What do you think?
Rate this book
The Year of the Comet Lib/E
An idyllic childhood takes a sinister turn. Rumors of a serial killer haunt the neighborhood, families pack up and leave town without a word of warning, and the country begins to unravel. Policemen stand by as protesters overtake the streets, knowing that the once awe-inspiring symbols of power they wear on their helmets have become devoid of meaning. Lebedev depicts a vast empire coming apart at the seams, transforming a very public moment into something tender and personal, and writes with stunning beauty and shattering insight about childhood and the growing consciousness of a boy in the world.
Audio CD
First published February 14, 2017
11 people are currently reading
702 people want to read
About the author
Sergei Lebedev
14 books45 followersSergei Lebedev was born in Moscow in 1981 and worked for seven years on geological expeditions in northern Russia and Central Asia. Lebedev is a poet, essayist and journalist. His novels have been translated into many languages and received great acclaim in the English-speaking world.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
April 29, 2019
I don’t think I can stress enough the importance of actually getting to the heart of your story in your synopsis. If that little summary on the back of your book sets people up for the wrong expectations, it can really affect the amount of enjoyment readers glean from your story. The Year of the Comet has an issue with this, not to the same extent as Graham Greene’s Orient Express, but it was at least clear enough for me to feel the need to comment on. For, I was under the misguided impression that Lebedev’s story would encompass the fall of the Soviet Union and its aftermath. Instead, the book consists of a telling of the lead up to the collapse from the viewpoint of a young man trying to grow, mature, and find a purpose during such uncertain times. While I still enjoyed the book quite a bit, I blame the misguided synopsis––at least partially––for the feeling that we finished right when we were just getting started, that we had an extended introduction and jumped away right when we were beginning the story proper.
And it’s too bad that it happened this way, because there’s a lot to love in The Year of the Comet. In the narrator’s dry, almost academic analysis of why others around him acted the way they did, we not only get a very clear characterization of him and his two grandmothers especially, but also a great frame of reference on how everyone experienced a sort of shared history differently, and how the world around them strongly influenced their personalities. And I quite liked how the author was able to effectively mute the emotions in his recollections. While the story may have been more exciting and viscerally felt if he instead chose to make these emotions loud and visible, the trade off was that the author was able to evoke a feeling of a genuine exploration of memories, of an older man who is able to separate himself from heated moments of his past and recall them more objectively.
(Of course, with a translated work, I often wonder how much of my experience would be shared with readers of the original. Was Lebedev this matter-of-fact in his original prose, or does it have more to do with Antonina Bouis’ interpretation while translating? Similarly, was the sincerity I felt present in the original text? What about the effective characterization? Is there anything that was lost in translation? Or were all these things more or less preserved when we got our English version? I’m genuinely curious about all this, and I’d love to hear some commentary from someone knowledgeable on the subject.)
In the end, The Year of the Comet was a thoughtful look at the unravelling of society and the gradual changes that erode your trust in what you thought were sturdy symbols and institutions. While there was plenty that felt ripe for further detail and exploration, I still thought it was good.
And it’s too bad that it happened this way, because there’s a lot to love in The Year of the Comet. In the narrator’s dry, almost academic analysis of why others around him acted the way they did, we not only get a very clear characterization of him and his two grandmothers especially, but also a great frame of reference on how everyone experienced a sort of shared history differently, and how the world around them strongly influenced their personalities. And I quite liked how the author was able to effectively mute the emotions in his recollections. While the story may have been more exciting and viscerally felt if he instead chose to make these emotions loud and visible, the trade off was that the author was able to evoke a feeling of a genuine exploration of memories, of an older man who is able to separate himself from heated moments of his past and recall them more objectively.
(Of course, with a translated work, I often wonder how much of my experience would be shared with readers of the original. Was Lebedev this matter-of-fact in his original prose, or does it have more to do with Antonina Bouis’ interpretation while translating? Similarly, was the sincerity I felt present in the original text? What about the effective characterization? Is there anything that was lost in translation? Or were all these things more or less preserved when we got our English version? I’m genuinely curious about all this, and I’d love to hear some commentary from someone knowledgeable on the subject.)
In the end, The Year of the Comet was a thoughtful look at the unravelling of society and the gradual changes that erode your trust in what you thought were sturdy symbols and institutions. While there was plenty that felt ripe for further detail and exploration, I still thought it was good.
