QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. A variety of factors can determine the course of an expedition of this kind. Which ones were within the group’s control and which were not?

2. How is the theme of man versus nature played out in the course of the book? Were there any contradictory moments or situations?

3. “Though our alphabets might be different, we all read water the same,” says Buchanan on the first day on the Bashkaus. How does this common language (and also the different spoken languages) affect the expedition? To what extent did the men’s experience on the river transcend language and cultural barriers? Are there other activities or situations, like rafting, that also transcend those barriers?

4. On the expedition, what comparisons are made to the political and economic history of Soviet Russia? How does the political environment of the Soviet Union affect the trip dynamics and the team relations?

5. Music played on Ramitch’s guitar is woven throughout the narrative, appearing again and again to function in various ways. What purposes does music serve on and off the river? How might the trip have been different without music?

6. “The issue is mortality itself as much as fear,” says Buchanan. Death looms over the expedition as the Latvians recount tales of teammates who have died on the Bashkaus and survival takes precedence over every other impulse. How do the Americans deal with the dangers of the river? How do the Latvians deal with it?

7. After the group has completed the expedition and are back in Moscow, Olga says, “You men are like spacemen to us.” What does she mean?

8. Discuss the “reverse culture shock” that the Americans encounter after returning from Russia.

9. Discuss the following passage: “Swiss philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau argued that civilization has destroyed man’s natural goodness. For us, things simply became more real on the river. Social constructions and cultural assumptions disappeared. We weren’t dependent on the rules of society any more than we were the river’s currents. Freed from these constraints, we discovered that integrity grows easily across social and cultural boundaries.”

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