Though the intricacies of Soviet central planning may seem an unlikely topic for a work of historical fiction, Spufford succeeds at distilling the dismal science into a page-turner and using the unconventional vehicles of linear planning, cybernetics, communal agricultural policy, and exposition on the respective merits of Marx and Hayek (buttressed by extensive footnotes) to explore the entire range of human emotion. In his first work of fiction, Spufford (The Child That Books Built) mixes in a lot of fact, interspersing stories of functionaries in the Soviet economy—real, imagined and composites—with brief essays expanding on the topics raised by their plight. In the late 1950s, socialism seemed on the verge of triumph: the Soviet Union was growing faster than the United States, and its leaders expected to overtake the West in material production and provide its people with an unmatched standard of living (“Socialism would have to mimic capitalism’s ability to run an industrial revolution, to marshal investment, to build modern life. Socialism would have to compete with capitalism at doing the same things as capitalism”). This is the story of that effort, and its inevitable failure, on a scale as large as a nation and as small as one factory worker. Extensively researched and both convincing and compelling in its idiosyncrasies (despite the author’s admission that he speaks no Russian), this genre-bending book surprises in many ways. Agent: Clare Alexander, Aitken Alexander Associates. (Feb. 14)
A hammer-and-sickle version of Altman's Nashville, with central committees replacing country music . . . [Spufford] has one of the most original minds in contemporary literature.” —Nick Hornby, The Believer
“A thrilling book that all enthusiasts of the Big State should read.” —Michael Burleigh, The Sunday Telegraph
An unusual work blending fiction with history, this is the story of a specific time and place: the Soviet Union in the late 1950s, when its planned economy promised more prosperity than American capitalism. Historical figures like Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Vitalevich Kantorovich, the only Soviet to win the Nobel Prize in Economics, mingle with fictional scientists and mathematicians to show the struggle among differing views of how best to steer the Soviet economy. The book vividly captures debates about progress and pricing that sometimes boggle the mind, such as when resources are used to make products no one wants, and it also shows how the political machine chews up those who dare to protest. While the large number of people represented can be a bit overwhelming and, individually, are so interesting that readers are left wanting to know more about their fates, Spufford (The Child That Books Built) presents an amazingly clear portrait of complex economic policies that ultimately did not work. VERDICT Recommended for history and fiction readers with a taste for dystopian works like 1984 and for sweeping novels like those by Theodore Dreiser. [Notwithstanding the fictional aspects, this book is being presented as history by the publisher.—Ed.]—Evelyn Beck, Piedmont Technical Coll., Greenwood, SC
The strange, sad, hilarious story of the Soviet Union's blind pursuit of a Communist paradise, told through a mix of history and fiction, using both to get to the truth. Spufford (I May Be Some Time, 2003, etc.) traces the latter half of the history of the Soviet Union, starting in the late 1950s, when the Soviets were seeing an imaginary light over the horizon. After 40 years that included struggle, war, starvation and Stalin, the Marxist dream looked as if it might be taking off under Nikita Khrushchev. The Soviet Union's economic growth more than doubled that of the United States, and if it kept going at the same rate the "planned economy" would "overtake and surpass" capitalist America. Cars, food and houses would be better, and there would be more money and leisure all around, thanks to a top-down, start-to-finish management that "could be directed, as capitalism could not, to the fastest, most lavish fulfillment of human needs." Through a series of episodes involving economists, scientists, computer programmers, industrialists, artists and politicians--some real, some imagined, some drawn together from composites--Spufford tells the story of the life and death of a national illusion, as utopian dreams moldered into grim dystopian realities. The planned economy was a worker's nightmare, where production targets increased even as equipment became more and more outdated, and unforeseen, unplanned events--like the sudden loss of a spinning machine at a textile factory--set off a ripple effect of unproductiveness. Pay cuts and scarce commodities led to riots, such as one in Novocherkassk, where the dead bodies were hauled out and the bloody streets were repaved overnight. In his often-whimsical, somewhat Nabokovian notes, Spufford freely points out his own inventions, approximations and hedged bets on what might have happened. A highly creative, illuminating, genre-resisting history.
Spufford's odds of success were tall, for he has not only created a genre-bender—part novel, part history—he's taken as his subject what may be the most boring corner (central planning) of a very boring field (Soviet studies)…The result is a marvel—at once pure skazka, an old-style Russian fairy tale, and a deeply researched history populated with characters, episodes, even dialogue, snatched from history…Red Plenty is a literary/historical seesaw…a work, by turns learned and lyrical, that grows by degree, accreting into something lasting: a replica in miniature of a world of ideas never visible to most, and now gone.
—The New York Times Book Review
…Mr. Spufford is an amused and amusing observer of human beings, and it is a pleasure to be in his company. His descriptions of people pop off the page…Red Plenty is a strong and eccentric book about a beautiful mass delusion, a filigreed vision of a place Mr. Spufford likes to call "Story Russia"…His book, unlike the Soviet dream, delivers on every promise.
—The New York Times
In this fiction audiobook based on historical fact, Spufford depicts the period of the 1950s-60s, when the Soviets believed that their planned economy could actually work. Fictional characters, usually based on historical personages, interact with historical figures. Roger Clark’s narration of this hybrid work of literature is quite good. While he doesn’t affect different voices, the dialogue is easy to follow. His British accent gives an air of seriousness to the production—although his British pronunciation of most Russian words is something those who are acquainted with the language may find annoying. Nonetheless, Clark’s resonant baritone presents the author’s vignettes of these years clearly and with great expression. M.T.F. 2018 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
