How I Escaped from the USSR

"Try to imagine someone writing an absurd farce, and performing it on stage as though it were serious. You are required to attend each daily performance, whether you like it or not. Worse, the spectators are applauding..."This autobiographical novella takes Dimitri Sokolenko from that gloomy farce of life in the USSR, through inane bureaucracy and adventure, into India, Nepal, Pakistan, Italy and finally the US. It passes matter-of-factly through moments of craziness and danger: he pretends to think elephants live in Vietnam, to hide his interest in India - he's whisked back and forth by Americans, never knowing what they intend - he's interrogated by border officials, in all earnestness, about the names of a Star Wars characters found in his pocket. Sokolenko's fury at idiocy or injustice simmers throughout. Occasionally, it flares up in vivid choleric metaphor. But mostly, the simple facts suffice: "'Throw the pencils away!' yelled our commander" and they do, but Sokolenko's pen triumphs.