September 13, 2019
The comet is Halley’s (harbinger of catastrophe) and the year is 1986, the year of the star Chernobyl. The protagonist of Lebedev’s novel is eleven or so in that year, which is the central hinge of his narrative. The years that follow, especially 1987-88, are sketched in, but the events of the collapse of the USSR are heard off-stage rather than witnessed. Only at the novel’s end, does the older boy witness the August 1991 coup attempt and the subsequent toppling of Iron Felix outside the Lubyanka.
Some have criticized Lebedev for over-writing his material. I see what they mean, but I tend to forgive this attention to detail and discursion ― it creates the context, the mise en scéne necessary to give the central action meaning. All the same, there are moments which feel a little repetitive, which is another matter again.
The Chernobyl event plays directly into the plot because the boy’s father is a disaster relief expert, and he is called to assist in the clean-up. The sense of things slipping, of menace, is further manifested by the presence, near the family dacha outside Moscow, of a serial child-killer. There are fresh bodies in the forest. But the boy’s family dacha is near Butovo and Kommunarka, killing fields that have left tens of thousands of bodies in the woods. This is a novel in which a child realizes that the history of his country and family are complicated and cannot be openly discussed. It is set in Soviet Russia, but there are many other places and times where and when the same dynamic would apply
Some have criticized Lebedev for over-writing his material. I see what they mean, but I tend to forgive this attention to detail and discursion ― it creates the context, the mise en scéne necessary to give the central action meaning. All the same, there are moments which feel a little repetitive, which is another matter again.
The Chernobyl event plays directly into the plot because the boy’s father is a disaster relief expert, and he is called to assist in the clean-up. The sense of things slipping, of menace, is further manifested by the presence, near the family dacha outside Moscow, of a serial child-killer. There are fresh bodies in the forest. But the boy’s family dacha is near Butovo and Kommunarka, killing fields that have left tens of thousands of bodies in the woods. This is a novel in which a child realizes that the history of his country and family are complicated and cannot be openly discussed. It is set in Soviet Russia, but there are many other places and times where and when the same dynamic would apply
January 6, 2019
Lebedev has really captured the voice of a child as recalled by his adult self. I was struck by the narrator remembering his astonishment at learning that his grandmother had been born before the 1917 revolution; it was inconceivable that there anyone existed from before that 'beginning of time.' It really captures that wrestling one goes through when forced to integrate pieces of information (or geography) that one has never put in the same conceptual space before. A simple thing, but exemplary of his perfect pitch in a narrative voice sufficiently sophisticated to make useful observations but resonant of childhood and its lens.
The imagery is wonderful throughout. Over and over we read of decaying vegetation, in the streets and at the dacha where the boy and his parents and grandmother spend the summers. The USSR is decaying around them, but they are still forced to adapt to the crazy life of deprivation and process that they have to pretend is evidence of a good society. The enclosed surreal world that defines the lives in this book, bookended tightly by the revolutions of 1917 and 1991, is a powerful way to communicate the sense of dislocation and shock that people felt at the end. It is a fictional precursor of the emotions described by Svetlana Alexievich in Secondhand Time.
Recommended.
The imagery is wonderful throughout. Over and over we read of decaying vegetation, in the streets and at the dacha where the boy and his parents and grandmother spend the summers. The USSR is decaying around them, but they are still forced to adapt to the crazy life of deprivation and process that they have to pretend is evidence of a good society. The enclosed surreal world that defines the lives in this book, bookended tightly by the revolutions of 1917 and 1991, is a powerful way to communicate the sense of dislocation and shock that people felt at the end. It is a fictional precursor of the emotions described by Svetlana Alexievich in Secondhand Time.
Recommended.
January 3, 2020
The Year of the Comet tells the story of a Russian boy growing up in the 80s and 90s in Moscow. Most of the story is internal - all of the deep thoughts and reactions/actions of a young boy trying to make his way in the world and understand what is in the silences, those spaces outside of the daily narrative that no one speaks about.
Speak no evil, see no evil, hear no evil. Members of the family mourned but never spoken of. The missing grandfathers. The empty brown book. The GSE (Great Soviet Encyclopedia) that is missing volumes.
I became aware of how much the people of the USSR suffered during and after WWII. Also interesting was the idea that the world began in earnest after the Civil War, 1917. As for the boy, his childhood didn't seem that bad; he ran free with his friends in the summer, exploring the fields, ponds, and forests that surrounded the dacha, having adventures.
