A review by spentcello
Monday Starts on Saturday by Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky

4.0

I really enjoyed this quirky book. It was a lot of silly fun, in a way that didn't feel like it was trying too hard. I was lacking a lot of the background knowledge that allows you to appreciate a lot of the nuance of the satire and social commentary, which I think did detract somewhat from my enjoyment of the novel, and I also think that a decent amount is lost in translation in terms of the puns and the poetry. But alas, I don't read Russian and puns and poetry will remain exceedingly difficult to translate with all their nuance. Despite those difficulties, I found a lot to enjoy in this novel - the Stugatskys' blend of science fiction and fantasy is perfect, and it's all wrapped up in a hilarious critique of research institutions and bureaucracies.