2018.08.27
Gilli Robson,
After The Freeze,
Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.,
2018
An eye-opening adventure
Gilli Robson’s book was a joy to read: it tells the author’s experience as an English teacher in Taganrog,
a small city in Cossack Russia in 1996-1999. Living in a foreign country is never easy.
To start, one has to learn the language and the culture.
Visa problems and economic hardship (Russia in 1998) could not have helped.
Good karma
However, adverse situations also brought out the humanity and friendship in people.
Mind you, only a kind person could have encountered so many kind people.
I believe the author has left some good karma in Russia.
Russian life beyond the media
This book enables me to understand Russia a little bit better: The media could only paint a big picture
(which is often tinted by political biases). What was life really like by ordinary people in Russia?
This book gives a glimpse of it.
An enjoyable book to read
I enjoy this book particularly because I know I would never have the courage or spontaneity to go on a similar journey.
Some of the situations that the author put herself in was funny, or, if I am honest, absurd.
(For example, is barking to a barking dog a sensible thing to do?)
I thank the author for sharing with us such an exciting, eye-opening adventure.
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