The Vodka Diaries Book Review

The Vodka Diaries isn’t a book about spirits, but vodka does play a huge role in this 1990s diary by Peace Corps worker Richard Sayette in Russia’s Far East.

Reading The Vodka Diaries, which I did with enormous pleasure, brought back many memories of my own visit to Russia, to Siberia of all places, coincidentally at about the same time that the author was arriving in Vladivostok for his Peace Corps work from August 1994 to October 1995.

Welcome to Siberia

The trip was the very first press trip invitation I received when I began to start making it as a travel writer and getting published in national newspapers. There I was, thinking I might get invited to the Caribbean or on a luxury cruise, but when my first invite came it was from the Russian tourist organization, Intourist, who were taking a group of journalists to promote Siberia as the ideal destination for adventure travel.

It was certainly an adventure, and was my introduction to vodka, and to pepper vodka as well, thanks to one of the more experienced journalists on the trip who shared his hip flask with me on long coach rides… or even short ones. When it came to drinking, though, even a bunch of British journalists were rank amateurs compared to the Russians.

We spent a few days in Yakutsk, officially the coldest place on the planet, though when we were there in September it was pleasantly warm. Warm enough for us to be taken on a boat trip down the Lena River, the longest river in Russia. We left the hotel early, told that breakfast would be on the boat, which was specially booked for our exclusive use. We arrived on time at about 8am and bottles of vodka were immediately produced to welcome us on board. That was part of the breakfast. We weren’t slow at entering into the Russian spirit, so to speak, which is probably why I don’t remember a single thing about the boat trip beyond the vodka for breakfast.

Publishing the Vodka Diaries

I don’t know why the diaries took over 20 years to be published, but I’d hazard a guess that some people at the Peace Corps probably didn’t think that the book, which contains numerous episodes of extremely drunken behavior, would be good for the image. How wrong! It would have me signing up for Peace Corps work in Russia in a shot… and taking my shot glass with me.

Start As You Mean to Go On

The author’s first diary entry prepares you for the rest of the book, as he wakes up with a monumental hangover immediately before the flight that will take him his Peace Corps induction process in the city of Vladivostok. It’s an indication of the immense size of Russia (almost twice the size of the USA) that Vladivostok is closer to Anchorage in Alaska than it is to its own capital city, Moscow.

After his induction – to the Russian drinking culture as well as his Peace Corps work – Sayette moves about 25 miles (40 kms) northeast to the city of Artyom, which will be his base.

Chickens on the Bus

If the sound of a Peace Corps volunteer’s diaries sounds like it might be worthy but boring, then think again. The Vodka Diaries is full of scenes that are hilarious, and some that are very touching. Sayette is a natural writer, able to make things come alive with just the right amount of detail.

The author makes friends with a guy called Vitaly, who lives on his own and is bereft when someone steals his chickens. Sayette thinks it would be a nice gesture to go to the market and buy him some new chickens. Unfortunately he has no idea what to look for, and also no good way of getting the chickens to Vitaly other than to stuff them in his bag and take them on the bus. When the chickens escape and run around the bus, it’s like a scene from a comedy film.

Vodka in The Vodka Diaries

So, how much vodka is there in The Vodka Diaries? A search of my Kindle edition pulled up 168 matches in what is 332 pages in the print edition – in other words, vodka appears on every other page! That’s a sign of how ingrained it is in Russian culture.

Russian culture is also what you learn a lot about in the book. After all, the author lived there for 14 months and really threw himself into it, getting to know local people just as much as his fellow volunteers. He’s clearly a ‘Why not?’ kind of a guy, as well as a curious person. And because of that, he discovers (as well as it’s possible to do) how the Russians live, why they think and behave the way they do, and how different they are from Americans. But the reader also learns how they are just as hospitable as Americans (even more so) when they learn to trust you and to let down their guard that was brought about by decades of living under a repressive and eavesdropping communist regime.

Buying The Vodka Diaries

I came across this book by chance, in one of those ‘you might like this’ suggestions by Amazon, and I’m so glad I did. It was an engaging, funny, and sometimes moving read by a guy I felt I’d like to share a night out with one day… and probably regret it in the morning.