I picked up this short book because if falls within my favorite genre, Dystopian Literature. I love the genre so much that I even created a short guide (still in process) to provide resources for people at the Stillwater Public Library to find resources.

Apparently, this work by Alexander Kabakov created quite a stir at it initial publication in his native Soviet Union. The novella looks at a post-Perestroika Soviet Union in which those attempts at restructuring failed.

It was a decent read and has some insight for us about the dangers that lie in overcompensating for world events (take draconian measures fueled by fear and paranoia in the post 9/11 Bush regime). Outside of that there is not much to recommend it.

My favorite part of the work was in the introduction by Konstantin Sheherbakov which really captures the importance of dystopian literature:

Yet what comes to mind is this: If such dystopias had been read earlier, if the warnings in them had been heeded, then maybe things in our recent past might have been different–more humane, more intelligent. The capacity for experiencing terror and the apocalypse in the imagination gives the strength to withstand it and diminishes the likelihood that it will actually come to pass.