The Courtyard

By Arkady Lvov and Аркадий Львов

Book Overview

From the award-winning writer of PANDORA'S LUNCHBOX and PRESIDENT PUG comes an adventure featuring evocative drawings and full of action, humor and heart! All Leonardo wants is peace and quiet to work... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 038523113X
• ISBN13: 9780385231138
• Release Date: August 1989
• Publisher: Doubleday Books
• Length: 682 Pages
• Weight: 2.50 lbs.

Customer Reviews

An intriguing portrayal of Soviet life

There's not much out there to read about what life was like in the USSR--at least not much I've found. This book is an interesting change. It's about the lives of maybe ten families that share common courtyard in Odessa from about 1935 to 1950. It centers around Iona Degtyar, the local Communist Party boss. He is a fascinating character, the ultimate workaholic who expects one hundred and ten percent from everyone. He has no tolerance for anything less than perfection, which makes him rather scary at times. There is a subtle but gradual process of ideological decay throughout the book, as characters' illusions about Communism in the USSR and Degtyar himself are shattered by the tribulations of war and a series of deportations.