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Rating: 
Summary: Please shoot this old war horse
Review: It is my sincere hope that people interested in Russian literature are no longer forced to read this awful book. When I was in school, during the Cold War period, I could see some usefulness. Socialist Realism was the approved creative style in Russia and one could not come away from reading 20th century literature and think that everything was as well-writen as Bulgakov's Master and Margarita and Zamyatin's We. Yes, in order to understand the Soviet mind one had to read awful books like "Virgin Soil Upturned (proving that any hack can win a Nobel Prize) by Sholokhov, How Steel Was Tempered and yes, Cement. When we were reading this book, and I have read it twice, there was an attempt to show in the example of the book's communist party heroine, that working women cannot have it all. Well quite frankly, the reason this heroine is unable to find love and happiness is because she is supporting the creation of a joyless utopia where no one will ever be allowed to be really happy.
Rating: 
Summary: Sex, love, and Bolshevism
Review: The 1920s was a great decade for Soviet literature: the works published during this era are thematically- and ideologically-diverse. Yes, there are better-written novels that came out during this period. Nevertheless, Gladkov's Cement is under-rated. I find it fun to read and re-read (which is critical, since I end up teaching it a lot) and it's definitively one of the best vehicles for getting at the tensions that plagued the Bolsheviks in the early years. Pairing this with Abram Room's film, Bed and Sofa, is a great way to address questions of gender in the early Soviet Union.
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