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A review by jeffburns
Red Plenty by Francis Spufford
challenging
medium-paced
4.0
This book confuses me so much. Even the author in his introduction states that it is simultaneously fiction and non-fiction. I even read a review calling it science fiction. There are real historical figures, characters inspired by real historical figures, characters that are composites of real people, and totally fictional characters. I don't know what it is exactly, but it was an enjoyable read, and seems like a plausible "history" of the USSR during and just after the rule of Nikita Khrushchev from the mid 1950s through the early 1970s. This period was an incredible transition in Soviet history from the harsh rule of Stalin and its climate of fear and persecution, forced collectivization, and the organized use of famine as a means of genocide to a more open society with an economy growing at a staggering rate (of course, the starting point was extremely low, so any advance is significant) . Khrushchev promised that the USSR would surpass its capitalist rivals, and Soviet citizens would live in a world of plenty.
This book is a collection of vignettes, like a collection of short stories, following the lives of multiple characters dealing with the Soviet system, from Krushchev and high ranking party officials to managers and bureaucrats to scientists, students, and black marketeers. The stories aren't really related, but each one describes the Soviet struggle of trying to deal with an impossible duality: achieving a true workers' paradise and land of plenty despite staggering corruption, brutality, greed, and stupidity. After reading the bigger book, I had a greater knowledge and understanding of Soviet history and the Cold War, but I still don't really know how to describe it or to encourage others to read it.
This book is a collection of vignettes, like a collection of short stories, following the lives of multiple characters dealing with the Soviet system, from Krushchev and high ranking party officials to managers and bureaucrats to scientists, students, and black marketeers. The stories aren't really related, but each one describes the Soviet struggle of trying to deal with an impossible duality: achieving a true workers' paradise and land of plenty despite staggering corruption, brutality, greed, and stupidity. After reading the bigger book, I had a greater knowledge and understanding of Soviet history and the Cold War, but I still don't really know how to describe it or to encourage others to read it.