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Siberia 3 Continued

Wry sense of humor along with wonderful descriptions of people and nature.

A few examples:  Tailpipe falls off: Sergei finds another in the weeds . . . Van, tired of its normal failures, bursts into flames . . . neighboring campers destroy and burn bench--policeman shows up and slaps them around . . . Lake Baikal almost tropical, stones reflected in moonlight . . . Long passages on the Decembrist revolt against the Czar in the 19th century, with contrast to American Revolutionaries . . . Frazier's take--the Americans believed themselves the equal of King George; the Decembrists never quite believed they were the equal of the Czar . . . Russian women's beauty--Frazier thinks it is probably a sign of the "marriage" trade whereby American and European men buy Russian wives . . . One economist thinks that Russian women are second only to Russian oil in bringing in foreign currency.  Should finish this section tomorrow . . . Will read Kurt Vonnegut Slaughterhouse Five next, then come back to Siberia.

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