Dust and Ashes

If you haven't read Children of the Arbat and Fear, do so - now. If you have, get this, however difficult or expensive. This is Russian literature at its finest - and an excellent translation.

If you want sweeping naturalistic fiction that blends the oppressiveness, madness and occasional terror of Stalinist Russia with a traditional, ultimately melodramatic love story, start with Rybakov's "Children of the Arbat" and continue through the trilogy with "Fear" and this novel. Accurately or not, these novels vividly create a sense of smothered life in Russia, with characters who represent types without becoming stereotypes. These novels are page turners in the tragic Russian tradition.

Each of the books in the trilogy, made me feel a part of the very lives A.R. was writing about. So powerful of a writer, i wished I could read Russion and read the text in the original form.