Russian Voices

Parker ( Bird, Kansas ) spent five months in Moscow in 1990, conducting these 77 interviews with a broad cross-section of Muscovites, whom he asked about their lives and about topics ranging from religion to war. First published last year in Great Britain, the book suffers somewhat from the passage of time. Parker draws out his subjects skillfully, occasionally eliciting eloquence (``Now I feel as though I am one thousand years of age,'' says a Chernobyl victim), and the interviews cumulatively portray aspects of society such as sexism, the pinching of family life in small living quarters and the intense warmth of the Russian spirit. There are even a few surprises, such as a tea session with three friendly but cagey KGB men and an interview with a black woman whose father emigrated from the U.S. However, the mosaic is limited to Moscow, and Parker concludes with an interviewee who predicts a ``coming spring.'' Understandably, the book only hints at the turbulence of that spring, with the rise of nationalism, the folding of the Communist Party and the painful economic transition to democracy. Because of that, this book stands as an interesting artifact of very recent history. (Apr.)