Each of the locations Parker and Igor travel to furthers this feeling of uncertainty. Despite the good humour of so many of the people encountered along their way, there is a constant sense of chaos and impending doom colouring their lives. Where Bears Roam the Streets was only recently published, and Parker’s knowledge that Putin will return to full power in 2012 hangs over the events of the book like a looming thunderstorm. In a chapter where the author follows the unfolding of war between Russia and Georgia there are prophetic parallels to the annexation of Crimea. When Parker writes about meeting with veterans who requested to be sent to Chechnya, now haunted by the horrors they witnessed there, it’s hard not to think of the bright-eyed nationalists currently lining up to fight in the frontlines of the country’s next conflict. The ultimate effect for contemporary readers is of watching a recent moment in a continuous cycle, Russia changing in some ways while the average citizen just attempts to hold on and survive through yet another wave of violence and economic desperation. It’s almost surprising, then, that so many of the book’s characters are able to make jokes—to laugh in the face of despair.
The second time Parker spends time with Igor, the two men take a trip to a local banya—a Russian sauna. The author is overwhelmed with the intense heat of the steam room, lightly beaten with veniki branches, and asked to jump into an ice cold pool. After one cycle of this masochistic spa treatment, Igor asks Parker if he “feels the rebirth.” And he says he does. Parker’s banya trip illustrates something we all know—that undergoing pain before being released from it can be a miraculous experience allowing a person to emerge feeling as if they have been born again. This seems like a deft metaphor for Russia—the closest anyone’s likely to get to identifying something as nebulous as a national character. Despite so much evidence to the contrary, the country that Jeff Parker chronicles is full of people who believe in a future where, once the current cycle of pain has passed, Russia can be reborn again in yet another incarnation. Maybe one where the best parts of the nation and its culture are able to thrive more fully. The honesty of Where Bears Roam the Streets’ portrayal of the nation is its greatest strength. The book may tackle the darkest aspects of Russian life head-on, but Parker also takes care to regularly remind the reader that a better future is possible if the cast of characters enlivening its pages are provided an opportunity to do more than simply survive.
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