{"product_id":"2940158989964","title":"The Railway","description":"\u003cbr\u003e\"In the steppe near Tashkent they came upon a never-ending ladder with wooden rungs and iron rails and that stretched across the earth from horizon to horizon ... Whistling and thundering, a snake-like wonder hurtled past them, packed both on the inside and on top with infidels shouting and waving their hands. 'The End of the World!' thought both Mahmud-Hodja the Sunni and Djebral the Shiite.\"\u003cbr\u003eSet mainly in Uzbekistan between 1900 and 1980, \u003ci\u003eThe Railway\u003c\/i\u003e introduces to us the inhabitants of the small town of Gilas on the ancient Silk Route. Among those whose stories we hear are Mefody-Jurisprudence, the town's alcoholic intellectual; Father Ioann, a Russian priest; Kara-Musayev the Younger, the chief of police; and Umarali-Moneybags, the old moneylender. Their colorful lives offer a unique and comic picture of a little-known land populated by outgoing Mullahs, incoming Bolsheviks, and a plethora of Uzbeks, Russians, Persians, Jews, Koreans, Tatars, and Gypsies.\u003cbr\u003eAt the heart of both the town and the novel stands the railway station--a source of income and influence, and a connection to the greater world beyond the town. Rich and picaresque, \u003ci\u003eThe Railway\u003c\/i\u003e is full of color. Sophisticated yet with a naive delight in storytelling, it chronicles the dramatic changes felt throughout Central Asia in the early twentieth century.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eThe Railway\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A wonderfully engaging novel.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e--Melissa McClements, \u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Imagine Márquez's \u003ci\u003eOne Hundred Years of Solitude\u003c\/i\u003e on the empty plains of central Asia... \u003ci\u003eThe Railway\u003c\/i\u003e is a bold and inventive, if damning, whirl through Central Asia's 20th-century history.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e--Charlotte Hobson, \u003ci\u003eDaily Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"It is a work of rare beauty--an utterly readable, compelling book.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCraig Murray, \u003ci\u003eNew Statesman\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A poet's novel, full of memorable descriptive passages and heart-wrenching asides.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eIndependent\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"All picaresque exuberance, a jumble of influences from Persian to Soviet and beyond.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e--Catherine Lockerbie, \u003ci\u003eSunday Herald\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"Restless Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47136989217008,"sku":"2940158989964","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940158989964_p0.jpg?v=1764181783","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940158989964","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}