Bookish Thursday - Finding Katya by Katie R. Aune

This is the last book review of the year for WOW-Women on Writing. It has been a fun year of reading diverse books for these book blog tour reviews.  

But first for the business of the book review...

Book Summary

Finding Katya is the inspiring and compelling story of one woman who ditches everything to embark on an unconventional adventure through the former Soviet Union.

On her 35th birthday, Katie Aune was at a crossroads. Still reeling from a difficult breakup and longing to find more meaning in her life, she hopped on a one-way flight to start a year-long journey of discovery. Once a Russian and East European Studies major in college, Aune plotted a course that would take her through all 15 states of the former Soviet Union.

In a book that is part memoir, part travelogue, Aune takes readers along as she discovers places that are far off the typical tourist track, from riding the Trans-Siberian Railway across Russia and taking a cargo ferry from Ukraine to Georgia, to volunteering in Tajikistan and camping in the desert of Turkmenistan. Faced with the vulnerability of traveling solo through unfamiliar lands, she shakes off her insecurities, embraces the unknown and realizes that each journey is worthwhile, even if it doesn’t go as planned.

 

ISBN-13: 979-8988365907

ASIN: B0C5B6MR8Y

Print length: 286 Pages

Purchase a copy of the book on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Bookshop.org. Make sure you add it to your GoodReads reading list.

And now for my opinion...

First, I have always been a bit envious of women who have the 'guts' to throw their existing life away and embark on living in another country. I had a friend in my cross stitch group who met a man online, left her job, security, the house she had bought, sold everything and married him and moved to England, after knowing him for only a couple of months.

While this book isn't about leaving an old life for a relationship, this book is about Aune's desire to travel and explore. Aune is traveling and utilizing her talents to teach English and volunteering as she travel throughout the former Soviet States. Unfortunately, things aren't always as rosy, or as pictured in photos she was sent.

Side note - in the early 80's I had a Soviet penpal. He was a drummer in a rock band of all things. I can remember sending him a set of metal drum sticks, which he couldn't get there. It was interesting to be his penpal.

Anyway...

I admire Aune for her determination to continue despite the curves this experience threw at her. And learning to speak Russian! It was a bit 'darker' in tone than I was expecting. Frankly, I have to give Aune even more credit for continuing on her journey. Personally, I probably would have left the first day I arrived!

But don't take my word for it, grab a copy and give the book a try! Do you have the courage to do what she did? (Note: as of this post it is on Kindle Unlimited!)