Time, Forward!

Alright, I had to give this book four stars despite the painfulness of reading it. In fact, the only thing keeping it from a five is the memory of that torture (if that makes any sense). I gritted my teeth for the entire first three quarters of the novel but when I finally started in and read it straight through I truly appreciated it. It is a well written novel that I am glad I was forced to read. I recommend it to anyone who wants to get inside the mind of the Soviet system. I'll never forget this book and while I don't know that I would like to read more Soviet Realism, the cinematice style of Kataev has something to be said for it.