author keith gessen was himself born there, raised here.e's a journalist and editor, translator of the nobel-prize winning writer, svetlana alexievich, and this is his second novel. and welcome to you. >> thank you. >> brown: so this , in fact, thinly-veiled fiction. can we say tt? you went back to russia yourself at that time? >> i did. i did. you know, the question of how much of the material you use from your life ian interesting question. >> brown: mm-hmm. you know, some things you kind of have your raw material, and then you look at it and you say, well, what can i do to make this interesting to someone els o isn't me. you take some things up to ten, otght. you take somr things down to two. you look at it and see if that works, and you kind of tinker with it. >> brown: you took a lot of things up to ten year, as in bringing this young character to t is land he sort of knows but doesally know. >> i was trying to express something that happens to me every time i go to moscow, which is that i expect it, from reading the news, to be this k