The values of his family - hard work, frugality, sharing with others - are intertwined with his need to know who he is and will be as a person.
At times, the story was long and I grew restless with the constant introspection, but I did enjoy the book.
Speak no evil, see no evil, hear no evil. Members of the family mourned but never spoken of. The missing grandfathers. The empty brown book. The GSE (Great Soviet Encyclopedia) that is missing volumes.
I became aware of how much the people of the USSR suffered during and after WWII. Also interesting was the idea that the world began in earnest after the Civil War, 1917. As for the boy, his childhood didn't seem that bad; he ran free with his friends in the summer, exploring the fields, ponds, and forests that surrounded the dacha, having adventures.
The values of his family - hard work, frugality, sharing with others - are intertwined with his need to know who he is and will be as a person.
At times, the story was long and I grew restless with the constant introspection, but I did enjoy the book.
July 12, 2019
Coming of age as an Empire falls.
This is the story of a boy growing up in Moscow in the last years of the Soviet Union. Both his parents are scientists so he spends his time with his Grandmothers. His Grandfathers are both dead as a result of World War II, but these women are a part of the Soviet Greatest Generation and he is spoiled by their attention. They fill him with stories of their experiences and he grows up into future that no one had foreseen. I enjoyed the ambiance of this period, as the USSR implodes and the boy becomes a man.
This is the story of a boy growing up in Moscow in the last years of the Soviet Union. Both his parents are scientists so he spends his time with his Grandmothers. His Grandfathers are both dead as a result of World War II, but these women are a part of the Soviet Greatest Generation and he is spoiled by their attention. They fill him with stories of their experiences and he grows up into future that no one had foreseen. I enjoyed the ambiance of this period, as the USSR implodes and the boy becomes a man.
May 10, 2017
An effective examination of the impact of shared history and experiences on relationships and families. I am very nostalgic and appreciate the thoughtfulness with which the author considers what "breeds" a nostalgic person/family. I love the adolescent point of view, which in this case is quite wise (e.g., the narrator's perception that in everything he did, in all his physical attributes, he was a reminder to his relatives, especially the grandmothers, of those lost in war).
September 24, 2018
Written in beautiful lyrical prose this is the story of a young boy growing up in the last years of the Soviet Union. The first half of the book is nothing short of amazing. It opens a window into life in the Soviet Union through the eyes of a young boy and is written so beautifully that you can almost smell and feel the texture of the life during this period. The story transitions from there to a somewhat adventure involving a serial killer and then on into the downfall of the Soviet Union.
March 13, 2018
Within the first 50 pages, you get caviar, vodka, doting grandmothers, mushroom picking, Pushkin, the Kremlin... so if you're looking for something Russian, you've come to the right place. This is a lovely novel. But I am a curmudgeon who doesn't find stories of children all that interesting, so I found it overly precious.
July 16, 2018
3.2***
A poignant Russian childhood memoir as experienced by a young boy through the lens of the unspoken emotional histories of his two very different grandmothers impacted as they were by the Stalin regime. Inspired by his late grandfathers the boy pursues a dark stranger hoping to be a hero as Communism crumbles slowly around him.
A poignant Russian childhood memoir as experienced by a young boy through the lens of the unspoken emotional histories of his two very different grandmothers impacted as they were by the Stalin regime. Inspired by his late grandfathers the boy pursues a dark stranger hoping to be a hero as Communism crumbles slowly around him.
July 18, 2024
An isolated/cramped child looks at objects, narratives, and identities at the end of the isolating/cramping USSR. The prose gets monotonous; there’s no dialogue (cf Oblivion).
February 7, 2017
I'm not yet reviewing this, just reading it for personal pleasure It was wonderful... I'll expand on it more when I can
January 17, 2021
I feel like I have just relived my own childhood in Moscow in 1980s-1990s. The novel had so many experiences that I have gone through as a child, both externally and internally. The level of nuance was exquisite.
I read the book in Russian and the prose was breathtakingly beautiful, in a dark way. It was poignant, painful, sometimes horrifying, and made me think and re-think my own childhood. Was it really that dark? Was there really that much fear and generational trauma seeping from everyone around me? Am I just under the influence of the author's magnificent craft to bring all these experiences back to life in a darker shade? Or did I choose to block, forget, let go of my own anxieties as a child coming of age during the unraveling of the monolith of the USSR?
