Cement

Title: Cement

Author: Fyodor Gladkov

Pages: 311

Genre: Socialist Propaganda

Letter Grade: B

Synopsis: This was one of the very first books to be published in the Soviet Union after the revolution. It is the story about a small industrial city and how they struggle to get the cement factory running again. The main character in the story is Gleb, who recently returned from fighting in the army. He returns to find his wife totally changed. Gleb takes the reins upon himself to work very hard to get the factory going. He and his wife are both members of the Communist party. Gleb and his wife Dasha are now equals in their social lives and in their working lives. The book chronicles their stuggles to adapt to this new situation.

My Review: I obviously had to read this book for school. It turned out to be better than I expected. The book was written (indirectly) as propoganda for the Communist party. It shows how honourable work and labor is to the country. I grew to really like Gleb and a few of the other characters but I also learned to be very grateful that I do not live in a Communist society.

Favorite Passage: (p. 232, talking about Communists who are not 'true' Communists because they think that they are better than others) "It was difficult for him to speak, as he had an unusually large tongue; there was too little room for it in his mouth, and in conversation it peeped out like a slug. Suskin could not get his words out; they stuck in his mouth and splashed about in the saliva with his tongue, suffering from their inability to escape."