Review
'An incredibly smart, surprisingly involving and deeply eccentric book…. I am not alone in thinking that [Francis Spufford] has one of the most original minds in contemporary literature.' --Nick Hornby, Believer
'One can scarcely think of a recent book that conveys the everyday textures of life in the Soviet Union so well. ... This is a thrilling book that all enthusiasts of the Big State should read.' --Michael Burleigh, Sunday Telegraph
'(I) finished it in awe, not merely at Spufford's Stakhanovite research, but at his skill as a novelist, his judgement as a historian and his sheer guts in attempting something simultaneously so weird and yet so wonderful.' -- Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times
'As a gallimaufry of the funny, technical-scientific and deadly earnest, Red Plenty ranks as one of the strangest books ever written on the Soviet Union. From start to finish, the book is an eccentric delight; absorbing, pleasingly digressive and superbly written.' --Ian Thomson, Financial Times
'One can scarcely think of a recent book that conveys the everyday textures of life in the Soviet Union so well. ... This is a thrilling book that all enthusiasts of the Big State should read.' --Michael Burleigh, Sunday Telegraph
'(I) finished it in awe, not merely at Spufford's Stakhanovite research, but at his skill as a novelist, his judgement as a historian and his sheer guts in attempting something simultaneously so weird and yet so wonderful.' -- Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times
'As a gallimaufry of the funny, technical-scientific and deadly earnest, Red Plenty ranks as one of the strangest books ever written on the Soviet Union. From start to finish, the book is an eccentric delight; absorbing, pleasingly digressive and superbly written.' --Ian Thomson, Financial Times
Book Description
What if the Soviet 'miracle' had worked, and the communists had discovered the secret to prosperity, progress and happiness...?