Interestingly, the American members of our book group did not find the novel as anxiety-provoking, as did the Russians. But everyone agreed it was by far one of the best pieces of writing in contemporary Russian literature.
I read the book in Russian and the prose was breathtakingly beautiful, in a dark way. It was poignant, painful, sometimes horrifying, and made me think and re-think my own childhood. Was it really that dark? Was there really that much fear and generational trauma seeping from everyone around me? Am I just under the influence of the author's magnificent craft to bring all these experiences back to life in a darker shade? Or did I choose to block, forget, let go of my own anxieties as a child coming of age during the unraveling of the monolith of the USSR?
Interestingly, the American members of our book group did not find the novel as anxiety-provoking, as did the Russians. But everyone agreed it was by far one of the best pieces of writing in contemporary Russian literature.
January 15, 2024
The writing is unarguably beautiful but heavy with descriptions, which made it difficult for me to maintain my attention. The concept is interesting and it is fascinating to understand the point of view of a young boy growing up in the USSR and living through its fall while trying to understand his own role and importance in these tumultuous times. But at the same time, it is hard to understand him well, he does not quite speak or think like a child does, making him a bit unrelatable and cryptic. I developed very little liking or empathy for him over time, after finishing the book I still don’t feel like I know him at all. I didn’t gain much from reading this, but I’m certain someone else would, and that the translation has something to do with my inability to relate.
August 10, 2018
Lebedev writes about a boy growing up as the Soviet Union falls. It is a fascinating account of what matters to a youngster in those turbulent years, from Hayley’s Comet, to Chernobyl, and the books he reads.
The biggest influence in his formative years are his widowed grandmothers, who compete for his affection. Each school holiday he spends with them outside of the city at their dacha. Descriptions of life here contrast starkly with the memories the grandmothers have and occasionally slip into conversation; Civil War, famine, the World Wars.
The novel covers three of four years in the boys life (it is not specific), and during that time his natural adolescent inquisitiveness grows. He becomes aware that his grandmothers are so old that they were living the last time Haley’s Comet was visible, in 1910, before the October Revolution. He becomes fascinated by a serial child killer on the loose in the area of their dacha. He yearns to read the set of encyclopaedias grandmother Mara keeps hidden from him, ‘until she is gone’, which have a fuller and different version of history than his own family’s brief volume.
Though it is a narrative, it is clear at times it is the view of an adult looking back, but despite that it is an insightful account of a fascinating period in history.
The biggest influence in his formative years are his widowed grandmothers, who compete for his affection. Each school holiday he spends with them outside of the city at their dacha. Descriptions of life here contrast starkly with the memories the grandmothers have and occasionally slip into conversation; Civil War, famine, the World Wars.
The novel covers three of four years in the boys life (it is not specific), and during that time his natural adolescent inquisitiveness grows. He becomes aware that his grandmothers are so old that they were living the last time Haley’s Comet was visible, in 1910, before the October Revolution. He becomes fascinated by a serial child killer on the loose in the area of their dacha. He yearns to read the set of encyclopaedias grandmother Mara keeps hidden from him, ‘until she is gone’, which have a fuller and different version of history than his own family’s brief volume.
Though it is a narrative, it is clear at times it is the view of an adult looking back, but despite that it is an insightful account of a fascinating period in history.
May 2, 2017
I've become slightly fascinated with the Soviet Union and its break-up, as a result of reading Secondhand Time by Svetlana Alexievich and was anxious to read read Year of the Comet, for a fictional - possibly more personal take? - on the effects of the break-up. It's an interesting book but I didn't love it. There were some startling images and amazing languages but I felt very distant from the narrator. I have a rough time sometimes with books that have been translation so it's hard for me to tell if that distance was intentional (the character does indeed seem to alone and does many things to maintain that solitude) or was a result of the challenges of translating such lush language. Regardless, I'm glad I read it although I never really enjoyed the experience.
July 31, 2021
Maybe a bit more than 3 stars, but I gave Untraceable 4 stars and I liked that one better, so... I still enjoyed this.
