As Russia enters a new era of communism a drunken man becomes an observer of two brothers, one whose fortunes are rising as he becomes an officer in charge of food distribution and another who clings closely to the old ways.

It was obvious that everything in the book was satire, and that it was likely very cutting -- if only we knew what the target was. We can take the elements of the story and piece together (in our heads) the particular Soviet society ten years following the revolution, but by the time we've managed that the satire has no bite.

What remains to the modern reader is the story and characters, some funny interactions, some universal observations. Unfortunately, it is not enough. People in another country a few generations from now might have a similar reaction to watching the opening sketch of a Saturday Night Live.

I was going through one of those dry patches, starting books and then putting them down, when I picked up this Russian satirical novel from 1927 and started reading about a big beefy bald New Man named Babichev singing a nonsense song during his vigorous morning bowel movement, and was caught. Basking in the bright light of the new day and all afire to bring about a new world order, sausage man Andrei Babichev is viewed through the eyes of his foil, the pathetic Nikolai Kavalerov, a hyper-sensitive hanger-on who is consumed with envy of his benefactor, but at least is master of his own misery. Soon Nikolai finds himself in league with Babichev’s brother Ivan, a contrarian who thumbs his nose at progress and gleefully works to subvert the party line by getting drunk and generally acting like an idiot, gallivanting around town with a pillow proclaiming about his dubious invention of a machine or robot named Ophelia. Through the romantic entanglements (Ivan has a daughter) and sporting mishaps (there is a soccer match) that make up the loose plot, the insufferable Nikolai seems as destined to flounder as Andrei is to succeed, but even at his most biting Olesha has such affection for his characters that it is almost impossible not to like and laugh at and pity them all equally, which probably accounts for how the book could be hailed for its proletarian ideology, only to be derided soon after as Stalin’s hold tightened. Ultimately the book is not so much aimed at any particular political regime but at human nature; still, during the heyday of Socialist Realism, the indeterminacy, the digressions and whimsy of Olesha’s prose – a little reminiscent of Nikolai Gogol – was not to be trusted, and Olesha’s literary career was ruined. An offbeat little novel filled with humor, spirit and pathos, and probably a good bet for the many folks who love Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita.

brilliant

This book confused and disturbed me but I think that was the point? I don’t know Russian literature is wild man.

Interesting but not riveting (to me). Well- written, some great characters and description.

A story about the young Soviet Union in the early stages of its journey to the total fullfillment of socialist utopia, and about a guy named Nikolai who finds it difficult leaving the "old times" behind for the arrival of the new socialist future, where people work together like a clockwork, machines will produce food and wellfare for everybody. But still there will always be hierarchy, people above people..and envy. The writer has really worked hard to subtly critisize couple of things that might be a problem in this new arrangement, and has succeeded in getting through the sensorship. If you take out the soviet-time context, this book isn't a very entertaining one. The story itself wasn't very fascinating and I had a hard time sometimes understanding the reactions/motivations/feelings of the characters. A character could get extremely offended by something I didn't really get..or decide to do something weird because of some absurd reason. But eccentric characters are quite typical for russian litterature so you just have to go with it :)