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The Road of Bones, By Jeremy Poolman

Sent to Siberia – but with many stops along the way

Brandon Robshaw
Sunday 26 February 2012 01:00 GMT
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The Vladimirka Road starts in Red Square in Moscow and runs across the Russian steppes all the way to Siberia. Poolman travels along it in pilgrimage after the death of a close friend, musing on the suffering and death the road has seen (it led to Stalin's gulags) and recording his encounters with present-day Russians, who tend to be gnomic and grumpy. The book gives a strong impression of the vastness of Russia and the cruelties of its history, but it's spoilt by the portentous tone, contorted syntax, and a series of significant moments that seem manufactured. There is also no real sense of movement: something of a drawback in a travel book.

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