Vodka, Tears and Lenin's Angel: My Adventures in the Wild and Wooly Fsu (Former Soviet Union)

My Impressions of Russia would be an apt title for this chronicle by Canadian journalist Gould, who in 1992, at age 24, took off for Russia without knowing a word of the language or having a job there. Eventually she got work at the English-language Moscow Times, found an apartment (later a succession of them), made friends and traipsed across the former U.S.S.R. to such one-time republics as Turkmenistan, Georgia, Ukraine, Latvia and Estonia, as well as to troubled regions like Chechnya. This is a report from behind the lines, for Gould shows no fear at rushing into Moscow dives and other haunts of the Mafia and the new rich to interview anyone she can lay hands on. She also makes a sweep of the city's homeless and destitute, visiting several train stations to talk to those camped permanently there. Although her book often focuses more on her reactions than the situation at hand, the author's many insightful, witty, despairing and prophetic observations along the way make this an informative and courageous if at times quixotic primer on Russia today. Photos not seen by PW. (Mar.) FYI: ""Lenin's Angel"" is a nickname Gould was given by her pals at Moscow Times.