In the stories and stories included in the collection, Sorokin demythologizes the familiar reader's notions of Soviet literature, turning the sad examples of socialist realism and "spiritual" prose in the spirit of Prishvin into something completely, completely different - and intended exclusively for the adult audience. The unpleasant myth of developed socialism is met with hypertrophied cruelty, grotesque and absurdity, and the reader with Vladimir Sorokin's brilliant stylistic skill.