Graceful, vivid, rich in detail... Lebedev describes a childhood and coming of age under the shadow of the cataclysms of WWII and Stalin, of history remembered but not spoken of, dead husbands and grandfathers, siblings starved in Leningrad, cheerful old men with dark and dramatic pasts, mysterious books, and secret hiding places. There are also hours-long dinners on tables laden with so much food there is barely room for the plates and vodka glasses, drunken songs under the fir trees, knife games with rowdy friends, and long rambles by rivers and marshes and beneath the forest trees. There is much telling, as opposed to showing, but the telling is often deep and rich and beautiful, and sometimes it is even surprising to be reminded that the setting is the Soviet 1980s and not Tolstoyan. Lebedev evokes this world with grace, confusion, puzzlement, ambition, disillusionment, and even a bit of mysticism. There is a close-to-melodramatic (even if skillfully crafted) episode centering on the pursuit of a local serial killer, which felt jarring and a bit contrived, but serves a certain purpose.
What a strange world to grow up in, and what a future awaits just a few years later - and what is yet to come? There is a marvelous panel discussion on YouTube with Lebedev, his sure-footed translator Nina Bouis, an expert on the history of the KGB, and the American publisher Michael Wise of New Vessel Press. The discussion focuses primarily on Untraceable, but it reveals much of the very personable Lebedev's thoughts and feelings about his country, which throw light on this story as well. He concludes by remarking that as a writer, all he can do is try to "do the right thing, and leave the rest to fate and magic... and patience."
Graceful, vivid, rich in detail... Lebedev describes a childhood and coming of age under the shadow of the cataclysms of WWII and Stalin, of history remembered but not spoken of, dead husbands and grandfathers, siblings starved in Leningrad, cheerful old men with dark and dramatic pasts, mysterious books, and secret hiding places. There are also hours-long dinners on tables laden with so much food there is barely room for the plates and vodka glasses, drunken songs under the fir trees, knife games with rowdy friends, and long rambles by rivers and marshes and beneath the forest trees. There is much telling, as opposed to showing, but the telling is often deep and rich and beautiful, and sometimes it is even surprising to be reminded that the setting is the Soviet 1980s and not Tolstoyan. Lebedev evokes this world with grace, confusion, puzzlement, ambition, disillusionment, and even a bit of mysticism. There is a close-to-melodramatic (even if skillfully crafted) episode centering on the pursuit of a local serial killer, which felt jarring and a bit contrived, but serves a certain purpose.
What a strange world to grow up in, and what a future awaits just a few years later - and what is yet to come? There is a marvelous panel discussion on YouTube with Lebedev, his sure-footed translator Nina Bouis, an expert on the history of the KGB, and the American publisher Michael Wise of New Vessel Press. The discussion focuses primarily on Untraceable, but it reveals much of the very personable Lebedev's thoughts and feelings about his country, which throw light on this story as well. He concludes by remarking that as a writer, all he can do is try to "do the right thing, and leave the rest to fate and magic... and patience."
September 21, 2024
Like some other reviews of this book, I would agree that this book suffers from an inaccurate blurb on the back. From that description (at least for the English translation) one would think this is about a young boy attempting to solve a murder against the backdrop of the undoing of the USSR. However, that is only one small portion at the end, and while that is the most plot-centric part of the book, it is only a small part of a larger tapestry.
This book is more of a no-plot-just-vibes type of novel that is more focused on exploring a young boy's understanding of the world, what has influenced it, and how it changes along with the country. The development of the book is told through what would more accurately be described as a series of vignettes and character studies.
I don't mind this type of book, but this one left me mixed. At its strongest, this book had beautiful prose (which I am sure comes through in the original Russian, but I was taken by Bouis' translation) and interesting thematic threads to follow. Russian is a very literally language, and I wanted to read more modern examples of Russian literature. This novel follows in those footsteps.
At it's most frustrating, the narrator gets lost in the sauce of his own philosophical musings on his childhood. When I was inclined to feel generous, I considered this was intentional on Lebedev's part to illustrate how as adults we can ascribe certain philosophical significance to our childhood actions through the lens of memory. Points in this camp include the fact that Lebedev is clearly a very talented writer. When I was generous, I felt like the novel was uninterested in plumbing the depths of how memory lends to embellishment of what happened. Points in this camp include that none of the philosophical tangents, of which there are many, mentioned this concept.
Overall, I found the book solidly good. Just good. Better than okay, but not great. The translation has some truly beautiful turns of phrase, and I think this would be a valuable source for anyone looking to explore more modern Russian literature.
