At first all the stories are just depressing. Some memorably so, others humorously so, others still just morosely so. Many are about poverty, vices, the lusts of money, fear of the cold, or loneliness, oppression, and cruelty, but each of them seems to focus very strongly on the crappiness of life. They stay with you, and they keep pulling you along. Best of all, they can be taken in at length- most short stories collections get tiring after three or four stories, here its possible to read them all in a sitting and enjoy every one of them.


At first you are depressed, being hammered with these themes, but about 60 of the way through these very well written pieces you realize that these Russians understand something our modern Western culture doesnt: people are rotten; and somehow this formerly depressing literature becomes a masterpiece of art. They are painting you a picture of life that you dont want to hear, the truth that when the veneer of life is stripped away people are just no good, even down to the smallest child we are one and alike worthless. Counter-intuitively, its very refreshing to see the honest truth, and as a consequence you will remember these stories for the rest of your life. These Russian writers, they *get* it, they make it hit home in a way that doesnt happen very often from new books or television or movies.