Putin Country is a collection of essays focusing on various aspects of life in contemporary Chelyabinsk, a city that sits over a thousand miles east of Moscow. Garrels began reporting from there in the 90s, shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and she uses her experience over the last 25 years to observe the state of Russia that’s far removed from the international headlines. One could imagine a Russian journalist settling in Ames, Iowa, to attempt a reciprocal bit of reporting.
The collection reads much like the written form of a radio report. The essays focus topically on the health system, journalism, nuclear waste, environment, schools, LGBT-issues, and several other points of interest. Throughout she tells the stories of real people, which helps to ground the collection and make the writing vivid. But my complaint is that the book seems to skate over the surface of the conditions it depicts. I wanted Garrels to connect the dots more, and draw lines back to Putin and Moscow, but that wasn’t her focus in this collection. I’ve been told Masha Gessen’s The Future is History may be more what I’m looking for.
Complaints aside, Putin Country is a good introduction for anyone unfamiliar with life in modern Russia—a bleak portrait from a difficult place.