This book is more of a no-plot-just-vibes type of novel that is more focused on exploring a young boy's understanding of the world, what has influenced it, and how it changes along with the country. The development of the book is told through what would more accurately be described as a series of vignettes and character studies.
I don't mind this type of book, but this one left me mixed. At its strongest, this book had beautiful prose (which I am sure comes through in the original Russian, but I was taken by Bouis' translation) and interesting thematic threads to follow. Russian is a very literally language, and I wanted to read more modern examples of Russian literature. This novel follows in those footsteps.
At it's most frustrating, the narrator gets lost in the sauce of his own philosophical musings on his childhood. When I was inclined to feel generous, I considered this was intentional on Lebedev's part to illustrate how as adults we can ascribe certain philosophical significance to our childhood actions through the lens of memory. Points in this camp include the fact that Lebedev is clearly a very talented writer. When I was generous, I felt like the novel was uninterested in plumbing the depths of how memory lends to embellishment of what happened. Points in this camp include that none of the philosophical tangents, of which there are many, mentioned this concept.
Overall, I found the book solidly good. Just good. Better than okay, but not great. The translation has some truly beautiful turns of phrase, and I think this would be a valuable source for anyone looking to explore more modern Russian literature.
August 10, 2025
It was my first meeting with this author. Initially, I found the book difficult, too dense, too awkward, but soon I started discovering little jewels, small turns of phrases shooting straight to the point, insights that were intellectually stimulating. After about fifty pages, the tempo of my reading stabilized, perhaps I was simply trying to read this book too quickly. The novel is very rich, it is presented in chronological pictures. This time period is very familiar to me, I was the same age, growing up at the same time in a neighboring Warsaw pact country. I lived through the historical events that take place in the background of the story. I visited USSR a few times during that period and while reading I could recall the atmosphere, the smells, the infrastructure, the moods, the nature. Some of Lebedev's insights greatly expanded my understanding of the so-called Russian soul. I am definitely going to read more books by this author. So much has changed since this book's first publication in 2014, but the good thing about this novel is that it is a document of times and because of that it will always remain relevant.
September 18, 2022
A touching and often poignant coming of age novel set in late 20th century Russia. The young protagonist struggles to understand his heritage and the opaque lives of his grandparents, even as he is seeking to find his own place in the present world. Lebedev does a first rate job of seeing things through the eyes of adolescent, and subtly commenting on the shortcomings of the Soviet system at the same time. An outstanding translation does justice to the high quality of his prose. Worth reading if you're interested in modern Russia.
February 24, 2021
After a false start I got traction with the novel and quickly came to appreciate the author's craft and the story. A Bildungsroman tale of a boy in 1980s Moscow asks the question "who am I", but also, "who are we as Soviets/Russians?" With great affect, dips into historical fiction with characters engaging in pivotal events (Chernobyl, Collapse of USSR, 1917 revolution, WWII) and provides fascinating and painful insight into life behind the crumbling iron curtain.
July 19, 2017
This is a lyrical book written about a period in history that I don't often encounter. While the imagery is lovely and the characters are intriguing, the book seemed very distant to me, like a story told rather than an experience lived (which I'm not sure is because of the original prose or the translator). My full review of this book can be found on the Cleaver Magazine website.
October 16, 2025
This coming of age book in Soviet Russia was mostly interesting. The first part dragged a little as the author mused about family relationships and hid place in the world extendively. The story then developed some action. The cluster of events at the end felt a little rushed.
March 24, 2017
Lebedev's prose is lyrical and truly lovely. The story of a boy's coming of age as the Soviet Union teeters on the brink of collapse. Some passages made me sick, some made my heart sing. Truly a lovely novel.
June 30, 2017
Soporific.
July 13, 2017
Very well written but extremely boring
Read
August 10, 2019Russia of the 1950's. A glimpse into what their lives might have been like. Not much different from our own.
March 12, 2021
Brief moments of creativity and description of family during the fall of the Soviet union with many slow and disjointed or dull blocks of the story in between.
June 22, 2022
4.2 went beyond the exploration of soviet life and delved deeper into the human psyche..... had a lot of big-brain moments i feel enlightened!!!! had a few times i felt it was draggy though
May 14, 2023
Between meh and wow, 3 and 5.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews